Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
New World Order
International Relations after the Cold War (CONCLUSIONS,…
- New World Order
International Relations after the Cold War
The USA and the 'unipolar' moment
The collapse of the USSR in 1991-93 left the USA as the sole remaining superpower with military capabilities far beyond its nearest competitor (or ally) and ushered in a moment of 'unipolarity' in the international order.
Post Soviet Russia
Following a failed coup in 1991, the USSR dissolved leaving successor states in Eastern Europe and Central Asia with weak democratic traditions, a legacy of environmental degradation and sometimes nuclear weapons, as well as wars of seccession, notably in Chechnya.
The End of Apartheid
Between 1990-94 the policy of Apartheid was dismantled in South Africa, removing the last explicitly racist form of political organisation in the world and opening up South Africa for democratic government (although with chequered results)
Clinton: it's the economy, stupid
Using its dominance of institutions of global governance such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the USA led the export of neo-liberal modes of economy and governance to other parts of the world, ushering in the most recent round of 'globalisation'
Yeltsin and Economic Restructuring
Under the pro-Western leadership of Boris Yeltsin (centre), post-Soviet Russia embarked on thorough-going neo-liberal economic remodelling that mad a few people very rich and many Russians comparatively poor.
NATO Enlargement
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) helped create peace in Europe after 1949, but its enlargement in 1999 had the twin effects of consolidating democratic regimes in central Europe and antagonising Russia which felt increasingly encircled by this 'Western' security community.
Europe: a 'continent of peace'?
'The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to focus on what it sees as the EU's most important result: the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights. The stabilising part played by the EU has helped transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace'
9/11, Iraq and the Limits of 'Hyper-power'
The invasion of Iraq and subsequent insurgency showed the limits of US military and diplomatic power and led to widespread de-stabilisation in the region.
Putin and Russia Resurgence
For Vladimir Putin, the collapse of the USSR was one of the great tragedies of the 20th century and after 2000 he set about restoring Russia's position as an anti-Western great power
The 'Asian century'?
If the 20th century was characterised as the 'American Century', then some analysts and governments suggest that the 21st would be Asia's
The 'Peaceful Rise' of China?
Although Japan remained the world's second largest economy in the late 1990s, in the following decade it was replaced by China which was making rapid transition from a communist economy towards a capitalist one, challenging the USA and EU as the centre of world trade.
The Middle East
The oil-rich Middle East remained chronically unstable, particularly after US-led interventions (and their pre-cursors) in 2003, leading some analysts to ask whether having so many desirable resources was a blessing or a curse?
Israel-Palestine
Another cause of chronic instability in the Middle East lay in the ongoing conflict between Arabs and Israelis in general and Israelis and Palestinians in particular, a conflict grounded in competing historical memories and bound up with great power interests
The 'Arab Spring'
An unforeseen popular revolt against autocratic rulers across the Arab world, the 'Arab Spring' of 2011 was analogous to '1989' in Europe, but with mixed results in the long term.
'Decline of the West'?
The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 led some analysts to predict the 'decline of the West' because economic power was now such an important element of the international order. Yet such claims had been around for centuries and such fears (or hopes) may have been overstated.
European Union: Enlargement and crisis
Between 2004-07 the EU enlarged to comprise of 28 member states. Yet the optimism that attended this historical step soon dissipated in the face of multiple crises: The Eurozone, migration and Brexit
Brexit: The return of 'Global Britain'?
Fuelled by a popular disillusion with politics allied to an elite free trade agenda, the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, introducing uncertainty about the EU, the IK and the post-Cold War order. Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on 29th March 2019
Trump: 'Making America great again'?
In the words of Shou En Lai, it is 'too early to tell' yet whether the Trump presidency represents a return to Westphalian operation of sovereignty or is a symptom of US decline (or both), but - along with Brexit - it has introduced uncertainty at the core of the international order.
CONCLUSIONS
The post-Cold War era witnessed an intensification of 'post-Westphalian' institutions and organisations with an un-rivalled USA at the centre of the international order
Yet, as we approach the present day, we can see that the principles of territory, sovereignty and autonomy are far from dead and buried as organising principles in the international order