Making of the Modern World Cold War, Globalisation, and the Rise of the U.S. 1989 and After Dr Simon Peplow Simon.Peplow@Warwick.ac.uk

Glasnost and Perestroika 1989 and After End of the Cold War Glasnost and Perestroika Historical explanations of the end of the Cold War ‘The New World Order’ ‘The End of History’?

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979). Iran hostage crisis (1979-81). The ‘New Cold War’ (1979-85) Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979). Iran hostage crisis (1979-81). Strikes/Unrest in Poland and Martial Law (1980s). Non-ratification of SALT II (1979-80). US boycott of Moscow Olympics (1980). NATO exercise brings world to brink of nuclear war (1983). USSR boycott of LA Olympics (1984).

Ronald Reagan US commitment to increase defence spending – return of ‘rollback’ policies. 1983: Reagan announces the ‘Star Wars’ program (Strategic Defence Initiative) Reagan famously describes Soviet Union as an ‘Evil Empire’. Seen as Cold War ‘hawk’ – but his own writings suggest fundamental hostility to nuclear weapons?

Attempt to relaunch Soviet project, not end it. Mikhail Gorbachev Oversaw policies of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring). Attempt to relaunch Soviet project, not end it. Why, 6 years later, had it fallen apart?

‘Freedom of Choice’ ‘Further world progress is now possible only through the search for a consensus of all mankind, in movement toward a new world order… It is a question of cooperation that could be more accurately called ‘cocreation’ or ‘codevelopment’. The formula of development ‘at another’s expense’ is becoming outdated. In light of present realities, genuine progress by infringing upon the rights and liberties of man and peoples, or at the expense of nature, is impossible.’ Mikhail Gorbachev, UN General Assembly, December 1988.

The ‘New World Order’ Post-Soviet States: 1. Armenia 2. Azerbaijan 3. Belarus 4. Estonia 5. Georgia 6. Kazakhstan 7. Kyrgyzstan 8. Latvia 9. Lithuania 10. Moldova 11. Russia 12. Tajikistan 13. Turkmenistan 14. Ukraine 15. Uzbekistan

A ‘Clash of Civilizations’? The ‘New World Order’ A ‘unipolar moment’? ‘The End of History’? A ‘Clash of Civilizations’?

‘The End of History?’ ‘What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.’ Francis Fukuyama (1989)

‘Clash of Civilizations’

The End of ‘The End of History’ – or Cold War II?