Human Rights After The Cold War

The Cold War was the economical, political, and militaristic rivalry between the Soviet Union and the U.S. The competition although tense never resulted in actual shots being fired or a hot war. The Cold War began after the unraveling of the alliance of the two nations after the surrender of Nazi Germany at the end of World War II and the replacement of former President Roosevelt by former President Truman. Truman did not have the natural skills in political maneuvering that Roosevelt had and that made the negotiating with Stalin much more difficult. In addition, after World War II, there were no longer as many common goals and ideals. The two countries no longer needed to work together to contain Germany, so agreements from discussions such as the Yalta Conference fell
Also, the Soviet Union was strongly communist while the U.S. believed in traditional Western democracy and tried to contain communism from spreading with various policies. All these components, including tension due to bipolarity where both parties had overwhelming amounts of influence internationally and regionally, evidently lead to the Cold War. In order to turn nations and their people against the Soviet Union during the Cold War era, the U.S. built up its image as a global leader in human rights and democracy, but in reality, the U.S. only intervened in those areas when the situation served beneficial and even committed human rights violations of their own. Human rights track records, although often overlooked or ignored by governments, are very important in helping establish a norm where people are protected from abuse. People all deserve to some degree similar freedoms such as the rights to life, liberty, and security; however, it is quite difficult to set and re enforce universal standards which is why the UN was so revolutionary. The UN tried to set human rights regulations internationally and even though it did not succeed greatly, it was still a step in the right direction