The End Of The Cold War

When the world famous liberal thinker Francis Fukuyama in his masterpiece declared that we were witnessing the end of the history, he was greeting the new political structure and also the new international environment, which is peaceful[1]. However, developments that occurred after the collapse of the Soviet Union showed us that the dissolution of the Soviets was unexpected. The international society was not ready for peace and Fukuyama’s optimistic assumptions were far from becoming real. Moreover, the international society currently started to realise that the tension and the potential of mass destructive war during the Cold War era had provided a

Thesis: The role of the United Nations has changed from being primarily an international peacekeeping force to primarily a humanitarian organization.

The UN has an agreement with all other nation states to not get in conflict with each other and to settle differences in meetings to prevent another world war. It also makes them stronger as a

The Cold War was the name given to the political economic, military and ideological contention that occurred between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and their allies after World War II. The two forces never directly engaged in military activity in light of the fact that both had atomic weapons that if utilized, might have had crushing outcomes for both sides. Instead, proxy wars were battled. A proxy war results when contradicting forces utilize outsiders as substitutes for battling each one other and is ordinarily launched by a power that does not itself partake. The Korean and Vietnam wars are two examples of proxy wars on the grounds that the U.S. and the Soviet Union did not directly engage one another however, Soviet endeavors to spread and bring together both Korea and Vietnam under communist rule provoked mediation either by the United States and/or by their allies. These two occasions were simply a few of the impacts of the Cold War in Asia. This paper will examine each war individually and in more detail and endeavor to persuade that the Korean and Vietnam Wars were the immediate aftereffects of Soviet endeavors to expand communist influence in Asia and the United States and their allies' approach of forestalling and holding such endeavors.

In order to understand the concept behind peacekeeping we have to first look at the history of this UN term and how it got established. The initial kick-off year was 1948 (un.org) when the Security Council deployed troops to the Middle East in order to observe the region. It was the outcome of the creation of the state Israel and the rest of the land piece was given and left over to the Palestinian Arabs. The Arab society and the Arab Nation leaders did not accept this division which caused the conflict. At first the UN sent only observers and peaceful troops to the region

By the late years of the 20th century it became clear that the Cold War had ended with the eventual disbandment and collapse of the Soviet Union. This was commonly attributed to several different factors. During the Reagan Administration, it became clear that the Soviet Union could no longer sustain a full scale cold war. Economic troubles within the country as well as the waste of resources on conflict in areas such as Afghanistan ran the Soviet Union dry of expendable resources. There were also many humanitarian issues that had to be dealt with in the USSR. Mikhail Gorbachev cut further into an already dwindling defense budget in favor of social programs to help the people of his country. The relations between the USSR and the US in the mid

Despite its name, the Cold War did not actually involve military fighting between the United States and the Soviet Union. However, the Cold War is still an excellent example as to why war can be a result of bargaining failures and explains reasons as to why war occurs. A single person’s rationality can tip the scale between war and peace. The Cold War was essentially a deadlock between the two super powers of that time, the United States and the Soviet Union. Both states expressed desire to maintain and widen their respective spheres of influence around the world. Both states also wanted to prove that their political system is superior; whereas the United States was pro-democracy, the Soviet Union was pro-communism. Although the Cold War was a result of many factor, war can definitely occur due to information problems between two states. Nonetheless, I do believe there is always a range of agreements that is possible between states, as is evidenced by the resolution of the Cuban missile crisis.

The fall of the Soviet following the victory of capitalism over the Cold War brought an end to the era of legitimized communist government. Although there were states remaining in communist ideologies, these states found themselves converting to a more capitalistic society or completely cutting themselves off from the world, as seen with North Korea.

This chapter covers the period between the Second World War and the end of the Cold War, both of which are significant turning points in the history of the First World War and have influenced the emergence of memories on the Christmas truce. It will assess how the cultural and political context of the second half the 20th Century led to new modern historiographies of the war and why memories of the truce gained ground in the 1960s, after lacking coherence in the past 50 years. The context of the post-war period and the anti-war narrative facilitated the emergence of the truce in accounts of the war, but its continued remembrance is down to its perpetual message of peace and human kindness, through which the public express contemporary concerns about the political and cultural context of the time.

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.)

Their job is to go into countries that are in need of help, to help them and create a sense of peace. As of right now in 2013, the UN have 15 peacekeeping operations to four continents. Even though the UN has been sending the Peacekeepers out to help these war torn countries, there is no way that they can guarantee success, because many of these countries are in conditions that the UN cannot overcome. It states on un.org that, “Peacekeeping has proven to be one of the most effective tools available to the UN to assist host countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace.” It is noted by the United Nation’s website in their article about peacekeeping, that peacekeeping in the UN has three major principles which are consent of the parties, impartiality, and non-use of force except in self-defense and defense of the

The 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 found this article interesting as it seems rather paradoxical as he implies that the world would be much more dangerous without nuclear weapons. In this paper, I will analyse and criticise Tepperman article. Before getting down to criticisms of the points made in the article, I will try to place Tepperman’s approach conveniently in one of the theoretical shelves of strategic studies.

At 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 tribunals 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 Rwanda, est.1994) . The ICTY was formed to address the conflict in former Yugoslavia. The situation started when two of the six republics of Yugoslavia, Slovenia and Croatia, declared their independence after the fall of the Berlin Wall. This sparked a lengthy and lethal conflict within the territory. The atrocities that allegedly had been committed included but were not limited to, genocide, rape, and enslavement. Many of the victims were civilians. Because of this the ICTY was created during the war as an international criminal court that applied humanitarian law. It’s purpose was to gather information, create an account of events, and prosecute those responsible for committing crimes .

The United Nations also works on conflict prevention. “The main strategies for preventing disputes from escalating into conflict, and for preventing the recurrence of conflict, are preventive diplomacy and preventive disarmament.” (Basic Facts About the United Nations 62). Preventive diplomacy means an action that prevents disagreements from arising parties, and to prevent and make sure that existing disagreements don’t eventually transform into conflicts. Preventive disarmament is the action of minimizing the use of firearms and weapons. The United Nations uses preventive diplomacy and preventive disarmament as a tactic to prevent conflict and maintain peace. The UN has used this tactic in Liberia, and the result was largely positive. “Established in September 2003, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was charged with assisting in the disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and repatriation of all armed parties. The process was launched in December. Within 12 months, nearly 100,000 Liberians had turned in guns, ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons.” (“Global Issues: Disarmament”). "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities." -Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1952-1960)

The United Nations, with its rigid moral and political limitations against force, has become a benchmark of peace and a social achievement of modern times. From war torn Europe, the United Nations developed from five major powers with an initial goal to prevent the spread of warfare through peaceful means and to establish and maintain fundamental human rights. Through the past fifty years, this organization has broadened its horizons with auxiliary organizations from peace keeping missions to humanitarian aid, to economic development. However, in a modern example of ethnic cleansing, the UN faces new a new role as a bystander as its power is bypassed by NATO forces. The UN, however, promises to be an