1. Cold War
(i) America and the Soviet Union, who were allies in the Second World War became competitors, as soon as the war was over.
(ii) The cooperation between them gave way to rivalry. This rivalry occupied a period of 40-45 years of international politics
(iii) There was no open war between these two countries; but there was such tension in their relations, that it seemed that a war would erupt any time.
(iv) The concept of Cold War is used to describe the condition where there is no actual war, but there are such tensions in the circumstances, that they may be responsible to cause war.
(v) In this period, America was already a super power, but the Soviet Union also tried to become a super power by making nuclear weapons and by increasing its military might.
(vi) The struggle for power, arms race, differences in ideologies, attitude of checkmating each other by strategies and counter-strategies gave rise to the Cold War.
2. Non-Aligned Movement
(i) In the period of the Cold War, while the world was becoming bipolar, there were some countries which did not want to join the super power rivalry. Such nations decided to stay out of the cold war rivalry. Their policy is known as non-alignment.
(ii) The Asian and African countries, which became independent after the Second World War supported the idea of non-alignment.
(iii) This movement started from 1961 under the leadership of India’s Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, President of Yugoslavia Marshall Tito, President of Egypt Gamal Abdal Nasser, President of Indonesia Dr. Sukarno and Prime Minister of Ghana Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
(iv) The non-aligned Movement has opposed colonialism, imperialism and racism. It has encouraged the resolution of international disputes by peaceful means.
(v) India led this movement under the guidance of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. India continued to actively support the movement afterwards as well.
(vi) Even after the end of the Cold War, the importance of the movement has not reduced. The non-aligned movement is based on eternal principles of humanism, global peace and equality.
(vii) It has inspired the less developed countries to come together. It has encouraged the resolution of international disputes by peaceful means.
(viii) While taking a firm stand on disarmament, fostering human rights, the non-aligned movement put forth the problems of poor, undeveloped countries firmly. This movement made a demand of a New International Economic Order (NIEO).
