The Global Cold War

Catalog description

The Cold War (1945-1990) shaped nearly every aspect of post-war twentieth-century life including political ideologies, international relations, military and security strategies, and even cultural and artistic expressions. While many of us think of the Cold War as a standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union, it was in fact a broader international conflict that had especially devastating consequences in the so-called Third World. This class will study the Cold War as a multi-polar conflict involving more than just the superpowers of the US, Soviet Union, and China. We will explore topics such as decolonization, race and gender, international institutions, and transnational activism. We will also examine the global effects of the Cold War using case studies of individual countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Throughout this course we will see that the Cold War was a truly global conflict and, at least in the developing world, was rarely "cold."