The danger of large-scale nuclear war has been greatly reduced thanks to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent end of the Cold War, but there are still many parts of the world that are plagued by armed struggles. It would be too simplistic to view these post Cold War conflicts as "ethnic conflicts" arising from rivalries among different ethnic groups. Rather, in some cases, it appears that ethnic rivalries are being inflamed in order to strengthen the support base of groups in authority. In other cases, ethnic conflicts have their origins in the policies of former colonial regimes. In this section of the museum, we look at four continents-Africa, Europe, Asia and Latin America—and explain the characteristics of representative ongoing conflicts in each region.