The ideology war - Capitalism vs Communism - perhaps became more defined after world war 2 - Korean war (North Korea vs South Korea) between '50 - '53, followed by the East and West Berlin and the Berlin Wall going up in '6. Churchill talk about the iron curtain in Fulton, Missouri in '45 - “From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent,” which marked the start of cold war. Over time, governance has evolved beyond capitalism and socialism, incorporating elements from social democrats, libertarianism, conservatism, liberalism, anarchism and other ideologies. One of Chomsky's rational for the US needing democracy in South America was to have better control over its politics. Perhaps its true. I also think it goes beyond it - this notion of having a common enemy brings people together and forms a larger force. If you think about it, there is absolutely no need for NATO to exist after the cold war ended. They should have dissolved a long time ago.