Unit 14: The Contemporary World and Ongoing Challenges
The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 ended the bipolar military, political, and economic alignments that had structured global life during the Cold War. The United States emerged as the sole economic and military superpower, with growing political and economic power from the European Union and industrial nations across East Asia. In the post-Cold War world, developing nations across Africa, Asia, and the Americas struggled under a crushing burden of international debt, lack of economic development, internecine warfare, and the social impact of infectious diseases like AIDS and malaria.
Many former colonies continue to struggle with the artificial boundaries the European powers drew many years ago to manage their colonial and economic interests, not the political, ethnic, or cultural needs of the indigenous population. Now, at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the global community faces the challenges of climate change, religious violence, and economic uncertainty.
In this unit, we will examine the political, economic, and social realignments that followed the end of the Cold War and look at the consequences of globalization in the developed and developing world. We will evaluate current economic, political, and social trends from the broader perspective of the past 400 years and address how the world community can meet the challenges ahead.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 4 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- discuss changes to the global economy and the consequences of those changes;
- describe what climate change means, how humans are affecting it, and what its effects will be;
- analyze ways in which technology has had an impact on 21st-century issues, both positively and negatively; and
- describe 21st-century geopolitical challenges and crises and what possible effect they might have on the global order.
14.1: A Global Economy
The economy has been globalizing slowly since the 16th century. The process seemed to explode with the end of the Cold War, the removal of trade barriers, enhanced computerization, faster communication, and greater work efficiencies. While it also led to dramatic economic growth. However, it also provoked a nationalistic and xenophobic backlash as workers compete with cheaper labor elsewhere in the world.
Read this text on trade agreements that have tried to regulate world trade and the global economy, how multinational corporations have affected politics, workers, and the environment, and how globalization has affected workers worldwide.
Watch this video. We are told the world is becoming increasingly globalized, with a network that allows us to communicate rapidly and form one global culture. We have a giant worldwide production and distribution system, but this transformation raises many issues we have yet to resolve.
East Asia experienced rapid economic growth in the second half of the 20th century. While Japan had become an industrialized powerhouse before 1945, Taiwan and South Korea were not wealthy or industrialized. Their take-off was rapid. Learn more about it in this text.
14.2: Climate Change and the Environment
As early as the 1970s, scientists were warning that human activity in the form of greenhouse gas emissions had the potential to change the climate by trapping heat and raising global temperatures. Today, climate change is one of the challenges of the 21st century. Governments will need to work together to do everything that they can to cut emissions, introduce clean power, and make their societies more resilient against the impacts that we're facing. Local communities can work together on this, too, by supporting clean energy projects.
Read this text on the global rise of environmentalism and how the world community is trying to address the negative effects of climate change.
Read this text to learn more about definitions of climate change, the science that supports it, how humans contribute to it, and the impact we can expect.
14.3: Science and Technology for Today's World
Technological change has been a central driver of globalization. It has made it easier to produce and transport goods and communicate. This section explores different technologies' effects on our social and political environment.
Read this text on the effects of advanced computers and communications technologies on human society, such as the internet and social media. Advances in medical science have succeeded in eradicating diseases that have plagued the world for centuries.
Read this text to learn more about the effects of globalization on the media and how a global media ecosystem affects different societies.
Defeating climate change means developing clean energy solutions. Watch this video to learn more about the development of clean energy in Africa.
14.4: Ongoing Problems and Solutions
In 1992, political scientist Francis Fukuyama predicted we had reached "the end of history". He believed capitalism had triumphed over communism during the Cold War and that more states would simply become liberal democracies, which had proven itself to be the best possible system. As the 21st century enters an era of new crises, how do you think Fukuyama's prediction has held up?
Read this text on recent threats to global peace and security, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the rise of militant groups in Iraq and Syria. Migration and refugees continue to flee war-ravaged areas of the world in search of economic opportunities in Europe and the United States. However, this influx continues to provoke radical nationalist and xenophobic groups to action worldwide.
In Syria, the population rose up to protest the totalitarian rule of Bashar al-Assad (1965– ) – this regime was not only brutally oppressive, but it did not represent the interests of the majority Sunni Muslim community. Although their circumstances differ, Libya and Yemen are embroiled in civil wars that have devastated their populations and have involved similar external entanglements.
The war between Russia and Ukraine has unleashed political and economic forces that will reverberate for a long time. In this video, Ian Bremmer discusses what changes the war will unleash and what it means to the global community.
Unit 14 Assessment
- Receive a grade
Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.
- This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
- You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
- You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.