Opinion Gorbachev saw the imperative of all-round change in the Soviet Union. Many of his triumphs turned out to be ephemeral

Widely seen in Russia as the man responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev is hailed in the West as the leader who helped end the Cold War in Europe and nudged Russia towards political liberalisation. Many on the left in the “global South” blame him for facilitating US triumph in the Cold War and creating a global imbalance in favour of the West. Gorbachev’s record is a lot more complicated than the extreme perceptions of his brief tenure as the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1985-91. Whichever way one assesses the leader, who died Tuesday at 91, there is no denying his role as a world historical figure who altered post-War international politics.

To be sure, Gorbachev did not set out to dismantle the Soviet Union. That was an unintended consequence of his effort to reform the struggling Russian economy (perestroika), inject a measure of openness to its closed society (glasnost), end the arms race with the US, build cooperative relations with Europe, and pull back from military adventurism in Afghanistan and the developing world. As a young member of the CPSU Politburo taking charge of a society mired in multiple crises, Gorbachev believed that rejuvenating the Soviet Union was his patriotic task. But he could not control the forces he unleashed. This, in turn, led to the collapse of the communist system that was founded by the 1917 Russian Revolution. During the seven decades that it lasted, the Soviet Union had a powerful impact on world affairs — playing a critical role in defeating fascism in Europe, constructing the post-War order in Europe, and inspiring communist movements around the world. Gorbachev, who was a bright child of the CPSU, saw from within how rotten the system had become by the early 1980s. If Gorbachev was right in seeing the imperative of all-round change in the Soviet Union, he also ended up as a tragic figure who presided over its rapid dissolution.

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Meanwhile, three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, many of Gorbachev’s presumed triumphs have turned out to be ephemeral. After a brief flowering of liberalism, hopes for democracy in Russia have withered away. The peace that Gorbachev constructed in Europe has gone up in flames as Russia invaded Ukraine in February. If Gorbachev hoped for constructive relations with the West, President Vladimir Putin is now locked in a serious confrontation with Europe and the US. In India, both the communists and Delhi’s foreign policy establishment deeply mourned the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disappearance of a familiar political, economic, and ideological world. In retrospect, though, the collapse of the Soviet Union compelled India to reform its own economy, reorient its foreign policy and elevate its global standing. Although the Russian romance endures in the Indian strategic community, Moscow’s strategic salience for Delhi has been in continuous decline since 1991. Russia’s new geopolitics of aligning with China and confronting the West is only likely to accelerate that decline.