Glasnost was a cause of USSR decline and it was the official Soviet governmental policy of openess and transperancy implemented in the mid-1980s. It allowed for honesty in discussing the problems and shortcomings of the country, and for consultation in the governing and leadership of the USSR.
Glasnost, which can mean publicity, encouraged a dissemination of information and was initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 as a part of his emerging perestroika policy. It was used by Gorbachev to reduce corruption among the communist leaders of the Soviet government and to curtail the censorship that was characteristic of Communist rule.