Post Cold War Essay

As tensions continued to augment profoundly throughout the latter half of the Cold War period, they brought forth a movement from a previous bipolar conflicting course, to one of a more multipolar nature. These tensions were now not only restricted to the Soviet Union and United states, but amongst multiple other nations of the globe. It became a general consensus that a notion of ‘peace’ was sought globally, hence, the emergence of détente. The nature of this idea in the short term conveyed itself to be an act of change for the conflicting nations, however, in the long term it proved to be a blatant continuity, ultimately acting as a ‘mechanism for domestic fortification’ which prompted a more divisive tone. It became apparent that by the prime 1970’s Cold War countries were now seeking a state of relaxation in political and international tension, détente, through measures of diplomacy and negotiation. Actions, influences and treaties such as the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, the establishment of SALT 1, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 and the Shanghai Communique of 1972 evidently help reinforce that the concept of détente brought a period focused on lessening the tensions of international relations and ultimately achieve political relation for the future of the Cold War, although the success and impact of this era is abhorred by many historians who have concluded that détente didn’t activate any positive changes to the cold war, and was conclusively a failure.

The foreign, military and economic policies of states, the intersections of these policies in areas of change or dispute, and the general structure of relations which they create, are all analysed in terms of aspirations to achieve national and/or international security. Security is most commonly associated with the alleviation of threats to cherished values (Williams; 2008). However this is a definition that is undesirably vague and a reflection of the inherent nature of security as an ‘essentially contested concept’ (Gallie; 1962). Security in the modern day context has many key concepts associated with it: uncertainty, war, terrorism, genocide and mass killing, ethnic conflict, coercion,

With this book, a major element of American history was analyzed. The Cold War is rampant with American foreign policy and influential in shaping the modern world. Strategies of Containment outlines American policy from the end of World War II until present day. Gaddis outlines the policies of presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, including policies influenced by others such as George Kennan, John Dulles, and Henry Kissinger. The author, John Lewis Gaddis has written many books on the Cold War and is an avid researcher in the field. Some of his other works include: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947, The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War

During World War II the United States and the Soviet Union were allies, but by 1950, their relationship had disintegrated and the two nations were engaged in a “Cold War.” The “Cold War” occurred due to efforts by both nations after the war to maintain influence in regions like Eastern Europe for the Soviets and Turkey and Greece for the United States, but the “Cold War” wasn’t limited to these disputes. The “Cold War” was influenced by many factors on the United States side including the creation of and dropping of atomic bombs by the United States on Japan in 1945, the Truman Doctrine and the X Article in 1947, the Berlin Airlift and the Marshall plan in 1948, the formation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in 1949,

Since Cold War began at the end of World War in the late 1940s, the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, were racing their power to get their dominance over another. Each side feared the other’s superior weapons, such as the United States had nuclear weapon and the USSR had their mighty Red Army. The Cold War spread through decades and seemed to be indefinite. Two superpowers with the race of weapon not only weakened their economy but also threaten each other with their massive arsenals. Two sides negotiated to reduce half the numbers of nuclear weapon on each side as they worried that if the war started, it would be the third World War, and the

The allied victory over Nazism did little to improve world peace. Countries that fought side by side against Hitler turned around and saw each other as enemies after the war. It was not the first time that the Soviets and the Americans found themselves on opposite sides. The communist revolution led by Lenin and Trotsky was the first instance of belligerence between communism and capitalism, and it started when the United States dispatched troops to Siberia with the mission of fighting Bolshevik revolutionaries (Borch 1998, 181). Ideological differences have been at the center of many conflicts throughout history, and the Cold War was no exemption. The nuclear standoff between the Soviets and the Americans after WWII was not inevitable, but it required the understanding of men unwilling and unable to change.

These concepts were focused on preventing direct conflict between the established superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union. It was a well-defined approach used by rational actors that contained critical elements of success. “Credibility is central to any deterrence threat.”

With the end of World War II (WWII) in 1945 began the Cold War, an international conflict that lasted from 1947–1991 and plagued nations across the globe. As the post-war negotiations were deliberated by three of the strongest world powers, the United States (US), Britain, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), disagreements arose that created tension between the US and the USSR and ultimately instigated the infamous “Fifty Years War” (Crockatt 64). But was this conflict avoidable, or was the Cold War simply inevitable? In order to effectively answer to this issue, the origins and conflicts leading to the Cold War must be evaluated with reference to the post-war territorial

We must now examine the reasons why the United States and the Soviet Union sought détente. What had changed during the Cold War that made the two preponderant powers decide to take a more cooperative stance with each other, seeking to identify areas of mutual benefit and to prevent future crises from occurring? To fully understand what led to the Soviet-American “high détente” in the

In the post-cold war era, with the rise of globalisation and the interdependence of markets, one can observe the moribund decline of traditional inter-state conflicts and the rise of more complex intra-state conflicts. The reasons behind these conflicts are manifold but at the heart is arguably always a conflict of interest between two or more groups. The Uppsala Conflict Data Project (2016) defines armed

It has been argued that there is not one reason for all these events to occur over half a century in 1945 to 1991. There are different factors for different times and different events that influenced foreign policy between those dates. Ideology, security and the nuclear race have been disputed to be the main drives of the cold war period. These factors are also intertwined with one another, therefore it can be difficult to state which is the core factor for this conflict. In this essay, the importance and critiques of these factors will be discussed. In the post-world war world, political and military tensions arose between powers in the Eastern and the Western blocks. In 1946, Winston Churchill held a speech in Fulton, Missouri, arguing how an ‘iron curtain’ had descended between east and west. This iron curtain meant there was a boundary line which had divided Europe into two separate areas of political influence. (Heywood, 2014) argued that the cold war was merely driven by “misunderstandings and misconceptions from both sides”.

Despite the high costs of war both in monetary value and in terms of potential life and infrastructure lost states and their actors despite their supposed rationality still seek war at times. Sometimes war is unavoidable given the situations that actors find themselves in. States prior to war will attempt several options such as bargaining and it is that failure in bargaining that tends to result in conflict or war. Especially following the events of the Cold War numerous scholars have given their reasons as to why conflict is sometimes beyond prevention.

In the years between 1940 and 1953 the capitalist nations of the world such as USA became very concerned about the communist ideologies and its possible spread in the world. As a result, the ideological war period known as the “Cold War” was developed. With the end of World War II, the USA emerged with a renewed sense of confidence as they believed that their role in the Allie alliance was a key factor when defeating their enemy powers. It was not long, however, before ironically, this alliance between USA and USSR would be the cause for rising tensions in the world. It can be

The structure of world politics during the cold war (1945-1989), was determined by the strategic and ideological competition between the U.S and the Soviet Union. During this time, there was a varying degree of tension between these two superpowers (ref). This essay will be describing various meaning of the word ‘’détente, its achievements and limitations, how it was performed by different countries and finally reasons why it’s failed and why the failure was inevitable.

The traditional security paradigm is focused on physical and external security threats to states. It promotes that security should be state centred and national security is primary over other securities, such as human security. States must defend their territory and authority from external, foreign threats, by physical means, such as increasing the military or