Introduction

Although there is disagreement among historians as to when the Cold War began to fade as an international system, most recent surveys point to the decade between 1975 and 1985 as the beginning of the end.

As the 1980s began, however, the political effects of the economic and technological changes were difficult to predict and, if anything, the challenges to the West were seen as large, if not larger, than those facing the Warsaw Pact countries. In terms of productivity and economic management, many Americans saw Japan as rapidly surpassing the United States and feared the long-term economic consequences of a less dominant American role in the global economy. The election of a right-wing Republican, Ronald Reagan, as president in 1980 reflected therefore not only the international challenges facing the United States, the breakdown of detente, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iranian Revolution, but also a general perception that America's position in the world was in decline and that a stronger American response was needed. Reagan, with his willingness to intervene against revolutionary regimes and the massive buildup of American military power, clearly represented that mind-set.

However, as the 1980s unfolded, the new challenges that both superpowers faced made it clear that fundamental changes were taking place in international relations. By the late 1980s the Soviet bloc economies were in crisis and the new policies introduced by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev after he took over the leadership in 1985 signalled the beginning of the end for the Communist Party's repressive control. As so-called perestroika (restructuring) in the Soviet Union began to stall by the late 1980s, increasing numbers of Soviet citizens lost faith in Gorbachev's ability to renew the system from within. Although the challenges to the West were of a less essential nature, the drive towards economic neo-liberalism associated with Thatcher and Reagan and the massive American trade and budget deficits still made many people ask questions about the stability of the Cold War international system. Finally in 1989, with the collapse of the East European communist parties' grip on power, the Cold War system began its rapid demise. By the end of 1991 the Soviet Union itself had collapsed, while Germany, one of the key sources of East-West tensions in Europe, was reunified. With these changes it was evident that the Cold War, which for many had defined the general nature of international politics for four decades, was no more. The question that emerged was simple. What now? There is no straightforward way of describing the post-Cold War international system. At one level, the world experienced an imbalance of power never seen before: throughout the 1990s the United States was, as many observers have pointed out, the only superpower capable of flexing its economic, military and political muscles around the globe. Yet, despite such apparent American omnipotence, the world was increasingly unpredictable, heterogeneous and, ultimately, dangerous. Amid unprecedented peace and pros­perity there was continued, often exacerbated, poverty and conflict. While democracy and capitalism appeared to have history on their side, genocide and terrorism also thrived in the 1990s. If anything, the end of the Cold War had only removed one, and by the 1980s an increasingly irrelevant, aspect that had governed the international system since the end of the Second World War.

detente

A term meaning the reduction of tensions between states. It is often used to refer to the superpower diplomacy that took place between the inauguration of Richard Nixon as the American president in 1969 and the Senate's refusal to ratify SALT II in 1980.

perestroika (Russian: restructuring)

The term attached to the attempts (1985-91) by Mikhail Gorbachev to transform the command economy of the Soviet Union into a decentralized market- oriented economy. Industrial managers and local government and party officials were granted greater autonomy, and open elections were introduced in an attempt to democratize the Communist Party organization.