Contemporary World History Since 1945

Jeffrey W. Jones

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040430477
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 21st Century History
• Index: History

This book introduces readers to the historical roots of the key events, issues, and themes in the post-World War II period since 1945.

Organized by region—Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America—it uses case studies to emphasize common themes and patterns. The book argues that the colonial period largely shaped the primary global relationships that still hold in the world today. During and after de-colonization, the Cold War emerged as the dominant global paradigm, but following the collapse of communism, a neo-liberal capitalist agenda prevailed in much of the world, although that has in turn shifted due to the global financial crisis of the late 2000s/early 2010s. The book explores these themes as well as terrorism and the environmental degradation of the planet which are major features of the post-Cold War world, along with racial/ethnic/religious diversity and conflict, democracy, human rights, nationalism, and gender relations.

This volume is an essential resource for students of Contemporary World History, the World Since 1945, and the World in the Twentieth Century more broadly.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Maps
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part I Europe
• 1 Europe and the Origins of the Cold War
• 2 The Soviet Union, Post-Soviet Russia, Post-Soviet Ukraine, and Eastern Europe
• Part II Asia
• 3 South Asia and Southwest Asia: India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan
• 4 East Asia: China, Japan, Korea, and the Pacific Rim Countries
• 5 Southeast Asia: Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia
• Part III The Middle East
• 6 Modern Iran: From Secularism to the Islamic Republic
• 7 Iraq, Kuwait, and Syria: The Persian Gulf Wars and the Rise and Fall of ISIS
• 8 The Arab-Israeli Conflict
• Part IV Africa
• 9 North Africa: Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and the Arab Spring
• 10 West Africa: Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone
• 11 Sudan, South Sudan, and the Crisis in Darfur
• 12 East Africa: Kenya and Somalia
• 13 The Rwandan Genocide and the Democratic Republic of Congo
• 14 Southern Africa: Zimbabwe and South Africa
• Part V Latin America
• 15 South America: Venezuela, Argentina, and Chile
• 16 Central America: Guatemala and Nicaragua
• 17 The Caribbean: Haiti and Cuba
• Conclusion
• Index