CHAP 5: A new geopolitical situation: bipolarization and the emergence of the Third World

self-determination

the process by which a population forms its own government → personified by Woodrow Wilson

bipolarization

the division of the world during the Cold War (1947-1991) between the communist bloc, centered on the USSR, and the capitalist Western bloc, centered on the US

decolonization

the undoing of colonialism, in which the imperial power withdraws from a colony allowing for the formation of an independent government

Third World

countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact (capitalist Western bloc = “first world”, the communist Eastern bloc = “second world”)

independence of the Philippines

1946

French Indochina War

1946-1954

Vietnamese Declaration of Independence

1947, Ho Chi Minh

the “Year of Africa”

1960, 17 countries receive independence (mainly from France)

independence of India and Pakistan

1947

Malayan Emergency/anti-British Liberation War

1948-1960

Mau Mau rebellion 1952-1960

1952-1960, Kenya

French Indochina War

1946-1952

French Algerian War

1954-1962

new forms of government

authoritarian military regimes (Myanmar), democracies (India, Nehru)

Bandung conference

1955, Indonesia

Belgrade conference

1961, Yougoslavia = formalised Non-Aligned Movement

Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)

alliance of countries wanting to build an autonomous policy

NAM leaders

Yougoslavia = Tito, India = Nehru, Egypy = Nasser, China = Mao, Cuba = Fidel Castro

group of 77 (or G77)

coalition of developing countries in the United Nations

creation of the Arab league

March 22nd, 1945

pan arabism

the ideology aimed at unifying the Arabic-speaking populations of North Africa, the Near and Middle East within the same state

divisions between arab countries

two blocs = disagreements crystallized in the Arab-Israeli wars (1967 and 1973)

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

1964

divisions in the NAM

Indo-Pakistani War (1947-1948), Biafra war (1967-1970)

neocolonialism

new forms of control of the core over the periphery since the end of decolonization

People’s Republic of China

October 1949

Great Leap Forward

1958-1962, rapid industrialization, because belief that rural workers were the backbone

Sino-Soviet Split

Chinese communism considers that they’re the true heirs of Marxism

Cuban Missile crisis

october 1962

people’s communes

large rural organizations of collective farming introduced in China in 1958

great chinese famine

1959-1961

caracteristics of totalitarian regime (China)

indoctrination of youth (Red Guards), cult of personality (Cultural Revolution), persecution of political enemies

easings between US and China

ping-pong diplomacy

destanilization

relative political liberalization and raised hopes of democratization in Eastern Europe (Nikita Krushchev)

Berlin Wall

1961-1989

East German uprising

1953, brutal repression of the Soviet Army of East German workers

involvement of intelligence services

September 1960, Congo coup

definition of coup

a sudden, violent, and unlawful seizure of power from a government

definition of guerilla warfare

a form of asymmetric fighting carried out by small groups of combatants hidden among the population and who oppose a regular army

Suez crisis

1956, nationalisation of Suez Canal

definition of nationalization

the transfer of a major branch of industry or commerce from private to state ownership

definition of Zionism

a nationalist and secular movement that advocated for the settlement of Jews in the land of Israel/Palestine and the creation of a Jewish state, in order to escape the pogroms to which they were subjected in Europe

UN resolution 181

partition plan between an Arab state and a Jewish state in November 1947

proclamation of the State of Israel

May 14th, 1948

The Nakba

Arab-Israeli war (1948) = the exile of 800,000 Palestinians from Israel

Six Day War

1967

Yom Kippur War

1973

1953 Iran

coup, by British and American secret services (Mossadegh → The Shah)

US troops in Vietnam war

1965 - 1973

decisive French loss

Dien Bien Phu

consequences of French Indochina War

17th parallel, unifying elections 1956

Gulf of Tonkin accident

1964

belligerents capitalist West

South Vietnam, US from 1965

belligerents communist East

North Vietnam, Viet Cong, China

capitalist West allies

France, South Korea, Australia

communist East allies

USSR, Warsaw pact countries

creation of the National Liberation Front (NFL)

1960, against Diem regime

American Vietnam War

1st living room war

war of attrition

long war where both sides are trying to wear down the enemy

origin of “credibility gap”

opposition between the official version of the US gov vs. reality

US strengths and weaknesses

one of the largest armies, but no support from the population

Vietnam forces strengths

knew the terrain

January 1973

treaty of peace → country becomes fully communist in 1975

nuclear proliferation

spread of nuclear weapons to other countries

nuclear bomb for 3 countries

UK = 1952, France =1960, China = 1964

definition of “balance of horror”

doctrine that claimed that the sole function of nuclear weapons was to deter a possible attack from the enemy

definition of nuclear deterrence

doctrine according to which the possession of nuclear weapons reduces chances of conflict between countries

détente

general easing of geopolitical tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War after the Cuban Missile Crisis (official policy in 1969)

easing of Cuban Missile crisis

“red phone”

SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks)

1972/1979, reduction of nuclear weapons

Ostpolitik

policy pursued by Willy Brandt, chancellor of West Germany to ease relations with East Germany beginning in 1969

Helsinki conference

1975, conference during which the USSR signed agreements with Western countries

space race 1st victories

USSR: 1957 (Sputnik and Laïka), 1961 : Yuri Gagarine

Apollo program

1961 → moon landing in 1969

definition of mcCarthyism

political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of alleged communist during the late 1940s through the 1950s

the Kitchen debate

US/USSR exhibitions showcasing traditional kitchens (1959)

US-Soviet Cultural Agreement

1958

United Arab Republic (Egypt +Syria)

1958-1961