Political Violence: War and Terrorism - The rise (and fall?) of major war - War in the bipolar era: globally cold, locally hot

4 important questions on Political Violence: War and Terrorism - The rise (and fall?) of major war - War in the bipolar era: globally cold, locally hot

During the Cold War, it was widely perceived that the global distribution of power had shifted from a multipolar arena to a bipolar situation. This means:

Multipolar = the term for an international system with multiple major centers of power
Bipolar = the term for an international system with multiple major centers of power

The USSR claimed control over Eastern Europe, and gathered communist governments into a military alliance. The US did the same with Western Europe. These alliances are called:

The Warsaw Pact and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

During the Cold War, the two sides had reached a point where powerful weapons saved the purpose of deterrence (the use of threats to deter another party from attacking), and entered a state known as mutually assured destruction (MAD), which is:

A situation of successful deterrence in which adversaries cannot strike without being destroyed in return.
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The Cold War produced 'hot' effects by exacerbating lower-level conflicts around the world. Both parties sought allies on all continents and tried to block overtures by their rival. The result was a proliferation of proxy wars:

Wars fought through representatives or 'proxies', rather than between the main antagonists. Usually, with little success: thanks to guerrilla warfare (irregular warfare that uses highly mobile surprise-bases tactics like ambushed and sabotages).

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