Liberalism and The consequences of World War II
Ayomide A Adaranijo
History 3100; Diplomatic History
Dr. Oreste Foppiani

Although the term liberalism, in the political sense, became very popular in the early 1970’s, actions that would qualify as liberalism had begun to take place since, at the latest, after the Second World War, and probably before that time. The aftermath of the Second World War was the beginning of wide spread international cooperation, and the period immediately after the war signified the beginning of international organizations and the beginning of political and economic cooperation amongst the most powerful countries at the time. Because of the effects of the war, most countries had no other choice but to cooperate with each other in order to recover from the economic downturn after World War II. This period after the war marked the beginning of a series of actions that would eventually lead to the globalized and interdependent political economy that we have today.
At the end of the Second World War, most of the former super powers (Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany) were in ruins. The only two true winners of the war were the United States and the Soviet Union. However, the United States was the only country to come out of World War 2 with a stable and efficient economy as well as an intact army and the capacity to produce nuclear weapons (this was very crucial at that time). With most of the world’s economy in jeopardy, the leaders of these powerful countries made a decision to come together to revive themselves. They decided to cooperate, in order to attain quicker and more efficient recovery rather than try to get to their former places of power individually. Additionally, none of these countries really had the resources to revive itself economically and politically. This cooperation was also to ensure that a war like this,