The satellite countries of East and Central Europe 2. Alliances with France and later Britain and U.S. to check German ambition 2. Communist party was becoming corrupt, the goal of socialist equality was dimming, and prosperity was declining as economy slumped. Glasnost legitimizes national dissent in E. Europe, Poland, Baltic states, etc. Afghanistan as Russia's Vietnam 2.
Centralized bureaucracies change slowly.
Vested interests slow change. C. Bungled Reform by Gorbachev 1. Gorbachev miscalculated the resistance to reform among party and state elites 3. China is trying to implement perestroika but not glasnost or democratic reform. Remains to be seen whether this will work.