by Lincoln P. Bloomfield

About the author: Lincoln P. Bloomfield, formerly a U.S. State Department and National Security Council official, is professor emeritus of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge.

In the five years from 1945 to 1950 a monumental victory was won over tyranny, a major new challenge loomed, the democracies responded with strategies for the long haul, and a whole set of international institutions was set in motion to perform important pieces of the world’s business.

The New World Order

In the five years from 1989 to 1994 a monumental victory was won over tyranny, new challenges loomed, the United Nations (UN) began to cope with them, the democracies were overcome in varying measure by self-absorption, moral flabbiness, and military vacillation, and the prospects were...