9/11 Terrorist Attacks and the Cold War - Essay Example

?9/11 Terrorist Attacks and the Cold War The argument on the impact of the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 and its political equivalence to the end of the cold war has raged on for long. There are several reasons and events supporting that 9/11 terrorist attacks have political equivalence on world politics as the end of the Cold War. The end of the cold war remains one of the biggest forces in the history of policy making in the world over. This was before the terror attacks in the USA in the infamous 9/11which also plays a key role currently in policy making affecting global politics all on a global scale. Since the United States appears to have vested interests all over the world including the most unlikely of place, policy making in the world remains affected by these two events. The cold war, for one, was a major drive due to its political affiliation in the world where all countries were affected due to the branding of nations according to the side they chose to back in the cold war period of 1945 through to the late 1980s. This was on the basis of whether any country backed American interests or Russia and its Cuban interests. In these two variations, there also existed a third, where a country did not back any of the two, and was thus labelled a third world country. In the allocation of donor aid, these affiliations seem to play a key role as it is these standards of politics that determined the development levels of any country in the post cold war period. In addition, on the cold war, assessment on Russian influence as a threat to global peace influenced policy making. This is in regard to countries, in this case the USA, making decisions on possible interventions to influence global relationships. These policies were an attempt at constructing regional defence strategies against potential political changes on global social and economic policies (Suri, 2009, pg. 612). In addition, the end of the cold war created a guideline, rigorous, for making policies. These were dominated by the use of combinations of military, diplomatic, and economic tools to pursue interests. It was the end of the cold war that played a crucial role in bringing about the financial solvency, public consensus on global issues and, altogether, international stability. This is terms of a nation rising against a nation as there was the application of logic and diplomacy enduring prudential behaviour in the middle of unconceivable danger (Suri, 2009, pg. 613). In policymaking, the events of 9/11 played a crucial in global politics in the same way as the cold war in that following the unrest; the world was filled with uncertainty. 9/11 created an atmosphere suitable for the generation of policies aimed at protecting the world from organized global crime in the form of terrorism (Pourmokhtari, 2010, pg. 34). This was in the same way that the world worked towards preventing a nuclear showdown between global powers in an attempt to assert their power and influence on global issues. In addition, just like the cold war changed internal policies, the war on terror emanating from 9/11 had similar effects. This is in terms of the political correctness of prisoner treatment and internal law enforcement. In this regard, both cases had a substantial impact in internal policies where both internal and foreign policy affect the global political scene due to the variation in treating citizens and foreigner as people with equal rights in an attempt to cut on the international tension. Another similarity relates to the issue of diverse interests that transverse the globe of all nations. Especially, this applies to the USA whose interests were more defuse and numerous covering almost the entire globe. Also, the globe faced challenges of strategic resources where they were more constrained. In this regard, some countries lacked the resources for economic competition leading to cuts in standing militaries after the cold war. This was the same case in the events following 9/11 where countries limited their participation in international organization following reduced access to resources (Suri, 2009, pg. 615). The other similarity of both events was that of the uncertainty that followed the 9/11 events, similar to the one witnessed in the end of the cold war. This is due to the erratic nature of the US foreign policy, which raised many uncertainties facing the world (Suri, 2009, pg. 614). This was the same case with the 9/11 events where the world faced a global state of uncertainty and lived in fear of looming danger. This owes to the possibility of any country rubbing the terrorists the wrong way by having forcing policies similar to those of the USA or being allied to them. Overall, this uncertainty was as a result of political correctness where being friendly with the US would cause harm, and friendly relations with terrorists put a nation in unfavourable terms with the rest of the world. Terrorism in this case was the form of modern cold war; which was politically charged with the issues of culture and religion affecting the entire globe. The events of 9/11 terror attacks raised the issue of political sensibilities in tight competition against each other as was the case with the cold war (Pourmokhtari, 2010, pg. 14). In addition, end of cold war resulted in the rise of USA as the sole world superpower bringing about changes in the world major power relations, similar to 9/11, which brought the USA to exercise their superpower status against the perpetrators of attacks. The similarity also lies in the fact that the end of the cold war promoted bloc politics in the form of alliances that affected the political strategies of the world. This was through the creation of alliances between principal economic powers such as Japan and European countries, which were the result of the end of the cold war. The end also led to the change in content of the said political alliances that also occurred in light of the 9/11 terror attacks. One such form of change is in the perception of crime where alliances between the countries crossed geographical borders to become conscious of traditional and non-traditional security threats all across the globe. The above improved public and political relations among nations affiliated with the said alliances. Concerning security, end of the cold war brought together nations in a bid to create a form of protection from the possible nuclear showdown. After the terror attacks, political alliances came up attempting to protect the member nations from possible terror attacks. This was through the invocation of mutual defence guarantee agreement in NATO’s treaty. This is similar to treaties that brought the cold war to an end by agreeing to a disarmament plan to reduce the number of nuclear warheads. Politically, the invocation affected the political organization of many countries affiliated with terrorist groups such as Afghanistan, as well as affecting organizational structures of world organizations (Latvia, 2010, pg. 1). In addition, September 11 terrorist attacks of have a similar impact equal to that of the end of the cold war that influenced the use of negotiations ad diplomacy in politics and its affiliations. This is as seen in the case where Americans used head on confrontation to combat terrorism and other issues other than engaging in the conventional negotiations (Litwak, 2002, pg. 77). Moreover, the end of the cold war had a significant force in the issue of stabilizing and destabilizing global political regimes. This is in terms of political pressures in Germany where it the end of the cold war brought stability by uniting the two Germany’s, east and west. The September 11 attacks, on the other hand, applied pressure on Arab regimes led to destabilization Saddam’s regime in Iraq. This was all in the name of fighting terrorism and regimes that appeared to support it by possessing weapons of mass destruction (Suri, 2009, pg. 620). There is also the similarity in the events political implication in terms of the ideologies held by individuals and the representatives of any given country. This is similar to causes of the end of the cold war, as well as the causes of the terror attacks, which brought forth the effects of differences in political opinions on global politics in terms of peace (Sukma, 2004, pg. 1). The above issue led to the political upheaval and turmoil in the world following differences as seen in the case where terrorist brought the wrath of their opinion based on their religion. In turn, this led to uproar over the impact of culture and religion on global politics such that the war on terrorism bears its base on religion by fighting against the religious groups with extremist views (Pourmokhtari, 2010, pg. 9). This has led to a standoff between religion, culture and politics where populations across the globe bearing certain religious opinions remain politically discriminated against, due to opinion differences. This is following the fight against terrorism along religious lines, as is the case that happened with the end of the cold war. In addition, the end of the cold was characterized with improved security that helped international politics to work harmoniously. This is the same case following the events of September 11 attacks; where the world worked towards improved security thus influencing global politics in regard to migration and human handling tactics. In conclusion, the impact of the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 on world politics is equivalent to the end of the cold war. This is considering the events that followed both events in influencing global political alliances, economic and security issues. The above issues have played a crucial role in shaping global politics and political affiliations, as well as relationships. References Latvia, K. D. (2010). 9/11 and the Transformation of NATO’s Identity in the post-Cold War Context. [WWW]. Available from: < http://www.atlantic-community.org/app/webroot/files/articlepdf/Dzintars%20Kalnins_NATO%20identity.pdf > Litwak, R. S. (2002). The Imperial Republic after 9/11. Wilson Quarterly. [WWW]. Available from: http://wilsoncenter.net/sites/default/files/imperial.pdf Pourmokhtari, N. (2010). 9/11 REVISITED: AL-Qaeda, the Cold War, and the Globalization of American Jihad. [WWW]. Available from: http://cda-cdai.ca/cdai/uploads/cdai/2010/07/pourmokhtari2010.pdf Sukma, R. (2004). IIPS International Coference “Asean, Regional Security and The Role of the United States: A View from Southeast Asia” IIPS. [WWW]. Available from: http://www.iips.org/04sec/04asiasec_sukma.pdf Suri, J. (2009). American Grand Strategy from the Cold War’s End to 9/11. Debating American Grand Strategy After Major War. [WWW]. Available from: http://jeremisuri.net/doc/2009/03/orbis-article-fall-2009.pdf Read More