The four principles had governed the Soviet Union: a chain of soviets; ethnic federation; state socialism; and supremacy of the Communist party. Gorbachev's policies of "perestroika" and "glasnost" created a situation which weakened all the above four principles. He repeatedly tried to form a circle of leaders to support his policies. He tried to do all these as he and his team saw that the Soviet Union was moving toward a long-term stagnation.