Mijail Gorbachov's mandate ushered in the opening up of the Soviet Union, the end of the cold war, the strengthening of relations with the West and the democratisation of Russia itself and the whole of Eastern Europe. He also played a part in reconciliation with China.

Mijail Sergeyevich Gorbachov was born on March 2nd 1931 in the village of Privolnoye, in the region of Stavropol, near the Caucasus Mountains. He worked on the land from an early age, first helping to work the land and later driving farm machinery. He finished his secondary studies in 1950 and went to Moscow University.

He got his degree in 1955. Three years earlier he had joined the Communist Party, beginning to leave his mark as a leader when he returned to his village, where he held several different posts. He was elected secretary of the territorial committee of the regional party in 1970; that same year he was elected to the Soviet of Union of the Supreme Soviet and became a member of the Commission for Natural Resources. In 1971 Gorbachov was appointed member of the Communist Party Central Committee; three years later he held the presidency of the Commission for Youth Affairs of the Supreme Soviet. On the death of Kulakov, the Minister of Agriculture, Gorbachov was elected to take over, instigating a programme of reforms, including massive investment in agriculture, during his mandate.

He was elected member of the Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee in 1980, on Kruschev's death. Andropov handed him far-reaching powers to supervise the country's economic policy and exert influence on the party's internal politics. In 1984, he rose to second in command in the regime, in the aftermath of Andropov's death, of the presentation of Chernenko as candidate to General Secretary of the party, and of his own appointment as president of the Commission for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet of Union.

On March 11th 1985 Mijail Gorbachov succeeded Chernenko as the head of government, immediately ringing the changes that were later to go by the name of the 'perestroika'. Gorbachov dismissed one in three ministers, sacked 40% of regional party secretaries, and changed half of the department heads in the Central Committee. At the same time, he promoted the candidature of Andrei Gromiko as head of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, breaking with the tradition that reserved the post for the general secretary of the Communist Party. From the outset, his policy was to improve the Soviet Union's image abroad, whilst also bringing radical improvement to the country's social structures with a view to its modernisation. His greatest successes in foreign policy are the arms reduction treaties signed with the Americans, first with the Reagan administration and later with President George Bush. Further agreements have meant the end of the so-called 'cold war', and have been decisive in providing international politics with a new sense of direction. Under Gorbachov, the concept of Eastern and Western blocks has lost all meaning.

On October 1st 1988, Gorbachov was elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. On 25th May 1989, the members of the People's Congress named him president, thereby giving him the country's backing for his actions. In 1987 his efforts to improve the Soviet Union's international relations received recognition in the guise of the Indira Gandhi Prize for peace, disarmament and development, and three years later the Swedish Academy recognised his work in favour of world peace by awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize. His high profile abroad contrasts, however, with the situation within the Soviet Union; crippled by a serious economic crisis, it would prefer a return to its closed shop policy.