Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
In political science, "polarity" refers to the distribution of power in the international system. The Cold War period was defined by "Bipolarity," where global politics was dominated by two poles of power: the USA and the USSR. The end of polarity (in this specific context, the end of the bipolar world order) signifies the point when one of these poles ceased to exist, leading to a shift in the global power balance.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The transition from a bipolar world to a unipolar or multipolar world happened at the conclusion of the Cold War.
1. The Nature of Bipolarity: From 1945 to 1991, the world was divided into two ideological camps. This system was stable but fraught with the risk of nuclear annihilation. All major international events were viewed through the lens of US-Soviet rivalry.
2. The Collapse of the Soviet Union: The end of the Cold War was marked by the internal collapse of the USSR. Policies like {Glasnost} (openness) and {Perestroika} (restructuring) introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev inadvertently led to the rise of nationalism and the demand for democracy in Eastern Bloc countries. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent disintegration of the Soviet Union into 15 independent republics in December 1991 officially ended the bipolar era.
3. Shift in Power: With the USSR gone, the United States emerged as the sole superpower, creating a "Unipolar" world order. Later, with the rise of the EU, China, and India, the world started moving toward "Multipolarity."
4. Why other options are incorrect:
- Option (A): WWI ended the old European imperial order but did not establish the specific bipolarity we refer to as "polarity" in modern textbooks.
- Option (B): WWII actually started the era of bipolarity.
- Option (C): The Kenya crisis was a decolonization struggle (Mau Mau Uprising) and did not alter the global power structure.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The bipolar world order (polarity) ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the conclusion of the Cold War in 1991. Thus, (D) is the correct answer.