IRAfter the Cold War

The Cold War 1945-1991

Th

e A

rms

RaceWhile the Arms

Race was mostly a waste of money, it actually

prevented a “hot war”-the

two Super powers never

fought in a conventional war because

they were afraid of the weapons that the other country had.

Reasons for the Race

Both sides wanted to have more weapons than the other

Both sides thought that having more weapons made them superior to the rest of the world

The only reason the Cold War was actually “cold” is because both sides were scared to fight one another-they thought that if they fought, the other side would use nuclear weapons

End of the Cold War

Collapse of the Soviet Empire US as the sole super power

The Soviet Union While the US was spending at levels the USSR

was finding difficult to match, the Soviets were having their own internal problems

The Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 after ten years of a failed war many likened to the US experience in Vietnam

The Soviet economy and those of its eastern and central European satellites were in serious trouble

The Soviet Union

With economic and political reforms obviously needed, premier Mikhail Gorbachev initiated perestroika (the “restructuring” or decentralizing of the economy) and glasnost (an “opening” of the Soviet society to public scrutiny)

The reforms proved difficult to implement and unleashed hostility from the old order it threatened, long suppressed criticism, and ethnic and nationalist separatism

By the summer of 1990, Gorbachev’s reforms had spent themselves

Collapse of the Soviet Empire

The 1989 Romanian Revolution was a violent overthrow of the communist regime of Nicolae

Ceauşescu Revolutions broke out throughout eastern

Europe as people overthrow communist dictators in places like Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania and countries such as Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia broke apart

Berlin Wall came down on November 9, 1989 and East and West Germany united in 1990

Collapse of the Soviet Empire Beginning in August 1991, Soviet republics

began declaring their independence from the USSR

Also in August, a group of conspirators representing dissatisfied elements of the Communist Party, the KGB, and the military attempted to seize power while Gorbachev was on vacation

Boris Yelstin crushed the coup, but himself replaced Gorbachev

By the end of 1991, the USSR had ceased to exist

End of the Bipolar World

The demise of the Soviet Union left the US as the world’s sole superpower

Without the danger of a superpower confrontation, the US was now more free to use its military power

But, the world never cease to turn.

Main Trends after Cold Wars Unprecedented expansion of capitalism Formation of the global capitalist class, which has

absorbed former communist elites Unprecedented rise of US global influence Ideological dominance of neoliberalism Lack of ideological alternatives to the new status-quo Logic of the market, logic of democracy Steady buildup of tensions and conflicts: from

relative peace to a global war mode Discovery of climate change: new stage in the

growth of eco-consciousness The global economic crisis

The Post-Cold War World:

3 periods

First Period,1991-2000: Triumph of the WestRussia’s transition crisisThe Unipolar Moment: US

hegemony at its peakThe Western expansionFormation of the global neoliberal

regime

Second Period, 2001-2008: US Hegemony TestedThe Islamist challenge and the

Bush responseDevelopment of a multipolar

systemRussia’s resurgenceRelative decline of US hegemony

Third Period, 2008-nowThe global economic crisisGorbama and the American perestroika

The rise of China as a global powerEurope: from integration to

fragmentation?Reset in Russia’s relations with the

West