Bipolarity

International political system in which a balance or distribution of power exists between two states acting as dominant centers of power. Political theorist Kenneth Waltz sees the international environment as an anarchical setting in which states behave in a self-interested and rational manner. In this context, states will act to maximize their relative power within the existing power structure. The existing structures may take one of three forms: unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar. In a bipolar system, two dominant states achieve rough political and military equality with one another and the remaining states become relatively irrelevant as independent actors. When two states emerge as centers of power, the remaining states attempt to maximize their position by allying with one of the two dominant states. This behavior is commonly referred to as bandwagoning.

The most recent illustration of the phenomenon of bipolarity was the 20th-century Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Following the end of World War II, with Europe lying in ruins, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the world's dominant political and military powers. The United States represented the democratic and capitalistic Western nations while the Soviet Union was the leader of the communist world. The creation of two alliances—the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Warsaw Pact—institutionalized the bipolar nature of the international setting and the leadership of these two rival alliances by the United States and Soviet Union, respectively.

The member states in each alliance represented a sphere of influence for the power that led the alliance. The United States and the Soviet Union spent nearly a half-century attempting to expand their spheres of influence around the world in a series of proxy wars in Asia and Latin America. The adversarial relationship between the two superpowers also carried over into the newly created United Nations. The United States and Soviet Union were both members of the United Nations Security Council and both wielded veto power. Each frequently used this power to leverage their influence in the UN.

Militarily, the United States enjoyed a brief nuclear superiority, but pursuit of the nuclear bomb was not the only source of competition between the superpowers. Throughout the 1960s, both states were locked in a space race. The Soviet Union achieved an initial advantage with the first successful launch of an Earth-orbiting satellite (Sputnik) and by putting the first human into space. However, the United States space program eventually eclipsed that of the Soviets by landing a man on the moon.

The two superpowers faced off around the world, particularly in Germany, the dividing point between East and West. Both maintained large military contingents in their European spheres of influence. Although Europe was the most dreaded flashpoint throughout the Cold War, military conflict did not [Page 82]occur on this front. Instead, the outlet for the tension between the United States and Soviet Union occurred in a series of proxy wars around the world.

Perhaps the most significant of these conflicts were the Vietnam War and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In each of these conflicts, one superpower found itself engaged in a protracted conflict with indigenous fighters supported by the opposing superpower. These proxy wars became a way for one superpower to bleed the other without the danger of direct confrontation, which likely would have resulted in nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 demonstrated the potential for this nuclear threat to become a reality.

...