Transcript Document

Post Cold War America
The New Order
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, America became the
sole world super power. This change in the balance of world power
would present new challenge to the nation and our role in the world.
The New
World Order
When the Soviet Union collapsed, President H.W. Bush began
referring to, “The New World Order”. At first, this just meant a new
chance at cooperation between the nations, but late became more…
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Energy Security
Coalition Building
No more isolationism
One Superpower (unchallenged at first)
Pressure through economics (capitalism)
Bush’s critics said the New World Order was,
“ A rationalization for imperial ambition”.
Regardless, this period
introduced more/new military
and economic challenges
around the globe.
Tiananmen
Square Massacre
Tiananmen Square Massacre
This event occurred just before the fall of the USSR.
Still, it represented a challenge to the way America
would respond to post-Cold War challenges.
In 1989, students in China began protesting for more
freedoms and reforms. In particular, they sought out
more say in their government (democracy).
There were protests throughout the nation, but
the best know were in the capitol city, Beijing
(Tiananmen Square).
On June 4th, the Chinese
military came in to violently
retake Tiananmen.
The students had been warned previously, but they refused to leave.
Estimates of the number killed were anywhere from 200 to 1000.
Cuba, Czechoslovakia and East Germany
expressed support for the Chinese
government, but condemnation came from
almost every other part of the world.
China’s Asian neighbors remained mostly silent.
The United States was experiencing a generally positive
economic relationship with China at the time.
The European Union and the
United States began an arms
embargo against China to
protest the crackdown.
Right or wrong, the embargo was convenient for the Western
world. American and European governments had been
worried about China’s rise as a military power for some time.
The Tiananmen Massacre
gave them an excuse to slow
down China’s military growth.
The Gulf War
(Iraq early 1990s)
August 1990- February 1991
In 1990, Iraq accused its neighbor, Kuwait of drilling into Iraqi oil
fields. Iraq then invaded Kuwait and took over the small nation.
Iraq claimed that Kuwait had historically been part of Iraq anyway.
However, Iraq clearly had other reasons.
• Iraq had better access to the Persian Gulf
without Kuwait in the way.
• Iraq would gain control of Kuwait’s rich oil fields.
• Iraq then sent its troops to the border with
Saudi Arabia threatening another oil-rich nation.
Both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were
economic allies of the U.S.
The United States built up a large military coalition of
15 nations and other supporting nations.
Contributing Coalition Nations
After trying to negotiate, and working with
the U.N. to get Iraq out of Kuwait, the
coalition attacked and easily defeated Iraqi
forces. Kuwait was independent again.
On the way out, Iraq set many Kuwaiti oil wells on
fire and allowed Kuwaiti oil to flow into the gulf.
This created a large environmental disaster.
The Gulf War was the first
large military test of the U.S.
in a post-Cold War world.
The U.S. proved its military
dominance, but also the
importance of forming
coalition to gain legitimacy.
Coalition: 292 killed and 776 wounded
Iraq: 20,000-35,000 killed and 75,000 wounded
200 Kuwaitis were also killed with more missing
American Leadership:
The Breakup of Yugoslavia
In the mid-1990s, the U.S. faced another challenge in the
post-Cold War world. The former Yugoslavia (a nation of
multiple ethnicities formed after WWI) began to fall apart.
When the country began to break up, different groups were
fighting for territory. Eventually seven new nations were formed.
Beginning in 1992, the U.S. led a
NATO operation in the region.
The mission was first a peace
keeping mission, but expanded to
air campaigns, and finally ground
troops (60,000).
The U.S. provided leadership and pressure
particularly when reports of “ethnic
cleansing” became public and credible.
Like the Gulf War, this conflict
proved the necessity of coalition
building with U.S. leadership in a
world without two superpowers.
Free Trade
Free trade agreements became
more common in the 1990s.
Nations recognized a need to expand their
markets and cooperate with others.
Example: NAFTA January 1, 1994
(North American Free Trade Agreement)
Goal: Eliminate barriers to trade and investment
between Canada, U.S.A., and Mexico
This agreement that came into play during President
Clinton’s presidency and was very controversial.
For some, the following were seen as disadvantages:
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Increased competition
Less control over quality
Loss of some domestic jobs
Lack of environmental controls
For others, the following were seen as advantages:
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New technologies to become more efficient
Reduction or elimination of tariffs
Access to more human resources
Increased access to new markets
As the economy became
more global, many industries
had to change the way they
conducted business.
Example: The automobile industry
during 2nd half of 20th century.
American cars dominated the American market in the 50s and 60s, but
foreign companies began exporting to the U.S. in the 70s and 80s.
As barriers to trade were reduced between
nations across the globe, American auto
makers had to find new ways to compete.
Tariffs, and the initial low quality of foreign cars
kept the American market going, but as tariffs
were reduced, and foreign quality increased,
the U.S. auto makers felt increased pressure.
In the early 1990s, fuel was
inexpensive and large SUVs
became popular. This market
was unique to the U.S.
New government rules about fuel efficiency did not
hurt production because auto makers could average
out fuel efficiency across their product lines.
U.S. auto companies also began buying
controlling interests in foreign makers.
• GM purchased interests in
Saab, Subaru, and Fiat
between 1990 and 2000.
• Ford purchased Volvo and
Land Rover in 1999.
At the same time, foreign producers were setting up factories in
the U.S. particularly in the South where unions were weaker.
In short, the auto market became
global and makers were producing
cars in many parts of the world.
Competition increased, but so did
access to new markets.
th
11
September
and The
Invasion of Afghanistan
On September 11th, 2001, the
United States was attacked.
Using hijacked airplanes, terrorists killed over 2000 Americans.
Two planes were crashed into the twin towers of the
World Trade center in New York. Another plane hit the
Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania.
After learning that a terrorist group
called al-Qaeda, headed by Osama
bin Laden was responsible,
President Bush began a response.
Al-Qaeda had been watched by the
U.S. for many years prior to 9/11
because of their support for
terrorist attacks.
Al-Qaeda was based mostly in Afghanistan. The
government of Afghanistan was controlled by a
fundamentalist Muslim government called the Taliban.
The Taliban gave safe shelter to al-Qaeda. The
U.S. targeted both the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
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2005:
U.S. planes and cruise missiles hit targets in Afghanistan.
NATO peacekeepers arrive in Afghanistan
Free elections were held and Hamid Karzai becomes president
A national assembly is elected in Afghanistan
Today, the Taliban still has
some representation in the
Afghan government, but
they no longer rule, and alQaeda has been broken up
and severely weakened.
Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda was found and
killed in 2011. He was hiding in a home in Pakistan.
The Invasion
of Iraq
Following the 9/11 attacks, President Bush spoke to the
nation about a need to confront terrorism and evil.
President Bush referred to
Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as
an “Axis of Evil”.
Later, her would use this term to refer
to any nation he felt was seeking
weapons of mass destruction.
In 2003, after repeated claims that Iraq’s leader Saddam
Hussein had been stockpiling illegal weapons (chemical,
for instance), the U.S. invaded Iraq.
Unlike the Gulf War in 1991, the coalition
was made of fewer nations.
Although the United Nations
had placed sanctions on Iraq,
there was no resolution to use
force. The U.S. defied the U.N.
by invading.
Much of the intelligence on Iraq
turned out to be false or weak, and
most of the suspected weapons were
not found. Hussein was captured
and later executed.
Today, Iraq is in turmoil trying to hold itself
together against outside forces.
Many critics of the U.S. led invasion say that the reputation
of America was tarnished and that the U.S. should have
not invaded without more international support.
Changes at Home
After 9/11
The Office of Homeland Security was created after the 9/11 attacks
(but was proposed before). Its charge is to protect the nation
against terrorist attacks, man made accidents and natural disasters.
The USDHS has a budget of
around $100B and employs
over 200,000 people.
The USDHS was considered necessary to
help coordinate efforts of other U.S.
agencies (FBI, NSA, CIA) and so that
information would be shared faster.
The Patriot Act
In response to 9/11, the
nation looked for
stronger laws to help
prevent terrorism.
The Patriot Act was sponsored and supported by Republicans,
although it passed through Congress with support from both sides.
The Patriot Act allowed for…
• Nationwide search warrants
• Indefinite detentions of immigrants
• searches of homes and businesses
without the knowledge of the owner
• Searches of e-mail and telephone
records without court order
While some saw the Patriot Act as a necessary tool to fight
terrorists, others saw it as a violation of civil liberties and
privacy rights implied by the Constitution. The law has
since been reauthorized with weakened provisions.