A Rift in Red: Sino-Soviet Split and the Deconstruction of the Cold War Ideological Dichotomy

Abstract

The bipolar worldview that prevailed in the Cold War era has been dominating peoples understanding of the world back then and the world today. The dichotomy between capitalism and communism in the Cold War era does not simply divide the international order into a bipolar world as it seems. The very notion of defining global order by the divergence of ideologies and poles is biased and misleading since it often overlooks the influence of small states and other players that indirectly influence or even challenge the decisions and the authority of great powers. Countries with the same ideology may have conflicts and even develop into direct opposition. Evaluating the incidents in the communist sphere of the Cold War, the author speculates that states were orientating based on self-interests instead of ideological coherence. This paper aims to review the process and the causes of the Sino-Soviet Split and its significance to the Cold War specifically on how the incidents between two of the biggest communist nations refreshed peoples perception of the Cold War that categorized the world and states into two sides based on ideology similarities and differences among nations.