IR After the Cold War
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