International Relations Essay. ONLY PROTOJE

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The Globalization of World Politics (6e)

4. From the end of the cold war to a new global era?

Baylis, Smith & Owens

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

The Cold War – some characteristics

• As early as 1944 analysts were beginning to talk about two superpowers

• The cold war was in many ways global in reach

• The attendant reduction or concentration of conflicts created its own form of stability

• The visible dynamics made it hard to envisage, at the time, the end of the bipolar system (and thus the end of the Cold War)

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

The US and the unipolar moment

• The collapse of the Soviet Union left the United States the overwhelmingly dominant force in the world – a “hyperpower”

• The first Gulf War seemed to hint at a new world order, where international will and US power and interest would be compatible

• The Clinton administration concentrated on economic engagement and leverage

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

After the Soviet Union

• The Soviet Union belongs to a select club of nations that despite evident power and influence still disappeared from the stage of history

• Russia found it hard to think of its relationship with states like Ukraine in anything but imperial terms

• The sudden shift to Western-style privatization led to severe economic shocks

• A “Soviet nostalgia” came to affect politics

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

Europe: rise and decline?

• The new united Europe, with its open borders, democratic institutions and reduced external threats appeared to have a lot to look forward to

• Ideas were mooted to set up specific European security arrangements

• Dividing lines included the view of the role of the state and the reach and depth of the EU

• Europe: an economic and soft power giant, but a military dwarf

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

A new Asian century?

• In the decades after WW2, the continent was plagued by conflict

• In spite of some bleak predictions the region underwent rapid economic developments (in part helped by cheap US security arrangements)

• It has relatively few collective institutions, such as ASEAN, to organize collaboration

• China is the main economic engine, but its growing political heft also causes problems

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

A new global South

• The Third World affected and was very much affected by, cold war dynamics

• The “Third World” as a political project was in many cases brought down by corruption and instability.

• The imposition of Western-style structural reforms and debt servicing have in some cases left both burdens and a lingering resentment

• The new global South is characterized by major reforms and the (re)joining of world markets

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

From 9/11 to the Arab Spring

• If the end of the cold war marked a great turning point in modern inter- national relations, 9/11 marked another

• The new sort of terrorist threat meant that old defence methods were less relevant

• One US response was nevertheless a sharp militarization of foreign policy – and the notion that the status quo (particularly in the Middle East) was not sacrosanct

• Arab Spring events occurred independently

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

Obama and the world

• Obama has turned out to be a very cautious foreign policy leader, but has warned both Syria and Iran not to press on with distasteful policies

• He has dramatically increased the use of drones

• Although arguing that the USA was still a dominant power, Obama appears to have abandoned the idea that the world was in fact unipolar

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

‘Pivot’ to Asia

• The rise of China presented the US with the following options:

• #1 Accede to China’s power and risk a loss of power itself

• #2 Resist China’s rise by allying itself with Asian countries worried by the development

• #3 Try to incorporate China into the existing world order

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

‘Pivot’ to Asia

• The Obama administration ‘pivot’ involves:

• #1 Getting more actively involved in regional organizations

• #2 Press hard for a larger role to be given to all Asian countries in international economic bodies such as the G20

• #3 Reassure Chine that its rise was welcome • #4 Generally prioritize Asia much more in all

foreign policy matters