Many theorists in the field of international relations maintain that 1989 was a watershed year. In fact, they argue that 1989 stands out as "a dramatic divide in contemporary history, in some respects comparable to the French Revolution two hundred years earlier" (Simensen, 1999, p. 391). Thus, Jarle Simensen asserts that the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the end of the Cold War, and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union inaugurated a new era in international relations (Simensen, 1999, p. p. 3). The significance of the Cold War to the development of international relations cannot be overstated. In fact, Simensen notes that international relations as a subdiscipline of political science developed during the Cold War (1999, p. 395). On the other hand, the Persian Gulf War demonstrates that no longer can one theory explain all aspects of international relations. Today, all cultural and political theories, including postmodernism, liberalism and realism must be combined to even approach an understanding of intranational and international acts.
The Gulf War was an international conflict triggered by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussien's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990 with the apparent intention of acquiring Kuwait's substantial oil reserves. Despite repeated warnings from the international community, Iraq did not withdraw from Kuwait. Consequently, in January of 1991, the United States led an international offensive against Iraq that forced its withdrawal from Kuwait. Today, Iraq remains to incur international sanctions for its failure to abide by rules set by the international community after its removal from Kuwait.
At the start of its development, the school of realism dominated international relations (Simensen, 1999, p. 395). Realist theory argued that the sovereign nation-state was the basic unit of analysis and emphasized the struggle for power and security in an anarchic international system determined ...