ABSTRACT
The end of the cold war brought about a series of political events unrivaled by any in recent history. Communist rule in Eastern Europe and in countries of Africa and Latin America has fallen, giving way to the growth of democratic systems, creating in most instances conditions of friendlier relations and cooperation. Once communism had lost its centripetal power in the early 1990s, the superpower Soviet Union disintegrated relatively peacefully into 15 independent nations. Subsequent to this collapse, other eastern nations began to divide, creating new independent states on the political map of Europe. Yugoslavia crumbled, leaving five countries at war over ethnic territoriality, and in 1993 Czechoslovakia too was divided into the Czech and Slovak Republics. Such movements were not confined to Europe, for in Africa, Namibia’s independence was finally achieved peacefully in 1990 after a lengthy rule by South Africa. Furthermore, South Africa’s new political restructuring in 1994 finally allowed all of its citizens to participate in democratic elections and to seek public office, education, and employment regardless of race. This change also brought about the integration of the former quasi-independent black homelands into mainstream South African society.
