Global geopolitical configurations vary according to the evolution of societies and the transformation of power configurations across countries. Economic, military and political criteria are placed as the main conditions for a country or bloc of countries to be considered influential, exercising its domain and power over others. Throughout history, different phases have marked these strength correlations.
In current terms, the panorama of these transformations can be seen from the last two world orders analyzing the changes that range from the bipolar world à multipolarity, terms used to designate the prominent economic and military powers on the planet. In the first case, we have the period that is called by Cold War, which culminated, at the end, in the New world order of current geopolitics.
THE BIPOLAR WORLD
At the end of World War II (1939-1945), two great world powers emerged as the dominant politically and militarily nations: the United States and the Soviet Union. In relation to the USA, this happened because that country did not suffer great damage in its territories and kept its structural pattern intact, as well as ensuring its position as the leading country capitalist. In the case of the USSR, because it was decisive during the international conflict and developed a great military and emerging structural structure, although it lost 20 million people in the battles and saw many of its cities.
The later period was then known as the Cold War, as, on the one hand, there was an orientation front. capitalist, with a market economy system that sought to expand and consolidate its influence by world; on the other side, in turn, there was a socialist power – or state capitalist –, with a planned economy system and which also aimed to expand its ideological power around the world. The decisive factor was the possession of nuclear weapons by both parties, so that the clash between these two forces would bring serious impacts to humanity and certainly no winner.
For this reason, the Cold War was a conflict in which there were no direct battles between the two sides. only indirect disputes and participation in "minor" wars such as Vietnam and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Other relevant episodes were the aid and cooperation of these countries with other nations in order to expand their domains, with emphasis on the Marshal Plan created by the USA, in addition to the founding of large military organizations: the nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), on the one hand, and the Warsaw Pact, from another.
The term “bipolar world” is used to designate this context, as the global geopolitical order pointed to for the dispute between two main countries, which aimed to highlight their dominance and their hegemony. Thus, with the crisis of the self-declared “socialist” world and the collapse of the Soviets, the period came to an end with the victory of the capitalist front. The episode considered as a milestone in this process was the fall of the Berlin Wall, in 1989, which divided Germany defeated in World War II between capitalist countries (USA, France and UK) and USSR
THE MULTIPOLAR WORLD
With the end of the Soviet Union and the fragmentation of the socialist world, the world considered bipolar ceased to exist, causing that the United States would exercise a political hegemony unprecedented since the emergence of the capitalist system in the world.
At the same time, other capitalist countries have also consolidated themselves as the protagonists of the world-system, which abandoned the focus on military might (although it remained important) and expanded the status of the economic might of the countries. Thus, the countries of the European Union (mainly Germany, France and England), Japan and, later, China began to share the geopolitical role with the North Americans. Thus, the multipolar world.
However, this perspective is somewhat questionable. First, it is observed that a comparison between these countries does not place them side by side, but rather with the United States way ahead of the others in economic and also military terms, although the Chinese have been showing accelerated levels of growth. Secondly, it is also noted that these countries - except for the Chinese - have a certain alignment political, unlike what had occurred in the previous world order, marked by rivalry and tension permanent.
Therefore, other terms are used to designate the current world order, such as the unipolarity or, more commonly, the unimultipolarity, although this is not the target of consensus. Recently, the most aggressive posture of the Russian government – the main heir of the Soviet empire – towards the US on some issues, such as the conflict in Syria, the tension between Koreas and the Crisis in Ukraine, has been creating expectations about the return of a new Cold War, given that both countries are great holders of nuclear weapons even in the days current.
By Me. Rodolfo Alves Pena
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/geografia/do-mundo-bipolar-multipolaridade.htm
