Polarity in International relations

Group Members

• Muhammad Nauman Zia

• Muhammad Usman Ghani

• Muhammad Ali Raza

• Zia Ur Rehman

• Muhammad Ali Raza Nazar

Introduction

• Polarity is one of the ways in which power is distributed in IR.

• A great power is a state that is highlighted in a size of population, territory, resources ,economic capacity,military force, political stability and competition

Introduction

• Types of polarity– Multipolar– Bipolar– Unipolar

Multipolar

• Multiple countries holding the power

• Alliances between the countries

• Countries involved in this era:– Great Britain– Russia– Prussia– France– Austria-Hungary

Multipolar Era

1815-1945 The distribution of power in era of 19th

century and early 20th century is termed as multipolar

The rivalry for power and influence Power balance conflicts Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, France and

Austria-Hungry were the main powers

Multipolar Era

• Napoleonic wars and the two world wars

• To provide a long-term peace plan for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars congress of Vienna was held

• For the next 40 years the power sharing has worked really incredible. But then there were other powers that came into existence and tried to dominate politics

• However, the instability increased during Crimean war (1853-1856)

Multipolar Era

• It started from the German power ambitions and ended with the fall of Austria-Hungry empire

• Formation of United Nations

• With the end of multi-polarity it was clear that a new challenger was about to enter into the world of politics

Multipolar Era Wars

• World War 1– The first major war in the 20th century– Began on 28th July and ended on 11th November

lasted for almost 4 years– The war had seen almost 39 million dead while

almost 10 million missing– Belligerents

• Allied powers include France, UK, Russian empire, USA

• Axis powers include Germany, Austria-Hungry empire, Ottoman empire

Multipolar Era Wars

• Causes–   Mutual Defense Alliances–  Imperialism–  Militarism– Nationalism–   Immediate Cause: Assassination of

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Multipolar Era Wars

Multipolar Era Wars

Multipolar Era Wars

• World War II– This war is regarded as the deadliest of all in the

history of mankind– Began in September 1939 and lasted until August

1945– The total number of casualties of WWII were 60

million to 100 million with the tremendous destruction of the infrastructure of the affected cities.

– Belligerents• Allies consisted of United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom,

China, France

• Axis consisted of Germany, Japan, Italy

Multipolar Era Wars

• Causes

– The Treaty of Versailles solved nothing

– The League of Nations failed to keep the peace

– Appeasement encouraged aggression

– Hitler was expansionist

Multipolar Era Wars

• Main Events– Germany Invades Poland– Battle of Midway– Stalingrad– D-Day– Hiroshima and Nagasaki– Anti-Semitism– The Holocaust

Bipolar

• Two super powers dominate the whole system

• Occurrence of bipolar system

• Cold War Era

• Countries holding the power– USA– USSR

Bipolar Era

• From 1945 to 1989• No major conflicts between superpowers• Regional conflicts• Ideological differences• Both the super powers supported different countries

during cold war• The total number of armed conflict were 115 during this

period• Most of these took place between Asia and Africa

Bipolar Era

• Cuban missile crisis• Soviet economy stopped participating with arms of USA• The oil prices were cut in the 1980s• Regional conflicts like Korean war, Vietnam war,

Afghanistan war etc.• The Warsaw pact dissolved and finally the fall of Berlin

Wall in 1989• USSR divided into 15 sovereign states including Russia

Bipolar Era Wars (cold Wars)

• Shortly after WWII cold war started, United States and USSR

• It is termed as cold because there was no significant war between two powers.

• The main conflict between both superpowers was ideology

• Some regional proxy wars fought in this era are– Korean war

– Vietnam war

– Afghanistan war

• Cuban missile crisis was the major crisis in this era when the world was on the verge of nuclear war

Bipolar Era Wars

• Cuban missile crisis 1962

– Crisis over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores

– Leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962

– Disaster was avoided when the U.S. agreed to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s (1894-1971) offer to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba

– Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.

Bipolar Era Wars

• Korean War 1950-1953– From 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 – war between North and South Korea– United Nations force led by the United States of

America fought for the South Korea – China fought for the North, which was also assisted

by the Soviet Union– The war lasted for 3 years with subsequent 2.5 million

causalities although no significant territorial changes happened

Bipolar Era Wars

• Vietnam War 1955-1975– Vietnam War was a Cold War-era proxy war– Occurred in Vietnam from 1 November 1955 till 30 April

1975– Fought between North Vietnam supported by the Soviet

Union, China and other communist allies and the government of South Vietnam supported by the United States

– US government was opposed by their people for going to the war

– Casualties of the war were est. in between 1.5 million to 2.5 million

Bipolar Era Wars

• Afghanistan War 1979-1989– Started with the invasion of Soviet Union to the

Afghanistan in 1979 – Lasted over nine years– Fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces against the

non-state actors called the Mujahedeen– Mujahedeen composed of two alliances – the

Peshawar Seven and the Tehran Eight– 1987 the Soviet Union withdraw its forces

Unipolar

• One state – holding all the power

• Sole power in current system is United States

Unipolar Era

• 1991-present• No global conflicts• Era of economic completion• Mostly religion conflicts• Gulf war was the first major conflict between

Iraq with other 37 states including USA• War on terrorism still is the major and ongoing

conflict affecting the lives of millions

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

• Period started from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 till present

• It has seen the United States become by far the most powerful country in the world

• The rise of China from a relatively weak third world country becoming a strong power

• It has also seen the merging of most of Europe into one economy

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

• Gulf war(1990 – 1991)– Also known as operation desert storm was a war

began with the invasion of Kuwait by the Iraqi forces – Led to the invasion of US troops into Iraq– Iraqi Army's occupation of Kuwait that began 2

August 1990 was met with international condemnation– Brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq

by members of the U.N. Security Council

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

• A group of nations joined the Coalition which was the largest military alliance since World War II

• The great majority of the Coalition's military forces were from the US, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt

• Saudi Arabia paid around US$36 billion of the US$60 billion cost.

• Around 30000 to 40000 people lost their life in the war with the heavy casualties if Iraqi forces against US troops

• As a result of US invasion of Iraq the Iraq’s puppet govt. was demolished and Kuwaiti monarchy was restored

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

• September 11 attacks:– 11 September 2001 was the date that changed the

whole world politics– Islamic extremist organization led by Osama bin laden

attacked US by hijacking number of planes and crashing them into the world trade centers and on the US defense department pentagon

– This attack led to the deaths of 2996 people with 6000 wounded persons

– The world politics entirely changed which led to the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan by US forces

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

• Iraq war 2003:– US troops sponsored by NATO forces invaded Iraq to topple the

govt. of Sadaam Hussein– The war lasted for almost 9 years form 20 March 2003 – 18

December 2011– Not only Iraqi economy was affected greatly with the war, but

also it suffered from a lot of casualties and sectarian violence– An estimated of 605000 people got died in the war while several

were injured– Iraq after the war never got stabilized and different non-state

actors remained active after the war due to which terrorism is at its peak in this region

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

• US war in Afghanistan:

– It is the ongoing war which was started in 2001 when U.S. invaded Afghanistan supported initially by close allies eventually by NATO

– Its public aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, and to deny it a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by removing the Taliban from power

– The war started when U.S. demands from then Taliban govt. led by Mullah Omar to handover Osama bin laden

– Realizing it untraditionally Taliban’s govt. refused to do so

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

• Arab spring:

– Started in 2010– It is the wave of protests and demonstrations

in the Arab world– In Tunisia, then Egypt and then continued to

other countries– Still going on Yemen and Syria– An estimated of 169,307-174,339 people

were died and several were injured.

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

• Causes of Arab spring:– Unemployment– Inflation– Democracy– Human rights– Employment– Free Election

Conclusion

• Unipolar era is better then others eras because only one power on the globe so no one can challenge him

• It is economic era not a military war era• Every country has the chance to develop its

economic values• Due to revolution in technology, even USA can’t

attack any other country with highly advanced technological weapons on a whim.