1. The Soviet political and economic system had become stagnant and unable to adapt to changing times. The authoritarian government and centrally planned economy stifled innovation and living standards were declining.
2. Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) unintentionally weakened the Soviet system from within by giving more freedoms and loosening central control. This empowered independence movements in the republics.
3. Nationalist and independence movements grew stronger in the Soviet republics, especially the Baltic states and Ukraine. As control weakened, republics began declaring sovereignty