The Prospects of Cooperation in a Bipolar World

AS WORLD politics freezes into a bipolar mold, policies in every sphere of human activity are affected by calculations of the relative strength of America and Russia. A good crop in Western Germany is chiefly evaluated, not in economic or humanitarian terms, but according to its effect upon Soviet-American power. The question whether Italy is to receive economic assistance is entangled with estimates of how the economic recuperation of the Italian peoples will affect the spread of communism. Whether Koreans or Chinese are to have medical aid becomes subordinated to the Russo-American balance of power in Asia. Every expansion of population, every decline in the death rate, every upswing in production, every drop or rise in the standard of living, every amelioration in the respect position of the colored peoples, every advance in scientific knowledge, every radio broadcast, every movement of students or traders or tourists or displaced persons across frontier lines, every addition to transportation facilities (by air, sea, or land), every movement of raw materials, foodstuffs, semi-processed products, machine tools or consumer goods: In a word every social change is promptly weighed in the scale pans of power and responded to accordingly