glasnost
UK[ˈɡlæznɒst]US[ˈɡlɑːsnoʊst]
n
A policy of maximum openness and transparency in the activities of government and other public institutions.
Etymology
Glasnost is a direct borrowing from Russian, entering English in the mid-1980s to describe the pivotal policy of political openness instituted by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. The Russian word 'гласность' (glasnost') itself stems from the Old Church Slavonic root 'glasŭ', meaning "voice," which is cognate with the English word "call," both tracing back to the Proto-Indo-European root gal-/gol-, meaning "to call" or "to cry." The suffix '-nost' is a common Slavic abstract noun-forming suffix, equivalent to English '-ness'. Thus, the term's literal meaning, "the state or quality of having a voice," evolved through its specific historical context to signify a state policy of allowing public information, criticism, and free speech.
Analysis
The word is a direct loanword from Russian (гласность). It is not productively segmented using English morphemes. In its source language, it is derived from 'glas' (voice, speech) and the suffix '-nost' (denoting a state or quality), but these parts are not substrings of the English spelling 'glasnost'.
Examples
Gorbachev's policy of glasnost allowed for unprecedented public discussion of the Soviet Union's problems.
The spirit of glasnost led to a more open media and the publication of previously banned literary works.
Many historians argue that glasnost, by revealing systemic failures, accelerated the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc.