Examples Of Self Determination In The Cold War

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The Cold War: The Global War for Self-Determination
The Cold War was a series of global conflicts connected by the common goal of self determination. The global war which spanned from the 1940s to the 1990s was not solely based on the differing ideologies of communism and capitalism, but rather stemmed from the opportunity after World War II to alter the international system. Countries like the USSR, US, and the global south engaged in conflicts in order to defend their self determination. During the Cold War period self determination could be described as having the ability to make independent decisions within the international system, such as by determining its own statehood, government, and treaties. In the first part of the Cold War, ranging …show more content…

This can be seen in the War in Vietnam. Although both wars were fought from a communist and capitalist side, the people’s main drive was the unification and formal recognition of their country as an independent state. In the interrogation of a captured NLF fighter in 1967, the prisoner explains that she “respected the front a great deal” because they were “willing to accept any sacrifices required of themselves and of their relatives for the country.”4 She “viewed the cadres as living embodiments of heroes”4and that they stood up “to fight the evil in order to protect the people.”4 In the eyes of the National Liberation Front, capitalism and communism did not represent a more favorable ideology, but rather the names of their supporters and enemies. The Vietnamese fought for their people and against a county that was following in the steps of colonialism, not for the name of communism. This common strive for self determination can be seen in the Non-Alignment movement, in which several Asian and African countries refused to join either power bloc and instead bound together to fight for self determination. Following the signatures of African and Asian countries, many Latin American countries joined the movement in the 1970s. Several Latin American countries were up in arms after American coups disregarded Latin American self determination and overthrew democratically elected political leaders. Latin American countries also became increasingly suspicious when international companies, such as the United Fruit Company, began to resemble a colonial regime by exploiting Latin American resources. The anger that arose from this exploitation sparked conversation about how economic capabilities related to global

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