GOVT 40.21 Superpowers and Cold Wars

The last half of the twentieth century was marked by a great rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, resulting in a “confrontation in which the major powers had the ability to destroy life on earth.”  Across the globe, in a series of either direct or indirect conflicts, at different levels and in dissimilar ways both sides aimed to minimize and circumscribe the power and influence of the other side, often using local proxies to promote their interests.   In this course we look not only at a number of Cold War conflicts since 1945—the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Wall crisis, the war in Vietnam,  and the attempts at destabilization in Latin America—but also investigate the driving motives and perceptions on each side that fueled each crisis and its outcome.

Instructor

Vandewalle

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:INT

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