Features of a Bipolar World - Essay Example

FEATURES OF A BIPOLAR WORLD: WITH A CLOSER LOOK IN THE COLD WAR PERIOD BY PRESENTED Features of a Bipolar World Since the First World War, power alignment has been of much importance; it was the main and remarkable feature in 20th century’s history. Power struggle involved those with the might and capacity to control the world as a superpower, with ideologies, huge spending in military infrastructure and elaborate intelligence being set up to in a fierce completion aimed at manifesting power and dominance in the global world. This serious struggle to gain and control the global affairs was further advanced in the period after the Second World War as Russia, U.S and their allies entered the Cold War period, which was purely a struggle to control global relations and affairs (Sutch & Elias, 2007). This trend engineered a process where the global power changed from being controlled by a few countries, to being a preserve of two fierce rivals competing to dominate the world in politics, ideologies, and technological powers. The rest of the world became spectators; they were sucked in the fierce competition, which led to the Cold War, marked by serious struggle for power between the U.S and Soviet Union, two giants that invested in every aspect to fight over global control during in this period. Therefore, in order to understand the features of a bipolar world, the cold war period would be the best scenario to consider and make out the main features elaborate during this period, which sucked the entire world to the rivalry between the U.S and Soviet Union, and almost degenerated into war. A bipolar world is therefore marked by fierce competition in economics, political, ideological, and technological fields, the main factors that define an era in the global world. One feature that describes a bipolar world is the difference in ideologies and systems. Two powers will compete and the rest of the countries to either side through creating a global divide marked by differences in system ideologies. For, example, during the bipolar cold War, the U.S with its democratic and capitalism ideologies, with its allies who had similar ideologies competed fiercely against the Soviet Union, which was behind the socialism system ideology and its allies mostly in Asia and eastern Europe. In the superpower ideological rivalry during the cold war, democracy and the Marx socialism ideology were the main conflicting ideologies at war (Yilmaz, 2008). Marx ideology in communist Asia elicited much reaction from the European countries; the Soviet Union at the time being a superpower, and being behind the ideology had made progress in spreading this ideology in the region. Konstas (1997) noted that the Cold War was marked by a linear division between the West and East, which was seen as a great threat against the Western and American interests. The thereat was mainly from the socialism ideology being propagated, and which found no favor in the western countries including the U.S. This resulted in a U.S foreign policy named the “containment doctrine”, implying an attempt to contain the Soviet Union and retard its rapid expansion in the hope that the union was to collapse sooner or later, and thus end its threat to western countries. The fight for ideological power was thus the main defining factor leading the western and eastern countries to face off, mainly driven by the difference between the democratic and capitalist ideologies, against the Marx socialist ideology. Military power is another feature that characterizes a bipolar world. Konstas (1997) argues that military power is a defining though not the only feature of a bipolar world. In the Cold war, competition was basically on military power, where large budgets, intelligence, and weaponry were the main factors at work, with the severe competition in technological power, all being linked to military power in case the tension degenerated into a full war. Christopher (1992) noted that the main characteristics of superpowers as witnessed in the Cold War is intelligence, and competition in factors such as power in terms of military, economic powers, and international political systems, in order to coalesce around the small countries that support their ideologies against the competing force. Sutch & Elias (54) explains that in international politics, power balance system involves formation of alliances between weaker and stronger countries, to ensure no dominant power emerges, which leads to maximization of security systems. However, in a bipolar world, the opposite is true. The super powers instead of forming alliances with weaker states to distribute power, they form coalitions with alike stronger states to make the entire block a center of enormous power, which cannot be defeated economically, ideologically, or politically. The union between the U.S and western European countries specifically portrays this phenomenon. The force formed in the union was responsible for disintegration of the Soviet Union, detailing the importance of power systems in a bipolar world. Ability to manifest both economic and military power translates to resources and might in case of any conflict. Therefore, the two Eastern and Western blocks could not be compared in terms of might they commanded; this might was responsible for ensuring the socialist ideology was halted from further spread in the region, as well as disintegrating the political system in the Soviet Union, to water down any more competition leading to formation of a unipolar world. Moravesick (2010) further noted that military force is a luxury that only countries with enough technological sophistication, a legacy of military spending, and a considerably high per capita income can afford. For example, currently, it is estimated that the United States is the leading spender in military with about 43% of global military spending being spent in U.S military alone. Considering the might of Western Europe countries, their economic development advantages in the period ending 1990, the enormous economic and military power supplemented by the massive U.S.A economic and military power ensured the success of the western block against the Eastern bloc. Therefore, military, economic, and technological might is a defining factor in a bipolar world, where the two rivals spend enormously to outdo each other in the above aspects. Another feature that comes along with the portrayal of military might in a bipolar system is instability. Yilmaz (2008) observes that the fierce competition and power allegiance that characterize superpowers makes the world more insecure due to the suspicion, rivalry, and dirty tricks played by each superpower to win over the other. For example, during the Cold War, the CIA and the KJB were in detailed operations and carried out much elaborate dirty tricks, which included spreading rumors, spying, and trying any possibility to control global affairs. This fierce competition in one way or another led to heightened insecurity and suspicion politically; the cold war was almost to degenerate into a full war, which could have brought about serious effects globally. The instability was realized after the collapse of the communist Soviet Union, which marked the end of the Cold War, leaving a unipolar global system, which was a more stable political era with no rivalry or competition; one country was responsible for global affairs in all aspects. For example, the presence of American army in Japan serves more purpose than is practically visible. While the army protects Japan against its foreign adversaries, it indirectly protects China and other Asian countries from the might of a heavily rearmed Japan (Yilmaz, 2008). This is the type of stability achieved under unipolar system. Bipolar systems are mainly formed due to a power vacuum created by the fall of a much larger coalition of power, which upon falling creates room for unhealthy competition between two different ideologies and systems that rush to occupy the vacuum. Christopher (1992) explains that it was not clear if the two nations; U.S.A and U.S.S.R had indeed prepared to act as superpowers in their policies several years before the two World Wars. Europe for thousands of years formed a strong center of power, which had controlled the economics, politics and technological developments in the world for hundreds of years. However, the first and second world war weekend such European powers, and example being Germany. The downfall of the Western Europe powers created a vacuum that immediately sucked in the two super powers at the time from two proposing sides to occupy the power vacuum in global affairs. Keylor (1992) in the formation of the bipolar world in the Truman-Stalin Era (1945-153) explains that the beginning of a bipolar world was marked when the Soviet Union and the United States armies met at the Elbe River in the hurt of mainland Germany in 1945. As Keylor explains, though there were moments of jubilation for the success of defeating what had been described as a global evil led by Hitler, this was short-lived as the two governments were involved in an overshadowing disagreement, mainly related to the dynamics of the new power vacuum that had been occupied by Germany in the European region. The European region was thus torn into two parts; each European country developed economic and political systems that were in line with preferences of their liberator. However, Belgium, France, and Italy declined to realign with the society’s ideology despite the heavy communist movements that were in action in these countries, choosing the Anglo –American ideology of the post war world (Keylor, 1992). However, the Eastern part of Europe defied the continuing hostility towards communism, adopted the socialism ideology, and embraced the ideologies of their liberator. This led the communist and noncommunist parties in both regions being treated according to the main ideology of their block, creating large blocks of two antagonistic powers identified by which superpower military force had emancipated them from Hitler’s rule. The two antagonistic blocks were thus to be the beginning of fierce power struggles alongside their parent superpowers, which was responsible for the Cold War that was initiated after this alignment. Therefore, the antagonists were created by a vacuum resulting from disintegration of Germany after its fall in the Second World War, leaving a vacuum which resulted in a fierce battle between the Soviet Union and U.S. A bipolar world is market by the presence of two super powers that outdo one another to control global affairs though spreading its ideologies. In order to achieve such control, the super powers have to invest heavily in military power, technology, economy and virtually all aspects so as to have a global command in all the above sectors. The fierce battle in achieving these objectives and realignments of allies largely sucks in the entire world, with a country aligning to either of the two sides. Therefore, a bipolar world is characterized by a fierce fight o control ideologies and global affairs. References List Christopher P.E., 1992. A Unipolar of Multipolar World? An Individual Study Project, USAWC Military Studies Program Paper, Pennsylvania: U.S Army War College Keylor, W.R., 1992. The Twentieth Century World: An International History, 2nd edition, London: Oxford University Press Konstas, D., 1997. The United States and the Challenge of Post Bi-polar world, Journal of Foreign Policy Issues Moravcsik A.,2010., Europe rising Superpower in a Bipolar World, in Allan A., and Cooper A., Rising States, Rising Institutions: Challenges for Global Governance, Washington: Brookings Institution Press, 2010. Sutch P., & Elias J., 2007. International relations; The Basics, NY: Routledge Yilmaz, E.M., 2008. The New World Order: An Outline of the Post-Cold War Era, Turkish Journal of International Relations, 7(4), 44-58. Read More

 

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