CAUSES OF POST-COLD WAR

Is Nationalism the Most Common Cause of Conflict in the Post-Cold War Era?

Is Nationalism the Most Common Cause of Conflict in the Post-Cold War Era?

Introduction

Several political theorists have presented different causes of the post-Cold war, based on their rationale. This is because of the fact that there were several factors which can be cited individually. In this relation, this study will attempt to provide the answer of the question “is nationalism the most common cause of conflict in the post-cold war era? Earlier mentioned number of causes has been presented by political theorists for post-cold war era, which is the reason several causes overlap each other (Brown, 1997; Hillstrom, 2006). In order to present an acceptable and credible answer to the question, the paper will analyze a series of events after cold war. In this context, nationalism in post-cold war era will be examined as the most common cause.

Discussion and Analysis

The Cold War was an ideological conflict between political and military bloc of capitalism of the West with United States on the lead, and the communist bloc on the East under the leadership of the Soviet Union. This lasted till the collapse of the anti-Hitler coalition in the late forties of the twentieth century and continued to the fall of communism in the late eighties and early nineties (Kaplan, 2000). Often, the most important period of the Cold War is considered the first and most tense period of the sixties in which early negotiations to arms control were started. The main feature of the Cold War was the arms race, ideological tension and direct confrontation avoidance while supporting peripheral conflicts and wars (Gagnon, 1995).

The First Conflict of the Cold War: Berlin crisis and the Korean War

In the beginning of the Cold War, first misunderstanding between the West and the Soviet Union has already appeared in the form of Berlin blockade occurred during 1948 - 1949. Since 1941 the dispute for dominance in Afghanistan continued between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, because of the geopolitics constitutes of the country “the soft underbelly of Eurasia” - a strategic area, which makes it easy to master the domination in both continents. The case of Afghanistan remains open to this day (Hillstrom, 2006).

Berlin blockage of 1948 and 1949 witnessed the collapse of the provisions of the Potsdam Agreement of 1945, which offers division of Germany into different zones. After the communist coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948, the Western Allies began to consistently strive to unite against the aspirations of the occupation of the region by USSR. This led to a blockade of West Berlin. The city was also divided into zones, in addition to part of the Soviet supplies remained cut off (Hillstrom, 2006). The United States, United Kingdom and France airlift to circumvent the Soviet blockade. Berlin crisis ended with the creation of two German states: the Federal Republic of Germany to the west and the German Democratic Republic to the east while West Berlin retains a ...