Gorbachev - A Complex Life and Legacy (1931 - 2022)
Updated: Sep 6, 2022
On Tuesday, August 30, 2022 the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, passed away in a Moscow hospital at the age of ninety-one. The former leader, a key figure in the Cold War and all that followed, leaves behind a complex legacy, with a broad spectrum of perspectives on his influence within the former Soviet Union and throughout the greater global community.
Within the diplomatic community Gorbachev leaves behind a tradition of cross border collaboration. Without his influence, Track Two's early days of pioneering citizen diplomacy (then as the Esalen Soviet-American Exchange Program) would not have been possible.
Here, we've curated a selection of resources on this influential - but controversial - figure in the shared history of the former Soviet Union and the West.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Memories of Mikhail Gorbachev—and a unique time in Russia in history
By Rose Gottemoeller // Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Mikhail Gorbachev, in his words and the words of others
By John Mecklin and Mikhail Gorbachev // Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The Great Gorby: How a country received freedom and didn’t use it
By Andrey Kolesnikov // Russia.Post
Document: The Revolution and Perestroika
By Mikhail S. Gorbachev // Foreign Affairs
The Day Gorbachev Made D.C. Stand Still
By Maureen Dowd // The New York Times
VARIED GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
Mikhail Gorbachev’s Enduring Example
By David Remnick // The New Yorker
Gorbachev And The Many Directions He Proffered To The World
By Grigory Yavlinksky // Yabloko
Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Reformist Soviet Leader, Is Dead at 91
Praise and Blame:
How Russia Reacted to the Death of Gorbachev
By Leyla Latypova // The Moscow Times
The USSR’s final leader is beloved by many in the West but a contentious figure at home. Here’s how Mikhail Gorbachev is being remembered.
Scholar Artemy Kalinovsky suggests a Shakespearian perspective on Mikhail Gorbachev’s legacy
By Artemy Kalinovsky // Meduza
Mikhail Gorbachev 1931 - 2022
Gorbachev: Conflicted Catalyst of Cold War’s End
By Thomas Graham // Council on Foreign Relations
How the West Still Misunderstands Gorbachev
By Sumantra Maita // The National Interest
The tragedy of Mikhail Gorbachev
By Anatol Lieven // Responsible Statecraft
Mikhail Gorbachev, the Fundamentally Soviet Man
By Masha Gessen // The New Yorker
Gorbachev’s Legacy
By Katrina vanden Heuvel // The Nation
Mikhail Gorbachev: The contradictory legacy of Soviet leader who attempted ‘revolution from above’
By Ronald Suny // The Conversation