The West in the World, 4th Edition (Sherman)

Chapter 25: Superpower Struggles and Global Transformations

Chapter Summaries

Wartime cooperation between the Soviet Union and the United States and Great Britain quickly dissipated into a Cold War that dominated international relations for decades. This rivalry spilled over into Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, where colonial peoples were demanding and achieving independence. As they did so, new nations and international organizations formed that altered political and economic relations between states. By the 1980s, social, political, and economic life had changed so quickly that it was barely comparable to what the prewar generation had experienced. Western society was more technocratic, affluent, welfare-oriented, and culturally open. Although Western Europe ceded leadership to the United States, the West as a whole had to take into consideration non-Western concerns in the world to a much greater extent.