Summary: The Second Indochina War

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Throughout the history of the international society some countries have strived for more power or influence than their competitors, while other states have fought for sovereignty from colonization. With regards to this case study, sovereignty will be defined, according to the most commonly used interpretation, as not being controlled by external authorities (Neuman, 1998, p. 7). The Second Indochina War, from 1955 to 1975, was initiated by the yearning of independence for the Indochinese states from a state of neocolonialism. The conflict and aggression of the war was influenced by the policies imposed on Indochina. To understand the involvement of imperialism in this Southeast Asian war, it is important to understand the domestic and international …show more content…
The First Indochina War laid the basis for the Second Indochina War through the resulting neocolonialism of Indochina. In both of these situations the interests of the Indochinese were disregarded due to the nature of the superpowers acting according to the theory of realism; the behaviour of the superpowers is shown through the Geneva Conference of 1954. The theory of realism, as discussed in lectures, is where states are instinctively competitive with objectives to gain power or security and control resources; where the international systems are controlled by states with greater power (Jones, 2015, week 4/5, slide 1). During the Second Indochina War the dominant powers continued to meet and alter the legislation enforced by their support. With these changes, often of the Western powers, to imposed legislations of Southeast Asia where the desires of the Indochinese states were still ignored. The external powers acted in realist methods overlooking the domestic reasons that initiated the Second Indochina …show more content…
In which the two global forces struggled to acquire more international predominance than their perceived enemy. As a result the Western countries banded together to create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “founded on the principles of interdependence and common defense, … maintenance of peace” (1963, p. 826). In response to this, the communist nations joined the Warsaw Pact entering under the leadership of the Soviet Union; however, “… the communist regimes of China, North Korea, North Vietnam and Mongolia enjoyed observer status” (Wagner, 1978, p. 41). Furthermore the dominant nations pursued methods of the alliance theory, in which states join together against a common threat (Neuman, 1998, p. 10). (←not sure this reference system is right as only the second half is from the source the first half is just yup) Concurrently many of these international superpowers maintained dominance over previously colonized, less developed states. Nevertheless the demand for sovereignty, of colonies from their governing country, was acquiring momentum. Within Southeast Asia the movement of liberation was greatly influenced by Japanese defeating the endogenous European powers, demonstrating the ability to overcome the imperial control (Katz, 1980, p. 132 – 133). Furthermore a variety of independence movements emanated across