History of the Soviet Union (1985–1991)
At that time, the Soviet economy was doing okay but it was slower than its competitors' economies in the West. Also, the cost of maintaining the Soviet Union, as a superpower was huge. These costs included running a large military; running the KGB networks; and giving money to countries close to the Soviet Union. At the same time, the Soviet Union’s technological development had fallen behind. For example: many of its factories used out-of-date technologies and it had fallen behind in the use of information technology.