In two world wars, Europe committed suicide, leaving two continental giants the United States and the Soviet Union.
Events in the twentieth century and Some Key Terms:
1. Pre- World War I: Dominance of the great European empires from the nineteenth century until 1914. In systems theory, this period exemplifies a "balance of power" system, but by 1910 it had decayed.
2. World War I through World War II: The empires destroy themselves from 1914 to 1945. With several major players refusing to respond to threats the period might be termed an "antibalance of power" system. It is inherently unstable and temporary.
3. Cold War: The collapse of the traditional European powers leaves the United States and USSR dominant in a "bipolar" system. But the superpowers block and exhaust themselves from 1945 through the 1980s, and the bipolar system decays.
4. Post-Cold War: The collapse of the Soviet Union ends bipolar; but no one is sure what the new system is like. Thoughts on a new system range from "unipolar" (U.S. dominance) to "multipolar" (several power centers) to "zones of chaos." We will consider several possibilities.
Some Key Terms:
- System: The interaction of many components so that one cannot change without changing the others.
- Bipolar: The world divided into two power centers, as in the Cold War.
- Multipolar: The world divided into many power centers.
- Balance of Power: Theory that states ally themselves with other states to balance the power of threatening states.
(Compiled by TheIRs, Suon Somony)
July 26, 2019
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