International Relations History Volume XII (1990-1999)

Author: Fang Lianqing, Liu Jinzhi (editors)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-02-26
Features: The 1990s were a transitional period between the old and new world orders. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a series of world-shaking events unfolded internationally: the 1989 Eastern European upheaval; the 1990 reunification of Germany; the 1991 dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. With these events, the "Cold War" era, which had lasted nearly half a century and was characterized by the rivalry and confrontation between the two superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union, officially came to an end, and the post-World War II Yalta system also collapsed. The objective trend of the post-Cold War world developing into a multipolar structure is a demand for progress in the era, reflecting profound changes in international relations and the course of history. It is beneficial in weakening and resisting hegemonism and power politics, as well as in promoting world peace and security. However, the formation of a multipolar structure is a long, winding, and complex process, filled with intense struggles between unipolarity and multipolarity, hegemony and anti-hegemony. Such struggles will become the focal point of international conflicts for a considerable period in the 21st century. Despite the existence of some unstable and uncertain complex factors internationally, the world needs peace, countries need development, society needs progress, the economy needs prosperity, and living standards need improvement—these have become the mainstream of the era's development. Peace and development remain the two major themes of the world today.