CONTEMPORARY
Accelerating Global Change & Realignments
1900 - PRESENT
SUMMARY
• The Contemporary Era basically breaks down into three
categories:
• Science & the Environment
• Global Conflict
• Globalization
GEOGRAPHY
KEY CONCEPT 6.1: SCIENCE & THE
ENVIRONMENT
• Rapid advances in science altered the understanding of
the universe and the natural world and led to the
development of new technologies
• This led to unprecedented population growth
• Which altered how humans interacted with the
environment and threatened delicate ecological
balances at local, regional, & global levels
KEY CONCEPT 6.1: SCIENCE & THE ENVIRONMENT
Researchers made rapid advances in science that spread
throughout the world- assisted by the development of new
technology
• New modes of communication & transportation virtually
eliminated the problem of geographic distance
KEY CONCEPT 6.1: SCIENCE & THE ENVIRONMENT
New scientific paradigms
transformed human
understanding of the world
Medical innovations
increased the ability of
humans to survive
• Theory of Relativity
• Polio Vaccine
• Quantum Mechanics
• Antibiotics
• Psychology
• The artificial heart
• Big Bang Theory
• Theory of Relativity
KEY CONCEPT 6.1: SCIENCE & THE ENVIRONMENT
Energy technologies raised productivity and increased
the production of material goods
• Oil
• Nuclear power
KEY CONCEPT 6.1: SCIENCE & THE ENVIRONMENT
The Green Revolution produced food for the earth’s growing
population as it spread chemically & genetically enhanced forms
of agriculture
Green Revolution = a set of research, development, &
technology transfer initiatives between the 1930s & 60s that
increased agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the
third world
KEY CONCEPT 6.1: SCIENCE & THE ENVIRONMENT
As the global population expanded at an unprecedented rate,
humans fundamentally changed their relationship with the
environment
• Exploited & competed over earth’s finite resources more
intensely than ever before
• Global warming was a major consequence of the release of
greenhouse gasses & other pollutants into the atmosphere
• Pollution threatened the world’s supply of water & clean air
• Deforestation & desertification
• Rates of extinction of other species accelerated sharply
KEY CONCEPT 6.1: SCIENCE & THE ENVIRONMENT
Disease, scientific innovations, & conflict led to demographic
shifts
• Diseases associated with poverty (Malaria, Cholera,
Tuberculosis) persisted while other diseases emerged as new
epidemics ( 1918 Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola) and threats to human
survival
• Changing lifestyles (Diabetes, Heart Disease, Alzheimer’s
Disease) & increased longevity led to higher incidents of
certain diseases
• More effective forms of birth control gave women greater
control over fertility & transformed sexual practices
KEY CONCEPT 6.1: SCIENCE & THE ENVIRONMENT
KEY CONCEPT 6.1: SCIENCE & THE ENVIRONMENT
Improved military technology & new tactics led to increased levels
of wartime casualties
• Technology examples:
• Tanks
• Airplanes
• Atomic Bombs
• Hiroshima
• Tactics examples:
• Trench Warfare
• Firebombing
• Events:
• Nanjing
• Dresden
• Hiroshima
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Beginning of the 20th century a European-dominated
global political order existed, which also included the U.S.,
Russia, & Japan
Over the course of the century, peoples and states around
the world challenged this order in ways that sought to
redistribute power within the existing structure &
restructure empires
This manifests in an unprecedented level of conflict with
high human casualties
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
In the context of these conflicts, many regimes in
both older and newer states struggled with
maintaining political stability and were challenged
by internal and external factors, including ethnic
and religious conflicts, secessionist movements,
territorial partitions, economic dependency, and the
legacies of colonialism.
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Europe dominated the global political order at the beginning of
the 20th century- but both land-based & trans-oceanic empires
gave way to new forms of political organization by the century’s
end
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Older land-based Ottoman, Russian, & Qing empires collapsed
due to a combination of internal & external factors:
• Economic hardship
• Political & social discontent
• Technological stagnation
• Military defeat
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Some colonies negotiated their independence
• India from British Empire
• Gold Coast/Ghana from British Empire
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Some colonies achieved their independence
through armed struggle
• Algeria & Vietnam from France
• Angola from the Portuguese Empire
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Emerging ideologies of anti-imperialism
contributed to the dissolution of empires & the
restructuring of states
• Crash Course- Decolonization
• AP teachers expect decolonization to be a big
focus of this year’s exam!
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Nationalist leaders in Asia & Africa challenged
imperial rule
• Mohandas Gandhi
• Ho Chi Minh
• Kwame Nkrumah
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Regional, religious, & ethnic movements
challenged both colonial rule & inherited imperial
boundaries
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah
• The Quebecois separatist movement
• Biafra secessionist movement
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Transnational movements sought to unite people
across national boundaries
• Communism
• Pan-Africanism
• Pan-Arabism
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Movements to redistribute land & resources
developed within states in Africa, Asia, & Latin
America, sometimes advocating communism &
socialism
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Political changes were accompanied by
major demographic & social
consequences
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
The redrawing of old colonial boundaries led to population
resettlements
• India/Pakistan Partition
• Zionism Jewish settlement of Palestine
• Division of Middle East into mandates
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
The migration of former colonal subjects to imperial metropoles
maintained the cultural & economic ties between the colony &
the metropole even after the dissolution of empires
• South Asians to Britain
• Algerians to France
• Filipinos to the U.S.
Metropole = the
parent-state of
a colony
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
The proliferation of conflicts led to various forms of ethnic
violence
• Armenia
• Holocaust
• Rwanda
• Cambodia
And the displacement of peoples in refugee populations
• Palestinians
• Darfurians
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Military conflicts occurred on an unprecedented global scale
• World War I & II were the first “total wars”
• Governments used ideologies (including fascism, nationalism,
& communism) to mobilize all of their state’s resources
including peoples, both in the home countries & the colonies
or former colonies for the purposes of waging war
• Gurkha soliders in India, ANZAC troops in Australia
• Governments also used a variety of strategies (political
speeches, art, media) & intensified forms of nationalism to
mobilize these populations
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
The sources of global conflict in the first half of the century
varied. Required examples of the sources of global conflict:
• Imperialist expansion by European powers & Japan
• Competition for resources
• Ethnic conflict
• Great power rivalries between Great Britain & Germany
• Nationalist Ideologies
• The economic crisis engendered by the Great Depression
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
The global balance of economic & political power shifted
after the end of WWII & rapidly evolved into the Cold War
The U.S. & the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers…
which led to ideological struggles between capitalism &
communism throughout the globe
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
The Cold War produced new military alliances
including NATO & the Warsaw Pact &
promoted proxy wars in Latin America, Africa,
& Asia
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
One event effectively ended the Cold War
• The dissolution of the Soviet Union
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Many rival groups- including statesopposed the trend of conflict.
Some, however, intensified the conflicts.
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Groups & individuals challenged the many wars
• Picasso in Guernica
• Anti-nuclear movement during the Cold War
• Thich Quang Duc by self-immolation
And some promoted the practice of nonviolence
as a way to bring about political change
• Gandhi
• MLK, Jr.
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Groups & individuals opposed & promoted
alternatives to the existing economic, political, &
social orders
• Communist leaders Ho Chi Minh & Mao
Zedong
• Non-aligned movement
• Anti- apartheid movement in South Africa
• Participants in the Global Uprisings of 1968
• Tiananmen Square protests that promoted
democracy in China
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
Militaries & militarized states often
responded to the proliferation of conflicts in
ways that further intensified conflict
• Promotion of military dictatorship in Spain
& Uganda
• U.S. promotion of a New World Order after
the Cold War
• Build-up of Military Industrial Complex &
arms trading
KEY CONCEPT 6.2: GLOBAL CONFLICTS & THEIR
CONSEQUENCES
More movements used violence against
civilians to achieve political aims
• IRA
• ETA
• Al Qaeda
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS
OF GLOBAL ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
• Role of the state in domestic economy fluctuated
• New institutions of global governance emerged & continued to
develop
• Scientific breakthroughs, new technologies, increasing levels of
integration, changing relationships between humans & the
environment, & the frequency of political conflict all contributed
to…
• People crafting new understandings of society, culture, &
historical interpretations
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
States responded in a variety of ways to the
economic challenges of the 20 th century
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
• Communist states of Soviet Union & China- governments controlled their national
economies
• Five Year Plans, Great Leap Forward
• In the U.S. & parts of Europe governments played a minimal role in their national
economies until the onset of the Great Depression when they began to take a more
active role
• New Deal, Fascist Corporatist Economy
• In newly independent states after WWII, governments often took on a strong role in
guiding economic life to promote development
• Nasser’s promotion of economic development in Egypt, encouragement of
export-oriented economies in East Asia
• At the end of the century, many governments encouraged free market economic
policies & promoted economic liberalization
• U.S. under Regan, GB under Thatcher, China under Deng Xiaoping, Chile under
Pinochet
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
States, communities, & individuals became
increasingly interdependent- a process
facilitated by the growth of institutions of
global governance
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
New international organizations formed to maintain world peace
& to facilitate international cooperation
• League of Nations
• United Nations
• International Criminal Court
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
New economic institutions sought to spread the principles &
practices associated with free market economics throughout the
world
• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• World Bank
• World Trade Organization (WTO)
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
Humanitarian organizations developed to respond to
humanitarian crises throughout the world
• UNICEF
• Amnesty International
• Red Cross
• Doctors Without Borders
• World Health Organization
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
New trade agreements created regional trading blocs designed
to promote the movement of capital & goods across national
borders
• European Union
• NAFTA
• ASEAN
• Mercosur
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
Multinational corporations began to challenge state authority &
autonomy
• Royal Dutch Shell
• Coca-cola
• Sony
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
Movements throughout the world protested the inequality of
environmental & economic consequences of global integration
• Greenpeace
• Green Belt in Kenya
• Earth Day
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
People conceptualized society & culture in new
ways; some challenged old assumptions about
race, class, gender, & religion, often using new
technologies to spread reconfigured traditions
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
The notion of human rights gained traction
throughout the world
• UN Declaration of Human Rights
• Women’s rights
• The end of the White Australia Policy
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
Increased interactions among diverse peoples
sometimes led to the formation of new cultural
identities (Negritude) & exclusionary reactions
• Xenophobia
• Race Riots
• Citizenship Restrictions
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
Believers adopted new forms of spirituality
• New Age Religions
• Hare Krishna
• Falun Gong
And chose to emphasize particular aspects of practice
within existing faiths & apply them to political issues
• Fundamentalist Movements
• Liberation Theology
KEY CONCEPT 6.3: NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, & CULTURE
Popular & consumer culture became global
• Sports were more widely practiced & reflected national
& social aspirations
• World Cup Soccer
• The Olympics
• Cricket
• Changes in communication & transportation technology
enabled the widespread diffusion of music & film
• Reggae
• Bollywood