These states were allied with the United States, broadly followed an economic system of capitalism, and (at least aspirationally) a political system of liberal democracy. The ‘First World’ was the ‘Western’ nations (this is where the term ‘the West’ comes from). The Cold War was responsible for the historical image of a world divided into three zones. This period also underlined the importance of ideology in shaping global conflict, principally between capitalism and communism, which produced two incompatible international systems.

For that reason, smaller-scale conflict and competition existed but a major ‘hot’ war, such as those in prior decades, was avoided. This was known as ‘Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)’.

The Cold War (1947–91) was known as such because the presence of nuclear weapons made a traditional war between the rival parties (in this case the United States and the Soviet Union) unlikely as they each had the power to destroy each other and in doing so jeopardise human civilisation as a whole.

This feature is part of the online resources to accompany the textbook Foundations of International Relations.

Why is it called a cold war