The Limits of Superpower: The United States and the Soviet Union since World War II

Abstract

Superpowers are of critical importance in the regulation of global affairs. Since World War II, the U.S. and the Soviet Union imposed a bipolar order that had worldwide repercussions. Now that the Cold War has ended and the Soviet Union has disintegrated, the eyes of the world are on the U.S., as the sole remaining superpower and on its role in the “new world order.’While there is an abundance of studies concerned with superpowers, very few deal both theoretically and empirically with the interrelationship between the superpowers and their global political environment. This article provides a general theoretical framework for studying the interrelationships between superpowers and their political environments, presents an empirical analysis that covers the Cold War era from 1948–88, and discusses the findings in the light of current debates about U.S. unilateralism in the post-Cold War world. The global political environment functioned as an arena for U.S. Soviet competition but at the same time imposed limits on superpower. Third countries, instead of being mere pawns in the superpower contest, became increasingly influential and destabilized the superpower relationship. One of the consequences was that periods of detente could not be sustained. After the Cold War, the U.S. is faced with its own relative decline and slipping control of the global political environment.

Key Words:

• superpower
• geopolitics
• U.S.
• Soviet Union
• cold war and detente
• new world order