Many in the West see Mikhail Gorbachev as a democrat and liberator of his people, while he increasingly became despised within Russia for destroying the Soviet Union and dismantling a Great Power. In an article for The Conversation, University of Michigan professor of history and political science Ronald Suny discusses Gorbachev’s contradictory nature and complexity. Suny also highlights what led to the demise of the Soviet Union and Gorbachev’s political career.
