N. Schmidt-WN Government The Role of Today’s Military in Today’s Post-Cold war era. The role of the United States military has been a question of the government in this modern post-cold war era. The fall of communism has put away any external threats to national security and made America the worlds last superpower. The government must decide what to do with the worlds strongest military.
Several questions have arisen since the end of the cold war. Should the U. S continue build its military to keep our worldwide strength? Should we downsize the military to better aid people in our own country? What should be the role of the current military? Should we be a worldwide police force, or just respond to eminent threats to ourselves. The U.
S government faces these choices as we are the last remaining superpower. To understand the current worldwide scenario was must understand its history. The cold war started during the second World War. Mutual suspicion had long existed between the West and the USSR, and friction was sometimes seen in the Grand Alliance during World War II. After the war the West felt threatened by the continues expansionists policy of the Soviet Union, and the traditional Russian fear of the spread of Western influence continued. Communist then seized Russia, and sealed off their controlled areas of Eastern Germany and Austria.
This sparked intense conflicts within the United Nations. This now formed the Iron Curtain between the East and the West. During the cold war the general policy of the West toward the communist states was to contain them, with hope that internal disputes would eventually fade communism out. The Soviet Union began to directly challenge the West by creating a blockade of the western sectors of Berlin, but the United States airlifted supplies into the city until the blockade was lifted.
This action against the United States caused the formation of NATO. After NATO was formed the Russian counterbalance it by forming the Warsaw Treaty Organization with the communist bloc. Communist then began to spread to Asia.
Communist leader Mao Zeodong gained control of the mainland of China in 1949. The U. S then came to support the Nationalist movement in China with its headquarters in Taiwan.
This lead to the creation of the four point program in fear of communism spreading to Asia, Africa and Latin America. The four point program was created to help underdeveloped areas. The cold war split up many areas of the world as communist gained a country nationalism would gain a country right beside it. The two sides would try to gain the power in as many countries as possible. They would gain a countries support by military force or by supplying that country with arms and economic aid. The newly emerging nations of Asia and Africa became the scene of these cold-war skirmishes. In Europe the East German Government erected the Berlin Wall in 1961 to check the embarrassing flow of East Germans to the West.
Then in 1962 an extremely tense confrontation between the U. S and Soviet occurred after the U. S found Soviet missile installations in Cuba. Direct conflict was narrowly avoided putting the fate of the world in jeopardy. This made obvious that neither side wanted the risk of a nuclear war. Then in the late 1950s and early 60s both sides in the European alliance began to weaken somewhat. Individual countries on each side began to explore closer relations.
In the 1980s U. S President Ronald Reagan revived cold-war polices as referring to the Soviet Union as the ‘’evil empire’’ and escalating the nuclear arms race and buildup of military might. This poured millions of dollars into the pockets of the military trying to strengthen each sides military in the event of possible confrontation.
From 1989 to 1991 the cold war came to an end with the opening if the Berlin Wall and the complete collapse of the communist party dictatorship in Eastern Europe, the reunification of Germany, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The cold war basically brought complete dependence on the military. During the cold war the majority of the Budget was shoved into the advancement and buildup of the U. S military.
This caused many technological advances and an increase in the economy but left little money for other government programs. The federal Deficit had sky rocketed as a result of the Cold War. The United States military was huge and left standing as the strongest military in the world.
The fall of communism completely ruined the Soviets military power and economy. The United States had come out on top in the end of the cold war. The United States has become the controlling control in today’s world.
The Clinton administration has six goals in minds to bury the post-cold war rhetoric. The first is to build a peaceful democratic Europe. The second is to build a strong, stable integrated Pacific region. Third, asserting American leadership in promoting peace in the world. The forth is to prevent terrorism and drug trafficking.
Fifth is building an opening trading system. The final goal is for the U. S. to maintain a strong military and provide enough resources for democracy.(Pamela Benson CNN, 3-27-97) These are what the role of today’s military will need to enforce in the rest of the World.
The rest of the world may fall into the hands of the United States military. Smaller weaker countries need our support or cause minor skirmishes. While larger stronger countries may become a threat or an ally. Communism is still alive in a few countries such as China and Cuba and must be taken seriously. With the end of the cold war the need for defense has seems to be diminishing. The threat to national security has fallen but not disappeared.
The end of the cold war, like its beginning, raises the question of how important military security is in comparison with other goals of public policy. The government has been forced to rethink the nations security. Many politicians believe American security is now more threatened by domestic problems than by external threats. Politicians in Washington have drastically reduced the resource that are being put into the nations defense. The new funds have been used to deal with issues such as domestic poverty, educational crises, industrial competitiveness, drug trafficking, international migration, environmental hazards, global poverty and so on.
The need for defense is still strong in today’s world. The United States has been called upon by many countries to be a type of police force. Many smaller third world countries are weak and unable to take care of internal threats so the United States must come to the aid of that country. The more major areas where the United States has done this is Somalia, Bosnia, the Falkland Islands, Iran and Panama. This use of force has been questioned by other countries.
They believe disputes are being fought by the U. S for unimportant reasons and the United States should stay out of foreign affairs. But the United States must help these countries in order to keep them peaceful with neighboring countries and on the side of the U. S. A major area of the world in which military force is required is the middle east. Many of the countries in the middle east are considered hostile and a threat to national security.
The threat of neighboring countries to our ally Israel has caused alert for U. S forces. The Iran-Iraq war has involved our government. The Gulf War was a major use of force for the United States military. This is a prime example of the usefulness and power of our military. Most recently the threat of Biological and Saddam Hussein’s un cooperation with U. N inspectors have put the United States military into a major course of action in Iraq.
The government must also keep in mind the threat of communist China. China is still a major threat to America. China seems to be drastically rising in power with its huge population.
China also has the worlds largest air force. I believe China will be the United States next great enemy. The main role of the military in the coming century will be the same as it is now. The role of providing protection from outside threats, keep peace in foreign countries, defend the constitution, and provide enough resources for diplomacy.
After the end of the cold war the U. S military power has decreased sharply, but now the government can see the need for a strong military with threats like China on the horizon. Now military funding is once again increasing. Also the need to combat newer domestic threats such as terrorism.
The main goal of the military is the same as it always has been. To keep the United States strong and defensive against outside threats and deeply influential in today’s world. Works Cited --Michael J.