1 / 45

The Modern Era Paradoxes of Global Acceleration 1945-2004

The Modern Era Paradoxes of Global Acceleration 1945-2004. The World in 1945: 50 million people killed during WW II Parts of Europe, Asia, and North Africa in ruins World trade severely damaged. Much of the world looked pretty bleak. In Europe Economies in ruins

derek-lloyd
Download Presentation

The Modern Era Paradoxes of Global Acceleration 1945-2004

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Modern Era Paradoxes of Global Acceleration 1945-2004

  2. The World in 1945: • 50 million people killed during WW II • Parts of Europe, Asia, and North Africa in ruins • World trade severely damaged Much of the world looked pretty bleak.

  3. In Europe • Economies in ruins • colonial empires crumbling • Nationalist movements in Africa and Asia • Mandela in S. Africa • Gandhi in India • U.S. the major industrial & atomic power The world entered a new era.

  4. Cold War policies developed: • The USSR occupied Eastern Europe and part of Germany. • U.S. wants to stop spread of Communism • “Containment Policy” • system of alliances and military aid to rebuild Europe ($13 billion) • “Iron Curtain” • tense relations b/w US & allies v. USSR & Soviet Bloc (nations under USSR control)

  5. The World became divided into two hostile camps: The U.S.S.R. and the U.S. Joseph Stalin Pres. Harry Truman 1946-60 The Cold War: USSR & USA never fought directly

  6. I guess it made sense at the time. Followed a policy of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). Each side threatens to use nuclear weapons against each other The U.S. and U.S.S.R had enough nuclear bombs to destroy the world about 400 times.

  7. The Cold War: battle on other fronts • Fights over Communism spreading in Asia: • 1950-53 – Korean War • 1963-1972 – Vietnam War

  8. During the Cold War many former colonized peoples created new nations. • India (1947) & Ghana (1957) gain independence from Britain. • Indonesia independence from Dutch (1949) • By 1965 most former European colonies had become newly created independent nation-states. . The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. competed for the loyalties of these new nations.

  9. Colonialism left new nations “Underdeveloped.”This table shows how shares of world Gross Domestic Product changed between 1870 and 1998. What might we learn from this table about patterns of economic development in the world?

  10. In 1750, China and India provided 57% of world manufacturing. In 1953, they manufactured only 4% of the world’s goods. What caused such a dramatic change?

  11. In the 1960s, as the colonized people gained independence, the world-wide split between the North –rich industrial nations—and the South – poor “third world”nations—grew wider.

  12. How did Western leaders try to restore world trade after World War II? • In 1944: • Created the World Bank. • Established the International Monetary Fund. • Established stable currency exchange rates. • Ushered in global economic cooperation. • Eventually led to Free Market Capitalism However, these agreementsdid not include the Soviet bloc nations

  13. Post WWII, move towards Free Trade In theory, free world trade encourages greater economic specialization, more productivity, and greater wealth. And each country can concentrate on what it does best. • Efficient use of world resources • Tariffs (trade taxes) are eliminated. • Businesses can move where make more profits. • More jobs are created. • People have more money

  14. In the 1980s the U.S. moved to expand free market capitalism • Little gov regulation in the market • Freedom of choice • Borderless market economy • People should be free to pursue economic self-interest • Consuming goods a major value What is free market capitalism? However, most nations continued to pursue some forms of economic nationalism

  15. In the 1980s China moved toward a free-market system and joined the global economy. China’s Trade surplus balance with U.S. $666.2 billion in the 2004, China now buys from 1-2 billion dollars of the U.S. debt each day. China’s economy will probably equal that of US. In twenty-five years.

  16. In 1989, the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War ended. • E. European countries broke away from USSR • USSR broke into 12+ new states. The Berlin Wall was built in August 1961 The Wall was destroyed on November 9, 1989

  17. In 1991, India embraced a free market system and joined the global economy. India is now the fourth largest world economy after the U.S., China and Japan. India’s growth rate has averaged about 5.8% for the past 15 years. • Major exports include • Clothing • Automobiles • Handicrafts

  18. In the 1990s, Globalization now embraced the majority of the world’s economies. With the collapse U.S., the major world power, became the chief advocate of free market capitalism for the global system. What is Globalization?

  19. Globalization • Increasing global connections • Faster communication and transportation • Rapid growth of worldwide social relationships. • Swift and free flow of money, goods, people, & ideas across national borders

  20. World population has been rapidly increasing. Wow! More than 6 billion people now alive. billions 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1803 - 124 yrs 1927- 33 yrs 1960 - 14 yrs 1974 - 12 yrs 1986 – 13 yrs The time it takes to add one billion people grows shorter.

  21. Life expectancy is rising, but it varies world wide. Average life expectancy for the world is 70 years.

  22. Speedof travel has increased dramatically. 1957 1981 World wide communication is almost instant Look at this antique computer. It doesn’t even have a hard drive! 1962 1977 1982

  23. The computer has been changing billions of lives. IT Engineer seeks house.. Will you be my E-pal? We’re catching up with the U.S. economy. I raised my campaign funds via the internet. Where are the books I ordered? I’m applying to college.

  24. But what does globalization have to do with me? Cap from Bangladesh Jeans from Malaysia Shirt from Mexico Video gamefrom Japan Backpack from China Sneakers from Indonesia Soccer ball fromPakistan

  25. New technologies allow humans to control nature like never before Expanding technology makes possible a cornucopia of new products for us

  26. More goods are being produced, bought, and sold worldwide than ever before. What shall I buy next?

  27. Globalization also spreads ideas and values.

  28. India Korea Japan Taiwan Malaysia Qatar Mali Brazil South Africa Democratic ideas have spread to more countries than ever before.

  29. But globalization brings high human costs. Although the world’s people are producing more than 47 trillion dollars in wealth, these riches are not distributed equally.

  30. The growing gap between the rich and the poor continues to increase. • 20% get most of the wealth. • The U.S. owns 11 trillion dollars of this wealth. • 2 billion of the world’s people live on less than $2 a day. • Peasants are forced to leave the land as money and wage economies spread. • Workers without education and skills are often left behind.

  31. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Selected Countries and Corporations 2002 Corporations in bold face Some big multinational corporations have more wealth than many nations.

  32. In poor countries child labor is widespread. Some 212 million children of ages 5-14 are working instead of going to school. These young girls work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, earning $2-3 per week. Most child labor involves high energy work.

  33. Outsourcing is increasing. In 2003, U.S. lost 234,000 information techn jobs. An estimated 14 million more jobs may move overseas. But U.S. loss is a gain for India, China, Ireland, Korea and other nations Narayana Murthy (right) and his Infosys Information Technology complex in Bangalore, India.

  34. Manufacturing and capital flows to the areas of the world where they can make the most profits. • Keep business away: • Strong labor unions • High wages • Environment protection laws and • Unstable governments .

  35. The speed of globalization results in environmental problems from • over-cutting forests. • burning fossil fuels. • producing more industrial and consumer waste.

  36. Growing threats to the environment affect all people

  37. Lots of people question globalization. Globalization is forcing my child to work. . Free trade is destroying us farmers. Hollywood is ruining our children. Development is destroying our rain forest. We have 50 million people living in poverty. Industrial countries are leaving us out of Globalization.

  38. You mean it’s not good for everyone? Globalization involves contradictions. • Profitable industry but widening gap between rich and poor? • Lots of cultural pluralism but people becoming “homogenized?” (losing culture, becoming the same) • Increasing interdependence but small communities banding more tightly together? • Huge wealth in industrialized nations but great poverty in other countries?

  39. Some people believe that globalization is “cultural imperialism”. Can you interpret how this cartoon depicts the idea of “cultural imperialism?”

  40. People respond to globalization differently. Some: • wholeheartedly embrace it. • seek to maintain their traditions • fight for more economic fairness. • turn to religion. • turn violent • try to manage it for greater human good. A house in Figuig, an oasis in Morocco on the edge of the Sahara Desert. This family reaches out to the world through its satellite dish.

  41. Terrorism has ushered in a new global threat. • Modern military strategies and weapons are often ineffective against suicide attacks. • Terrorists communicate and spread their ideologies using cell phones and the Internet. • Terrorist groups may have cells in many nations.

  42. In 2002, the United States government adopted policies of massive military intervention as part of a war on terror. 2002 – U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan to topple the government of the Taliban, which was cooperating with international terrorists. 2003 – U.S. forces invaded Iraq to overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein. The U.S. accused him of supporting terrorism. Are we entering a new era of international relations?

  43. In this new era will the U.S. act as democratic leader, the supreme world power, as an empire? Do these factors help us answer the question? • owns about one fourth of the world’s wealth. • working to create democratic institutions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries. • has military force equal to the next 20 countries combined. • striving to be a model of democracy for the world. • maintains 725 military bases, valued at $118 billion, with 254,000 military personnel in 153 nations.

  44. Your decisions and actions will help shape the future. Will we cooperate to fight terrorism and work to ensure that all people live in dignity? How these issues turn out is really up to us. One person can make a difference.

  45. Your World History course may end here, but it’s not over yet!

More Related