Was the Cold War about competing ideologies or the balance of power?
Course title:
Professor:
University:
City, State:
Date:
Introduction
The cold war was a period of political tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, with both parties having conflicting ideologies. Soviet leaders had the belief that the concept of communism was an ideal approach that the world needed after World War II. The United States and its leaders, on the other hand, had a strong belief in the ideology of capitalism. American and western leaders supposed that the Soviet Union was determined to use its communist ideologies to harness more power towards making the world more communist-led. The Soviet Union, together with the eastern world, viewed America’s capitalist policies as a way to drive the world towards adopting these ideologies. The cold war was similarly a period during which the two superpowers created an alliance to dominate other nations within Europe (Skidmore 1997). This situation made it possible for a balance of power to remain in international politics over this period. This article now takes a look at how the cold war was about competing ideologies and the balance of power between these two superpowers.
The Communist Ideology
Communism stands out as one of the most important and influential theories of the economics of all of the times. It is a political ideology in which the government exercises total control over the significant resources in society (Plamenatz 1951). Such resources primarily relate to transportations, means of production, property, education, and agriculture. In this ideology, the community enjoys an equal share of all the benefits of labor. This situation allows for redistribution of income, thereby eliminating the class system. The concept of collectivism and communism was evident in the reign of Joseph Stalin, a Russian leader who sought to spread this idea to most countries within Europe.
Communist nations such as the Soviet Union are primarily dictatorships, where the government has significant control over the country’s economy. Unlike a democracy where the power to choose the country’s leader lies in the hands of the people, leaders in communist nations hold all the country’s authority. In such states, the leaders act to protect their interests rather than upholding the welfare of its citizens. As a leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin believed that the United States and the western world were more determined to crumble the ideology of communism. Countries like Cuba and China continue to work towards achieving the concept of communism in the current world. Cuban leadership under Fidel Castro was mainly a dictatorship (Centeno 2017). Since his demise, the US has tried to strengthen its relations with modern-day Cuba.
The Capitalist Ideology
Unlike the Soviet Union, the US and its allies believed in capitalist ideology, where the countries’ citizens have control over the economy. In this ideology, the government is left out of the economy, allowing the citizens to have direct control over essential economic elements and factors of production. From a financial point of view, capitalism is a right-wing ideology primarily built on self-reliance, free trade, competition, and private ownership. In a free-market economy, a feature of capitalist societies, individuals make all the essential economic decisions. Such decisions, to a considerable extent, contribute to the overall growth of the economy.
Capitalist societies, in most cases, are based on the political system of democracy, where power often rests in the hands of the country’s citizens. The country’s leaders are often elected through elections, where the citizens are free to vote for the leader of their choice. This ideology differs from that of communism, where a single political party is in charge of running the country for generations to come. The concept of capitalism was primarily objected to soviet Russia and other eastern states. Leaders in these countries could not allow their nations’ power to be passed on to their citizens. In Germany, for instance, the Nazi party ruled the country for many years, under Adolf Hitler’s regime. The complex interplay of ideological factors led to a series of disagreements between the Soviet Union and the United States. Such factors made it difficult for these countries to reach a consensus on critical issues.
Balance of power
The aftermath of the Second World War left the economic system of Europe in a bizarre state. The unfortunate financial situation at that particular time was due primarily to the large number of resources spent during the war. In response to this situation, the Soviet Union and the US created an alliance to dominate Europe. The coalition was similarly a technique to balance power and help the countries that were most affected by the war. The gradual decline of the US economy and the simultaneous rise of China as a superpower has brought an end to this dominance (Han & Paul 2020). China and the US are now on the brink of a second cold war, with the two nations clashing over certain economic aspects.
Conclusion
The cold war is primarily an ideological conflict that, until now, stands out as one of the most significant events of the twentieth century. The battle is responsible for notable events during its time, including the wars in Korea and Vietnam. Such events primarily stem from the conflicting political and economic perspectives. In this case, Soviet Russia was striving to expand and instill the ideology of communism to other countries, while the US was determined to stop this spread. In general, the cold war was a timeframe of competition between the two superpowers, with each power trying to outdo the other. Similarly, the cold war was a balance of power between the Soviet Union and the US to dominate other countries across Europe.
References
Centeno, R.I., 2017. The Cuban regime after a decade of Rául Castro in power. Mexican law review, 9(2), pp.99-126.
Han, Z., and Paul, T.V., 2020. China’s Rise and Balance of Power Politics. The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 13(1), pp.1-26.
Plamenatz, J., 1951. The Communist Ideology. The Political Quarterly, 22(1), pp.16-26.
Skidmore, D., and Skidmore, D., 1997. Rethinking realist interpretations of the cold war: balance of power or competing for social orders. Contested social laws and international politics, pp.165-186.