Gorbachev's new thinking and how its interaction with perestroika in the republics catalysed the Soviet collapse

The introduction of the 'New Thinking' (NT) marked a radical departure from the foreign-policy traditions adhered to by Soviet leaders since the Bolshevik Revolution. Launched by General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986, his policy approach of NT changed the nature of East-West relations paving the way for the end of the Cold War. A lesser known facet of NT was the perestroika (restructuring) of Soviet foreign policy - especially the devolution of decision-making from the centre to the union republics. It first intended to release the potential of the Soviet people and improve the 'economic mechanism', but soon it became a communist survival strategy in the context of glasnost anddemokratizatsiyathat had unleashed the centrifugal forces of nationalism. Indeed, NT proved to be a great gamble: by empowering the republics to conduct their own foreign affairs, it allowed national movements to bring their claims to international fora which in turn undermined the legitimacy of the regime. In this vein, NT not only played a pivotal role in defusing East-West antagonism, but ultimately contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union - with all its wider implications for the Baltic arena, Northern Europe, and the world at large.