Glossary

Definitions of terms used throughout CountryReports.

This glossary contains 1,144 terms used throughout CountryReports — political, economic, cultural, historical, and geographic terminology referenced in country profiles and articles. Terms are drawn from authoritative sources including the Library of Congress.

glasnost: Russian word meaning openness. Public discussion of issues; accessibility of information so that the public can become familiar with it and discuss it. Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s policy of using the media to make information available on some controversial issues in order to provoke public discussion, challenge government and party bureaucrats, and mobilize greater support for his policy of perestroika (q.v.).; Source: Library of Congress
perestroika: Russian term meaning ""restructuring."" Applied in the late 1980s to an official Soviet program of revitalization of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU--q.v.), the economy, and the society by adjusting economic, social, and political mechanisms in the central planning system. Identified with the tenure of Mikhail S. Gorbachev as leader of the Soviet Union.; Source: Library of Congress