Perestroika
The Soviet Union was ideologically a communist country. The economy was centralised and the means of production owned by the government. People did not own their own land or businesses. Under perestroika, some people were permitted to own their businesses. Gorbachev's main goal of perestroika was to repair the Soviet economy, which had been stagnant for decades and upon his election was starting to decline. However, Gorbachev's reforms did not have the desired impact and many people attribute the dissolution of the Soviet Union as Gorbachev's fault.