US Role in Bending Democracy during Cold War: A Case Study of Pakistan

Abstract

History does not come neatly packaged in distinct periods but in order to find clarity of facts, to identify a ‘regime of truth’, we mark such epochs. End of the Second World War was in fact the beginning of one such period, a new phase in world affairs, in which the European state system was extended to what had previously been colonies. The century was reckoned to be the century of freedom of nations. But while in letter, the system may have been based on the principle of the equality of nations in spirit, the system was a hierarchy in which “the United States was the hegemonic power” with a contender Soviet Union. Events of the second half of the twentieth century made it evident that actors on the international stage were judged, condemned, classified and determined in their undertakings, according to two dominant modes of living, i.e., Liberalism and Communism. The term ‘Cold War’, coined by George Orwell to name this particular era was heralded by President Truman in his address to Congress on March 12, 1947. During Cold War period, world was divided between those who hailed the U.S as a leader of the world forces of human freedom and those who saw it as an imperialist power. This article comprises of two sections