The Pros And Cons Of Following The Cold War

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Immanuel Kant said, “It is the desire of every state, or of its ruler, to arrive at a condition of perpetual peace by conquering the whole world, if that were possible”(Mearsheimer 2001:34). There is a common misconception that following the end of the Cold War, the great powers ceased to be enemies or allies within an international political system, and became an international community in which power was irrelevant. However, although the conflict may have ended at that time, the nations’ abilities to carry out future conflicts did not dissipate, their armies were not disbanded. While most nations desire peace, all great powers unanimously desire security, and in the international system a power is only truly secure if they are the hegemon(Mearsheimer …show more content…

Survival overrides all other objectives of a state because if a state is eliminated or conquered by a greater power, it would be unlikely for the state to reemerge or recover. For instance, Mearsheimer references Stalin’s reaction to a possible war in 1927, “We can and must build socialism in the [Soviet Union]. But [sic] in order to do so we first of all have to exist”(Mearsheimer 2001:31). These five assumptions combined create the international system that provokes great powers into a semi-permanent state of offensive interactions. The great powers fear each other, cannot trust each other, and therefore wish to overcome one another. The security dilemma stems from these paranoid interactions. Also known as the spiral model, the security dilemma occurs when one state takes actions meant to increase their own security for personal and non-offensive reasons. However, other states see this increase in military capability and begin to doubt their intentions, responding by increasing their own military powers. The swift increase in security by both nations creates tension and increases the likelihood of conflict. The security dilemma operates under similar assumptions as Mearsheimer’s theory, such as an anarchic world system and the uncertainty amongst

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