Presentation Transcript

1. AP World History: Globalization Period 6: 1900 CE – 2014 CE and beyond!
2. Global Politics: The Spread of Democracy 1975: Spain (elections) 1977: India (martial law lifted) 1978: Ecuador (elections) 1980: Zimbabwe (multiracial elections) 1980: Peru (civilian rule restored) 1983: Argentina (civilian rule restored) 1984: Egypt (elections) 1984: Nicaragua (elections) 1985: Brazil (civilian rule restored) 1985: Uruguay (civilian rule restored) 1986: Philippines (elections) 1987: Republic of Korea (elections) 1988: Poland (opposition legalized) 1988: Pakistan (elections) 1989: Chile (elections) 1989: Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary (opposition legalized) 1990: Romania (elections) 1990: Soviet Union (elections) 1994: South Africa (multiracial elections) 1918: Germany (republic declared) 1918: Czechoslovakia (independence declared) 1922: Latvia (constitution) 1925: Spain (civilian rule restored) 1934: Uruguay (new constitution) 1946: Czechoslovakia (elections) 1946: Argentina (elections) 1947: Venezuela (elections) 1947: India (freed by UK) 1948: Ecuador (elections) 1949: Federal Republic of Germany (new constitution) 1961: Venezuela (new constitution) 1966: Ecuador (elections) 1973: Argentina (civilian rule restored) 1974: Greece (civilian rule restored) 1975: Portugal (elections)
3. The Spread of Democracy Continued… In Favor of… Against… “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov 2. “Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.” Vladimir Lenin 1. “Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.” Franklin D. Roosevelt 2. “China has to go along with world trends. That's democracy, liberty, individual freedom. China sooner or later has to go that way. It cannot go backward.” Dalai Lama
4. A Controversial Case Study: The Democratic Election of Hamas in Gaza “The radical Islamic movement Hamas won a large majority in the new Palestinian parliament, according to official election results announced Thursday, trouncing the governing Fatah party in a contest that could dramatically reshape the Palestinians' relations with Israel and the rest of the world. In Wednesday's voting, Hamas claimed 76 of the 132 parliamentary seats, giving the party at war with Israel the right to form the next cabinet under the Palestinian Authority's president, MahmoudAbbas, the leader of Fatah. "This is the choice of the people," Qureia, a member of the party's discredited old guard who did not run for reelection, told reporters here. "It should be respected." … The election results stunned U.S. and Israeli officials, who have repeatedly stated that they would not work with a Palestinian Authority that included Hamas, which both countries and the European Union have designated as a terrorist organization. In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that a party could not "have one foot in politics and the other in terror. Our position on Hamas has therefore not changed.“” Hamas Sweeps Palestinian Elections, Complicating Peace Efforts in Mideast By Scott Wilson Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, January 27, 2006
5. Global Politics: What Should the Role of the UN Be? Since the end of the Cold War, the United Nations has sought to reestablish its role as the world's peacekeeper and defender of human rights. It has been particularly difficult for the international community to agree on how and when to intervene in civil conflicts and when to stop human rights abuses. Case Study: Rwanda Genocide 1994 1. “In Rwanda in 1994, the United Nations had peacekeeping troops on the ground at the very place and time where genocidal acts were being committed. During the genocide, some of those peacekeepers lost their lives trying to defend the victims. But instead of reinforcing the troops, the United Nations withdrew them, a decision made by Member States in the Security Council. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR), the main component of the United Nations presence in that country, was a traditional, consensual peacekeeping operation, which did not have the capacity within its mandate to prevent the genocide.” http://www.un.org/events/rwanda/ 2. “A report assessing United Nations involvement in Rwanda said on its release Thursday that the UN and its member states failed Rwanda in deplorable ways in 1994, ignoring evidence that a genocide was planned, refusing to act once it was under way and finally abandoning the Rwandan people when they most needed protection. The independent report, commissioned by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, showed a UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda doomed from the start by an insufficient mandate and later destroyed by the Security Council's refusal to strengthen it once the killings began. And it showed UN officials - Annan and then-Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali among them - unable or unwilling to act on information from the field that a massive slaughter was occurring and that they needed to do something to stop it. Coupled with another self-critical analysis of the UN role in the fall of Srebrenica during the Bosnian war, the report is sure to fuel the growing international debate about the imperative of the United Nations and its member governments to stop grave violations of human rights.” By Nicole Winfield Associated Press December 16, 1999
6. Above is a church in Nyamata that was turned into a memorial to the estimated 800,000 people killed. UN Peacekeepers, Rwanda Sept 1994
7. Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Article 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional orinternational status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. Article 3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Article 4. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. Article 5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Article 6. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. Article 7. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination. Article 8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law. Article 9. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Article 10. Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him. Article 11. (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not c(onstitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
8. Universal Declaration of Human Rights Continued… Article 12. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. Article 13. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.Article 14. (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. Article 15. (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality. Article 16. (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State. Article 17. (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
9. Universal Declaration of Human Rights Continued… Article 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Article 20. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association. Article 21. (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. Article 22. Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality. Article 23. (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
10. Universal Declaration of Human Rights Continued… Article 24. Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay. Article 25. (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection. Article 26. (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
11. Universal Declaration of Human Rights Continued… Article 27. (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author. Article 28. Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized. Article 29. (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. Article 30. Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
12. UN and Women’s Rights UN support for the rights of women began with the Organization's founding Charter. Among the purposes of the UN declared in Article 1 of its Charter is “To achieve international co-operation … in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” Within the UN’s first year, the Economic and Social Council established its Commission on the Status of Women, as the principal global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. Among its earliest accomplishments was ensuring gender neutral language in the draft Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As the international feminist movement began to gain momentum during the 1970s, the General Assembly declared 1975 as the International Women’s Year and organized the first World Conference on Women, held in Mexico City... In 1979, the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which is often described as an International Bill of Rights for Women. In its 30 articles, the Convention explicitly defines discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. The Convention targets culture and tradition as influential forces shaping gender roles and family relations, and it is the first human rights treaty to affirm the reproductive rights of women. Five years after the Mexico City conference, a Second World Conference on Women was held in Copenhagen in 1980. The resulting Programme of Action called for stronger national measures to ensure women's ownership and control of property, as well as improvements in women's rights with respect to inheritance, child custody and loss of nationality.
13. The UN and Women’s Rights Continued… Every Woman Every Child In the lead-up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit in September 2010, the Secretary-General launched a global effort convening 40 key leaders to define a collective strategy for accelerating progress on women's and children's health. Eliminating Violence Against Women The UN system continues to give particular attention to the issue of violence against women. The 1993 General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women contained “a clear and comprehensive definition of violence against women [and] a clear statement of the rights to be applied to ensure the elimination of violence against women in all its forms”. It represented “a commitment by States in respect of their responsibilities, and a commitment by the international community at large to the elimination of violence against women”. http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/women/
14. Global Politics: Terrorism 9/11 changed the way the world viewed and responded to terrorism. “On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Often referred to as 9/11, the attacks resulted in extensive death and destruction, triggering major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defining the presidency of George W. Bush. Over 3,000 people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., including more than 400 police officers and firefighters.” www.history.com
15. Global Politics: Terrorism Continued… “While the total number of terrorist attacks around the world has been steadily rising, it is also an increasingly concentrated phenomenon. New data released today by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism based at the University of Maryland shows that just three countries for the year 2012—Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan—accounted for 54 percent of attacks and 58 percent of fatalities that year. India, Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, and Thailand were the next five most frequently targeted. All in all, there were 8,400 terrorist attacks killing more than 15,400, both record numbers, though some of this may be due to improvements in data collection. The data also shows that the post-Osama bin Laden al-Qaida Central seems to be largely a spent force in the world, but al-Qaida offshoots continue to wreak havoc: These include the Taliban (more than 2,500 fatalities), Boko Haram (more than 1,200 fatalities), al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (more than 960 fatalities), Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (more than 950 fatalities), al-Qaida in Iraq (more than 930 fatalities) and al-Shabaab (more than 700 fatalities).” By Joshua Keating, Dec 19, 2013
16. The Global Economy: The European Union “The European Union is set up [in 1949] with the aim of ending the frequent and bloody wars between neighbours, which culminated in the Second World War. As of 1950, the European Coal and Steel Community begins to unite European countries economically and politically in order to secure lasting peace. The six founders are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The 1950s are dominated by a cold war between east and west. Protests in Hungary against the Communist regime are put down by Soviet tanks in 1956; while the following year, 1957, the Soviet Union takes the lead in the space race, when it launches the first man-made space satellite, Sputnik 1. Also in 1957, the Treaty of Rome creates the European Economic Community (EEC), or ‘Common Market’… Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom join the European Union on 1 January 1973… In 1981, Greece becomes the 10th member of the EU and Spain and Portugal follow five years later. In 1986 the Single European Act is signed. This is a treaty which provides the basis for a vast six-year programme aimed at sorting out the problems with the free-flow of trade across EU borders and thus creates the ‘Single Market’… In 1995 the EU gains three more new members, Austria, Finland and Sweden… [By 2000] The euro is the new currency for many Europeans… [2010 – Present Day] The new decade starts with a severe economic crisis, but also with the hope that investments in new green and climate-friendly technologies and closer European cooperation will bring lasting growth and welfare.” http://europa.eu/about-eu/eu-history/index_en.htm
17. Cyprus and the EU Crisis Today “Cyprus is no poor cousin to the European Union, they say. Instead, it is a country with a small, but remarkably multilingual, solidly educated and until now comfortably middle-class population — people who consider themselves precisely the type of Europeans the rest of the union should be proud to have anchor its border with the Middle East. Many Cypriots now feel great shock and anger at what they consider their economic excommunication. “Not everyone here is Russian, or making money illegally, or laundering money,” Mr. Alexandrou said. “Most of us are normal people living normal lives.”… For Cypriots, joining the European Union and adopting the euro were significant achievements. After decades of internal strife and foreign occupation, Cyprus regarded acceptance into the European family as a promise of stability and the chance to forge a more modern economy… With encouragement and subsidies from Brussels, Cyprus moved away from an agricultural economy toward an emphasis on services that support business, finance and communications. Manufacturing was also allowed to lapse, with locally made goods — whether shoes or pharmaceuticals — all but disappearing. Cyprus’s leaders seized the opportunity to recast the island as a strategic hub at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Their ambition was to emulate the wealthy, discreet European money havens of Luxembourg and Switzerland, thus securing a comfortable way of life for their people...
18. Cyprus and the EU Crisis Continued… … Accounting firms set up shop here. Trusts flourished, allowing depositors to place money with a lawyer, who in turn put the money into a bank account under a different name. And as is now widely understood, hordes of cash — as much as one-third of all bank deposits here — came from Russians seeking a haven from the prospect of the property seizures all too common back home... But the easy money was maybe too easy. Mr. Alexandrou, using Cyprus’s former currency terms, recalls the flush times after his country joined the European Union. “You would go to the bank with a monthly salary of £400, and the bank would give you a £20,000 loan, plus a £5,000 credit card as a bonus,” Mr. Alexandrou recalled. “We lived with money that was not ours.”… Like almost everyone around him, Mr. Alexandrou still made a point of putting money aside and dutifully saving it at the Bank of Cyprus, the country’s largest bank. But then came 2010, when Europe’s debt crisis came to full boil, particularly in Greece. Construction work became scarce as Cypriot banks, burdened by soured debt from risky loans they had made in Greece and Cyprus, cut off new lending. The knockout blow, though, was the huge losses Cypriot banks incurred from their holdings of high-yielding Greek government bonds as part of the international bailout of Greece... As Cyprus edged toward requesting a bailout late last year from the so-called troika — the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund — suspicions took root in Germany and other northern euro zone countries that taxpayer money could wind up salvaging Cypriot banks and preserving money of questionable origin, especially from Russia... “all I know is that just over 15 days ago we woke up and suddenly everyone was poor in Cyprus,” Mr. Alexandrou said. He was referring to the sudden closure of the nation’s banks. Even after reopening, they are subject to tight controls on withdrawals and transfers that will last for weeks, if not longer. And with losses of up to 60 percent being imposed on deposit accounts above 100,000 euros at the Bank of Cyprus, he said, even many of his friends — not just Russian oligarchs — were losing big portions of savings they so diligently tucked away during the good years…” By LIZ ALDERMAN Published: April 1, 2013 The NY Times
19. Cyprus and the EU Crisis Continued… March 2013: “Cypriots protest against the EU bailout, which would require a one-time tax on bank deposits.” http://money.cnn.com
20. The Global Economy: NAFTA “On January 1, 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico (NAFTA) entered into force. All remaining duties and quantitative restrictions were eliminated, as scheduled, on January 1, 2008. NAFTA created the world's largest free trade area, which now links 450 million people producing $17 trillion worth of goods and services. Trade between the United States and its NAFTA partners has soared since the agreement entered into force. U.S. goods and services trade with NAFTA totaled $1.6 trillion in 2009 (latest data available for goods and services trade combined). Exports totaled $397 billion. Imports totaled $438 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade deficit with NAFTA was $41 billion in 2009. The United States has $918 billion in total (two ways) goods trade with NAFTA countries (Canada and Mexico) during 2010. Goods exports totaled $412 billion; Goods imports totaled $506 billion. The U.S. goods trade deficit with NAFTA was $95 billion in 2010. Trade in services with NAFTA (exports and imports) totaled $99 billion in 2009 (latest data available for services trade). Services exports were $63.8 billion. Services imports were $35.5 billion. The U.S. services trade surplus with NAFTA was $28.3 billion in 2009.” http://www.ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/north-american-free-trade-agreement-nafta
21. NAFTA: Another Perspective NAFTA has many disadvantages. NAFTA made it possible for many U.S. manufacturers to move jobs to lower-cost Mexico. The manufacturers that remained lowered wages to compete in those industries. Many of Mexico's farmers were put out of business by U.S.-subsidized farm products. NAFTA provisions for Mexican labor and environmental protection were not strong enough to prevent those workers from being exploited. U.S. Jobs Were Lost: Since labor is cheaper in Mexico, many manufacturing industries moved part of their production from high-cost U.S. states. Between 1994 and 2002, the U.S. lost 1.7 million jobs, gaining only 794,00, for a net loss of 879,000 jobs. Nearly 80% of these jobs were in manufacturing. California, New York, Michigan and Texas were hit the hardest because they had high concentrations of the industries that moved plants to Mexico. These industries included motor vehicles, textiles, computers, and electrical appliances. (Source: Economic Policy Institute, The High Cost of Free Trade, November 17, 2003) U.S. Wages Were Suppressed: Not all companies in these industries moved to Mexico. The ones that used the threat of moving during union organizing drives. When it became a choice between joining the union or losing the factory, workers chose the factory. Without union support, the workers had little bargaining power. This suppressed wage growth. Between 1993 and 1995, 50% of all companies in the industries that were moving to Mexico use the threat of closing the factory. By 1999, that rate had grown to 65%....
22. NAFTA: Another Perspective Continued… Mexico's Farmers Were Put Out of Business: The 2002 Farm Bill subsidized U.S. agribusiness by as much as 40% of net farm income. When NAFTA removed tariffs, corn and other grains were exported to Mexico below cost. Rural Mexican farmers could not compete. At the same time, Mexico reduced its subsidies to farmers from 33.2% of total farm income in 1990 to 13.2% in 2001. Most of those subsidies went to Mexico's large farms, anyway.(Source: International Forum on Globalization, Exposing the Myth of Free Trade, February 25, 2003; The Economist, Tariffs and Tortillas, January 24, 2008) Maquiladora Workers Were Exploited: NAFTA expanded the maquiladora program, in which U.S.-owned companies employed Mexican workers near the border to cheaply assemble products for export to the U.S. This grew to 30% of Mexico's labor force. These workers have "no labor rights or health protections, workdays stretch out 12 hours or more, and if you are a woman, you could be forced to take a pregnancy test when applying for a job," according to Continental Social Alliance. (Source: Worldpress.org, Lessons of NAFTA, April 20, 2001) Mexico's Environment Deteriorated: In response to NAFTA competitive pressure, Mexico agribusiness used more fertilizers and other chemicals, costing $36 billion per year in pollution. Rural farmers expanded into more marginal land, resulting in deforestation at a rate of 630,000 hectares per year. (Source: Carnegie Endowment, NAFTA's Promise and Reality, 2004) Updated December 21, 2009)” By Kimberly Amadeo http://www.uujec.com
23. The Global Economy “During and immediately after the Second World War, the United States, the United Kingdom, and other allied nations engaged in a series of negotiations to establish the rules for the postwar international economy. The result was the creation of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank at the July 1944 Bretton Woods Conference and the signing of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade at an international conference in Geneva in October 1947.” https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/bretton-woods IMF Headquarters, D.C. World Bank Headquarters, D.C.
24. The World Bank “Conceived during World War II at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, the World Bank initially helped rebuild Europe after the war. Its first loan of $250 million was to France in 1947 for post-war reconstruction. Reconstruction has remained an important focus of the Bank's work, given the natural disasters, humanitarian emergencies, and post conflict rehabilitation needs that affect developing and transition economies. Today's Bank, however, has sharpened its focus on poverty reduction as the overarching goal of all its work. It once had a homogeneous staff of engineers and financial analysts, based solely in Washington, D.C. Today, it has a multidisciplinary and diverse staff including economists, public policy experts, and social scientists. 40 percent of staff are now based in country offices.” http://web.worldbank.org
25. The International Money Fund “The IMF promotes international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, facilitates the balanced growth of international trade, and provides resources to help members in balance of payments difficulties or to assist with poverty reduction. Through its economic surveillance, the IMF keeps track of the economic health of its member countries, alerting them to risks on the horizon and providing policy advice. It also lends to countries in difficulty, and provides technical assistance and training to help countries improve economic management. This work is backed by IMF research and statistics.” http://www.imf.org/external/about/overview.htm
26. What are the main concerns about the World Bank and IMF? “Criticism of the World Bank and the IMF generally centre around concern about the approaches adopted by the World Bank and the IMF in formulating their policies, and the way they are governed. This includes the social and economic impact these policies have on the population of countries who avail themselves of financial assistance from these two institutions... Critics… are concerned about the ‘conditionalities’ imposed on borrower countries... Often the conditionalities are attached without due regard for the borrower countries’ individual circumstances and the World Bank and IMF fail to resolve the economic problems within the countries. IMF conditionalities may additionally result in the loss of a state’s authority to govern its own economy as national economic policies are predetermined under IMF packages. Issues of representation are raised as a consequence of the shift in the regulation of national economies from state governments to a Washington-based financial institution in which most developing countries hold little voting power… With the World Bank, there are concerns about the types of development projects funded. Many infrastructure projects financed by the World Bank Group have social and environmental implications for the populations in the affected areas ... For example, World Bank-funded construction of hydroelectric dams in various countries has resulted in the displacement of indigenous peoples of the area. The World Bank’s role in the global climate change finance architecture has also caused much controversy... The Bank’s undemocratic governance structure – which is dominated by industrialised countries – its privileging of the private sector and the controversy over the performance of World Bank-housed Climate Investment Funds have also been subject to criticism… the Bank’s role as a central player in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts is in direct conflict with its carbon-intensive lending portfolio and continuing financial support for heavily polluting industries, which includes coal power… There are also criticisms against the World Bank and IMF governance structures which are dominated by industrialised countries. Decisions are made and policies implemented by leading industrialised countries—the G7—because they represent the largest donors without much consultation with poor and developing countries.” http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/2005/08/art-320869/
27. The Global Environment “The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which commits its Parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets. Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities." The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP 7 in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2001, and are referred to as the "Marrakesh Accords." Its first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012.” https://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php On why the US did not participate in the Kyoto Protocol: “U.S. President George W. Bush said in a Danish TV interview aired Thursday that adhering to the Kyoto treaty on climate change would have "wrecked" the U.S. economy…” nbcnews.com June 30, 2005
28. The Global Environment Continued… “Today we're dumping 70 million tons of global-warming pollution into the environment, and tomorrow we will dump more, and there is no effective worldwide response. Until we start sharply reducing global-warming pollution, I will feel that I have failed.” – Al Gore
29. Global Warming Controversy? “Hundreds of private e-mail messages and documents hacked from a computer server at a British university are causing a stir among global warming skeptics, who say they show that climate scientists conspired to overstate the case for a human influence on climate change. The e-mail messages, attributed to prominent American and British climate researchers, include discussions of scientific data and whether it should be released, exchanges about how best to combat the arguments of skeptics... In one e-mail exchange, a scientist writes of using a statistical “trick” in a chart illustrating a recent sharp warming trend. In another, a scientist refers to climate skeptics as “idiots.” Some skeptics asserted Friday that the correspondence revealed an effort to withhold scientific information. “This is not a smoking gun; this is a mushroom cloud,” said Patrick J. Michaels, a climatologist who has long faulted evidence pointing to human-driven warming and is criticized in the documents. Some of the correspondence portrays the scientists as feeling under siege by the skeptics’ camp and worried that any stray comment or data glitch could be turned against them… In several e-mail exchanges, Kevin Trenberth, a climatologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and other scientists discuss gaps in understanding of recent variations in temperature. “The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t,” Dr. Trenberth wrote…” By ANDREW C. REVKIN Published: November 20, 2009 NY Times
30. A Global Culture?
31. Focus Questions Where has democracy spread to in the last 50 years? Why was the election of Hamas controversial? What is the “official” role of the UN? Why was their role in Rwanda controversial? What is your opinion of the UN Declaration of Human Rights? How should it be enforced, and by who? How has 9/11 changed global politics? What is the role of the EU, World Bank, IMF, and NAFTA? Why do some people believe these institutions are hurting rather than helping the world economy? What is the issue of global warming and the goals of the Kyoto Protocol? Do you think that the disclosure of the emails amongst climate scientists should affect how nations respond to global warming? Is there a global culture? If not, sure there be?