Tensions in the Three-World Order

Radicalism did not succeed but did expose rifts and vulnerabilities within the First and Second Worlds.

Tensions in the First World

National crises during the 1960s shattered the confidence, assurance, and unity Americans enjoyed during the 1950s. This occurred in spite of the fact that prosperity, rights, and opportunities expanded to groups formerly neglected. Race riots and violence marked a new course in the direction of the Civil Rights Movement. Women and minorities struggled for greater equality and empowerment. Intellectuals began to question the values of American society and then condemn them as the anti–Vietnam War Movement gained momentum.

Tensions in World Communism

Fractures in Soviet unity appeared in 1948, when Yugoslavia wrested autonomy from Moscow, and in 1956, when Poland and Hungary attempted to do the same. The "Prague Spring" of 1968 did not succeed in its objectives but gained some concessions. Moscow eventually allowed some variation as pressure grew. The greatest crack in the Communist bloc, however, came when Chinese-Soviet relations broke down in 1960. Presenting peasant-led revolution as an alternative to proletariat-led revolution, the Chinese moved to supplant the Soviets as the head Communist state, precipitating a crisis in relations.

Tensions in the Third World

Never unified, the Third World labored to create cohesion. Collaboration rarely offered much. In the early 1970s, for example, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) raised oil prices, precipitating an oil crisis as a means of pressuring Israel’s allies. OPEC leaders, however, soon found themselves backpedaling when oil production in other newly discovered areas drove prices down and raised competition. Oil revenues also often profited First World banks or the multinational corporations in charge of refining and distributing oil. Some states, like Taiwan and South Korea, did break away from cycles of poverty. Here, however, success came from disciplined state regulation, education, help for new industry, and laws that kept multinational firms from destroying native industry.