Consequences of The Cold War - Term Paper Example

Introduction The period of the cold war had very many effects on the economic and social lives of people in the world and also the third world countries. To some, the cold war was beneficial to them and to others it was the worst period they will ever wish to encounter. The major effects of the Cold war to the countries in the world and third world countries is the mode of governance with many countries heavily borrowing from the Marxist-Leninist single-party states and the Capitalist state with generally free and fair elections . The Cold War was characterized by confrontations that happened in the period between 1945 and 1990, the exact date of the beginning of the cold war has never been determined, although some international scholars believe that the Cold War began in 1917 during the Russian revolution. However, the Russian Revolution was between the US and its allies, who were mostly the western nations, and the Eastern bloc which, was spearheaded by the USSR. Nevertheless the two superpowers did not engage in a fight or applied weapons against each other, but they heavily armed themselves in preparation for a possible all out nuclear world war with each of the superpower countries having a nuclear deterrent that deterred any nuclear attack from the other attacker. The countries used proxy wars, propaganda and ideological influence as fighting techniques during the cold war (Trachtenberg 132). Thus, the war had a great impact on the world. The falling of the Berlin wall in 1989 was one of the many events that marked the end of the Cold War. The world moved from a state of military multipolarity to a state of unipolarity which still exists today. There is a debate concerning whether the world has become more stable and secure after the end of the Cold War. In 1979, there was a hypothesis presented by Kenneth Waltz that stated that the world is more secure and stable if there are few dominating powers. According to him, alliances had become more diffuse in a world that is multipolar than in a world that is bipolar (Trachtenberg 132). In the world history, the era of multipolarity was characterized by six states that competed for the influence and power distribution was constantly changing. There was stability during the period of the Cold War because there was sharing of domination between two super powers. There have been a lot of changes in the presentation of the hypothesis by Waltz. The end of the Cold War resulted at an end of ‘structural elements’ in the international framework that was facing the third world nations. That means that the world competition between the superpowers and the resulting search for the allies in the developing world. However, eliminating competition meant that there was now a decisive change in the western policy towards the third world nations (Trachtenberg 134). For example, they could no longer apply their strategic position in mineral resources or their political support in the regional conflict as bargaining points with the superpowers.The end of the Cold War resulted in changes in the world structure of the system which had a great effect on Third World nations. Competition for the Third world countries The nationalist movements in some of the countries and regions in the third world countries more especially Guatemala were more often allied with the communist or were perceived to be allies of the communist. The United States which gradually become the superpower was competing the Soviet Union by proxy in the third world countries as the race for decolonization gained momentum in the early 1960’s.In the race for the third world countries, both countries were selling armaments in order to gain influence. The United States used the CIA to secretly fund and creates instability in the third world countries in order to do away with the unfriendly third world governments in order to support their allies. The many emerging nations in the third world countries gradually started to reject the pressure to choose sides in the famous East and West competition. The countries formed independence movements which in turn transformed the post-war order into a pluralistic world of decolonized African and Middle Eastern nations and this led to the rise of nationalism in the third world countries. Prior to the Cold War The 1st and 2nd World Wars were the two most important events of the previous century. The allies of the 2nd world war disagreed on how the European map should look and how the European borders should be since each side held different ideas regarding the maintenance and establishment of post-war security. The collapse of the European empires after the famous world war 11 and the various changes in the patterns of hegemony basically made the formal control of the colonies less important. The major contributing factor to the collapse of the European empires was the challenge of the Soviet Union. The denunciation of Colonialism by Moscow, cutting of its aid to the third world country and the ever present radical movements, this together with the spread of communist revolution in china and elsewhere in the world gradually encouraged the western powers to bring to an end colonialism. The two wars were the ones a mongst the imperialist powers that had aimed to determine the great power that would dominate the world and the colonies that would be left to the opponents. With the same reasons of the two wars, in the same historical reasons, the nations had considered the capability to attain the desired outcome in the fields of economics and politics as their initial goal. The goals has resulted in the states holding the power especially in the field of economics in their hands, to hinder the economic development of other states by applying the economic power they have and the economic power of the military and political fields. The power holders in these three areas are referred to as the dominant powers in these periods. The dominant powers did not want any country with military power that could turn the power balance against them, and they made sure they created any kind of conflict so as to maintain their power and destabilize the country that wanted to oppose their rule. With the belief that the strong one is the dominant one, the capacity to possess more military power became vital in all the periods and the capacity to have such kind of power was taken as a threat by the opponents. In this period when the military power was considered to be important, it was essential not to be contented with ones resources and to bring the different types of supplies in the mainland. This understanding offered a foundation for the development of colonialism. Even if the 17th century was a representation of the development of science in Europe, the capability of reaching all the world resources by geographical discoveries in Europe resulted in gaining more power in the area of trade, politics and economy than other international powers in the system. A system of multipolarity raises conflict in the politics of the world, as many states of the same strength compete for influence and power. The states are not sure of the intentions of their rivals, which increase the possibility of a military action. Also, there is a constant change of power balance in this type of system. Multipolarity indicates that a key power structure in a system that is internationally dominated by a number of large powers and there is an antagonism between the powers. The classical period of power was as a result of organized big power politics. The Napoleonic wars had promoted the great powers wanting to prevent the same events from happening in future. Following France defeat, the Vienna Congress determined that the world politics should be dominated by five states. These states are Russia, Great Britain, Russia, Austria-Hungary and France. The power sharing was working well until there were other powers that came into play and tried to take over politics. The system’s instability manifested itself in the Crimean War following the invading of the Ottoman Empire by Russia and France, and these actions forced Britain to join forces and fight back the Russians. However, the greatest blow to peace came when the German ambitions, which came to an end in the First World War. This was the end of Austria-Hungary. The end of the era of multipolarity meant that a new challenge was to come into the politics of the world power. The United States and the Soviet Union were to dominate the world arena for the subsequent half century. The bipolarity denoted the basic structure of the international system when it was dominated by two superpowers. Thus, the other nations had to ally themselves with one of the main powers, which limited their power to manoeuvre and, therefore, resulting in international politics that are more stable.The period of the Cold War is considered to have been relatively peaceful, considering the absence of War between the major super powers but with high level of suspicion in regards to which country would use the nuclear weapon first. The bipolar power was also a rivalry of the superpowers between the East and the West, where the relationship between the two superpowers was characterized by fear and suspicion, and confrontation was common. The superpowers took different sides in confrontations during the period of the Cold War, especially in Asia and Africa, which were usually the battleground for their rivalry between the two superpowers. The Cold War ended following the stagnation of the Soviet after they took part in an arms race with the United States, and as a result of decreasing prices of oil in the 1980s. Subsequent efforts by introducing a market economy did not yield fruit; the communist party power was looked down upon.The East European nations declared independence, there was the dissolution of the Warsaw, and at last the world witnessed the falling of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Following the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachew in 1991, the bipolar era came to an end. The world structure after the Cold War The ending of Cold War coincided with the ending of the superpower rivalry of the previous decade. There was now no “typical” East vs. West conflict. By the end of the cold war the united states were the winners since they came out as the only dominating power in the politics of the world, since there were no real super powers to challenge their ideologies in terms of politics which emphasized in democratic election which many countries around the world were quick to adapt.This political monopoly that the united states enjoyed gave more room for the superpower to get actively involved in the international affairs that did not necessarily coincide with those of the national interest since many countries looked up to them for guidance and military intervention in the name of bringing peace across the continent. These new political situation is what is referred to as being unipolar. The unipolar structure of power is where there is one superpower that is dominating the whole continent. The structural realists argue that the unipolar power structure is unstable since it will in the long run head towards multipolarity, and the other powers will attempt to break the hegemony of the superpower. According to Jean-JacquesRousseau, “the strongest is never enough to be the master.” It is argued that, even though, this superpower will maintain its position, at least for a while, its power will finally be weakened as a result of dominating the other states. For example, the USA has attempted to clinch hegemonic power by stationing 100,000 troops in Asia and Europe. Through assuring of its allies safety, the United States has been able to subdue the security need for other nations. This action has made the other states not to participate in the armed race. Nevertheless, the dominance is expensive and has limited the economic growth of the United States. In the long last this will lower the power of the United States since the other states do not incur related costs and are viewed as friendly since they do not impose their ideologies on other countries. Since 1989 until today, the question of what the international structure will be following the end of the Cold War has been discussed widely but there has been no consensus reached. Some scholars who have critically analyzed the single superpower rule issue argue that the 21st century international system made one pole, which is the United states, whereas other scholars stated that Russia, EU, India, China and Japan would be able to balance the power of the United States and, therefore, there may arise a multipolar world (Bose and Rosanna 201).There being no strategic order and basic values resulted in more increase of the discussion. Whereas there were discussions going on where there is a situation of one polarity created by the new system on behalf of the United States, the United States went into Iraq with an excuse that Kuwait had been invaded by Iraq, as it was seeking to answer the discussion. This campaign was viewed as an attempt by the United States to show that it was the only leader in the system that is changing. The United States president at that time, George Bush stated that his campaign was a start of a new system of the world and he defined the new system of the world as a system which was characterized by state cooperation, where conflicts will be resolved peacefully, the attacker was faced with solidarity among the other powerful nation since they believed in the cause of the united states decision to invade Iraq, the number of weapons was lowered and controlled and people were received with a fair treatment.Nonetheless, the expectations of the world from this definition could not be met, and thus it created disappointments. The reason for the disappointment is explained by the fact that the changes that happened between 1989 and 1991 which were worse than those that happened between 1945 and 1989. It is also argued that it was difficult to hold a basic notion of the gap that happened in the policies. It is argued by Bose and Rosanna (211) that the spread of the current power of the United States is unique and it has placed its military power in the Eastern and Western ends of the Eurasia and the controlled Gulf of Basra and that the United States economic dynamism fulfilled the prerequisite of establishing its supremacy in the world.It is also stated that the areas that determine the supremacy of the United States are its ability to have extraordinary world access in the military aspect, it is the key engine of the world growth, its leadership in the process of reformation and its unrivaled charm for the global youth. Third World in the post-Cold War The end of the Cold War also caused instability in the Third World nations. There are factors which resulted in the instability of the third world post the Cold War. The first factor is based on the withdrawal of the superpower in changing the regional balance of the Third World power. A fear that is common among the western strategists is that a retrenchment of a superpower may lead to a sudden rise to a local dominant fill into the geopolitical vacuum (Kühne, 16). Another factor that contributes to the instability in the Third World is that the disengagement of the superpower would force their past colonial masters and superpowers to look for greater military self-reliance, thus motivating other regional arms race. According to an analyst, the superpower withdrawal from the Third World nations may mean that the Third World countries will have to stand on its own and fight whatever evil that they face alone. Strengthening the possibility of a greater militarism in the Third World is the accessibility of greater amount of military hardware from the large arsenals of the key powers at bargain prices (Ellis, 25). Another factor causing instability in the Third world that is connected with the Cold War is the likelihood of better regime stability. The coming to an end of the Cold War was a major blow to most of the authoritarian regimes like those in North Korea, Cuba, Ethiopia and Somalia, who had maintained a power due to the great amount of superpower military and the economic aid. Their dependence is shown by the fact that between the start of 1990 and the middle of 1992, as many as eleven African leaders from the African continent have in one way or another been overthrown from power leading to political instability and power vacuum. The fact that all the key nations that were receiving aid from the superpower have overthrown their leaders of this era cannot be a coincidence (Kühne, 16). Another source of instability after the Cold war that is identified is correctly linked is the issue of ethnicity. A recent research on the conflicts in the world revealed that nearly 23 wars that were being fought across the African continent in 1994, all except a few were founded on communal rivalries as well as ethnic challenges to states. Based on the research, ethnic conflict contributed to three-quarters of the refugees in the world. Such statistics has formed the basis of the perspective that the key aspect of decompression effect is ethnic conflicts. The end of the Cold War is connected to the ethnic conflict in most parts of the Third World, it was meant the elimination of the ideological model that had provided uniting symbols of the building of nations in the continents that world have been slowly disintegrated by the cultural, ethnic, religious, and linguistic differences. The effect of the cold war that is still felt to date in many third world countries is the continued rise in terrorism-related cases. Most of the Terrorist groups are against the ideologies of the United States of America with its invasion in many Muslim countries in the act of trying to bring peace. The terrorism Act has continued to create disability to many governments and even helping rebels to overthrow the recognized regimes while killing million of innocent victims. The effect of the cold war to the world The cold war definitely defined the political role that the united states of America in the post world war two. The famous post cold world war is widely considered by many scholars as unipolar, with the United States basically remaining as the major superpower. The effect of the cold war also instituted a global commitment to some huge, permanent peacetime military-industrial complexes and some large-scale military funding science. The legacy of the cold war conflict has not been easily erased and there are many of the economic and social tensions that were basically exploited to fuel the unforgettable war and the competition of the third world remain acute. During the end of the Cold War, the superpowers never formalized any treaty ending the famous war. The former superpowers have continually improved and modify the existing nuclear weapons and the delivery systems. This has led to other nation which had no knowledge of the nuclear existence to arm themselves, the risk of nuclear terrorism by some possible sub-national organization. The famous atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki cause some unimagined destruction through some intense blast and fire as well as some lingering radiation. The bombing of the two cities led to may side effects in the cities and, as a result, the city was inhabitable. Some of the famous specific consequences of the famous cold war were a huge fiscal mortgage placed on many domestic economies. The national military establishments and alliances had to be reconfigured In conclusion, the period of Cold War happened between the 1945 and the 1990 although some international scholars believe that the Cold War began in 1917 during the Russian revolution. However, the Russian Revolution was between the US and its allies, who were mostly the western nations, and the Eastern bloc which, was spearheaded by the USSR. One of the events that marked the end of the Cold War was the falling of the Berlin wall in 1989. There was a range of conflict that erupted after the end of the Cold War. However, there has been a strong decrease in the number of the armed conflicts from 1992. The structure of multipolarity was less stable as compared to the bipolar system, and it led to two World Wars. The bipolar structure means that international politics was more stable due to the dominating superpowers, which were USSR and the USA. The transition to the current superpower structure has resulted in major alterations of the world politics with the United States coming up as a superpower. It is evident that there is no state that has succeeded in challenging the United States military. One of the reasons is because of its geographical situation as compared to the nations challenging it such as China, Russia, Japan and India. The end of the Cold War also caused instability in the Third World nations. There are factors which resulted in the instability of the third world post the Cold War. One is that there will be left a vacuum which could be taken over by another power; the Third World nations may rely on another power thus raising arms. Work Cited Bose, Meenekshi, and Rosanna Perotti. From Cold War to New World Order: The Foreign Policy of George Bush. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2002. Electronic source. Ellis, Stephen. "Africa After the Cold War: New Patterns of Government and Politics." Development and Change. 27.1 (1996): 1-28. Print. Kühne, Winrich. "Africa After the End of the Cold War." Economics. 45 (2002): 7-28. Print. Trachtenberg, Marc. The Cold War and After: History, Theory, and the Logic of International Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012. Electronic source. Work Cited Bose, Meenekshi, 1970, and Rosanna Perotti. From Cold War to New World Order: The Foreign Policy of George Bush. no. 393 Vol. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2002. Web. Ellis, Stephen. "Africa After the Cold War: New Patterns of Government and Politics." Development and Change 27.1 (1996): 1-28. Web. Trachtenberg, Marc, 1946. The Cold War and After: History, Theory, and the Logic of International Politics. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2012. Web. Read More