@article{Ilten_2010, place={Washington DC: American Sociological Association.}, title={SOCI 308 Global Peace and Conflict}, url={https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/soci-308-global-peace-and-conflict}, abstractNote={Until about fourteen years ago, the nuclear threat and the Cold War defined much of the consciousness of thoughtful people about war and possibilities of peace in the world. Likewise, global geopolitics were largely a function of this stand off. From superpower summits to client states and proxy wars, to international espionage and defecting citizens, the cold war was the framework for the mid-twentieth century. In the early 1980s, President Reagan adopted a policy called "Mutually Assured Destruction," declared that nuclear war might be necessary and that we could survive it. The Cold War was rife with such policy contradictions. Fortunately, a nuclear war has not yet be fought. Due to peace movements here and in Europe, Gorbachev’s decision to end Soviet domination of the former "satellites" in Eastern Europe, and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union, the threat abated. The US is now the only "superpower" in the world. Nationalism, ethnicity, terrorism, religion, and issues like size of government, welfare, "crime," and "family values" are replacing the Cold War as loci of opposition and hatred in the world.}, journal={TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology}, author={Ilten, Mathew}, year={2010}, month={Apr.} }