USA The Sole Superpower in a PostCold War

USA: The Sole Superpower in a Post-Cold War World Theme: The US emerges as the world’s only ________

President Reagan Ends Cold War? • During the 1980 s, President Reagan adopted four policies that helped end the Cold War 1. Arms Race: _______ 2. Reagan Doctrine: _________________ 3. CIA Proxy Wars: _________________ 4. Pressured USSR _____ Reagan delivers his “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!” speech in 1987

Soviet Union Ends Cold War? • Soviet Union collapsed from within 1. Afghan War: _______________ 2. The Soviet economy: ____________________ 3. Wasted money: _____________ 4. Arms Race: _______________ 5. Reform: ___________________ US-supplied Stinger missiles helped the mujahedeen defeat Soviet forces in Afghanistan

Collapse of the Soviet Empire • Beginning in August 1991, Soviet republics declare independence • Attempted military coup • Boris Yelstin crushed the coup, but himself replaced Gorbachev • By the end of 1991, the USSR had ceased to exist AP photo of Boris Yelstin atop an armored personnel carrier encouraging resistance to the coup

End of the Bipolar World • The fall of the Soviet Union left the US as ___________________ • Without the danger of a superpower confrontation, the US was now ___________________________ • Additionally, new opportunities for cooperative international efforts would become possible without the bipolar competition • This new dynamic would be tested when ___________________

Post-Cold War Environment • Cold War threats were potentially catastrophic but they were also measurable and somewhat predictable • The bipolar structure and the desire to avoid superpower confrontation had provided a certain degree of order and stability • The post Cold War period was much more ambiguous and uncertain and many new threats emerged CIA Director James Woolsey described the post-Cold War environment by saying, “We have slain a large dragon (the U. S. S. R. ) — but we now live in a jungle filled with a bewildering variety of poisonous snakes. In many ways, the dragon was easier to keep track of. ”

International Economic Opportunities • The collapse of communism in _____and _______opened up huge economic markets • Many former communist countries in Eastern Europe join the _________. As Germany moved its capital from Bonn to Berlin, construction projects were rampant

International Efforts • The US found that its status as world economic and military superpower would not necessarily equate to unchallenged world leadership

The New World Order Theme: International cooperation and military intervention in the post-Cold War era

“New World Order” • “We stand today at a unique and extraordinary moment. The crisis in the Persian Gulf, as grave as it is, also offers a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective -- a new world order -- can emerge: a new era -- freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace. An era in which the nations of the world, East and West, North and South, can prosper and live in harmony. …

“New World Order” • …. A hundred generations have searched for this elusive path to peace, while a thousand wars raged across the span of human endeavor. Today that new world is struggling to be born, a world quite different from the one we’ve known. A world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A world in which nations recognize the shared responsibility for freedom and justice. A world where the strong respect the rights of the weak. ” – President George H. W. Bush Sept 11, 1990