OBSERVATIONS AND DISCUSSIONS ON THE SECURITY CONCERNS DURING THE COLD WAR

Abstract

After World War II (1939-1945) a bipolar world order emerged under the leaderships of
the United States and the Soviet Union. The postwar period was later called as the Cold War
Era that witnessed a great tension between the Western and Eastern blocs. Both sides
abstained from a direct war and generally competed in such fields as military, political,
economic, cultural, and so on. Although avoiding from military interventions was the main
principle, the continuous hostility between two nuclear superpowers inevitably forced them to
consider military options. In this point, security question became a vital subject between the
United States and the Soviet Union, and deeply influenced the shaping of characteristics of two
powers’ relations. It was foreseen that the security concerns based on nuclear threat would
come to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union and with the end of the Cold War.
However, the expansion of NATO to the Eastern Europe and Baltic region, and possibility of
new member’s admission to NATO, including Ukraine, in one hand, Russia’s efforts to be a
superpower in the world politics, on the other hand, revealed that the security concerns have
not completely disappeared with the end of the Cold War. Thus, revisiting some discussions on
the security concerns during the Cold War, and bringing them to the attention of academic world
would be stimulating. This article will focus on some fundamental discussions on the security
concerns during the Cold War. Firstly, the formation of the US national security understanding,
and the role of National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68) in shaping of the US security
concept during the Cold War will be explained. Secondly, the role of nuclear deterrence in the
establishment of national security concept will be discussed. Finally, the concept of ‘security
dilemma’ and the opinions of Robert Jervis on security dilemma will be evaluated.

Authors

Serkan Gül

Keywords

National Security, Deterrence, Cold War, Nuclear Threat, Security Dilemma

Publication Information

Publication Date

September 24, 2022

Submission Date

April 30, 2022

Accepted Date

May 31, 2022

Volume

10

Issue

32

Year

2022

Pages

129-143

Language

Turkish

Status

Published

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DOI

10.33692/avrasyad.1176519

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