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Containment in the Modern World The word containment can mean many things. When applied to the aspects of foreign policy, it is defined by dictionary.com as “a policy of checking the expansion or influence of a hostile power or ideology, as by the creation of strategic alliances or support of client states in areas of conflict or unrest.” This was the type of foreign policy used by the United States against the Soviet Union from the end of World War Two in 1945 until the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This policy involved the United States in almost every international conflict that occurred during this period. A “Cold War” had broken out. The scope and range of this cannot be underestimated. Every civilized country in the world was affected in some way. The United States struggled to contain the Soviet Union, while the Soviet Union reciprocated on the United States. Both countries had enormous power and threatened to unleash it at any moment. Thankfully neither country unleashed much as the United States was able to outspend the Soviets causing their government to collapse. The United States then emerged as the world’s only superpower and began facing down entirely different threats. These new threa