Important Lessons of the World Wars, the EU as a Hallmark of Economic and Political Achievements of the Modern World - Assignment Example

Question 1 1. During the Cold War, there was no open war like in the case of World War I and World War II because nations, and especially the USSR and the U.S. had learnt important lessons in the two World Wars. There was need for reconstruction during the Cold war because the two World Wars had had destructive effects on the foundations for development in Europe. Additionally, both the U.S. and the USSR had built mighty nuclear capability and thus they feared that a direct confrontation would inevitably be mutually destructive. Arguably, each side was afraid that launching a nuclear attack on the other would lead to more destruction in its soil than that of its opponent. The two superpowers did everything they could to avoid direct combat, and thus they avoided attacking each other using nuclear weapons as well as conventional deployment of troops. Retrospectively, the decision of both parties to avoid engaging in direct confrontation was important in determining the outcome of the Cold War because it is the reason why the world did not experience a World War II. Were it not for the decision of the U.S. and the USSR to avoid direct confrontation, other states would have joined the conflict depending on whether they were communist or capitalist and the world would have experienced a nuclear World War III. 2. The two superpowers strengthened alliances with friendly states by organizing for the signing of conventions that bound states with similar ideals together. For instance, United States, United Kingdom, France, and other states joined hands to form NATO, which was meant to protect the political and military interest of capitalist states, while communist states signed the Warsaw pact that was an appendage of a similar economic alliance of the communist states. Unlike the economic pact, the Warsaw pact was a reaction of the political and military alliance that was NATO, and thus it was more or less the communist version of NATO. Besides the pacts and alliances, the USSR and the US sought to strengthen their alliances by giving financial aid to states that were relatively poor. Similarly, the U.S. and the USSR supported capitalist and communist states respectively in terms of military deployment in terms of conflicts, which led to the proverbial proxy wars. The USSR and the US also voiced support for political systems and processes of communist and capitalist states respectively in a bid to gain political influence. Question 2 5. The idea of division of the world into core and periphery nations was possible immediately after the World Wars because that was the time when the development indices of the countries considered core were high, and those of countries considered periphery were low. However, with time, many of the countries considered to be in the periphery experienced enormous socio-economic development, making such classification pointless. For instance, during the Cold War, a country like China was classified as periphery because the whole of the Asian continent was relatively underdeveloped. However, China has seen enviable economic development and it is currently one of the world's superpowers. China is now competing in all aspects with other superpowers like Russia and United States. Classification of China as periphery would therefore be an underestimation, and it would add to China's resolve to gain more political, economic, social and even military influence around the globe. This would leave the superpowers threatened because they are trying to ensure that they maintain the influence that they have had on the world in terms of controlling development of weapons of mass destruction, controlling politics by ensuring that countries uphold democracy and controlling areas where there are conflicts to ensure that such conflicts do not escalate. 6. A critical look at the developmental map of the world reveals that the South is more than just a geographical phenomenon. Most of the countries that are currently considered Third World are located in the South. For instance, Africa as a continent is generally considered to have some of the worst developmental indicators world over. Africa is located in the South, with Asia and Europe in its North. Similarly, South America has the poorest developmental indicators in the whole of America. In addition to development indicators, the South, which is composed of Africa, South America, Australia, and other regions, is associated with climates that are not conducive for production. Poor economic development in the South is therefore partly associable with the aforementioned poor climatic conditions. The poor climate associable with the South has also led to severe famines, especially in Africa, leading to starvation of the people living in these areas. This phenomenon is rare in other regions. Lastly, the South has also proved to have unstable political regimes that are characterized by corruption and lack of transparency. This phenomenon is especially rampant in African countries, whose governments have been engaging in corrupt practices since their independence. Such corruption has undermined development in Africa leading to poor developmental indicators. Question 3 7. The EU has been a hallmark of economic and political achievements of the contemporary world. Consisting of millions of inhabitants and dozens of member states, the European Union has been facing the problem of consensus building since its formation. The EU goal of social and economic integration is arguably far-fetched considering the fact that the union is composed of many sovereign countries that are not directly under the control of the EU in terms of priority setting in development activities. The fact that the EU is neither a federal state nor an intergovernmental organization is the sole contributing factor to its woes. For instance, the EU has been grappling with financial crisis in some of its member states like Spain and Portugal. The aforementioned fact that the EU is neither a state nor an intergovernmental organization implies that it does not have the capability to deal with such issues. Therefore, it can be argued that the EU is only good at legislation and setting of goals and objectives but it cannot be effective in ensuring that the process of achieving goals and the interventions put in place to achieve objectives actually work. It is however important to acknowledge the fact that being a sovereign body recognized world over, the EU may have bargaining and lobbying powers in important international organizations like NATO, the IMF, and so forth. 8. The OAU has been unable to duplicate the example of the EU although during its formation, the intention was that the OAU would be an African version of the EU. For instance, the OAU has not been able to convince all its members to ratify to the Consultative Act, which was ratified by all EU member states. Additionally, unlike the EU, the OAU has been unable to set up a mechanism for generating revenue for its day-to-day running of activities. This is especially a great challenge because the OAU operates under meager resources that are insufficient for its activities. Some of the main reasons why the OAU has been unable to duplicate the EU include the following. Firstly, the EU started with few and economically stable countries, while the OAU started with more than fifty countries whose developmental indicators were seriously variable. For instance, OAU countries vary greatly in terms of per capita income, population size, and other indicators of economic development. Secondly, the OAU has a comparatively larger area of coverage because of its membership. The area of coverage is vast with few resources as compared with the EU. It was a mistake for the OAU to copy the EU because the circumstances of African states are significantly different to those of European states. The OAU ought to have focused on Africa and modeled itself in accordance with the conditions in which African states operate. Read More