Polarity in International

relations

Group Members

Muhammad Nauman Zia

Muhammad Usman Ghani
Muhammad Ali Raza
Zia Ur Rehman
Muhammad Ali Raza Nazar

Introduction
Polarity is one of the ways in which power
is distributed in IR.
A great power is a state that is highlighted
in a size of population, territory,
resources ,economic capacity,military
force, political stability and competition

Introduction
Types of polarity
Multipolar
Bipolar
Unipolar

Multipolar
Multiple countries holding the power
Alliances between the countries
Countries involved in this era:
Great Britain
Russia
Prussia
France
Austria-Hungary

Multipolar Era
1815-1945
The distribution of power in era of 19th
century and early 20th century is termed
as multipolar
The rivalry for power and influence
Power balance conflicts
Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, France and
Austria-Hungry were the main powers

Multipolar Era
Napoleonic wars and the two world wars
To provide a long-term peace plan for Europe by
settling critical issues arising from the French
Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars
congress of Vienna was held
For the next 40 years the power sharing has worked
really incredible. But then there were other powers
that came into existence and tried to dominate politics
However, the instability increased during Crimean war
(1853-1856)

Multipolar Era
It started from the German power
ambitions and ended with the fall of
Austria-Hungry empire
Formation of United Nations
With the end of multi-polarity it was clear
that a new challenger was about to enter
into the world of politics

Multipolar Era Wars

World War 1
The first major war in the 20th century
Began on 28th July and ended on 11th November
lasted for almost 4 years
The war had seen almost 39 million dead while almost
10 million missing
Belligerents
Allied powers include France, UK, Russian empire,
USA
Axis powers include Germany, Austria-Hungry
empire, Ottoman empire

Multipolar Era Wars

Causes
Mutual Defense Alliances
Imperialism
Militarism
Nationalism
Immediate Cause: Assassination of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Multipolar Era Wars

Multipolar Era Wars

Multipolar Era Wars

World War II
This war is regarded as the deadliest of all in the history
of mankind
Began in September 1939 and lasted until August 1945
The total number of casualties of WWII were 60 million
to 100 million with the tremendous destruction of the
infrastructure of the affected cities.
Belligerents
Allies consisted of United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom,
China, France
Axis consisted of Germany, Japan, Italy

Multipolar Era Wars

Causes
The Treaty of Versailles solved nothing
The League of Nations failed to keep
the peace
Appeasement encouraged aggression
Hitler was expansionist

Multipolar Era Wars

Main Events
Germany Invades Poland
Battle of Midway
Stalingrad
D-Day
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Anti-Semitism
The Holocaust

Bipolar
Two super powers dominate the whole
system
Occurrence of bipolar system
Cold War Era
Countries holding the power
USA
USSR

Bipolar Era

From 1945 to 1989

No major conflicts between superpowers
Regional conflicts
Ideological differences
Both the super powers supported different countries
during cold war
The total number of armed conflict were 115 during this
period
Most of these took place between Asia and Africa

Bipolar Era

Cuban missile crisis

Soviet economy stopped participating with arms of USA
The oil prices were cut in the 1980s
Regional conflicts like Korean war, Vietnam war,
Afghanistan war etc.
The Warsaw pact dissolved and finally the fall of Berlin
Wall in 1989
USSR divided into 15 sovereign states including Russia

Bipolar Era Wars (cold Wars)

Shortly after WWII cold war started, United States and
USSR
It is termed as cold because there was no significant war
between two powers.
The main conflict between both superpowers was ideology
Some regional proxy wars fought in this era are
Korean war
Vietnam war
Afghanistan war

Cuban missile crisis was the major crisis in this era when
the world was on the verge of nuclear war

Bipolar Era Wars

Cuban missile crisis 1962
Crisis over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet
missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores
Leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a
tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October
1962
Disaster was avoided when the U.S. agreed to Soviet
leader Nikita Khrushchevs (1894-1971) offer to remove
the Cuban missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising
not to invade Cuba
Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles
from Turkey.

Bipolar Era Wars

Korean War 1950-1953
From 25 June 1950 27 July 1953
war between North and South Korea
United Nations force led by the United States of
America fought for the South Korea
China fought for the North, which was also assisted
by the Soviet Union
The war lasted for 3 years with subsequent 2.5 million
causalities although no significant territorial changes
happened

Bipolar Era Wars

Vietnam War 1955-1975
Vietnam War was a Cold War-era proxy war
Occurred in Vietnam from 1 November 1955 till 30 April
1975
Fought between North Vietnam supported by the Soviet
Union, China and other communist allies and the
government of South Vietnam supported by the United
States
US government was opposed by their people for going to
the war
Casualties of the war were est. in between 1.5 million to
2.5 million

Bipolar Era Wars

Afghanistan War 1979-1989
Started with the invasion of Soviet Union to the
Afghanistan in 1979
Lasted over nine years
Fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces against the
non-state actors called the Mujahedeen
Mujahedeen composed of two alliances the
Peshawar Seven and the Tehran Eight
1987 the Soviet Union withdraw its forces

Unipolar
One state holding all the power
Sole power in current system is United
States

Unipolar Era

1991-present
No global conflicts
Era of economic completion
Mostly religion conflicts
Gulf war was the first major conflict between
Iraq with other 37 states including USA
War on terrorism still is the major and ongoing
conflict affecting the lives of millions

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

Period started from the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991 till present
It has seen the United States become by far
the most powerful country in the world
The rise of China from a relatively weak
third world country becoming a strong power
It has also seen the merging of most of
Europe into one economy

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

Gulf war(1990 1991)
Also known as operation desert storm was a war
began with the invasion of Kuwait by the Iraqi forces
Led to the invasion of US troops into Iraq
Iraqi Army's occupation of Kuwait that began 2 August
1990 was met with international condemnation
Brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq
by members of the U.N. Security Council

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

A group of nations joined the Coalition which was the
largest military alliance since World War II
The great majority of the Coalition's military forces were
from the US, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and
Egypt
Saudi Arabia paid around US$36 billion of the US$60
billion cost.
Around 30000 to 40000 people lost their life in the war
with the heavy casualties if Iraqi forces against US troops
As a result of US invasion of Iraq the Iraqs puppet govt.
was demolished and Kuwaiti monarchy was restored

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

September 11 attacks:
11 September 2001 was the date that changed the
whole world politics
Islamic extremist organization led by Osama bin
laden attacked US by hijacking number of planes and
crashing them into the world trade centers and on the
US defense department pentagon
This attack led to the deaths of 2996 people with
6000 wounded persons
The world politics entirely changed which led to the
invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan by US forces

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

Iraq war 2003:

US troops sponsored by NATO forces invaded Iraq to topple the
govt. of Sadaam Hussein
The war lasted for almost 9 years form 20 March 2003 18
December 2011
Not only Iraqi economy was affected greatly with the war, but
also it suffered from a lot of casualties and sectarian violence
An estimated of 605000 people got died in the war while several
were injured
Iraq after the war never got stabilized and different non-state
actors remained active after the war due to which terrorism is at
its peak in this region

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

US war in Afghanistan:
It is the ongoing war which was started in 2001 when
U.S. invaded Afghanistan supported initially by close
allies eventually by NATO
Its public aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, and to deny
it a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by removing
the Taliban from power
The war started when U.S. demands from then Taliban
govt. led by Mullah Omar to handover Osama bin laden
Realizing it untraditionally Talibans govt. refused to do
so

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

Arab spring:
Started in 2010
It is the wave of protests and demonstrations
in the Arab world
In Tunisia, then Egypt and then continued to
other countries
Still going on Yemen and Syria
An estimated of 169,307-174,339 people
were died and several were injured.

Unipolar War Ear (Post Cold Wars)

Causes of Arab spring:
Unemployment
Inflation
Democracy
Human rights
Employment
Free Election

Conclusion
Unipolar era is better then others eras because
only one power on the globe so no one can
challenge him
It is economic era not a military war era
Every country has the chance to develop its
economic values
Due to revolution in technology, even USA cant
attack any other country with highly advanced
technological weapons on a whim.