Lecture #01 Political Science COLD WAR, DETENTE & Post- Cold War Scenario For B. A.(Hons.) & M.A.

Patliputra University, Patna

E-content / Notes by Prof. (Dr.) S. P. Shahi Professor of Political Science & Principal A. N. College, Patna - 800013 Patliputra University, Patna, Bihar E-mail: [email protected]

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Outline of Lecture

 Cold War: An Introduction  Meaning of Cold War  Causes of Cold War  DETENTE  End of Cold War  International Scenario after Cold War  Conclusion

 Cold War: An Introduction

 After the Second World War, the USA and USSR became two

Super Powers. One nation tried to reduce the power of other.

Indirectly the competition between the super powers led to the

Cold War.

 It is a type of diplomatic war or ideological war.

 The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension or conflict

between two superpowers i.e., the United States of America and

USSR, after World War-II.

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 The period is generally considered to span the Truman Doctrine

(1947) to the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991), but the first

phase of the Cold War began immediately after the end of the

Second World War in 1945.

 The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical

struggle for global influence by the two powers.

 United States of America was a representative of Capitalistic

ideology and Soviet Union was a representative of Socialist

ideology.

 The United States created the NATO military alliance in

1949 in apprehension of a Soviet attack and termed their

global policy against Soviet influence containment.

 The Soviet Union formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955 in

response to NATO.

 Meaning of Cold War

 The term ‘Cold War’ was first used by the English writer

‘George Orwell’ in an article published in 1945 to refer to

what the predicted would be a nuclear stalemate between

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“two or three monstrous super-states, each possessed of a

weapon by which millions of people can be wiped out in a

few seconds”.

 It was first used in the United States by the American

financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch in a

speech at the State House in Columbia, South Carolina in

1947.

 The Cold War has solidified by 1947-48, when U.S. aid

provided under the Marshall Plan to Western Europe had

brought those countries under American influence and the

Soviet Union had installed openly communist regimes in

Eastern Europe.

 Cause of Cold War

 Different political systems of two super powers. United

Sates was based on democracy, capitalism and freedom.

But, USSR was based on dictatorship, communism and

control.

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 Both powers thought their system was better and distrusted

the others intentions.

 Distrust during World War-II.

 USSR fear of the American’s atomic bomb or American

attack.

 American fear of communist attack.

 American’s refusal to share nuclear secrets.

 Turman’s dislike of Stalin.

 Russian’s aim of spreading world communism.

 USSR dislike of capitalism.

 DETENTE:

 Detente (French pronunciation: meaning ‘relaxation’) is

the easing of strained relations, especially in a political

situation, through verbal communication. It was the policy

of relaxing tensions between U.S.A. and U.S.S.R.

 The first evidence of ‘detente’ era cooperation came in the

Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968, a pact

signed by several of the major nuclear and non-nuclear

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power nations pledging their cooperation in stemming the

spread of nuclear technology.

 While the NPT did not ultimately prevent the proliferation

of nuclear arms, it paved the way for the first round of

Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT-I) from

November, 1969 to May, 1972.

 A peaceful coexistence between the super powers began

with Nixon visited both China and Soviet Union in 1972.

 Unfortunately, not all, but most good things must end. By

the end of the 1970s the warm glow of U.S. – Soviet

detente began to fade away. While diplomats of both

nations agreed on a second SALT agreement (SALT-II),

neither government ratified it. Instead, both nations agreed

to continue to adhere to the arms reduction provisions of

the old SALT-I pact pending future negotiations.

 Detente all but ended when the Soviet Union invaded

Afghanistan in 1979. President Jimmy Carter angered the

Soviets by increasing U.S. defence spending and

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subsidizing the efforts of anti-Soviet Mujahideen fighters in

Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 The Afghanistan invasion also led the United States to

boycott the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow. Later the same

year, Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United

States after running on an anti-detente platform. Under the

‘Reagan Doctrine’ the United States undertook the largest

military build-up since World War-II and implemented new

policies directly opposed to the Soviet Union.

 Finally, Reagan abandoned all attempts to implement

provisions of the SALT-II nuclear arms agreement. Arms

control talks would not resume until Mikhail Gorbachev,

being the only candidate on the ballot, was elected

president of the Soviet Union in 1990.

 End of Cold War

 The causes of the end of the Cold War remain one of the

most important, and highly contested, debates in the study

of international politics.

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 The destruction of the Berlin Wall in late 1989 marked, in a

symbolic way, the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

 The Soviet Union’s economic decline is often seen as a key

reason why the Cold War ended.

 The other factor that could be linked to the above point is

technological and industrial competition between both

powers.

 Soviet Union collapsed because of overspending on the

arms race and financial aid to his allies’ countries.

 Decline of Communist ideology.

 Soviet Union abandoned its nine-year war in Afghanistan.

 The end of the Cold War in the early 1990s has had a dual

impact on international relations. On the one hand the

Soviet military withdrawal from Eastern Europe and the

Third World brought an end to the Cold War, allowed

democratization to proceed in many states previously ruled

by Marxist dictatorships, and led to significant progress in

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resolving several Third World Conflicts that had become

prolonged during the Cold War.

 The failure of the August Coup marked the end of the

Soviet Union. Yeltsin entered into agreements with the

leaders of other Soviet republics for the dissolution of the

USSR, replacing it in December of 1991 with a

“Commonwealth of Independent States”.

 On 25 December, 1991 Mikael Gorbachev, who was still

the highest Soviet official, officially recognized the

bankruptcy and collapse of the Soviet Union and the Cold

War finally came to an end.

 International Scenario after Cold War

 Collapse of USSR and Russia emerged as a largest state.

 With the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe

and disintegration of the Soviet Union, the bipolar

international system dominating the Cold War period

disappeared.

 Germany became a unified single state.

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 The American Empire may best be seen operating in the

Persian Gulf, Iraq and the middle East in general where

the armed forces of the United States have established a

semi permanent foothold and thousands of soldiers

deployed at bases keep a watch on Iran, Syria and other

potential enemies.

 American military power serves as an organizer of military

coalition, both permanent (such as NATO) and ad-hoc

(such as peacekeeping missions).

 From an economic or political point of view, on the other

hand the international system can be said to be multipolar,

rather than unipolar.

 Another feature of the post-Cold War era is that since the

West has become the victor of the East-West ideological

rivalry, Western systems and Western influences in general,

started to dominate the whole world.

 The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in August, 1990 and the

following Gulf Crisis, in a way created an opportunity for

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the USA to exercise its hegemonic power in the Middle

East.

 In the following years, in the absence of a counter-power,

the influence of the USA increased further. With the

military operation to Afghanistan and invasion of Iraq after

the 11 Sep. 2001 attacks, the USA perpetuated its

dominance in the region.

 Another threat to peace in the post Cold War period is

raising religious militancy.

 The post Cold War period also witnessed the resurgence of

North-South economic antagonism.

 Such confrontation is not new. It has occurred before in

international arena. But, in accordance with the decline of

ideological clashes, it has begun to occupy a more

significant agenda in international affairs.

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 Conclusion

 It can be said that Cold War is type of diplomatic war

which occurred due to distrust among USA and USSR

and many other factors.

 International relations have become truly global in the

post-Cold War world.

 The dissolution of the Soviet Union, shattering the

bipolar system, resulted in power gaps in some region

and triggered struggles for influence. In the post-Cold

War environment, states that seemed to be in the same bloc

or former allies became competing rivals.

 For instance, the European Union, as well as Japan, rose as

rival centres of power against established United States

dominance.

 No doubt, the rise of China and the resurgence of the

Russian Federation as powerful rivals to the United Sates are

also notable.

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