ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the major evolutions in terms of East-West and North-South relations since 1945. The end of the Second World War caused a breach in the power relations at the world level. Most of them have as a consequence lost their international influence and power. A new era started, whereby two non-European colossi remained as superpowers, namely the United States and the Soviet Union. The emancipation of the colonies was quickened in a large degree by the postwar world system. The two superpowers were involved in the cold war, and they thought that after the colonial powers had left a vacuum, they could considerably enlarge their sphere of influence by entering it. A reformulation of the theories of Spencer, Durkheim and Weber, with an eye on the developing countries, was worked out especially in North American universities. A minority of historians, anthropologists, philosophers, and even economists, criticized the mainstream version.
