ABSTRACT
The bipolar world order, centered on the Cold War conflict between East and West, organized almost all aspects of the global sociopolitical system after World War II. That order ended with the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and the disintegration of the USSR into fifteen independent countries in 1991. The end of the Cold War led to discussion of a new world order, the characteristics of which are much more difficult to define than those of the old order.
