The World System: Before and After Cold War
Introduction to Cold War
The Cold War was the period of conflict, tension and competition between the United States (capitalism) and the Soviet Union (socialism) and their respective allies from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s. This based on ideological conflict and a balance of terror.
Throughout the period, the rivalry between the two superpowers was played out in multiple arenas: military coalitions; ideology, psychology, and espionage; sports; military, industrial, and technological developments, including the space race; costly defense spending; a massive conventional and nuclear arms race; and many proxy wars. Since direct military attacks on adversaries were deterred by the potential for mutual assured destruction using nuclear weapons. In deed, there was never a direct military engagement between two superpowers, but half a century of military buildup as well as political battles for support around the world. The Cold War spread outside Europe to every region of the world. Repeated crises threatened to escalate into world wars but never did.
. The Cold War drew to a close in the late 1980s following Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's summit conferences with United States President Ronald Reagan, as well as Gorbachev's launching of reform programs: perestroika and glasnost.
Cold War: The Aftermath
Afterward, Russia cut military spending dramatically and left millions of unemployment. Russian living standards have worsened overall in the post-Cold War years. Some of the economic and social tensions that underpinned Cold War competition in parts of the Third World remain acute. The breakdown of state control in a number of areas formerly ruled by Communist governments has produced new civil and ethnic conflicts. That accompanied by a large growth in the number of liberal democracies. However, in areas where the two superpowers had been waging proxy wars, and subsidizing local conflicts, many conflicts... [continues]
Introduction to Cold War
The Cold War was the period of conflict, tension and competition between the United States (capitalism) and the Soviet Union (socialism) and their respective allies from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s. This based on ideological conflict and a balance of terror.
Throughout the period, the rivalry between the two superpowers was played out in multiple arenas: military coalitions; ideology, psychology, and espionage; sports; military, industrial, and technological developments, including the space race; costly defense spending; a massive conventional and nuclear arms race; and many proxy wars. Since direct military attacks on adversaries were deterred by the potential for mutual assured destruction using nuclear weapons. In deed, there was never a direct military engagement between two superpowers, but half a century of military buildup as well as political battles for support around the world. The Cold War spread outside Europe to every region of the world. Repeated crises threatened to escalate into world wars but never did.
. The Cold War drew to a close in the late 1980s following Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's summit conferences with United States President Ronald Reagan, as well as Gorbachev's launching of reform programs: perestroika and glasnost.
Cold War: The Aftermath
Afterward, Russia cut military spending dramatically and left millions of unemployment. Russian living standards have worsened overall in the post-Cold War years. Some of the economic and social tensions that underpinned Cold War competition in parts of the Third World remain acute. The breakdown of state control in a number of areas formerly ruled by Communist governments has produced new civil and ethnic conflicts. That accompanied by a large growth in the number of liberal democracies. However, in areas where the two superpowers had been waging proxy wars, and subsidizing local conflicts, many conflicts... [continues]
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