Chapter 30 - After the Fall: The Western World in a Global Age (Since 1985)
After World War II the western world was divided between prosperous, capitalistic, and impoverished.
During 1990 and 1991 Gorbachev tried to appease conservatives who complained about the growing disorder within the Soviet Union.
He also tried to accommodate the liberal forces, especially those in the Soviet republics, who increasingly favored a new kind of decentralized Soviet federation.
On the other hand, he tried to accommodate the liberal forces, especially those in the Soviet republics, who increasingly favored a new kind of decentralized Soviet federation.
Soon the Soviet Union completed its independence.
Ukraine voted for independence on December 1, 1991, and a week later, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus announced that the Soviet Union had ‘‘ceased to exist’’ and would be replaced by the new and voluntary Commonwealth of Independent States.
There are many reasons why the Soviet Union collapsed, such as it had ambitious defense policies.
Another belief is that they could not financially afford to keep it standing.
Most observers, however, believe that for years, Soviet leaders had denied or ignored the massive inefficiencies in the Soviet economy. In the 1980s, time began to run out.
Poland started free parliamentary elections.
In Hungary, the economy had sagged by the late 1980s, and in 1989, the Communist regime, aware of growing dissatisfaction, began to undertake reforms. But they came too late as new political parties called for Hungary to become a democratic republic.
Czechoslovakia found a peaceful way to a new political system.
The fall of Communist governments in Eastern Europe during the revolutions of 1989 brought a wave of euphoria to Europe.
The new structures meant an end to a postwar European order that had been imposed on unwilling peoples by the victorious forces of the Soviet Union.
In eastern Germany, a persistent economic slump and the ongoing oppressiveness of the regime of Erich Honecker led to a flight of refugees and mass demonstrations against the regime in the summer and fall of 1989. There was also a revolt for the Berlin wall and soon the wall was just remnants of broken pieces.
From the beginning, Yugoslavia had been an artificial creation.
The peace treaties at the end of World War I combined Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes into a new state called Yugoslavia.
After World War II, the dictatorial Marshal Tito had managed to hold the six republics and two autonomous provinces that constituted Yugoslavia together.
After his death in 1980, no strong leader emerged, and his responsibilities passed to a collective state presidency and the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.
The European community had now grown to over 15 members. It was primarily an economic union. By 2000 it was the world's largest trading company with 370 million people.
A major crisis for the euro emerged in 2010 when Greece’s burgeoning public debt threatened the bankruptcy of that country as well as financial difficulties for many European banks. To avoid financial disaster, other EU members, led by Germany, labored to put together a financial rescue plan for Greece.
Some goals of this were to have a single common currency, and also provide the poorest regions training, education, and modernization.
The UN is now making new goals that will help fulfill everyone's needs.
As the cold war ended an age of terrorism began.
Palestinian terrorists kidnapped and killed eleven Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972, hundreds of millions of people watched the drama unfold on television.
The twin towers were destroyed by a terrorist act. There is the Taliban in Afghanistan that is taken over and many people are trying to flee their home country. Overall many terrorist attacks have come from Islam-originated areas.
New opportunities for women have emerged, and a reinvigorated women’s movement has sought to bring new meaning to the principle of equality with men.
Women started to believe that in order to have the life that they want they have to transform themselves.
Women also sought and gained a measure of control over their own bodies by insisting that they had a right to both contraception and abortion.
New problems for Western society have also arisen with a growing reaction against foreign workers and immigrants.
Despite an aging European population and declining birth rates, the total population of Europe has increased over the last decades due to mass migrations.
The arrival of so many foreigners strained not only the social services of European countries but also the patience of many native residents who opposed making their countries ethnically diverse.
Western culture has been spreading across the world. Western culture is a reflection of the evolving global response to the rapid changes in human society today.
Fundamentalism in Christianity was a movement that started in the early 20th century It was meant to keep the strict literal interpretation of the scripture. They were very traditional.
In Islam, the term fundamentalism is used to refer to a return to traditional Islamic values, especially in opposition to a perceived weakening of moral values due to the corrupting influence of Western ideas and practices.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the art and music industries increasingly adopted the techniques of marketing and advertising. In the art world, Neo-Expressionism reached its zenith in the mid-1980s, and there was a lot of expressionist work. In music, the emergence of Grunge music was a big thing.
As the world is continuing the capabilities of computers are continuing to evolve and increase.
By the 1990s, the booming technology industry had made Microsoft founder Bill Gates the richest man in the world.
There are things such as email, iPods, and pocket-sized cell phones. The music industry was also revolutionized.
Multiculturalism in art reminds us that more and more people are becoming aware of the political, economic, and social interdependence of the world’s nations and the global nature of our contemporary problems.
The world has developed a global economy and everything is even more interconnected.
There are many trade organizations, and when one country is in trouble every country gets an effect from it in some way. This can be socially, environmentally, politically, or economically.
After World War II the western world was divided between prosperous, capitalistic, and impoverished.
During 1990 and 1991 Gorbachev tried to appease conservatives who complained about the growing disorder within the Soviet Union.
He also tried to accommodate the liberal forces, especially those in the Soviet republics, who increasingly favored a new kind of decentralized Soviet federation.
On the other hand, he tried to accommodate the liberal forces, especially those in the Soviet republics, who increasingly favored a new kind of decentralized Soviet federation.
Soon the Soviet Union completed its independence.
Ukraine voted for independence on December 1, 1991, and a week later, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus announced that the Soviet Union had ‘‘ceased to exist’’ and would be replaced by the new and voluntary Commonwealth of Independent States.
There are many reasons why the Soviet Union collapsed, such as it had ambitious defense policies.
Another belief is that they could not financially afford to keep it standing.
Most observers, however, believe that for years, Soviet leaders had denied or ignored the massive inefficiencies in the Soviet economy. In the 1980s, time began to run out.
Poland started free parliamentary elections.
In Hungary, the economy had sagged by the late 1980s, and in 1989, the Communist regime, aware of growing dissatisfaction, began to undertake reforms. But they came too late as new political parties called for Hungary to become a democratic republic.
Czechoslovakia found a peaceful way to a new political system.
The fall of Communist governments in Eastern Europe during the revolutions of 1989 brought a wave of euphoria to Europe.
The new structures meant an end to a postwar European order that had been imposed on unwilling peoples by the victorious forces of the Soviet Union.
In eastern Germany, a persistent economic slump and the ongoing oppressiveness of the regime of Erich Honecker led to a flight of refugees and mass demonstrations against the regime in the summer and fall of 1989. There was also a revolt for the Berlin wall and soon the wall was just remnants of broken pieces.
From the beginning, Yugoslavia had been an artificial creation.
The peace treaties at the end of World War I combined Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes into a new state called Yugoslavia.
After World War II, the dictatorial Marshal Tito had managed to hold the six republics and two autonomous provinces that constituted Yugoslavia together.
After his death in 1980, no strong leader emerged, and his responsibilities passed to a collective state presidency and the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.
The European community had now grown to over 15 members. It was primarily an economic union. By 2000 it was the world's largest trading company with 370 million people.
A major crisis for the euro emerged in 2010 when Greece’s burgeoning public debt threatened the bankruptcy of that country as well as financial difficulties for many European banks. To avoid financial disaster, other EU members, led by Germany, labored to put together a financial rescue plan for Greece.
Some goals of this were to have a single common currency, and also provide the poorest regions training, education, and modernization.
The UN is now making new goals that will help fulfill everyone's needs.
As the cold war ended an age of terrorism began.
Palestinian terrorists kidnapped and killed eleven Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972, hundreds of millions of people watched the drama unfold on television.
The twin towers were destroyed by a terrorist act. There is the Taliban in Afghanistan that is taken over and many people are trying to flee their home country. Overall many terrorist attacks have come from Islam-originated areas.
New opportunities for women have emerged, and a reinvigorated women’s movement has sought to bring new meaning to the principle of equality with men.
Women started to believe that in order to have the life that they want they have to transform themselves.
Women also sought and gained a measure of control over their own bodies by insisting that they had a right to both contraception and abortion.
New problems for Western society have also arisen with a growing reaction against foreign workers and immigrants.
Despite an aging European population and declining birth rates, the total population of Europe has increased over the last decades due to mass migrations.
The arrival of so many foreigners strained not only the social services of European countries but also the patience of many native residents who opposed making their countries ethnically diverse.
Western culture has been spreading across the world. Western culture is a reflection of the evolving global response to the rapid changes in human society today.
Fundamentalism in Christianity was a movement that started in the early 20th century It was meant to keep the strict literal interpretation of the scripture. They were very traditional.
In Islam, the term fundamentalism is used to refer to a return to traditional Islamic values, especially in opposition to a perceived weakening of moral values due to the corrupting influence of Western ideas and practices.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the art and music industries increasingly adopted the techniques of marketing and advertising. In the art world, Neo-Expressionism reached its zenith in the mid-1980s, and there was a lot of expressionist work. In music, the emergence of Grunge music was a big thing.
As the world is continuing the capabilities of computers are continuing to evolve and increase.
By the 1990s, the booming technology industry had made Microsoft founder Bill Gates the richest man in the world.
There are things such as email, iPods, and pocket-sized cell phones. The music industry was also revolutionized.
Multiculturalism in art reminds us that more and more people are becoming aware of the political, economic, and social interdependence of the world’s nations and the global nature of our contemporary problems.
The world has developed a global economy and everything is even more interconnected.
There are many trade organizations, and when one country is in trouble every country gets an effect from it in some way. This can be socially, environmentally, politically, or economically.
