Describe the political and economic characteristics of european states that aligned with the united states and those that aligned with the soviet union following world war ii. how were these groups similar and different.

Capitalism and communism represent the two great poles that conflicted between 1947 and 1991, that is, during the Cold War. This event took place two years after World War II; however, in the Cold War there were no direct conflicts, except in some countries like Vietnam, Korea and Afghanistan, which were the scene of some parallel wars.

Both economic regimes fought, on the one hand, capitalism with the United States and the other capitalist countries, and on the other, the Soviet Union and the other communist countries. The economic system represented by the American country aimed at profit. Private property owns the means of production and distribution and works under the law of supply and demand.

The economic system represented by the Soviet Union was communism, which aimed to promote the establishment of an egalitarian, classless and stateless society based on the common ownership of the means of production.

According to the Americans, capitalism symbolized freedom, since each individual could own his own business, pay his employees, and invest where he pleased. The capitalist regime had already taken its proportions. It culminated in the period of demonstrations, revolutions such as the Industrial Revolution, the Independence of the United States and the French Revolution.  On the other hand, the countries led by the Soviet Union believed that communism was a social doctrine whose aim is to re-establish what is called a "natural state", in which all people would have the same right to everything by abolishing property.

the answer would be:

b. race