Lasting Legacies?: Remembering Mikhail Gorbachev and Queen Elizabeth II

In this special episode, A'ndre and Ryan discuss the legacies of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Queen Elizabeth II. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, is admired in the West but was a political persona non-grata in his own country. We dissect Gorbachev’s leadership, his relationship with Ronald Reagan and their drive for nuclear disarmament, his controversial relations with the rest of Eastern Europe, and how perestroika and glasnost contributed to the Soviet Union’s collapse. They spend the second half of the episode discussing Queen Elizabeth II’s legacy, her symbolic and cultural power even though her official role was that of figurehead, and how public memory around Her Majesty’s rule has changed and evolved, both accommodating and leaving out certain legacies, controversial and otherwise. A’ndre’s and Ryan’s conversation attempt to put a more objective, grey lens on the two leaders, assessing the good and the bad in a more critical manner.