...Cold War Ideology and Policies March 27, 2012 University of Phoenix Cold War Ideology and Policies When World War II ended, many of the “powerhouse” countries found themselves weakened as a result of the war. Their loss of power was felt by both, their economy and their military. The countries that experienced such a loss in power included France, Germany, and Great Britain. The United States and the Soviet Union were two countries that did not see a loss in power. Of course, the United States was the stronger of the two countries. “Many people thought that the Soviet Union's communist ways could very easily rub-off onto other countries, if in fact Joseph Stalin made the effort for this outcast form of government to spread. The United States also thought this and knew that with Europe's war torn powers, no one except for the United States would be able to stand up and possibly block Stalin from spreading these anti-democracy ideals. The communist ideology had definitely separated the two countries for good”, (Davis, 2010). International relations were greatly affected by the policies and practices of the American cold war. As a result of these policies, Israel captured recognition and the United States gave $400 million dollars to the improvement of Turkey’s and Greece’s economic and military status. Also, thanks to George Marshall, chief of staff in the United States Army, and his “Marshall Plan” billions of American dollars were poured into the...
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...Cold War Ideology and Policies Axia College April Griffin January 29, 2012 The Cold War Ideology that crystallized after WWII changed wartime alliances that existed during the war because after time the Soviet Union and the United States were the two most powerful countries in the world. However, the Soviet Union as we all know was built on communism and had planned on taking over several other countries. We found out that the Soviet Union let the power that they had, and the fact that the surrounding countries were devastated by the war, go to their head. They were or had taken advantage of the other countries misfortune and we as the United States could not let that happen. Therefore, the United States and the Soviet Union did become mortal enemies. The American Cold War policies and practices did influence international relations by helping the countries that were the most in need of help. According to our Week One reading Cold War America (2005), “The United States, Great Britain, and France decided to transform their occupation zones into an independent West German State” (p. 803, Paragraph 4). However, in 1949, the United States, and many other countries did join together...
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...After reading the information provided in this week’s readings from chapter 8 in Turbulent Passage I have come to the conclusion that the confrontation that came to be known as the “Cold war” was in fact inevitable. The “Cold War” was not necessarily your typical war as it did not involve any direct fighting and violence between U.S. and U.S.S.R and each of their allies. There were in fact other wars going on during the time of the “Cold War” but the basis of this confrontation was the differentiation in political and military ideas and powers which caused tension between the United States and Soviet Union. It was a battle for dominance and superiority (economic, political, etc.). During WWII tensions and distrust were already in place and...
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... BERNATH LECTURE The New International History of the Cold War: Three (Possible) Paradigms* The Cold War is not what it once was. Not only has the conflict itself been written about in the past tense for more than a decade, but historians’ certainties about the character of the conflict have also begun to blur. The concerns brought on by trends of the past decade – such trifles as globalization, weapons proliferation, and ethnic warfare – have made even old strategy buffs question the degree to which the Cold War ought to be put at the center of the history of the late twentieth century. In this article I will try to show how some people within our field are attempting to meet such queries by reconceptualizing the Cold War as part of contemporary international history. My emphasis will be on issues connecting the Cold War – defined as a political conflict between two power blocs – and some areas of investigation that in my opinion hold much promise for reformulating our views of that conflict, blithely summed up as ideology, technology, and the Third World. I have called this lecture “Three (Possible) Paradigms” not just to avoid making too presumptuous an impression on the audience but also to indicate that my use of the term “paradigm” is slightly different from the one most people have taken over from Thomas Kuhn’s work on scientific revolutions. In the history of science, a paradigm has come to mean a comprehensive explanation, a kind of scientific “level”...
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...Cold War Ideology and Policies Amanda Harp His135 January 27, 2012 Mary Barcroft Cold War Ideology and Policies The cold war weighed heavily on the American people in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The war was between the Soviet Union and the United States. Communism was a huge concern to the United States. After the war, was over wartime alliance changed in a remarkable way. Because of communist spies, fear of an atomic bomb had struck the hearts and minds of the American people. They worried that the threat of a nuclear war was imminent. The Russian leader was trying to rebuild the Soviet Union and thought in order to do so, he had to lay claim to other countries like Germany and Japan. He tried to strengthen communism in those countries. This made it difficult for those countries to trust the United States for anything because Stalin told of atomic weapons the US was perceived to have. In order to build trust and help aid those countries that were threatened to have an “iron Clad” with Russia, the United States had to enact different policies that would help fight communism. Truman tried to pass a policy by attacking communism but failed so another policy was enforced that would be geared towards helping the countries rebuild, stand strong and be independent. The United States was able to help West Germany become an independent state in Europe through one of these policies. Other countries were able to rebuild their economy after wartime with the United States help. The American...
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...Cold War Ideology and Policies In this paper I am going to describe how the Cold War ideology that crystallized after WWII changed wartime alliances that had existed during the war and how American Cold War policies and practices influenced international relations from the late 1940’s to the mid 1950’s. During WWII the United States and the Soviet Union were allies. Most of Europe was destroyed or in ruins which left the United States and the Soviet Union as the two reigning superpowers and also mortal enemies. Since the defeat of Germany and Japan that left no superpower in Europe or Asia to stop the Soviet Army. With no superpower in Europe or Asia the United States was afraid of the Soviet Union to start dominating with its communist beliefs. Stalin recognized that with Germany and Japan defeated that the borders on the east and west were secure from invasion which led Stalin to advance the interests of the Soviet State and his own regime. In 1947 Great Britain announced that it would no longer support the Greece and Turkey governments. Without British aid, the communist movement was going to take over those countries. This is when Harry S. Truman decided that the United States should step up and help out. He went to Congress and asked for $400 million in military and economic aid. This later became known as the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine many have helped Greece and Turkey but it also left Western Europe in the “dark”. Without any aid from the United States this...
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...drastically since 1945, so much so that there are entire classes dedicated to the change brought about by the end of World War II. Between 1945 and 2018, the world has seen the rise and fall of communism governments, has witnessed countries formed and others torn apart. The world has seen empires fall and superpowers rise to take their place, only to become locked in the ideological Cold War that left all in fear of nuclear war. No country remained unaffected by the conflict of the United States (US) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Consequently, Cold War politics continue to affect modern the actions and reputations of countries globally even long after its end in 1989. The Cold War refers to the...
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...of WWII crystallized several aspects of Cold War ideology and greatly changed wartime alliances for generations to come. A world once dominated by European power in countries such as Germany, France, and England, were now shifted to the United States and Soviet Union as the two leading super powers. The struggle between the two countries to illustrate dominance greatly lied in determining whether the Soviet Union’s Communism, or the United States Democracy, would emerge as the stronger government—two completely different governments based on very separate principles and views of society. Alliances in Europe also greatly shifted as Western countries built necessary alliances to counter obvious build up of military strength in the Soviet Union. With the Soviets consistently hostile military action, the United Stated, Canada, Britain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (Gienapp & Heyman, 2005). The United States and Canada entering into NATO in 1949 is one example of how American Cold War policies and practices influenced international relations. America’s Cold War policies held true in ensuring to assist any and all countries in combating Communism in many way they could, financially and militarily. The overall shift in world powers and the fight between Communism and Democracy led to a shift in global military and government dominance. Alliances changed, policies and practices were greatly influenced and a shift was...
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...Strategic Uncertainty and Alternative Futures: Evaluating Our Options in the Post-September 11 World Eric K. Clemons Steve Barnett 23 April 2003 Draft 3.6 1. Introduction Our perception of our world changed dramatically on September 11, 2001. Our sense of safety, security, and certainty were altered, perhaps for years to come, perhaps for the rest of our professional lives. Although it is clear that our personal, political, and business environments have all been altered, it is not immediately clear how they have been changed; this is, it is not clear what the details of these changes will be, or how we must respond. We now live in a period of greater strategic uncertainty. This brief paper summarizes the results of two workshops held by the Reginald H. Jones Center that attempted to provide some insight into the origins of the current conflict that the U.S. faces in the Middle East, as religious (Islam vs. the West) or economic (the developed West vs. the developing Middle East), or a clash of cultures, or some other form not as yet identified1. The hope was that by developing an understanding of the origins of the conflict, we would develop some insights into the form of the conflict and its duration; this in turn would lead to an understanding of the business implications that might result and strategies that might provide appropriate responses in different strategic contexts. We faced a high level of uncertainty about what had happened and what was likely to happen...
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...（1） In 1945, just after World War II, the alliance between the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union ended. An intense rivalry between communist and non-communist nations led to the Cold War. It's called the Cold War because it never led to armed or "hot" conflict. At the end of World War II, at the Yalta Conference, Germany was divided into four occupied zones controlled by Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Berlin was also divided into four sections. Lack of a mutual agreement on German re-unification was a important background of the Cold War. And on March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill, gave his "iron curtain" speech while at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, which marked the start of the Cold War. The cold war did not end until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. During this period, the United States and the USSR confronted each other in politics, economy, ideology, and so on. And they nearly divided this world into two camps, socialist camp and capitalist camp, what made the conflict on ideology especially sharp. Every incident in the world could not happened without reasons, and the original cause may happened quite long ago. So there are long term causes and short causes of the Cold War. One of the short term causes is that the US President had a personal dislike of the Soviet leader Josef Stalin. At the Potsdam Conference starting in late July 1945, serious differences emerged over the future development of Germany and...
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...THE IRON CURTAIN The Second World War lasted for a period of six years starting from September 1939 and ending in the year 1945. Being a war of large scale involving belligerent super powers with their own sphere of interests, it ended with the surrender of Germany, Japan and the liberation of Western Europe. The Yalta conference in February 1945 was attended by Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt. Apart from other settlements was a Memorandum of Understanding between the three allied powers to divide Germany into British, American and Russian zones in addition to further bifurcation of Berlin. The war struck European society’s agitation against the old order came in the shape of supporting ideologies having moderate, socialist, and communist views. Stalin being the staunch supporter of communism had by 1946 succeeded in establishing pro-communist coalition governments in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania. The surge of communism in Eastern Europe was augmented by the fact that the local administrative setups of different governments were bent on cleansing their social lives from anarchic ideologies formed previously in the garb of patriotism. Non adherence to paying taxes was one of the practices prevalent in those times. Spread of communism in Eastern Europe began with taking control of the Police and using it for economic and social reforms. The pace of reform and development on the Eastern side was fast and visible. The logical and possible fallback of this advancement...
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...International Relations Theory The new edition of International Relations Theory: A critical introduction introduces students to the main theories in international relations. It explains and analyzes each theory, allowing students to understand and critically engage with the myths and assumptions behind each theory. Key features of this textbook include: • discussion of all of the main theories: realism and (neo)realism, idealism and (neo)idealism, liberalism, constructivism, postmodernism, gender, and globalization two new chapters on the “clash of civilizations” and Hardt and Negri’s Empire innovative use of narratives from films that students will be familiar with: Lord of the Flies, Independence Day, Wag the Dog, Fatal Attraction, The Truman Show, East is East, and Memento an accessible and exciting writing style which is well-illustrated with boxed key concepts and guides to further reading. • • • This breakthrough textbook has been designed to unravel the complexities of international relations theory in a way that allows students a clearer idea of how the theories work and the myths that are associated with them. Cynthia Weber is Professor of International Studies at the University of Lancaster. She is the author of several books and numerous articles in the field of international relations. International Relations Theory A critical introduction Second edition Cynthia Weber First published 2001 by Routledge Second edition published 2005 by Routledge...
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...Year, History and Politics Essay Topic: “Critically Evaluate Post War Realist Explanation of International Politics with Particular Reference to Power” Introduction The tradition of political realism – realpolitik, power politics – has a long history that is typically traced back to the great Greek historian Thucydides in the fifth century BC. Although dominant attitudes towards realism have varied, realist arguments and orientations have been central to the Western theory and practice of international relations. “In particular, “modern” international society, whether dated from the era of Machiavelli at the turn of the sixteenth century or that of Hobbes in the mid-seventeenth century, has been closely linked to realist balance of power politics. The link between realism and international theory is especially strong in the twentieth century. International relations first emerged as an academic discipline before and immediately after World War I, largely in reaction against realist balance of power politics. The discipline was then reshaped immediately before and after World War II by self-identified realists such as E. H. Carr and Hans Morgenthau. Prominent scholar-practitioners, such as George Kennan and Henry Kissinger, have called themselves realists. For most of the post-World War II era realism has been the dominant paradigm in the Anglo-American study of international relations”. Even in our post-Cold War era of globalization, realist theories, although much less dominant...
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...Politics Essay Topic: “Critically Evaluate Post War Realist Explanation of International Politics with Particular Reference to Power” Introduction The tradition of political realism – realpolitik, power politics – has a long history that is typically traced back to the great Greek historian Thucydides in the fifth century BC. Although dominant attitudes towards realism have varied, realist arguments and orientations have been central to the Western theory and practice of international relations. “In particular, “modern” international society, whether dated from the era of Machiavelli at the turn of the sixteenth century or that of Hobbes in the mid-seventeenth century, has been closely linked to realist balance of power politics. The link between realism and international theory is especially strong in the twentieth century. International relations first emerged as an academic discipline before and immediately after World War I, largely in reaction against realist balance of power politics. The discipline was then reshaped immediately before and after World War II by self-identified realists such as E. H. Carr and Hans Morgenthau. Prominent scholar-practitioners, such as George Kennan and Henry Kissinger, have called themselves realists. For most of the post-World War II era realism has been the dominant paradigm in the Anglo-American study of international relations”[1]. Even in our post-Cold War era of globalization, realist theories, although much...
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...Development of the Cold War, in the five years between 1945 and 1950, could be argued as taking place for a number of reasons and due to various individuals. It could be easy to simply site Stalin as the main reason responsible for it’s outbreak and growth, clear through his approach on communist expansion, use of Red Army and inability to uphold agreements. However for a war of any kind to develop there is always more than one party involved and the USA and it’s president Truman could also be said to have contributed to the developing of Cold War, arguably being equally aggressive as Stalin – taking an Iron fist on dealings with Russia through policies such as the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, as well as his direction over the US involvement in the Korean War. However issues such as Britain and Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech, as well as the birth of McCarthyism in America, can also be seen as hindering relations between the two superpowers of the Cold War and therefore playing a role in it’s development. Whether Stalin was to blame for the Cold War can also be judged and evaluated through the use of sources, offering a number of interpretations, from extreme Orthodox and Revisionist views to the more diplomatic reasonings of the post revisionist stance. It is correct to say that development of the Cold War, between 1945 and 50, was definitely impacted and heightened through provocative, and at times, aggressive actions on foreign policy, taken by Stalin. An example...
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