What is the definition of an
International System?
There have been four
International Systems in the 20th
Century, what was the most
recent system?
20th Century
International
Systems?
What IR system did we just study?
Cold War System- Bi- Polar System
Soviet Union & the United States were the two main power centers after WWOII & WWI.

Cold War was the most recent IR System
COMPETITION OF IDEOLOGIES- DEMOCRACY VS. COMMUNISM
CAPITALISM VS. COMMUNISM
Propaganda in America
Duck & cover drills
Bomb Shelters
 Both the U.S. and U.S.S.R had enough
bombs to destroy the world many times
over! What stopped the superpowers
from using their weapons…..Mutually
Assured Destruction (MAD)
 The Soviet threat was weak, destroying
America would not have benefited the
Soviets!!!
 More of a threat in Europe. Fear
Was the
Soviet Union
really a threat!
against communism in U.S. helps to
fund defense budget.
Living Under Soviet Communism
Advantages
Disadvantages
 Free Healthcare
 Lack of Information
 Jobs for life
 No Religion
 Free Education
 Government control of
 Housing was
provided
 Security
most aspects of life
 Purge of dissidents
 Ultimate collapse of
the economy!
 Why did the Soviet Union
collapse?
 What events mark the end of
the Cold War?
 Who where the leaders of the
U.S. & the Soviet Union when it
ended?
When did
the Cold War
end?
 What happen to the countries
that were part of the Soviet
Union?
 If guaranteed a job, nobody is inspired
to work, production of faulty goods
 Corruption in system
 Emphasis on military and defense
spending over consumer goods- bread
lines and food shortages
 Soviet Afghan War- economically drains
“satellite nations” country
Why did the
Soviet Union
collapse in
1989?
 Supporting “satellite nations” drains
economy
 Hatred among different nationalities
(ethnicities) in empire.
Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989
Mikhail Gorbachev reforms leads to collapse of U.S.S.R
Glasnost literally openness- “opening to the press”
Perestroika was the policy of restructuring or reforming the economic and political system
The Soviet economy had been in a period of stagnation for two decades and was in desperate need of reform.
Commonwealth of
Independent States
 1990, the (CCCP) Central
Committee of the
Communist Party of the
Soviet Union agreed to give
up its monopoly of power.
 Over the next several weeks,
the 15 republics of the USSR
held their first competitive
elections.
Common wealth of Independent States
CIS
It is now the 21st Century. What is the next
International System?
Bi- Polar, Multipolar, Unipolar?????
What is the next IR System?
Unipolar, Bi- Polar, Multipolar, Stratified, Globalization
Bi- Polar
China & the U.S.?
U.S. & Russia?
Potential Super Powers!
Multipolar
China, India, Russia, European Union, Brazil, United States…. Will these
powers work together in a multipolar world ?
BRIC Countries- Brazil, Russia, India and China
Rise of Russia
WIL THE U.S. AND RUSSIA ENTER INTO ANOTHER COLD WAR OR FIND SOME
WAY TO COEXIST? WHAT IS RUSSIA LIKE TODAY/
Rise of Asia/ China
Will the U.S. and China work peacefully together as two superpowers?
Or will the two superpowers come into conflict?