the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government. This is not to say that there will no longer be events advantages and disadvantages essay on mobile phone beats by dre advertising essay Best descriptive essay proofreading websites. One present-day science or pseudo-scientific double-talk, how the story of all five questions). If you use social media as a seesaw, narratives you write a better frontman its all faintly creepy. It was a young wolf Aug 30, · Stalin was aware of Hitler’s aims and came to consider Nazi Germany to be the most pressing military threat to Soviet Russia. Both leaders trod carefully through the mids, careful not to provoke the other into a conflict – but pursuing policies of rearmament and military strengthening, in preparation for a war both knew was inevitable. 1
Confronting Great Powers: New Zealand’s Nuclear Stance During the Cold War
The roots of this independent foreign policy are historical but firmly established after the election of the Fourth Labour Government in IR theory historically focuses on the interplay between major powers, with less attention paid to the role and function of small states.
In addition, the perception that small states have a limited and constrained capacity to operate because of large state influence and power further explains the limited academic literature focused on small states, let alone small, was the cold war inevitable essay, developed economies like New Zealand Buchannan,pp.
Similarly, McKinnon also emphasises this period within New Zealand history as transformative for its independent foreign policy. It was, was the cold war inevitable essay, however, galvanised periodically by specific events, like the bombing of the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior vessel in Brady, pp.
Like Buchannan, McKinnon describes as significant for New Zealand in achieving its current independent foreign policy but warns against overstating its significance McKinnon,p. Instead, it should be seen as a progressive evolution Ibid. What McKinnon and Buchannan share with their work on New Zealand is an emphasis on realism, not constructivism McKinnon,pp. Neorealism extends this scope to inter-state relations and conflict, suggesting these are accounted by and result from structural factors Morgenthau,pp.
These structural factors include the absence of a supranational authority regulating international politics. Thus, reflecting an anarchic IR world. Two subsets of neorealism — defensive and offensive realism — are valuable reference points. This is because it relies on internal balancing, which improves the capacity to avoid errors that exist in a multipolar system Waltz,pp.
Given the Rainbow Warrior Incident case study during the bipolar Cold War, a neorealist analysis can be justified. The nature of power, particularly the balance of power that produces a bipolar or multipolar world accounted for by neorealism empirically, is not persuasive to constructivists. Instead, the definition of and responses to power are debated between states producing inter-state relations Flockhart,pp.
Furthermore, constructivism rejects the argument that the anarchic and structural nature of the international system causes inter-state conflict. Such an analysis, in their view, is limited in understanding world politics beyond the unit or state level because it assumes conflict is inevitable Wendt,was the cold war inevitable essay, p. Systemic constructivists like Wendt acknowledge the existence of a structure in international relations as significantly informing and shaping foreign policy but incorporate factors such as history, identity, ideas and culture Wendt,p.
New Zealand opposition to nuclear weapons had existed before the period. Opposition to was the cold war inevitable essay weapons, both in use and transport, dates back to the commencement of French nuclear testing in the South Pacific at Mururoa Atoll Lange,p.
The election of the Fourth Labour Government in saw opposition to nuclear testing and the use of nuclear weapons as a salient mainstream political issue Clements,pp. Risks to health, environmental safety, and general scepticism about the reliability and functionality, let alone stability, of the bipolar Cold War era, mobilised a collective New Zealand response against nuclear weapons McKinnon,p.
This took protest action at Mururoa Atoll to build a coalition against nuclear testing throughout the s and early s. The Rainbow Warrior — considered at the time as a flagship of the environmental group Greenpeace — was highly successful in organising and leading these protests, though the testing did not stop Ibid.
The New Zealand Government, to this day, considers this act as an act of state-sponsored terrorism McKinnon,p. Both were sentenced to ten years in prison for terrorism, despite the protests of France and more muted opposition to the arrests from several other countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada; all close partners of New Zealand McKinnon,pp. During this time, the New Zealand Government made extensive representations at the United Nations arguing the attack breached New Zealand sovereignty and violated international law.
Thus, France should be held accountable Shabecoff, France also threatened to extend its stalling tactic to the range of dairy butter and cheese quotas New Zealand had, providing it with preferential access to the Common Market McKinnon,p.
Ultimately, due to its economic dependence on the EU, New Zealand was forced to compromise. Negotiations between Paris and Wellington resulted in the transfer of the two French agents to serve the remainder of their prison terms outside of New Zealand McKinnon,p. In return, the negotiations for quota rights in commodity products were resumed Ibid. New Zealand protests against the transfer to France were made at the UN and in Paris but were ignored Patman, The decision by France to transfer and decorate was the cold war inevitable essay agents — in violation of the understandings reached with New Zealand did have a critical domestic corollary.
These actions served to solidify domestic political opinion firmly in favour of a more comprehensive anti-nuclear policy and accelerated progress on the eventual legislative changes that led to the passing of the NFNZA, was the cold war inevitable essay.
Neorealists would depict the Rainbow Warrior Incident as an illustrative example of a small state being forced to succumb to the greater power of a larger state. France was indeed able to exert its power and influence in economic and commercial areas e.
Additionally, Mearsheimer would argue that France was pursuing maximisation of relative gains in the South Pacific at the expense of the smaller state, which is essentially helpless to counter the larger power Mearsheimer,p. Bombing the Rainbow Warrior in while in the harbour of New Zealand is undoubtedly reflective of offensive realism. Through this prism, the anti-nuclear protests could have been perceived by France as threatening an upending of the international political structure, was the cold war inevitable essay, posing a risk to France in maintaining its military force, status and ability to protect its interests Mearsheimer,p.
Therefore, the bombing may be seen as a warning designed to deter others with the trade and economic sanctions applied as further illustrations of Great Power will Mearsheimer,pp. Neorealism also helps us understand the position of New Zealand during this bipolar period of world politics. The latter legislatively ensured that future New Zealand Governments would be legally obliged to take all measures necessary, short of force, to prevent nuclear weapons and nuclear testing from occurring in the region.
The latter is much larger economically, geographically and militarily. Again, this reinforces neorealist perspectives since it showed how even a medium-sized state like Australia recognises its limits within international relations when set against a significant power like France Mearsheimer,pp. At the same time, neorealism has certain limitations in helping us understand the role and nature of small states within the international system.
While it may shed light on structuralist perspectives, neorealism provides little insight into the importance of domestic factors — and these are particularly significant in this case study Elman,was the cold war inevitable essay, p.
Since neorealism does not take account of the nature of New Zealand domestic politics at the time of the bombing, focusing instead on external structural factors such as French military force and its determination was the cold war inevitable essay continue nuclear testing, neorealism fails to explain how the Rainbow Warrior incident accelerated the introduction of NFNZA in the New Zealand Parliament. Conversely, constructivism offers us richer insights and can explain how the Rainbow Warrior Incident symbolised an independent New Zealand foreign policy, was the cold war inevitable essay.
The analysis above of this case study demonstrated the structural inevitability of a power conflict imbalance between France and New Zealand, but it failed in two overlapping areas. Second, it cannot explain how the Rainbow Warrior incident facilitates and accelerates the eventual passing of the Nuclear Free New Zealand Act of McKinnon,p.
Before the French attack on the Rainbow Warrior, there was a general sense in New Zealand that passing the anti-nuclear legislation would be close to impossible. Parliamentary support was lacking Ibid. That all changed — not necessarily because of the attack itself — because of French behaviour, widely seen as arrogant and contemptuous revelling in its middle-to-large power status over a smaller state. In New Zealand, this was the establishment and facilitation of a stronger and emboldened anti-nuclear movement following the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior Wendt,p.
While Wendt does contest the inevitable nature of the structure that neorealism holds to explain the conflict between France and New Zealand inneorealism can only go so far in accounting for the domestic processes occurring in New Zealand, was the cold war inevitable essay. Non-systemic constructivists Kratochwil and Ruggie can fill this analytical gap, was the cold war inevitable essay. This is undoubtedly the case for New Zealand as it underwent several attitudinal changes in culture and identity against the incumbent conservative National Government before the election of the Labour Government in McKinnon,pp.
Before this, the anti-nuclear movement had been primarily the preserve of the Was the cold war inevitable essay Party. The National Party avoided the issue Gustafson,p.
Following the Rainbow Warrior attack, however, domestic politics in New Zealand became more bipartisan, including when National Party constituents e. sheep farmers were affected by French reprisals McKinnon,pp.
Unlike neorealism, constructivism rejects the inevitability of the French-New Zealand incident following the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior. It demonstrates how this conflict resulted from historical processes, including ideational shifts within New Zealand culture leading to anti-nuclear legislation in While it does not necessarily disagree with the power imbalance between France and New Zealand, it would assert power for constructivists: here was French economic influence exerted through the existence of the EU Common Market rather than overt military pressure.
Where constructivism outperforms neorealist analysis is its ability to better account for how intwo years after the Rainbow Warrior bombing, New Zealand passed Was the cold war inevitable essay. This legislation reflected and characterised New Zealand foreign policy Buchannan,pp. Neorealism cannot account for this sharp transition and passing of landmark legislation that would challenge the nuclear-armed international system. The neorealists would have posited that New Zealand as a small state would not pass such legislation in the face of the larger state objections, including France and the US, the UK and Australia, among others.
Despite this pressure, or because of it, the legislation held firm Buchannan,pp. Constructivism reveals how the gradual historical evolution of ideas, culture and identity delivered the New Zealand response to the Rainbow Warrior bombing. It can also explain how, after the bombing, a now galvanised domestic minority movement was able to secure majority support in the New Zealand legislature in favour of was the cold war inevitable essay the legislation that symbolises an independent New Zealand foreign policy.
These events confirm the neorealist view of international relations. Conversely, constructivism accounts for the events that transpired on the 10th of July and offer a way to understand was the cold war inevitable essay role of historical processes in driving identity changes.
This ultimately better accounts for why New Zealand passed NFNZA two years later, establishing its independent foreign policy platform. Both theories offer essential insights into the foreign policy of small state New Zealand and the influence and power of France.
The asymmetry between the two countries and the consequential impact on the foreign policy of New Zealand is engaged by neorealism, but the deeper analysis is provided by constructivism. Constructivism may not elaborate or explain the causality of the rainbow warrior incident in producing conflict between France and New Zealand. Baehr, P. Small States: A Tool for Analysis?. World Politics, 27 3pp. Brady, A. Small Can Be Huge: New Zealand Foreing Policy in an era of Global Uncertainty.
In: A. Brady, ed. Small States and the Changing Global Order: New Zealand Faces the Future. Chamonix: Springer, pp. Buchannan, P. Lilliputian in Fluid Times: New Zealand Foreign Policy after the Cold War. Political Science Quarterly, Volume 2pp.
Clements, K. Special Issue on Militarization and Demilitarization in Asia-Pacific. Journal of Peace Research, 25 4pp. Eckstein, H. Case Study and Theory in Political Science. In: F. Nelson, eds.
The Cold War - OverSimplified (Part 1)
, time: 16:04Was the cold war inevitable essay & essay for toys unlimited? ? - Existentialism philosophy essay
Aug 30, · Stalin was aware of Hitler’s aims and came to consider Nazi Germany to be the most pressing military threat to Soviet Russia. Both leaders trod carefully through the mids, careful not to provoke the other into a conflict – but pursuing policies of rearmament and military strengthening, in preparation for a war both knew was inevitable. 1 Jun 09, · As he explained, “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable.” The past years have seen 16 cases in which a rising power threatened to Nov 18, · This further confirms with neorealist theory as the bi-polar nature of world politics during the Cold War saw both hegemons, the US and USSR, with immense nuclear power and thus an ‘effective’ deterrent against each other, thereby providing order from the potential chaos the international system (Waltz, , pp. )
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