Examine in brief the rise and fall of the Cold War. (UPSC CSE Mains 2016 - Political Science and International Relations, Paper 2)
Cold War
- The Cold War was a period (1945-1991) of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Unionand its satellite states (the Eastern European countries), and the United States with its allies (the Western European countries) after World War II.
- Post World War II, the world got divided into two power blocs dominated by two superpowers viz. the Soviet Union and the US.
- The two superpowers were primarily engaged in an ideological war between the capitalist USA and the communist Soviet Union.
Reasons of Cold War
During the World War Allied countries (US, UK and France) and Soviet Union fought together against the Axis powers (Nazi Germany, Japan, Austria). However, this wartime alliance could not workout after World War II, due to multiple factors.
- The Potsdam conference was held at Berlin in 1945 among US, UK and Soviet Union to discuss:
- Immediate administration of defeated Germany.
- Demarcation of boundary of Poland.
- Occupation of Austria.
- Role of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe.
- Soviet Union wanted some portion of Poland (bordering Soviet Union) to be maintained as a buffer zone. However, the USA and UK didn''t agree to this demand.
- Also, the USA did not inform the Soviet Union about the exact nature of the atomic bomb, dropped on Japan. This created suspicion in Soviet Union about the intentions of western countries, embittering of the alliance.
- This created suspicion in the Soviet leadership.
End of the Cold War
In 1991, Soviet Union collapsed due to multiple factors which marked the end of the Cold War, as one of the superpowers was weakened.
Reasons of the collapse of the Soviet Union
- Military reasons
- The space race and the arms race drained a considerable proportion of Soviet Union''s resources for military needs.
- Policies of Mikhail Gorbachev
- In order to kick start moribund Soviet economy, Gorbachev instituted the policies of glasnost (“openness”)and perestroika (“restructuring”).
- Glasnost was intended for liberalization of the political landscape.
- Perestroika intended to introduce quasi free market policies in place of government-run industries.
- It allowed more independent actions from various ministries and introduced many market-like reforms.
- Rather than sparking a renaissance in Communist thought, these steps opened the floodgates to criticism of the entire Soviet apparatus.
- The state lost control of both the media and the public sphere, and democratic reform movements gained steam throughout the Soviet Union.
- Also, there was growing disenchantment in the public due to falling economy, poverty, unemployment, etc. This made the people of the Soviet Union attracted to western ideology and way of life.
- Afghanistan War
- The Soviet-Afghan (1979–89) was another key factor in the breakup of the Soviet Union, as it drained the economic and military resources of Soviet Union.
The end of the Cold War marked the victory of the US and the bipolar world order turned into a unipolar. However, over the last decade, the position of the US as the world''s most powerful state has appeared increasingly unstable. The US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, non-traditional security threats, global economic instability, the apparent spread of religious fundamentalism, together with the rise of emerging economic powers (like Japan, Australia, India, China etc.) have made the world look more multipolar and has led many to predict the decline of the west and the rise of the rest.
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