Literally, "restructuring"

• Gorbachev policy
• Historic "restructuring"
• Soviet economic program begun in '88

Wikipedia Word definitions in Wikipedia
Perestroika was a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1980s, widely associated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost (meaning "openness") policy reform. The literal meaning of perestroika ...

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Word definitions in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
noun EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS ▪ Had they been in vogue in 1951, the words perestroika and glasnost might have been used by observers. ▪ In July a Pravda editorial had attacked perestroika for creating a new bureaucracy without solving the old problems. ▪ More ...

WordNet Word definitions in WordNet
n. an economic policy adopted in the former Soviet Union; intended to increase automation and labor efficiency but it led eventually to the end of central planning in the Russian economy

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. (context now historical English) A program of political and economic reform carried out in the Soviet Union in the 1980s under the leadership of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail%20Gorbachev.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1981, from Russian perestroika , literally "rebuilding, reconstruction, reform" (of Soviet society, etc.), from pere- "re-" (from Old Russian pere- "around, again," from Proto-Slavic *per- , from PIE *per- (1) "forward, through;" see per ) + stroika "building, ...