WORLD ORDER AFTER SECOND WAR UNTIL 1991

 

The period from the end of World War II until 1991 is called the Cold War Era. During this era, the global order was influenced ideologically, politically, and militarily by two superpowers: the United States, known as the leader of the Western Bloc, and the Soviet Union, representing the Eastern Bloc.

After World War II, a bipolar world order emerged. The Western Bloc, led by the United States, included NATO-member Western European countries, Canada, and Japan, which supported capitalism and liberal democracy. The Eastern Bloc, under the leadership of the Soviet Union, consisted of socialist states in Eastern Europe and countries like China, advocating Marxism-Leninism and centrally planned economies.

Following World War II, the United Nations was established in 1945 at the San Francisco Conference to replace the League of Nations, which had failed after World War I. The UN aimed to maintain international peace and security, protect human rights, and promote international cooperation. Initially, it had 53 member states; today, it has 193 members, with its headquarters in New York.

The Bretton Woods system, created in the U.S. in 1944 to ensure economic stability and boost trade, collapsed in 1971 and became entirely nonfunctional by 1973. However, it laid the foundations for the modern international economic order and led to the establishment of the IMF and the World Bank.

NATO was formed in 1949 to protect the Western Bloc from the Eastern Bloc. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, NATO shifted its focus to addressing cyberattacks and new threats. NATO initially had 12 founding members but now includes 31 countries. Its most significant article is Article 5, which states that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all, obliging all members to assist the attacked member.

In response, the Eastern Bloc established the Warsaw Pact in 1955, which included eight founding members. This pact was officially dissolved in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

During the Cold War, a nuclear arms race and a space race began between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The nuclear arms race led to the doctrine of mutually assured destruction, preventing direct conflict between the two superpowers. The space race started in 1957 with the Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik satellite and culminated in the U.S. landing humans on the Moon in 1969.

After 1945, many countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East gained independence from colonial rule, a process known as decolonization. Countries like India, Yugoslavia, and Egypt, which did not align with either bloc, spearheaded the Non-Aligned Movement.

Although there were no direct conflicts between the two superpowers during the Cold War, proxy wars occurred in various regions, including the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Afghan War. In economic and technological competition, the U.S. maintained its dominance, supported by initiatives like the Marshall Plan.

By the late 1960s, tensions between the two sides eased, leading to disarmament efforts such as the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). Meanwhile, internal unrest and mismanagement within the Soviet Union led to its decline. Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms were insufficient to resolve these issues. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991 marked the end of the Cold War, leaving the U.S. as the sole superpower.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the bipolar world order transitioned into a unipolar order, and the era of globalization began.

SOURCES;

https://jasstudies.com/?mod=makale_tr_ozet&makale_id=26542

https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/84497

https://trguvenlikportali.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/NATOveYeniDunyaDuzeni_TarikOguzlu_v.1.pdf

https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/945242

Devletlerarası ve Hükümetler Dışı Uluslararası Örgütler- Mehmet Hasgüler/ Mehmet B. Uludağ

KARDELEN PAŞALI

RAGIONAL ANALYSIS COMMUNITY

POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL REALTIONS

 

MUĞLA SITKI KOÇMAN UNIVERSITY