Dissolution of the Soviet Union and decisions of specific individuals (usually Gorbachev and Yeltsin). One characteristic example of intentionalist writing is historian Archie Brown's "The Gorbachev Factor", which argues Gorbachev was the main force in Soviet politics at least in the period 1985–1988 and even later largely spearheaded the political reforms and developments as opposed to being led by events. This was especially true of the policies of "perestroika" and "glasnost", market initiatives and foreign policy stance as political scientist George Breslauer has seconded, labelling Gorbachev a "man of the events". In a slightly different vein, David Kotz and Fred Weir have contended that Soviet
Republics of the Soviet Union but the offer was rejected. During the Soviet–Afghan War, the Soviet Union proposed to annex Northern Afghanistan as its 16th union republic in what was to become the Afghan Soviet Socialist Republic. Several of the Union Republics themselves, most notably Russia, were further subdivided into Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (ASSRs). Though administratively part of their respective Union Republics, ASSRs were also established based on ethnic/cultural lines. Under Mikhail Gorbachev, "openness" and "restructuring" were intended to liberalise and open up the Soviet Union. However, they had a number of effects which caused the power of the republics to increase. First, political