American Identity, European Contrast, and the Cold War
American vs European Identity
This vision, attributed to Maldwyn Jones, that America began as merely ‘an extension of Europe’ under European colonialism, is true only in part. While we must understand these beginnings, the way in which America developed turned it into a very different entity.
Key Differences Emerge
The first difference is closely related to its initial status as a colony. Europe has a long history that has shaped different European identities for centuries, while America has a short history. The American identity is born from a sense of constitution, in a faster, more artificial way.
We can find other differences in the notion of American identity based on some key principles, such as a sense of freedom, capitalism, and limited reliance on government. Furthermore, the American sense of reliance is very different from the European one: while the tendency in America is to emphasize the individual, Europeans tend to rely on the community. This is evident in the fact that many European countries have a public health system, whereas in the US, the private system is the norm.
Therefore, we see a clear difference between the notions of individual and community, also shown by the American sense of individual rights and responsibilities. In addition, the role of religion is shaped differently. Almost 60% of the US population recognize religion as an important component of their lives; this is a very large figure, one of the highest in any developed country (including Europe).
One last component that makes America different from Europe is the fact that the US is often regarded as a nation of contradictions.
A Nation of Contradictions
Although it is a nation built by immigrants, it has always been a land marked by racial diversity and conflict, some of which still persist today (e.g., conflicts between the black population and police). The proclaimed sense of freedom has also proven contradictory, and its external policy in the 20th and 21st Centuries has earned the country the status of a prime global power. All these factors contribute to a national character that significantly differs from Europe.
The End of the Cold War
Did the US ‘Win’ the Cold War?
The Cold War was a long conflict which marked international relations in the second half of the 20th Century, pitting the capitalist, Western bloc against the communist bloc under the constant threat of nuclear conflict. It ended when the communist regimes in Eastern Europe collapsed in 1989 and the Soviet Union was dissolved a few years later. The fall of the Berlin Wall is a symbol of the rupture of the Iron Curtain, or global partition into two blocs.
However, did the US actually produce the conditions that stopped the Cold War, or was the end of this conflict independent of US policies? The American government was involved in this outcome only indirectly. The collapse of the Soviet Union and its group of allies was a result of their own structure and nature. The Soviet system was based on keeping the majority under control indefinitely, but this is only possible for a short period. The power of the people ultimately superseded political power; people eventually rose up against the Soviet system, not only in the Soviet Union but also in its satellite states in Eastern Europe (e.g., Poland, Romania, German Democratic Republic, Bulgaria).
US Economic Influence
The American role in the end of the conflict was largely limited to economic issues. The Cold War proved to be a conflict of interests rather than purely an ideological issue. The American administration continued lending money to its capitalist allies while the USSR was in an economic crisis that was worsening. The collapse of the communist system in 1989 and the subsequent policies by Soviet leaders Gorbachev and Yeltsin represented the failure of a decadent system compared to the Western one, which seemingly represented prosperity.
This collapse across Eastern Europe was, in most cases, a non-violent transition: a mass movement that sought a better way of life, represented by Western capitalism. This transition was, in some cases, facilitated by the governments of the communist regimes (e.g., the Bulgarian case) in a peaceful way. This is proof of how ideologies are actually dependent on economy. If the economy is strong, everything seems possible, but as soon as economic problems, hunger, and poverty emerge, criticism against the system appears, demanding change.