THE END OF THE COLD WAR.   Term Paper ID:30836 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines the effect of realism and liberalism.... More...

6 Pages / 1350 Words 2 sources, 2 Citations, APA Format $24.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Examines the effect of realism and liberalism. Realism and the balance of power. Liberalism's concern with internal governance. History and role of liberalism and realism in international politics in general. Collapse of Soviet Union consistent with realist interpretation. Contends the end of the Soviet Union was a consequence of liberal evolution within the Russian political culture. Paper Introduction: REALISM, LIBERALISM, AND THE END OF THE COLD WAR Consider the following proposition: "While realism's assumptions rest on the systemic level of analysis, those of liberalism rest on the domestic level." On some essential level, this is certainly true. Principles related to realism can certainly be applied in domestic affairs. Yet realism as an intellectual structure, with concepts such as the balance of power, specifically addresses the characteristics of a state system. In contrast, liberalism as a political doctrine, though it incorporated some concepts of international relations from the outset (e.g., free trade), has concerned itself primarily with the internal governance of a state. However, it would be misleading to infer from this that liberalism is somehow only about "domestic politics," and has no natural Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. (2 1). The Soviet Union fragmented, says realism; thus it was nolonger a threat, and the Cold War ended. 121). Only Russian domesticpolitics, and specifically the emergence of an essentially liberal Russia,can explain the most dramatic international development of recent decades,the end of the Cold War. In this regard, it must be said that theliberal analysis, rather than the realist analysis, more clearly explainsthe end of the Cold War. Incontrast, liberalism as a political doctrine, though it incorporated someconcepts of international relations from the outset (e.g., free trade), hasconcerned itself primarily with the internal governance of a state. They weredependent on Britain, but until the First Continental Congress hadessentially no connection with each other. It would be viewed in context. Nothing on the systemic level, or in the realist mode ofanalysis, can explain this outcome. (Though, the strides made in this direction bythe liberal states that make up the European Union are remarkable,especially in light of the many failed non-liberal attempts to unify Europeby force.) Such examples do suggest, however, that liberal states find itin some sense natural to extend their political conceptions -- rootedthough those may be in their internal affairs -- into internationalrelations. A liberal Japan arming against threats by China or North Korea wouldbe viewed very differently from a Japan that did so from ultranationalisticideology. Infact, Cold War tensions began to relax by the later 198 s, well before theSoviet Union broke up, as soon as it became clear that Gorbachev hadestablished a fundamentally new Soviet policy. Before 1914, Austria-Hungary was a Great Power. In an earlier century, Spain was a Great Power. 33). It fell not because Soviet power had collapsed, but becausethat power ceased to be used in a threatening way. Nor can a personal or psychological level of analysis explain whyRussia has continued to move in a consistent direction under three leadersso different as Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin. However, if astate should vanish, or be drastically reduced, without absorption byanother power, realism can adjust to the new environment. Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis. Thus, the Cold War did not end simply because of a substantialdecline in Russian power. By contrast, whena democracy comes into conflict with a nondemocracy, it will not expectthe nondemocratic state to be restrained by those norms. The shortest form of answer isthat first the Soviet Empire and then the Soviet Union itself collapsed.With its collapse, the threat it had formerly posed evaporated. The other Great Powers had to take it seriously intoaccount, whether as potential ally, potential neutral, or potential enemy.After 1918, however, it vanished, and its fragments had no comparableweight, or were in themselves any special concern to the Great Powers. Nevertheless, when such events happen, realism can identify theirimplications. U.S. Itsmilitary power may have declined, but remains substantial, and couldprobably be rebuilt in a relatively short time. It may feelobliged to adapt to the harsher norms of international conduct of thelatter (Russett, 1993, p. As with the case of Russia and China, a state's foreign anddefense policies would be viewed in the light of its internal politics. In dealing with otherdemocracies, however, they readily adopt the same modes of non-violentconflict resolution that they are accustomed to employing in their domesticaffairs. The Russia that no longer wishedto hold onto East Germany by force had also no wish to hold on to Ukraineby force, and could be reasonably expected not to threaten the U.S. Japan's military power isminimal, but there is no doubt whatever that Japan could, if it so chose,become a major military power in a short time. Realism cannot predict either sort of event, as lying outside itspurview. The symbolic end-date of the Cold War may be taken as the fall of theBerlin Wall. This is not to suggest that federation is an inevitable or expectedendpoint of liberal states. When the government cracks down on domestic dissidents, concern isincreased that it might move aggressively against Taiwan. A survey of the recent and contemporary world shows a multitude ofrelationships that play out in a similar way. It remains in possessionof thousands of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. or theworld at large with force. In fact, Japaneserearmament, if it happened, would not be viewed in isolation, and might notbe taken as automatic threat. Let us suppose that a Milosevic had come to power in Russia as theSoviet Union broke up, rather than a Yeltsin or a Putin. Democracies,he argues, are not somehow inherently peaceable. Indeed, realism, which reifies states asentities, scarcely contemplates that one might suddenly - other than,perhaps, due to conquest and absorption by another state. Moreover, the Sovietpolitical culture was developing in such a way that the change appeared tobe permanent. New York: Columbia University.----------------------- 1 As an -- admittedly extreme -- illustrationthat this is not the case, consider the existence of the United States. REALISM, LIBERALISM, AND THE END OF THE COLD WAR Consider the following proposition: "While realism's assumptionsrest on the systemic level of analysis, those of liberalism rest on thedomestic level." On some essential level, this is certainly true.Principles related to realism can certainly be applied in domestic affairs.Yet realism as an intellectual structure, with concepts such as the balanceof power, specifically addresses the characteristics of a state system. New York: Princeton University.Waltz, Kenneth N. When two democracies come into a conflict of interest, they areable to apply democratic norms to their interaction ... BruceRussett, however, offers a response to this line of argument. However, with a shared liberalideology, they found it natural to continue their wartime association byentering into a union. ReferencesRussett, Bruce (1993). It is true that realism as such does not consider the collapse of apower from internal causes. The Soviet Union did break into fragments, but one of them- Russia - remains a very large and potentially powerful state. In that event,the Cold War would almost certainly have continued, or quickly revived.Whatever sense of relief was felt at the temporary decline in Russianmilitary power would be checked by awareness that it was still veryformidable, and dangerous in the hands of a clearly aggressive leadership. However, a closer examination casts doubt on this straightforwardinterpretation. When thegovernment invites in foreign investors (including Taiwanese), it is judgedsomewhat less likely to move aggressively in foreign affairs.Consider a purely hypothetical example, Japan. Thus put,the explanation seems to favor the realist interpretation, or at least isconsistent with realism. Post-Soviet Russia might be less powerfulthan Soviet Russia, but if its leadership had been aggressive nationists inthe mold of Milosevic, it would have remained a threat, and the Cold Warwould have continued. To the premise that democracies do not carry out wars of aggression,realist Kenneth Waltz offers the blunt reply of Dean Inge: "ask a Mexican,a Spaniard, a Filipino, or a Japanese!" (Waltz, 2 1, p. Thus, of the three possible levels of analysis -- the personal orpsychological, the domestic, and the systemic -- the domestic level, andspecifically liberalism, is the only one that gives a clear picture of whythe Cold War came to an end. Ifin 1938 Germany absorbed Austria, it was of concern only as another smallcountry that Germany was swallowing. The British colonies in America were separate foundations. Indeed, the collapse of the Soviet Union was itself a consequence ofthat underlying domestic political shift. relations with Chinaare guarded, typified neither by cooperation nor outright confrontation.This surely reflects the nature of the Chinese political system, stillauthoritarian, but shifting gradually from "hard" to "soft"authoritarianism. It ended primarily because of a profound changein expectations of how the Russian leadership might use that power. It subsequentlydeclined, though without fragmenting, and lights no longer burned late inthe chanceries of Europe due to worries about Spanish policy.Contrariwise, the small German states could coalesce into a Great Power, orthe remote United States emerge as one, and their policies then had to betaken into special account. It was not inherent that, aftercombining tactically to oust British imperial rule, they should not havegone their separate and independent ways. However, it would be misleading to infer from this that liberalism issomehow only about "domestic politics," and has no natural applicability tothe interactions of states. Why, exactly, did the Cold War end? Grasping the Democratic Peace: Principles for a Post-Cold War World. Indeed, the end of the Soviet Union was itself a consequence ofliberal evolution within the Russian political culture, which rendereddomestically unsustainable the means by which Soviet power had previouslybeen maintained. It might besomething of a "sick man" among them, but it was a Great Powernevertheless. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.