Post Cold War Chapter Summaries

One major theme discussed in the readings this week was that although the United States attempted to spread democracy to other nations, post -Cold War saw continued inequality both socially and economically within the United States’ borders and continued political and social unrest in foreign countries. This unrest in other countries, as discussed in the readings regarding the Rwandan Genocide, Srebrenica Massacre, and Borstelmann explain why the United States felt the need to get involved. Borstelmann also focuses on the continued political and social unrest with the Unites States, explaining that while America holistically celebrated becoming a more cultural diverse nation, many people within the United States’ borders were still victims

He connected the events occurring in Yugoslavia and Rwanda back to the Holocaust, stating that the Holocaust along with World War II framed the Cold War and many of the events proceeding the war. Professor Suri’s discussion of the idea of race and ethnicity closely mirrored the ideas from this week’s readings in that it provided insight on how people justified genocide or segregation of certain people. Political entrepreneurship post-Cold War allowed for the mobilization of issues regarding ethnicity and race to become a highly-discussed topic. Consequently, this also is what generated a great amount of social unrest within these once heavily-monitored countries as Suri explained both in lecture and his book. Suri also explained how all these events post-civil war connects to the current events of today. The threat of terrorism is still very relevant and affects American’s lives as seen by the aftermath of 9/11 and the continued threat of ISIS. Social inequality and injustice is also still relevant today much like it was in the 1970’s and movements like Black Lives Matter and the continued fight for rights for all minorities were discussed by both Suri and