The New World Order c. 1990

Deterioration of the Soviet Union’s economy throughout the 1980s paved the way for a number of radical institutional changes under the presidency of Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1988, Gorbachev made the extent of Soviet ambitions for political change on a national and international scale clear to the world in a speech to the United Nations, in which the contemporary idea of the new world order first appeared. Amongst the envisioned policy changes was a commitment to reduce nuclear arms, a movement towards a single world economy and a vital mention of a movement away from political ideologies. This clearly demonstrated the coming of the end for the Soviet Union, which dissolved shortly after in 1991. The new world order concept was built upon by Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton who emphasized America’s responsibility as a global policeman and a new role for NATO with the threat of the Soviet Union out of the picture.