From Cold War to War on

TerrorThe United States and Its Military

Ending the Cold War

What Ended the Cold War?

• Mikhail Gorbachev, 1985• Glastnost and

Perestroika• Poland, 1989• USSR dissolved, 1991

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, 1979

• The Soviet Union’s “Vietnam”

Chernobyl Disaster, 1986

What Next?

The US as World Police

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_military_operations

Bacevich, “The New American Militarism”

• Scope and cost• Willingness to use force• New aesthetic of war• All-volunteer army

ReadingAmerican Empire?

Globalization

Free Trade• NAFTA, 1992

Outsourcing• Outsourcing is the consequence of free trade• The US economy is increasingly centered on

services• Union membership has declined dramatically• The decline of Detroit,

http://www.weather.com/travel/modern-ruins-abandoned-detroit-photos-20130715

• New technologies and Silicon Valley

The Globalization of American Culture

The War on Terror

September 11, 2001

New Technology

American Empire?• The Soldier (military)• The Missionary (cultural)• The Merchant (economic)