Scope of Syllabus

SECTION B
 Contemporary International Relations
 End of Cold War and its impact on the World Order
 Disintegration of the Soviet Union and its impact on the World Order.
Meaning of Cold War. Impact of disintegration of the Soviet Union on the World Order –
end of Cold War confrontation,
change of power equations in world politics,
Emergence of new countries.
India’s relations with Russia after Cold War (after 1991).
Relevance of NAM in the post cold war period
 Meaning of Cold War
• Cold War means the existence of strained and tense relations between
two rival competitors in international relations.
• In the post-1945 period, the term ‘Cold War’ came to be used for
describing the highly strained relations which came to be developed
between USSR and the USA.
• The two conflicting policies which brought the superpowers at
loggerheads was on one hand the policy of containment of communism
followed by USA, and the policy of spreading communism by USSR on
the other
• As a result of this, the world got divided into two power camps involved
in an unhealthy and highly dangerous war of nerves and tensions
 • The term ‘Cold War’ was first time used by Bernard Baruch, an American statesman,
but was popularized by Walter Lippman.
• Through propaganda and psychological warfare, both USA and USSR started making
attempts at winning friends and consolidating its power through the conclusion of
security alliances which were directed against each other.
• No bullet was fired and no blood was shed, yet war-like tensions, risks and strains were
kept alive
• Proxy wars were fought in different regions of the world, but the two superpowers
always avoided a direct military confrontation
• The term ‘Cold War’ came to be used for describing the situation in which war was not
actually fought, but a war-like hysteria was created and maintained
• Jawaharlal Nehru described this Cold War as a ‘brain-war, a nerve war and a
propaganda war in operation’
• Following KPS Menon, we can say that Cold War was a war between two ideologies-
capitalism and communism, two systems- bourgeois democracy and proletarian
dictatorship, two blocs- NATO and Warsaw Pact, and two states- USA and USSR
 Important Events of the Cold War Period
The major developments of the Cold War period lasted between the period 1945-1990, which
witnessed several landmark events such as:
• Division of Germany between two parts
• Formation of NATO
• Emergence of Communist China in 1949
• Formation of SEATO (South-East Asian Treaty Organisation), a Western military security
alliance in Asia
• Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
• Build-up of tension in Afghanistan, Africa and west Asia
• Star War Programme by the USA
 Decline and End of Cold War
• From 1985, the Cold War situation began diluting
• Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev took bold initiatives, acting under the concepts of perestroika and glasnost,
initiated certain moves in the direction of arms control and disarmament
• Acknowledgement of this initiative by USA set the stage for a very positive development- the signing of the
historic INF Treaty. By this treaty, USA and USSR agreed to destroy under joint supervision medium-range
missiles. This historic agreement brought about a positive change in international relations
• This change of outlook got reflected in:
o End of Iran-Iraq War
o Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
o Arms cuts accepted by USA in NATO
o Recognition of Israel by Palestine
o Emergence of a new détente in international relations
o Unification of East and West Germany
o Liberalising changes in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria
 Final End of Cold War
• The final end of the Cold War came in 1991 when the USSR collapsed as a state and disintegrated
• The state which was a superpower from 1945 to 1991, failed to maintain itself as an integrated state due to
internal political and economic pressure
• Around 1988, the leadership started showing signs of weakness
• The three Soviet states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania secured independence from USSR
• Gradually, other Soviet republics started declaring their independence
• In August 1991, there was an attempted coup in Moscow against Mikhail Gorbachev, which was encouraged
by Communist hardliners, Boris Yeltsin became a national hero in opposing this coup
• The coup failed, but the USSR also failed to preserve its identity as a single state, Yeltsin started shaking off
centralized control in Russia
• In November 1991, all the Republics declared their independence. Nine of them joined hands to form a
Commonwealth of Independent States- a loose organization of sovereign republics of former USSR
• Russia came to be recognized as the successor state of the USSR. Finally, on 31 December 1991, the USSR
faded into history
• The collapse of the USSR gave a final burial to the Cold War
• The end of Cold War marked the end of the bipolar balance of power, and also ushered in an era of US
supremacy and birth of unipolarity in international relations