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Rethinking the End of The Cold War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

Michael Cox
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Extract

Like nuclear weapons, the literature on the end of the Cold War continues to proliferate. Much of this work it has to be said has been limited in its depth (if not range) by the simple fact that the structure of the new international order has yet to assume a finished form. Writing meaningfully about a constantly evolving subject is no easy undertaking. There is also the added problem of perspective. In many ways we are still living too close to recent events to say much that is particularly profound about them. Finally, understanding the new world has been made all the more difficult by the sheer scale of the changes that have occurred since 1989. Because of the triple collapse of communism as an ideology, the Soviet Union as a European power, and the USSR as a united country our known political universe has fallen apart. Making sense of the global results is no easy job; indeed it is turning out to be an extraordinarily difficult task—one for which we may not yet have the proper conceptual tools.

Type
Review Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , April 1994 , pp. 187 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1994

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References

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20 Given its short life span, it is extraordinary how many articles carried the term ‘New World Order’ (or a derivative of it) in their title between 1990 and 1991. For longer works, see: Bergner, Jeffrey T., The New Superpowers: Germany, Japan, the U.S. and the New World Order (New York, 1991)Google Scholar; Brandon, Henry (ed.), In Search of a New World Order: The Future of US-European Relations (Washington, 1992)Google Scholar; Tucker, Robert W. and Hendrickson, David C., The Imperial Temptation: the New World Order and America‘s Purpose (New York, 1992)Google Scholar; Allison, Graham and Treverton, Gregory (eds.), Rethinking America's Security: Beyond Cold War to New World Order (New York, 1992)Google Scholar; Jowitt, Ken, The New World Disorder (California, 1992)Google Scholar; and Rabie, MohamedThe New World Order: A Perspective on the Post-Cold War Era (New York, 1992)Google Scholar. For an American evangelical Protestant perspective, see Robertson, Pat, The New World Order (Dallas, 1991)Google Scholar. For a Catholic point of view, see Weigel, George, A New Worldly Order: John Paul II and the Structure of Human Freedom (Lanham, 1992)Google Scholar.

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