Cold War Era and Security Paradigms

Flashcards covering key vocabulary, events, historical figures, and security paradigms from the Cold War through the modern era based on the lecture notes.

Policy of Containment

A foreign policy initiated by the United States aimed at limiting the spread of opposing ideologies into Western Europe and other global regions.

Iron Curtain

The political and ideological barrier that separated Western Europe from communist Eastern European nations including Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and East Germany.

Dardanelles Straits

A strategic waterway in Turkey over which the Soviet Union demanded control following World War II, prompting US intervention.

Truman Doctrine

A policy declared by President Harry S. Truman stating that the US would support free peoples resisting attempted subjugation, initially marked by providing $400,000,000$ in aid to Greece and Turkey.

Dean Acheson

The Undersecretary of State who argued that Soviet success in Greece and Turkey would lead to pressure on Italy and Western Europe, leaving the US isolated.

Warsaw Pact

A military alliance established for Eastern European states and the communist regime as a counterpart to NATO.

Proxy Wars

Conflicts in which two main superpower opponents indirectly fight each other by supporting opposing sides in local wars, such as the Vietnam War.

Leyzwan

The most powerful member of the Politburo in Hanoi at the start of 1966 during the Vietnam War.

Bay of Pigs

A failed 1961 US effort to overthrow Cuba's new communist government, which prompted Cuba to seek military aid from the USSR.

Vasily Arkhipov

The second-in-command officer on a Soviet submarine who refused to authorize the launch of a nuclear torpedo during the Cuban Missile Crisis, avoiding potential nuclear war.

DEFCON 2

The high alert status set by the US military during the Cuban Missile Crisis, placing forces one step away from nuclear war.

Glasnost

A policy of political openness introduced by Soviet leadership under Barbatov to reform the Soviet system.

Berlin Wall

The physical barrier dividing East and West Germany whose fall in 1989 symbolized the end of communist rule in Eastern Europe and led to German reunification.

Unipolar World

An international power structure dominated by a single superpower, which emerged when the US became the sole global power following the 1991 collapse of the USSR.

Traditional Security (Realism)

A security paradigm that considers the state as the primary actor, emphasizing state sovereignty, military and economic power, national self-protection, and zero-sum competition.

Contemporary Security (Liberalism)

A security paradigm focused on human security and individual well-being, emphasizing international cooperation, global institutions, and positive-sum gains.

Zero-Sum Game

A realist concept in international relations where any gain in power or influence by one state directly results in an equal loss for another state.

Positive-Sum Game

A liberal concept in international relations where states cooperate through institutions to achieve outcomes that produce mutual benefits for all participants.

Balance of Power

A realist principle holding that global stability is maintained by preventing any single state or alliance from becoming dominant enough to threaten world peace.