The World Order: 1945-1970

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the years from 1945 to 1970 witnessed the transformation of the world order, which had been characterized by the emergence of the nation-states of the 19th century and their imperialistic colonization of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The author points out that, after WWII, with the power of England, France and Germany destroyed, the U.S. was the only major power unscathed in its territory. The paper relates that, when the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb and imposed its constricting net over Eastern Europe, the two super powers aggressively opposed each other on either side of the Cold War. The author concludes that the state of the world in 1970 found a radically altered American society where, for the first time in its history, its Vietnam War policy was politicized and polarized.

From the Paper:

"It is possible and perhaps necessary to view this strategic impasse less as a function of monolithic state policy than as actions motivated and implemented by government sectors, interest groups, or ministries. The arms race, with its high stakes in profits, needed a protagonist and an adversary; certain elements within the burgeoning military-industrial context also benefited quite well from the ostensibly anti-U.S. policy of Charles de Gaulle who "suspended military assistance to Israel" leaving the U.S. to become Israel's main arms supplier."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Evangelista, Matthew. Unarmed Forces: The Transnational Movement to end the Cold War. Cornell University Press 1999.
• Keylor, William R. A World of Nations: The International Order Since 1945. Oxford University Press. 2003.
• McMahon, Robert J. The Limits of Empire: The United States and Southeast Asia Since World War II. Columbia University Press. 1999.
• Poiger, Uta G. JAZZROCKandREBELS: Cold war Politics and American Culture in a Divided Germany.University of California Press. 2000.

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