Post World
War Political Developments-notes
In the Civics textbooks till now, we have studied local self-government institutions, India’s Constitution and our political system or governmental structure. In this class, we are going to study India’s relations with the world. You must have understood world geography through the study of geography. You must have become familiar with the global historical events through the study of history. Now through the study of political science, we are going to study India’s relations with the world and some major global issues. We are dependent on different persons, institutions and organisations in the society for different reasons and for different facilities.
Our social life is interdependent and mutual cooperation has a very important place in it. Just as it is true about individuals and society, it applies to different nations as well. There are many independent nations in the world like India. Some exchange and interaction goes on between them constantly. These independent States also enter into treaties with each other. A system of all these independent, sovereign States comes up.
We call it international system. Let us get to know some features of this international system. Interdependence : All the countries of the world are dependent on each other for one reason or the other. However big, prosperous or developed a nation may be, it can never be self-sufficient about all its needs. Even big nations have to depend upon other big and small nations. Thus, interdependence is an important feature of the international system, i.e. today’s global system.
International Relations through Foreign Policy : Every nation has policies about its internal dealings, as also about its relations with other nations. Such a policy is called foreign policy. We are going to study India’s foreign policy in detail in the next chapter.
Background : The world in which we live today has been shaped through many events and developments. Hence we need to go back to history in order to understand today’s world. We know that two world wars were fought in the last century.
These were the most important events in the world in that century. The world completely changed because of them. New currents of thought emerged. Let us understand what else happened due to these world wars. First World War : The First World War was fought between 1914 and 1918. Major countries of Europe took part in it. Europe had a very central place in the international or global system at that time.
The war caused a tremendous loss of life and property. The countries which joined the war suffered tremendous economic losses. Even the countries which did not join the war were impacted by the war. The economies of the victorious as well as the losing countries collapsed. Countries involved in the First World War At the end of the First World War, all the nations felt that such a war should not happen again and some measures need to be taken to achieve that end. An international organisation called the League of Nations was established out of this thinking. It became an important platform to solve international disputes and carry out negotiations. The main responsibility of the League of Nations was understood to be to avoid war. After the First World War, major changes came about in Europe and outside Europe. For example, earlier empires in Europe collapsed and new nations came into being. Many European countries had their colonies in the continents of Africa and Asia. Movements for independence started in these colonies.
These movements challenged the hegemony of the European nations. League of Nations was established after the First World War to establish peace. But it did not succeed at preventing war. Autocratic regimes came up in Germany, Italy, Spain and other countries. All these developments culminated in the Second World War.
Second World War : The Second World War was fought between 1939 and 1945. It proved to be far more destructive than the First World War. Not only was it more widespread compared to the First World War, but also more advanced technology was employed in this war. Countries which took part in the Second World War once again faced a situation of economic crisis.
America played a major role in the Second World War. It had manufactured nuclear weapons. In order to end the war, it dropped two nuclear weapons on two cities of Japan - Hiroshima and Nagasaki - on 6th and 9th August 1945 respectively. The Second World War ended with the defeat of Germany in Europe and of Japan in Asia. Among the many events that took place in the world after the Second World War was the beginning of the Cold War. 1945 to 1991 is the long period of the Cold War. Let us take stock of a few changes in this period. Cold War : America and the Soviet Russia, who were allies in the Second World War became competitors as soon as the war got over. The cooperation between them gave way to rivalry.
This rivalry occupied a period of 40-45 years of international politics. There was no open war between these two countries; but there was such tension in their relations, that it seemed that a war would erupt any time. The concept of Cold War is used to describe the condition where there is no actual war, but there are such tensions in the circumstances, that they may be responsible to cause war. In this period, America was already a super power, but the Soviet Russia also tried to become a super power by making nuclear weapons and by increasing its military might. The struggle for power, arms race, differences in ideologies, attitude of checkmating each other by strategies and counter-strategies gave rise to the Cold War. Effects of the Cold War
• Creation of Military Organisations : During the Cold War, both the super powers created military organisations. The respective super powers took up the responsibility of the security of the countries joining the military organisations led by them. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) was a military organisation under the dominance of America, while the Warsaw Pact was a military organisation under the command of the Soviet Russia.
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