This essay focuses on the Cold War era to provide a picture of what global society was like during that epoch and attempts
to draw parallels between that status quo and the emergence of a new Cold War era in foreign policy represented by the War on Terror. The existence of clear-cut walls and borders is assayed in addition to the differing economic systems in existence during the Cold War.
Concepts of realism and totalitarianism are discussed, alongside concepts of
cultural hegemony and soft power and the idea of cultural transcendence through material considerations and methods of foreign policy dissemination. The defining systems of the Cold War era are addressed in terms of economic and ideological certitudes that have since been challenged with the onset of what many are calling a new epoch of globalization in foreign policy. They have also been counter-construed by the present administration's focus on the polar separation of "good" and "evil," internationally, and the importance of the American perspective.