The end of the Cold War has forced a re-examination of post-war history to inform our understanding of the present and future global alignment of the international system. The concept of "superpower", once universally understood and accepted, now seems slippery and vague. In this work, Jan Nijman has brought the powerful conceptual perspective of geopolitics to the topic, reassesses the history and operation of post-war global politics and presents a new explanation of how international relations and strategy work. The book is divided into three sections: the first provides a theoretical perspective on the superpowers in the international system, the second a research-driven investigation of how superpower relations ended during the Cold War, and the third examines the current geopolitical transition and the future, and adjustment of the sole remaining superpower - the USA - to the New World Order.
Reihe
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Illustrationen
illustrations, bibliography, index, tables
Maße
Höhe: 230 mm
Breite: 150 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-471-94735-6 (9780471947356)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Autor*in
Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Miami, Florida, USA
Part 1 Introduction - superpowers and the changing global order; a geopolitical perspective on superpower; Cold War, geopolitical transition and new world order. Part 2 The dynamics of superpowers relations: superpower strategies and the blame for the Cold War; reciprocity in US-Soviet relations; tension and detente in US-Soviet relations. Part 3 The geopolitics of superpower: the old geopolitics of superpower; the new geopolitics of superpower; the geopolitical environment as a composite of third countries. Part 4 The struggle for domination - superpower spheres of influence: a common view - Soviet expansionism and American containment; Soviet and Americal expansionism revisited; zones of conflict - the changing geography of US-Soviet confrontations. Part 5 Pawns or players? - third countries in the superpower context: the third party as "significant other"; the superpower relationship remodelled - a theory of direct and indirect relations; the dynamics of superpower relations during the Cold War - symmetry, consistency and the limits of elasticity; a variety of pawns and players; the case of Egypt and the Yom Kippur war; the case of West Germany and the new cold war; the limits of superpower. Part 6 Geopolitical codes, superpower conduct and the logic of the Cold War: American hegemony and the Soviet challenge; the logic of Cold War. Part 7 The geopolitical transition: the end of the Cold War; containment - success or failure?; a cold victory; superpower and environment in the geopolitical transition; the United States in search of a new geopolitical code. Appendix: methodological notes.
