Foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration of the Soviet Union's total export earnings). To restructure the Soviet economy before it collapsed, Gorbachev announced an agenda of rapid reform, based upon what he called perestroika (meaning "restructuring") and glasnost (meaning "liberalization" and "openness"). Reform required Gorbachev to redirect the country's resources from costly Cold War military commitments to more profitable areas in the civilian sector. As a result, Gorbachev offered major concessions to the United States on the levels of conventional forces, nuclear weapons, and policy in Eastern Europe. Many US Soviet experts and administration officials doubted that Gorbachev was serious about winding down the arms race,
The Age of Openness The Age of Openness The Age of Openness: China Before Mao is a 2008 book by historian Frank Dikötter. It provides an account of the Republican era of Chinese history, spanning from the early 20th century to the Communist Party takeover in 1949. In it, Dikötter describes a period of unprecedented openness during which China was actively pursuing engagement with the world, as evidenced by what Dikötter described as a pluralistic intellectual environment, thriving open markets and economic growth, and expanded liberties and rule of law. In the book, Dikötter challenged conventional historical narratives on China during the Republican period,