CHAPTER SIX
After the Cold War

Study
Following the end of the Cold War, the world quickly plunged into a new kind of conflict—international terrorism. For liberals, the cause of terrorism can be traced back to the failures of diplomacy, particularly in the Middle East; additionally, liberals believe that the unilateral actions of the United States have only served to exacerbate the problem. The best way to handle the growing threat of terrorism, they believe, is to act under the legitimacy of international institutions like the UN and NATO. Realists, who focus on the distribution of power, see a unipolar world that is increasingly subject to asymmetric threats from smaller powers. For them, this is merely the latest chapter in the age-old cycle between empire and equilibrium. Finally, the identity perspective is inclined to focus on the ideologies of the involved actors, examining the role of radical Islam, the victory of democracy over communism, and the growing consensus on human rights and multilateralism to explain global integration and terrorism.

Study Questions

1. How did collective security under the UN succeed during the 1990s? How did it fail?
   



2. What are the differences between the power balancing realists and the power transition neoconservatives? What policy prescriptions would each make for the United States?
   



3. How is democracy the “end of history,” according to Francis Fukuyama?