POL SCI 5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Truman Doctrine, Mikhail Gorbachev, Cuban Missile Crisis
17 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Other side wasn"t just a state, but a movement/way of life. Each side saw the other"s different ideology as a threat. Compromise is difficult! (if you believe the other side is evil, you won"t make compromises) Plenty of opportunities for war, but remarkably stable & peaceful on central front . 45 years of war that ended without a war. Effective balancers: each side knew they had to respond to the other side"s power. (there is more free-riding & misperception in multipolar system) Both sides learned the responsibilities of being a superpower in a nuclear age . Early on, they kind of tested each other (berlin crisis, nukes in cuba, etc. ) Both needed to develop a reputation for standing tough under these challenges. Big powers will learn faster in bipolar worlds. In multipolar systems, it is easier to test the limits because they"re less clear.
