The Evolution of World Political Structure after World War II

Grasp the evolution process and laws of the post-war world political structure.

The world political pattern refers to a structure and situation formed by the interaction of various forces (mainly sovereign countries and groups of countries) on the international stage in a certain historical period. It is a concentrated and generalized expression of international relations in a certain historical period, which reflects the internal relations and laws of the international relations system and has a decisive influence on the overall situation of the international relations system. The world political structure in a certain historical period is relatively stable, but the power balance of international actors playing a leading role in the international arena will gradually change, so the world political structure is also developing and changing. Its development and change are largely restricted by the following two factors: (1) world economic structure. The world economic structure is the foundation of the world political structure and restricts the development of the world political structure. (2) Compare the changes of various forces. The rise and fall of major international forces and the changes in the comparative situation determine the changes in the world political structure.

After the war, the evolution of the world political structure has generally gone through four stages:

1. The formation and confrontation between the two camps have made the bipolar political pattern a reality.

The Yalta system laid the foundation of the post-war bipolar pattern, and established the principles and organizational forms for big countries (mainly the United States and the Soviet Union) to rearrange and divide their spheres of influence and control the world according to the comparison of political and military strength. However, after the war, the United States became the world's number one power, trying to dominate the world by its economic and military strength. The obstacles for the United States to dominate the world mainly come from the growing socialist countries. In order to achieve the goal of dominating the world, the United States turned to the Cold War to contain the Soviet Union in order to contain the development of socialism.

The cold war is a form of fierce confrontation in post-war international relations. During the Cold War, world politics formed a bipolar pattern of all-round confrontation between the imperialist camp and the Eastern bloc. The characteristics of the bipolar pattern are concentrated in the following aspects: politically, it is a struggle between two flags; Economically, it is manifested in the struggle between blockade and anti-blockade; Militarily, it is mainly manifested in the overall "cold war" and local wars of aggression and anti-aggression; Ideology is manifested in the struggle between peaceful evolution and anti-peaceful evolution.

Although some countries with national independence appeared in this period, their influence on the world pattern was limited. The bipolar pattern has kept the two major political forces in a relatively balanced state, maintained world peace for nearly 40 years, and created a stable and peaceful international environment for the rapid development of the world economy after the war. However, the bipolar pattern of confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union divides the world into two camps, and the channels of economic, political and cultural ties between countries in different camps are artificially cut off, which is not conducive to the mutual contact, exchanges and cooperation between people of all countries in the world. As the competition and confrontation between the two groups constantly lead to local wars and conflicts, world peace has long been threatened by war.

2. The polarization and reorganization of international forces have shaken the bipolar pattern.

From the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s, the two camps were in turmoil, divided and reorganized, and the bipolar pattern was shaken.

As the Soviet Union's foreign policy of pursuing great powers was opposed by socialist countries, the Eastern Group disintegrated. As a big socialist country, the Soviet Union has played an important role in supporting the construction of socialist countries in Europe and Asia, promoting the development of revolutionary movements in various countries and safeguarding world peace and equality. However, the tendency of the Soviet Union to be a big country is becoming increasingly obvious, and incidents of interfering in the internal affairs of other socialist countries and infringing on the sovereignty of other countries occur from time to time. The breakdown of Sino-Soviet relations marked the disintegration of the Eastern Group.

The capitalist camp is also split because of the changes in the balance of power between the United States, Japan and Western Europe and the consideration of their respective interests. Western Europe and Japan, which were controlled by the United States in the early postwar period, gained political independence with the growth of their economic strength. France actively resumed its status as a great power in international affairs, and the Federal Republic of Germany actively normalized relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. With the strengthening of Japan's economic strength, Japan has also put forward corresponding requirements in politics. All these have shaken the bipolar pattern to some extent.

In addition, the rise of the Third World shows that a new force independent of the two camps has emerged in the world political arena. In order to safeguard their own rights and interests, third world countries have gradually United and established various regional international organizations, which have played an important role in easing world tensions, supporting colonial national liberation movements, joining the United Nations and changing the face of the United Nations. The rise of the third world had a great influence on the bipolar pattern of confrontation between the two camps at that time, and promoted the development of the world political pattern from bipolar to multipolar.

3. The United States and the Soviet Union moved from hegemony to relaxation, and the bipolar pattern ended.

After the 1970s, the control of the United States and the Soviet Union over their respective camps declined obviously, the struggle between the two systems and ideologies took a secondary position in the world political structure, and the confrontation and hegemony of the two great powers rose to the core of world politics. The struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union for world hegemony has different characteristics in different periods. 1985 after Gorbachev took office, he began to give up the policy of confrontation with the United States, and the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union turned from tension to relaxation.

There are profound reasons for the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union to move from confrontation to relaxation. In the decades after the war, the fierce confrontation between the two superpowers, especially the unprecedented arms race between them, not only failed to defeat each other, but also brought a heavy burden to each other and greatly hindered the social and economic development of their respective countries. With the rapid economic growth of Japan, Western Europe and other newly industrialized countries and regions, the economic strength of the United States and the Soviet Union has declined relatively, and the superpower status has begun to waver. Therefore, both the United States and the Soviet Union urgently need to adjust their strategies, focus on their own countries and strive to develop their own economies. In addition, the growth of world peace forces and the further strengthening of the trend of democratization of international relations, especially the struggle of people of all countries against hegemonism, have played an important role in restricting the hegemony of the United States and the Soviet Union, and objectively promoted the relaxation of US-Soviet relations.

The relaxation of US-Soviet relations has eased the tense international situation for decades after the war and eased many hot issues in the world. In the late 1980s, the economic situation in the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries deteriorated. Faced with the severe economic situation, producers in various countries are generally at a loss. Gorbachev advocated humane and democratic socialism in the Soviet Union in an all-round way, copied the western democratic model and engaged in political pluralism, which confused the thinking of the Soviet people and caused a comprehensive political crisis, economic crisis and national crisis in the Soviet Union. In foreign policy, voluntarily giving up the right of supervision over eastern European countries made the offensive of peaceful evolution of western countries effective, confused eastern European countries and accelerated the disintegration of the Soviet Union. 1in the winter of 1989, there was an unprecedented upheaval in eastern Europe for more than 40 years after the war. 199165438 On February 26th, the Soviet Union, once the first big socialist country in human history, disintegrated, and the bipolar political pattern that existed for more than 40 years ended, and the world entered a transitional period of re-establishing a new political pattern.

4. After the bipolar pattern ended, the world pattern developed towards multipolarization.

At present, the world is still in a transitional period in which the old pattern has collapsed and the new pattern has not yet formed. The transformation of the old pattern and the new pattern has the following characteristics: (1) The disintegration of the old pattern is carried out under the conditions of peace rather than war, and the formation of the new pattern in peacetime will be a gradual and complicated process. (2) As the only superpower in the world, the United States tries to establish a unipolar world and has a fierce struggle with other forces looking forward to establishing a multipolar world. (3) From the perspective of power comparison, no country in the world has enough strength to compete with the United States alone, and all kinds of forces in the world have to go through a long process of differentiation and combination before they can transition to a stable new pattern. (4) All major countries are striving for a new world pattern that is beneficial to them, and the result of the struggle will depend on the "resultant force" of history.

Grasp the trend and characteristics of world political development after the cold war.

Since the end of the cold war, profound changes have taken place in world politics, showing the following basic characteristics:

1. World political multipolarization is developing in twists and turns.

Multi-polarization of world politics refers to a development trend that basic political forces such as countries and groups of countries that have an important influence on international relations interact and tend to form a multi-polarization pattern in a certain period of time, which is a reflection of the distribution of major political forces in the world. Multi-polarization of world politics is an objective trend based on economic multi-polarization and independent of human will.

After the disintegration of the bipolar structure, the United States has become the only superpower in the world today, and its economic, technological and military strength is still in an advantageous position. However, the proportion of national strength in the world is much lower than that in the post-war period, and the influence of the United States on international affairs is insufficient. At present, the United States strives to maintain and strengthen its leading position and role in international affairs and realize its hegemonic ambition of "leading the world". This not only aroused the strong demands of various forces in the world for multipolarization, but also made the trend of multipolarization develop in a tortuous way.

Other international forces are also growing. Although the economies of Japan and the European Union are still in a difficult period, in any case, Japan is still the second largest economy in the world and its international influence is constantly expanding. With the deepening of economic and political integration, the comprehensive strength of the EU will be further enhanced, and it is likely to become a pole with important influence in the international community in the future. Although Russia has many difficulties, it is still a world power in the medium and long term; China is a developing socialist country and a force for maintaining world peace and regional stability. The strength growth and unity and cooperation of developing countries are also important manifestations of multipolarization. These are all obstacles to the establishment of a unipolar world in the United States.

The emerging multipolar world pattern is not only fundamentally different from the just-concluded bipolar pattern, but also has many progressive significance compared with the multipolar balance of power pattern in which great powers compete for spheres of influence in history. Its progressive performance is as follows: the trend of multipolarization in today's world is that the international forces of the United States, Europe, Japan, Russia and China check and balance each other, and no force can control the world and do whatever it wants; It is to abandon power politics and contain hegemonism, which is conducive to the vast number of developing countries to safeguard their own rights and interests and seek multipolarization of economic development; It is to recognize the diversity of development paths and models of all countries in the world and actively promote the democratization of international relations.

World multipolarization is developing in twists and turns, and the formation of multipolarization pattern will be a long-term process. This is because: first, American hegemonism and its attempt to establish a unipolar world are the biggest obstacles to the development of multipolarization. Second, the continuation of the world cold war mentality, the widening gap between the rich and the poor in the North and the South, ethnic divisions and religious disputes will also have various interferences and influences on the trend of multipolarization. Third, the formation of multipolar pattern is a process of regrouping various forces and redistributing interests in the world, which will produce many uncertain factors. The process of multipolarization in the world is full of contradictions and struggles.

2. After the cold war, the roles of the United Nations and other international organizations have been strengthened, but at the same time they have encountered challenges.

After the end of the cold war, the development of the United Nations entered a new stage. The role of the United Nations has been greatly enhanced, which is embodied in the following aspects: (1) The role played by the United Nations in solving the problems faced by mankind, such as environmental protection, poverty eradication, human rights protection, combating international crimes, combating terrorism and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. (2) Its role in coordinating exchanges and cooperation among different actors in the world, formulating the same rules, safeguarding the basic principles of international law and taking concerted action. (3) making great efforts to safeguard world peace and development. United Nations peacekeeping operations have played an active role in improving the situation in conflict areas and have been praised by the international community.

After the cold war, the international community, especially developing countries, hoped that the United Nations would be more representative and democratic, and play a more active role in safeguarding world peace and promoting social development. However, in the face of security challenges from various fields, the United Nations is often weak. Some big countries regard the United Nations as a tool to realize their own interests, which seriously damages the authority of the United Nations. In March 2003, the United States and Britain bypassed the United Nations and launched a war against Iraq, which seriously impacted the international security mechanism with the United Nations as the core and the authority of the United Nations. In addition, there are many problems in the operation mechanism, structure and function, daily management and role play of the United Nations. In order to adapt to the great changes in the international situation and meet severe challenges, United Nations agencies are facing new adjustments and reforms. The overwhelming majority of Member States support the reform of the United Nations, but there are obvious differences among countries in the direction and principle of the reform. Western developed countries hope to focus on anti-terrorism and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, while developing countries hope that the focus of reform is to reverse the long-standing tendency of the United Nations to "emphasize security over development" and increase the input of the United Nations in development issues. If these contradictions in principle are not resolved, the reform of the United Nations will be very difficult.

3. The international situation is generally peaceful, and local wars and hotspot peace efforts occur from time to time.

At present, the overall international situation tends to ease, and seeking peace, promoting cooperation and promoting development have become the mainstream of the times. It is entirely possible to avoid a new world war and maintain world peace and stability for a long time. This is because: (1) The main source of world wars, especially nuclear wars, namely the competition between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, no longer exists. (2) Although there are serious contradictions and competitions among developed capitalist countries, economic globalization has deepened economic ties and dependence among countries, and there is coordination and cooperation among countries. (3) After the Cold War, relations among major powers have become interrelated, interdependent, mutually restrictive and relatively stable. (4) As the high-tech content in local armed conflicts is obviously enhanced, the scale of local wars launched by big countries can be controlled within a certain range. (5) Peace efforts in hot spots have never stopped.

However, there are still many turbulent and uncertain factors in the current international situation. Local conflicts caused by ethnic, religious and territorial factors are one after another. There are countless examples of western powers interfering in other countries' internal affairs under some pretext, and hegemonism and power politics have made new progress. In short, while the international situation has generally eased, the world situation is not peaceful, and the issue of peace remains a strategic issue in today's world.

4. Deep adjustment of relations between major powers.

After the end of the Cold War, the status and role of economic factors in international relations has been rising day by day, and it has become the primary and decisive factor to promote the relations between major powers. In the adjustment of relations between major powers, the competition of comprehensive national strength based on economy, science and technology as the guide and military as the backing has become the main content, and major powers are striving to establish a new partnership oriented to 2 1 century. The basic characteristics of this relationship are: mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and developing cooperation; They are not hostile to each other, are not aligned, and are not directed against third countries. This relationship is a historical progress and a denial of the abnormal relationship between countries that confronted each other during the Cold War. The adjustment of relations between major powers shows profound changes in the world political structure. At present, dialogue mechanisms, coordination mechanisms and communication mechanisms at all levels have been established among major powers. The establishment and operation of these mechanisms, in turn, have obviously strengthened the mutual relations among major powers, enhanced the interaction and checks and balances among major powers, and promoted the development of the world pattern towards multipolarization.

However, this adjustment of relations between major powers is still preliminary. There are still many differences and contradictions among major powers, and hegemonism and cold war mentality still exist, which hinders the development of democratization of international relations and the formation of a new international order. The adjustment of the relationship between major powers in the historical period of the transformation of the world pattern obviously has the dual characteristics of the transition period between the old and new historical stages. On the one hand, peace, cooperation, consultation and dialogue have become an important part of improving relations between major powers, which has adapted to the historical trend of peace and development and the reality that the interests of people of all countries are increasingly consistent. On the other hand, the old Cold War mode of thinking is also developing, which is to gain one's own interests by harming the interests of other countries, strengthen military alliances, seek absolute security, and continue to maintain the unjust and unreasonable old international order. The United States and Japan re-established the security system, the US-led NATO continued to expand eastward and launched NATO's "new strategic concept", and the United States unilaterally withdrew from the ABM Treaty, all of which are the most typical manifestations.

5. Economic factors have more and more influence on world politics.

During the Cold War, military factors occupied a prominent position in international relations, but now, economic and technological factors occupy a prominent position and play a significant role in international relations. The historical lessons of the disintegration of the Soviet Union have also made people realize that military strength alone is not enough to overwhelm each other. Strong military strength must be based on sufficient economic and technological strength. Otherwise, if the military burden exceeds the limit that the economy can bear, it will weaken the national strength and even lead to social unrest and national disintegration.

Economic factors have an important influence not only on domestic politics of various countries, but also on international politics. After the end of the cold war, all countries put the development of science and technology and economy in the first place, giving priority to the development of foreign economic and trade relations and scientific and technological cooperation. In international relations, the relationship between politics and economy is getting closer and closer. Economic contradiction and struggle, control and anti-control, sanctions and anti-sanctions have become important forms of international struggle. Economic factors have an increasing influence on world politics because (1) the scientific and technological revolution and economic development directly lead to the rise and fall of the comprehensive national strength of various countries, thus affecting the comparative situation of international power. (2) Accelerating economic development has become the primary goal of all countries, economic interests have become the dominant factor in the development of relations between countries, and economy has become the main content of diplomacy. Countries not only realize the necessity of using diplomatic relations to develop and expand foreign economic relations and carry out foreign economic activities, but also realize the great significance of using economic strength and economic means to carry out diplomacy and deepen economic relations to improve relations between countries and to the stable development of the world. (3) Economic globalization has narrowed the distance between countries and regions and restricted the confrontation between political system and ideology.

The increasing role of economic factors in international relations does not exclude or replace the role of political and military factors. In a certain period of time, political, military and cultural factors will become prominent issues in the international community, and the development of world politics will become more complicated.

6. Traditional and non-traditional security threats.

Traditional security threats mainly refer to military threats between countries and military factors that threaten international security. According to the degree and size of the threat, it can be divided into three categories: military competition, military threat and war. Non-traditional security threats refer to other factors that threaten the survival and development of sovereign countries and all mankind except military, political and diplomatic conflicts. Non-traditional security issues mainly include economic security, financial security, ecological environment security, information security, resource security, terrorism, weapons proliferation, disease spread, transnational crime and so on.

2/kloc-0 since the beginning of the century, a series of unexpected events have taken place in the world, which indicate that the international situation is undergoing the most profound changes since the end of the cold war. Non-traditional security threats such as economic security, terrorism and environmental degradation have become increasingly prominent. Especially the "9. 1 1" terrorist attack has been condemned by people all over the world. The occurrence of this incident once again shows that terrorism is a serious threat to world peace and stability and a major public hazard to the international community. The international community should unswervingly condemn and oppose all forms of terrorism.

7. Hegemonism and power politics have taken on new manifestations.

Hegemonism and power politics still exist in today's world, and sometimes they are very prominent. Hegemonism and power politics put their own interests above those of all other countries, and rely on their own economic and military strength to control, interfere in and invade other countries, causing world turmoil and threatening world peace and stability. The concrete manifestation of hegemonism is: (1) forcing other countries to accept and copy their own social system and ideology. (2) Use various excuses such as "democracy", "human rights" and even "values" to interfere in other countries' internal affairs at will. (3) By virtue of its economic and military strength, it invaded everywhere.

At present, the contrast of international power is obviously tilted towards western developed countries such as the United States, Japan and Europe. Western countries, which used to be monopolized in the world economy, have now gained temporary advantages in international politics. Western countries, represented by the United States, concocted various "theories" including "neo-interventionism", successively launched a series of major events that violated other countries' sovereignty and interfered in other countries' internal affairs, ignored the UN Security Council and openly trampled on the universal principles of international relations, with the aim of establishing a new international order in line with their own interests and establishing their dominant position in the world by force.

In today's world, there are two opposing social systems, capitalism and socialism, as well as diversified values and ideologies. No country has the right to interfere in what kind of political system a country establishes, what kind of values it believes in and what kind of ideology it advocates, let alone impose its own political system, values and ideology on others. Countries should transcend differences in social systems and ideologies, respect each other and get along well with each other. In fact, it is still a cold war mentality for big countries to add political clauses in trade negotiations, or to use trade as a bargaining chip to promote their own political system and ideology and interfere in other countries' internal affairs. In order to safeguard national independence and sovereignty, world peace and development, and the right to choose the development path according to our national conditions, we must oppose hegemonism and power politics in international relations and make unremitting efforts to establish a just and rational new international order.

Direct cause: the disintegration of the Soviet Union led to the disintegration of the bipolar pattern. The fundamental reason: the foundation of the bipolar pattern is not stable, the power contrast of the bipolar pattern is not balanced, and the world economic power pattern is multi-level. Impact: the collapse of the bipolar structure, the failure of socialist exploration for the Soviet Union, the consolidation of the world hegemony for the United States, the trend of multi-level strengthening for the world is conducive to lasting peace and development of the world, and for the vast number of developing countries, seize opportunities and accelerate development.

On the positive side, this system advocates peace and democracy in principle, which has played a positive role in promoting the peace movement and political democratization process in all countries of the world and has a positive impact on the development of post-war international relations. It brings peace between two countries with different social systems into the system of international relations, which is a kind of progress and very important for the socialist revolution and construction of the post-war Soviet Union and Eastern European countries.

Negative side: Yalta system is based on the balance of power between the United States and the Soviet Union. In fact, it divided the sphere of influence of the United States and the Soviet Union and was deeply branded as a big country. Therefore, it has also had a negative impact on the development of post-war international relations and brought many disputes and turmoil to the future world.