Power, Politics, Conflict, and Globalization

1990-2010

Chs. 35-36

Overview

• At the beginning of the twentieth century, a European-dominated global political order existed, which also included the United States, Russia, and Japan.

• Over the course of the century this order was challenged in ways that sought to redistribute power within the existing order and to restructure empires.

• These challenges to the political order manifested themselves in an unprecedented level of conflict with high human casualties.

• Internal and external factors:• ethnic and religious conflicts, secessionist movements, territorial partitions, economic

dependency, and the legacies of colonialism.

End of the Cold War

• Russian empire had been expanding for 500 years (on and off, interrupted by WWI)

• Factors in soviet decline: • leadership turned conservative (unwilling to rock the boat)

• Iranian revolution of 1979- Russia invades Afghanistan -> international disapproval

• Communism on the defensive

• US foreign policy on the offensive- pressure on the Soviets

End of the Cold War

• Mikhail Gorbachev- renounced “Stalinism”, enacted reforms to limit nuclear weapons. • Glasnost – policy of political openness

• Perestroika – economic restructure- private ownership, decentralized control of agriculture and industry

• Attempted coup from a growing democratic movement- republics separating from USSR, Russia’s Boris Yeltsin declares the end of the Soviet Union

Cold War inspired violence

• Chechnya – a Muslim territory in Russia that underwent civil war. Poor management of provinces. Putin becomes president in 1991, works to tighten hold on Russia.

• Bosnian Genocide – 1993: ethnic tensions (Muslims, Croatians, Serbs) rise in former Soviet Yugoslavia; Serbian Slobodan Milosevic leads ethnic cleansing against the Croat and Muslim minorities in Bosnia. NATO intervention, conflict ends

• Kosovo – late 1990s: Albanian pressure for independence met with Serbian resistance – more ethnic cleansing. NATO intervention, Yugoslavia dissolves into Serbia and Montenegro.

Other Conflicts

• Saddam Hussein in Iraq invades Iran (wins), then oil-rich Kuwait. International coalition of Arab states and the West – First US Iraq War (1991) – Us leaves a large military presence in the Middle East, draws criticism from Arabs and Muslims

• Rwandan genocide – ethnic tension between Hutu and Tutsi groups leads to the Hutu majority (85%) killing all “Tutsi Cockroaches” between April-June 1994

Other conflicts (continued)

• Israel – Palestine Conflict: Israeli relations with Palestinian minority deteriorate after the Cold War, violence increases. Issues remain to be resolved.

• India vs. Pakistan border conflicts over Kashmir (c. 2000). Both countries tested nuclear weapons – no longer a limited amount of countries with nuclear capability. Hindu nationalism in India vs. Muslims in Pakistan

• British suppressing Welsh and Scottish – limited autonomy.

• Ethnic disputes continue in Africa: Congo, C.A.R., South Sudan

• Religious disputes in Africa: Nigeria, C.A.R. countless others.

US as the sole superpower

• Level of American power worries many:• China increases military arsenal

• European nations discussed a joint military force independent of NATO

• Growth and success of the European Union counterweights the US

• What should Americans do with power?• Police regional conflicts?

• Mobilize the world community?

The War on Terror

• 9/11 Attacks altered US foreign policy -> war on terrorism• Military attack that toppled fundamentalist regime in Afghanistan

(Al Qaeda), military bases established near potential centers of terrorist activity

• 2003- focus on Iraq, which was accused of amassing weaponry and aiding terrorists.

• Evidence was false, international community turns public opinion against the US

• 2009- Iraq somewhat calmer, US turns its focus back to Afghanistan and radical groups in Pakistan

• We are still in Afghanistan and Iraq today.

Globalization

• Definition: the increasing interconnectedness of all parts of the world, particularly in communication and commerce but also in culture and politics.

• We’ve looked at how connections among Africa, Asia and Europe increased with networks in the post-classical period, which is a move toward globalization. Whole world was not yet involved.

• Full globalization emerged in the later 19th century, dependence on new technologies, policy decisions (spearheaded by Western imperialism)

20th century globalization

• Technology is crucial: airplanes, radio, satellite, Internet, etc.

• Asian isolation – Japan and China pull away to form independent economic systems • China opens up in 1978, Chinese economy grows – number one in

the world?

• Socially, globalization impacts: increase in unemployment, economic inequality, challenged the established sense of identity