Relations between countries can follow a curve. This curve can be shaped by the domestic conditions and policies of the countries and international conditions. An appropriate conjuncture may facilitate decision-making and action, while inappropriate international conditions may create great difficulties and even impede international action.
[http://www.foreignpolicy.org.tr/documents/books/equality.pdf ]
The word conjuncture is derived from the Italian "congiuntura". An extensive usage of the word is found in French as "conjoncture". The ''Dictionnaire des Dictionnaires'' defines it as "the meeting, by coincidence, of different things at the same place". The ''Dictionnaire Encyclopédique Quillet'' characterises it as a situation created as a result of some events or interests meeting at the same time and place".
Kathleen Christison
Kathleen (McGrath) Christison (born 1941) is an American political analyst and author whose primary area of focus is the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
For sixteen years, Christison worked as a political analyst for the Central Intelligence Age ...
, in her book on
Palestine, interprets this term as a "unique constellation of forces".
Recent examples
The current international system is affected by
the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
,
the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term ''cold war'' is used because the ...
and the end of the Cold War. These are three major events shaping the international conjuncture today. Relations between countries take on a different shape when they are situated in the Cold War period or during the end of the Cold War. The countries in Europe have clearly shown us that they have been affected by the international conjuncture. The
Reunification of Germany is certainly a result of the end of the Cold War. It could not have been achieved had the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
not disintegrated. As of today, it can be said that a new international conjuncture was created as a result of the
9/11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...
on the United States thereby leading to the invasion of
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Foreign Policy Institute
International relations