Communist Party of the Soviet Union along with the institution of free multiparty elections led to a decline in the party's power, and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the banning of the party by later last RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin and subsequent first President of an evolving democratic and free market economy of the successor Russian Federation. A number of causes contributed to CPSU's loss of control and the dissolution of the Soviet Union during the early 1990s. Some historians have written that Gorbachev's policy of "glasnost" (political openness) was the root cause, noting that it weakened the party's control over society. Gorbachev maintained
History and Public Policy Program in partnership with governmental and non-governmental institutions and partners in the US and throughout the world to foster openness, transparency, and dialogue. In cooperation with the American Historical Association's National History Center, HAPP hosts the Washington History Seminar, a weekly in-depth discussion of important new historical research and perspectives in international and national affairs. History and Public Policy Program The History and Public Policy Program (HAPP) is a program at the Woodrow Wilson Center. It focuses on the relationship between history and policy making and seeks to foster open, informed and non-partisan dialogue on historically relevant issues. The Program is