The author presents a new approach to the assessment of the bipolar world order, illuminating from the point of view of political science how the bipolar model determined domestic political structures in various parts of the world. Neoconservativism, the breakthrough of which marked the end of state socialism, is reconsidered from the point of view of technological and social progress. The conclusions concern the changing relationship between the monopolar world order and the mode of production, as well as the periodisation of 20th century history.