Essay on The End of the Cold War - 1634 Words

The end of the Cold War brought about the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, paving the way for an unprecedented new paradigm – one characterised by the end of hostilities between the two dominant ideologies: Soviet communism and American liberal capitalism. This dominant new paradigm encouraged the homogenisation of ideas, in the form of exchanging ethos and values along former cultural, ideological and geographical divides. As such, this integration of world societies has earned the title ‘globalisation’, forcing the global community to appear so united as to warrant the metaphor of a global village. (Note: This paragraph pains me to read – I will eventually re-write it.) Few contemporary phenomena elicit such academic and†¦show more content†¦In truth, its history dates back as far as the sixteenth century, following the first great expansion of European capitalism, which resulted in slave trade, colonialism and neo-colonialism (Ezema, 2009). Throughout history, world powers have continually sought to perpetuate their way of life: from the philosophy and mythology of the Greeks, the political ideologies and linguistics of the Romans, and the art and architecture of the Italian Renaissance (Daghrir, 2013). Thus, it comes as no surprise that the aftermath of the post-war era, which saw the collapse of Soviet communism and the emergence of the United States as the sole hegemon, saw the aggressive spread of American ideals, values, and beliefs. Indeed, just as American goods flooded world markets in the post-World War II era; American culture now penetrates every continent through the aggressive development of mass communications, trade expansio n and information technology. The nature of imperialism in the modern world has drastically changed; it has transcended from explicit military strength to economic, political, cultural and linguistic dimensions (Haque, 2011). Many anti-globalisation scholars argue that contemporary imperialist powers have turned to symbolic means of control, which are facilitated by the integration of Western-dominated global telecommunications systems and theShow MoreRelatedThe End Of Cold War2804 Words   |  12 PagesThe End of Cold War: An Analysis Cold War should be considered as one of the most important events that stirred the global political world and it should be considered as an event the end of which reshaped the socio-economic and political structure of myriads of nations across the globe. The end of the Cold War ensured the demise of the Soviet instigated communism and the rise of democracy once again. But it should be noted that just like the emergence of the Cold War the end of the Cold War was notRead MoreThe End Of The Cold War1694 Words   |  7 PagesThe end of the cold war, is often considered as marking the dawn of a fundamentally different political environment. This change in environment, has brought about new salient questions by scholars and policy makers about the relevance of nuclear weapons in the world. In his article, ‘learning to love the bomb’ Jonathan Tepperman calls president Obama’s plan to rid the world off nuclear weapons wrong, dreamy, unrealistic and a big mistake. I foun d this article interesting as it seems rather paradoxicalRead MoreThe End Of The Cold War930 Words   |  4 PagesThe end of the Cold War marks more than just the end of the arms race, between the Soviet Union and the United States, it also marks the weakening of communism. Communism, the greatest enemy to the west during the Cold War had to be put down at any cost, this meant supporting militaristic dictatorships that were against communism. The weakening of communism, however, ignited Global Democratic Revolutions in which the people sought to gain the power back from the government. These revolutions wereRead MoreThe End Of The Cold War Essay1740 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction The most important turning point in contemporary history was propitiated by the end of the Cold War, when one of the fields of the bipolar era disappeared, opening the way for a unipolar world under American imperial hegemony. The United States immediately began to use its unquestionable superiority, seeking to transfer the conflicts to the military confrontation. The apex of this policy of militarization of conflicts was in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya (Missiroli, 2015). Although inRead MoreThe End Of The Cold War Essay4338 Words   |  18 PagesAbstract: This article discusses the end of the Cold War, covering the period from Reagan?s inauguration to the reunification of Germany, which marked the end of the last remnant in Europe of the Cold War. It looks at several factors that brought the conflict to a close: arms control, human rights issues, and ongoing conflicts in Latin America between the Soviet Union and the United States. The most important meetings and summits between the United States and the Soviet Union are discussed, includingRead MoreThe End Of The Cold War1435 Words   |  6 PagesDespite the hope for democracy and political stability in the last two decades, crises and armed conflicts remain a serious impediment to development in many countries. Moreover, if some specialists say that the end of the Cold War at the beginning of the 1990s spelled the end of conflicts created through the East-West confrontation, the following years have shown the predominance of intra-state crises, thus forcing the United Nations (UN) to review its strategies for peace and security. In extremelyRead MoreThe End Of The Cold War1069 Words   |  5 PagesAt the end of the Cold War, a more widespread interest in post conflict reconstruction was becoming more prevalent. The main components of this interest during the post reconciliation period were accountability and reconciliation. To facilitate this in two different post conflict environments, two respective trib unals were established. These tribunals were known as the ICTY (The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, est.1993) and ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for RwandaRead MoreThe End Of The Cold War2747 Words   |  11 PagesThe United Nations was handed the sacred duty of, in its own words, â€Å"to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.† While the UN was able to prevent another great war, and to an extent other large regional wars, it has still not met its key tenet of saving generations from the scourge of war. I believe that the UN has failed to promote peace successfully in the world, and its job as facilitator of peace hasn’t been met when countless conflicts have continued all over the globe. I believeRead MoreThe End Of The Cold War928 Words   |  4 Pages The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union were heralded by many as the end of history. Economic and political liberalism, it was argued, had triumphed over all other political and economic systems and was thus going to usher the world into an era of endless freedom and stability. This new global system, bounded by the principles of democracy and free market capitalism, was promoted as being the panacea for the liberation of the individual from the ills and control of old bureaucraciesRead MoreThe End Of The Cold War Essay2178 Words   |  9 PagesThe end of the Cold War created new dimensions for bilateral and multilateral international relations, including the U.S.-Vietnam relations. From the demand of normalizing the bilateral diplomatic ties, the U.S. detailed a four-phase roadmap in April 1991, which associated closely with resolving the Vietnam’s military involvement in the Cambodian conflict, and the U.S. prisoners of war/missing in action (POW/M IA) issue during the war in Vietnam. In 1995, the U.S. and Vietnam officially announced