What explains the widening and deepening of international peace Essay - 1

What explains the widening and deepening of international peace operations after the Cold War - Essay Example In this sense international stability relied on the premise that if state security is maintained, then the security of citizens will necessarily follow. Therefore international security relied on the anarchistic balance of power, a military build-up between the US and the Soviet Union which were the two superpowers, and on the absolute sovereignty of the nation-state. Security was seen as protection from invasion; executed during proxy conflicts using technical and military capabilities (Bajpai, 2000). When the Cold War came to an end in 1989 with the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, when the countries of Eastern Europe regained independence, and when finally the Soviet Union disintegrated, there was widespread feeling throughout the world that at long last universal peace had descended on Earth. The fear of a war in which weapons of mass destruction would be used had vanished. Cold War was an ideological war between the capitalist west led by the USA the communist east led by the Soviet Union. Cold war was characterized by arms struggle between these two sides with either side arming its allies in readiness for any eventuality. This sometimes led to wars with the two powers supporting the opposing side. On both sides of the Cold War, the trend seemed to indicate that the world was moving toward internationalism rather than nationalism. As a result of the threat of nuclear warfare, great emphasis on democracy and human rights, economic interdependence, and gradual acceptance of universal ideologies, it became fashionable to speak of the demise of ethnic and nationalist movements.Despite expectations to the contrary after the cold war, a fresh cycle of ethno political movements re-emerged in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Africa, and many other parts of the world. In fact, with the end of the Cold War, which clearly increased international cooperation while decreasing the possibilities of inter-state wars, the main threat to peace does