The Emergence of the Bipolar World Essay

Introduction

The end of World War II did not bring world peace it has so long strived to reach. Instead, it gave birth to the new conflict between the two global superpowers that emerged in the course of the Second World War – the United States of America and the Soviet Union¹. Even though it was not open and there were no overt military actions, the rest of the world felt constant pressure and robust impact of this confrontation for almost five decades.

The ideological differences between the West in the face of the United States and the East represented by the Soviet Union and their aggressive desire to become more influential, dictate the policy and run the development of the international relations led to breaking the world into two opposing camps. It resulted in the emergence of the bipolar world that had a strong impact on the ongoing evolution of foreign affairs.

This paper looks at the primary reasons that led to the rise of the bipolar system in the world. It then focuses on the evolution of the bipolarity and describes the key developments that proved its existence. Later, the paper draws the key arguments that prove that this kind of international interaction had a robust effect on the development of the global environment. It demonstrates that the consequences of the bipolarity and the Cold War emerging from it were not positive because the world felt constant pressure resulting from the confrontation between the United States of America and the Soviet Union and lived in the fear of the potential outburst of the Third World War.

However, it also stresses on some positive effects of the bipolar system of international relations. Finally, the paper shows what are the outcomes of the existence of the bipolar world for modern developments in the global arena.

The genesis of the bipolarity of the world

Bipolarity is the phenomenon emerging from the confrontation between the United States of America and the Soviet Union that started in the course of the Second World War. It grew even stronger after the end of the war and during the next five decades having an impact on the evolution of the global system. The specific feature of bipolarity is the existence of two global superpowers that already have their spheres of influence defined by their positions gained as the result of some globally significant event – the Second World War.

What is significant is that they strive for broadening this spheres and becoming more influential by increasing their power by gaining more states supporting their ideologies or drawing them from the opposing camp. It should be stressed that imposing the ideology and gaining more influence is not always reached through peaceful means such as propaganda and promising bright future; it is sometimes achieved through terror and aggression, thus becomes a forced decision.

The genesis of the bipolar world system lies in the desire of the United States to promote the principles of capitalism and democracy, on the one side, and the Soviet Union to make more countries live according to the postulates of communism, on the other². Among other features of the bipolarity are the race in developing nuclear weapons and the potential of the military hardware³. So, these were the division of the spheres of influence and the race of nuclear and military weapons as the foundation for developing and carrying out foreign policies that gave birth to the bipolar world.

It should be stressed that there were no other states that could enter this struggle for power. It can be easily explained by the fact that the European countries were devastated after the Second World War, and the United States and the Soviet Union were the victors. The United States can be considered the absolute winning party to the conflict because the human and financial losses after the war were minimal, especially if compared to the outcomes for the rest of the countries.

Moreover, it witnessed growth and prosperity after World War II. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, had significant gains in territories. Furthermore, the USSR was seen as a mighty state because it defeated Nazi Germany and rescued Europe from the danger of ongoing aggressions⁴. That is what helped them become the true global superpowers not leaving behind the fact that they were the only countries that had nuclear weapons enough for destroying the whole world at once at their disposal.

The evolution of the bipolar world order

Since the rise of the two global superpowers and the establishment of the relations of confrontations between them, the world has witnessed many developments that proved the existence of the bipolarity of the world system. Turning sometimes into overt military operations, the US and the USSR, however, were wise enough to avoid the outburst of the Third World War and the use of nuclear weapons realizing the possible horrifying consequences it might have had.

The process started after the end of the Second World War when the world shifted from multipolarity to bipolarity. Initially, there were six global superpowers – Germany, France, Japan, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States⁵. As World War II left them devastated, it gave the US and the USSR the brilliant opportunity to change the world order and the balance of power.

The primary manifestation of the world bipolarity was the Cold War, a latent conflict lasting for more than five decades that resulted from the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. The primary developments having place in the course of this conflict can be considered as the key stages of the evolution of the bipolar world order.

The brightest demonstration of the bipolarity was the creation of two opposing military blocs – the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supported by the United States in 1949 and the Warsaw Pact initiated by the Soviet Union in 1955. It showed that the desire of the counterparts to strengthen their influence in the international arena was real, and the countries had to choose which of the two superpowers they prefer by entering one of the formations.

That said, NATO included most Western countries, and the Warsaw Pact had Eastern European states (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Romania, and Albania) as its members. As a matter of fact, membership to one of these formations defined the way of the country’s further development, as with joining one of them the country chose the ideology. So, the Warsaw Pact members established the Communist governments while the NATO members were democratic.

Nevertheless the US and the USSR were aggressive in their desire to broaden their spheres of influence, the means for achieving this goal were, for the most part, peaceful and diplomatic especially when it came to building bilateral relations. They tried to solve all problems and impending conflicts through communication and dialogues because they realized the possible outcomes of the overt military confrontation.

The only case in which they were unable to reach the decision satisfying both sides that led to the outburst of military actions was the unification of Korea that led to breaking up the country along the 38^th Parallel into two parts – the Republic of Korea supported by the United States in the South and the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea in the North backed by the Soviet Union. It was the first time when the Cold War entered into the phase of hot⁶.

That said, it should be noted that the process of the division was bloody and that the US and the USSR were the parts financing this bloodshed providing the Koreans with the weapons as well as soldiers. Together with that, they exported ideology to the newly created countries. Moreover, even though the Soviet Union collapsed almost 25 years ago, there is no sovereign state of Korea up to today, and both parts of the country follow the way of development chosen in the 1950s. So, today South Korea is the open democratic society while North Korea follows the postulates of communism and it isolated from the outer world.

Another point in history when the United States and the Soviet Union nearly crossed the line and broke the fragile peace became known as the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. It emerged when the US found out that the USSR constructs the nuclear weapons basis located in Cuba with the strategic objective of strengthening the political and military position of the Soviet Union⁷. Moscow demonstrated the United States that it is close enough to destroy it, however, it did not show the desire to make the first move.

Instead, all that the Soviet Union wanted was to have a military base located in the Caribbean, so that it might weaken the positions of NATO and the United States in the international arena. Realizing that the nuclear potential of both counterparts was tremendous, and any wrong step might lead to the outburst of another worldwide conflict shifting millions of lives, the United States did not buy into the provocation, so, the sides managed to solve the problem using the diplomatic instruments.

These were the two points at which the aggressive desire of the superpowers nearly resulted in the breach of global peace. Even though only one of them turned the Cold War into hot and a similar scenario in the second situation was avoided, they have not put an end to the confrontation between the US and the USSR. However, they chose a peaceful race of military development as a way of strengthening influence and becoming more prestigious in the future.

Since then, the opposing parties proved their leadership through technological breakthroughs in such spheres of life as army, science, economics and others. They realized that peace is the most precious thing and that it should be preserved by all means possible. Moreover, they became aware that there is no need to conduct overt military operations to reach the leading positions in the world and that aggression is not the only way to becoming a superpower.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed leaving the United States the only global superpower, and it is so up to today. The US-led NATO even granted membership to the former Warsaw Pact parties⁸. It demonstrates that America strives for remaining the only existing superpower because it is safer to keep the members of the former opposing military formation close and acting under the same ideology. That said, nowadays, the world is unipolar, and there is no real chance for any other country to change it. It should be also stressed that the Soviet Union with its way of development and its relative isolation from the world might not have endured, so the transition of the world order towards unipolarity can be considered as the logical process.

Impact of the world bipolarity on international relations

It can be said that the bipolar world order had a negative impact on the development of international relations. The aggressive desire of the United States and the Soviet Union to strengthen its position in the global arena led to the constant state of fear, pressure, and turmoil that lasted for more than five decades. Witnessing the overt military operations having a place from time to time all over the globe made the international community aware of the possibility of World War III. Moreover, the race of armaments including the technological breakthroughs in this sphere showed that the peace could be in danger.

Finally, living in the bipolar world, the rest of the countries were forced to choose which bloc they belong to – democratic or socialistic – if they wanted to be involved in the development of the world.

Even though the impact of the world bipolarity is, for the most part, negative, there are some positive moments that cannot and should not be ignored. First of all, constant confrontation without the desire to conduct overt military operations on a timely basis that might have provoked the outburst of the Third World War meant that the leaders of the opposing blocs had to hold political dialogues. The primary reason for this need was to cooperate for the sake of maintaining the fragile balance between peace and war that was the direct outcome of the world’s bipolarity.

In truth, this kind of international interaction is more effective in guaranteeing peace if compared to the world multipolarity⁹, even though it does not eradicate the possibility of military conflicts. It can be explained by the fact that it is a lot easier to reach decisions satisfying two global actors and, as a result, make sure that there is no threat of large-scale war efforts.

Furthermore, it had a robust impact on the development of modern international relations. Today, the world is unipolar that is caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 leaving the United States the only global superpower. Even though Russia strives to get back its former positions as an international leader, it does not have the might and potential compared to that of the former USSR¹⁰.

The only possible counterpart that can potentially gain the status of the second superpower and thus bring the world back to bipolarity is China. The reason is that it makes fantastic investments in developing military potential including nuclear weapons as well as other technological breakthroughs and has a strong ideology. However, the possibility of the further polarization does not necessarily mean the threat to the global peace and the new Cold War because what is special about the relations between the United States and China is that they are, for the most part, friendly¹¹, even though both states seek strengthening their influence.

Conclusion

Bearing in mind everything that was said, the conclusion is evident: it is the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that led to the emergence of the bipolar world order. Moreover, it is their aggressive desire to broaden their spheres of influence by promoting their ideologies. Bipolarity resulted in breaking the world into two opposing blocs ruled by the US and the USSR and creating the two opposing military formations, NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Even though there were points at which it led to bloodshed, they only proved that peace is what should be valued and preserved. In fact, I believe that it was only the wise leadership of both states, their communication, and remembering the bloodshed and the terrifying consequences of the previous World Wars as well as the Korean war and the possible horridness of the Cuban Missile Crisis that kept the globe from the dreads of the possible Third World War. However, with the military and nuclear potential they had, one can only hypothesize whether it was possible to avoid it if the Soviet Union still existed.

Bibliography

Cyr, Arthur I. “The Cuban Missile Crisis after Fifty Years.” Orbis 57, no. 1 (2013): 5-19. Web.

Jianmin, Wu. “Twenty Years after the Demise of the Soviet Union: The Chinese Perspective (Part I).” The Globalist. 2016. Web.

Lupita, Robert. “The Collapse of the Bipolar World: White House – Kremlin Relations Between 1985-1991 from Realism Perspective.” Revista de Administratie Publica si Politicie Sociale 12, no. 1. (2014): 12-31. Web.

Painter, David S. The Cold War: An International History. New York: Routledge, 2004. Web.

Roskin, Michael G. “The New Cold War.” Parameters 44, no. 1 (2014): 5-9. Web.

Thalakada, Nigel R. Unipolarity and the Evolution of America’s Cold War Alliances. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Web.

U.S. Army Center for Military History. “North Korea Attacks Across the 38^th Parallel.” United States Army. 2016. Web.

Xuetong, Yan. “Why a Bipolar World Is More Likely than a Unipolar or Multipolar One.” The World Post. 2016. Web.

Footnotes

1. Robert Lupitu, “The Collapse of the Bipolar World: White House – Kremlin Relations Between 1985-1991 from Realism Perspective,” Revista de Administratie Publica si Politicie Sociale 12, no. 1. (2014): 12. Web.
2. Ibid., 14.
3. Wu Jianmin, “Twenty Years after the Demise of the Soviet Union: The Chinese Perspective (Part I),” The Globalist. 2016. Web.
4. David S. Painter, The Cold War: An International History. (New York: Routledge, 2004), 9. Web.
5. Ibid., 4.
6. U.S. Army Center for Military History, “North Korea Attacks Across the 38^th Parallel,” United States Army. 2016. Web.
7. Arthur I. Cyr, “The Cuban Missile Crisis after Fifty Years,” Orbis 57, no. 1 (2013): 16. Web.
8. Nigel R. Thalakada, Unipolarity and the Evolution of the America’s Cold War Alliances. (London: Pallgrave Macmillan, 2014): 39. Web.
9. Lupitu, 12.
10. Michael G. Roskin, “The New Cold War,” Parameters 44, no. 1 (2014): 5. Web.
11. Yan Xuetong, “Why a Bipolar World Is More Likely than a Unipolar or Multipolar One,” The World Post. 2016. Web.