THE COLD WAR

Background

• As a result of the WWII, the European multipolar system was destroyed.

• Polarity in international relations???– Various ways in which power is distributed within

the international system.• “Set of relationships among the world’s states, structured according to

certain rules and patterns of interaction”.

Four types of systems

• Unipolar system– Post-Cold War (USA)

• Bipolar system– Cold war (USA vs. USSR)

• Tripolar system

• Multipolar system– 4 or more centers of power

USSR vs. USA• U.S. and Soviet Union – two superpowers of the

post-WWII era

– Each had its ideological mission (capitalist democracy vs. communism).

– Each had network of alliances and clients and a deadly arsenal of weapons.

• Central concern of the West: that the Soviet Union might gain control of western Europe

Stalin vs Truman

• Stalin didn’t want to retrieve troops from eastern europe

• Harry Truman embraced a new anti-soviet policy: the containment doctrine.

USA plans

• The containment doctrine:– US approach to contain or prevent the spread of

Communism.

• Marshall plan– An American initiative to aid Europe in which they

gave $13 billion dollars to rebuild European economy.

– Goals: rebuild war devastated regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry and prevent the spread of communism.

Sino-Soviet Alliance

• 1949 - China and USSR

• 1960 they split when China opposed Soviet moves toward peaceful coexistence between the US.– China generally tried to play a balancer role

against whichever superpower seemed most threatening at the time.

Then…• Things became more hostile

– USA feared that Soviet Union were ahead of them with technology aspects (SPUTNIK 1)

– The USSR shoot down a US spy plane.

• These hostilities culminated with the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.– USA = missiles in Turkey VS. USSR = missiles in Cuba– The soviet aims were to reduce their nuclear inferiority,

and to prevent USA invasion in Cuba

BUT….

• The USA considered the missiles provocative and threatening.

• NUCLEAR WAR WAS POSSIBLE!!!

• What did US do? – Kennedy decided to put “a ring of ships” all

around Cuba to prevent the soviets from bringing more military supplies.

At the end all went well.

• The Soviet Union backs down on the missiles.• USA promised not to invade Cuba in the

future.

• In 1963, they signed The Limited Test Ban Treaty prohibiting atmospheric nuclear tests and began to cooperate in cultural exchanges, space exploration, aviation and other areas.

Conflicts/Wars

• Vietnam war

• Invasion of Soviet Union in Afghanistan

Summary

• US military superiority was absolute. Followed by the Soviet Union.

• By the 1970s the Soviets had achieved strategic parity, meaning that neither side could prevent its own destruction in a nuclear war.

Summary

• The collapse of the Berlin Wall in late 1989 symbolized the end of the Cold War division of Europe.

• Germany formally reunified in 1990.

Summary

• The Soviet leader, Gorbachev, allowed these losses of external power (and more) in hopes of concentrating on Soviet domestic restructuring under his policies of:– perestroika (economic reform)– glasnost (openness in political discussion).

Summary

• China remained a communist, authoritarian government but liberalized its economy and avoided military conflicts.

• In contrast to the Cold War era, China developed close ties with both the United States and Russia and joined the world’s liberal trading regime.

• The cold war left the US with enormous quantity of arms and troops stationed in all parts of the globe, creating a unipolar system. As the only hegemonic power USA adopted a new role promoting pro-western types of government, economic neoliberalism and globalization.