Chapter 36 - Global Interdependence 

36.1 - The Impact of Science and Technology

• Years before the end of the Cold War, in 1972, the US and Soviet space programs started working on a joint project: docking US and Soviet spacecraft in orbit. 

  • On July 17, 1975, the two countries' spacecraft docked 140 miles above Earth, achieving their aim. 
  • Viewers around the world watched as the hatch between the spacecraft opened and astronauts from Earth's most bitter rival countries exchanged greetings.

• When computers were initially introduced in the 1940s, they took up a lot of space. To keep the vacuum tubes that powered the computer cold, it needed fans or an expensive airconditioning system. 

  • However, the computer's technology has been downsized and made more powerful in the years since then. 
  • This shift is due in part to the space program, which necessitated the downsizing of equipment to fit into tiny space capsules. 
  • Silicon chips have taken the role of the large vacuum tubes that were formerly employed. 
  • Silicon chips are the size of contact lenses and contain millions of miniscule circuits.

• Before World War II, doctors rarely operated on delicate organs like the eye or the brain. New technologies, such as more powerful microscopes, the laser, and ultrasound, were created in the 1960s and 1970s. 

  • Several of these innovations have advanced surgical procedures.

• In the 1960s, agricultural experts all across the world embarked on a campaign dubbed "the green revolution." It was an attempt to boost global food production. 

• Fertilizers, insecticides, and disease-resistant variants of a range of crops were promoted by scientists. 

  • In many places of the world, the green revolution helped to avert starvation and raise grain yields.

  

36.2 - Global Economic Development

• Manufacturing technology has reduced the necessity for factory labor. However, new needs were arising in other areas of the economy. 

  • The processing of information has altered as a result of improvements in computerization and communications. 
  • People could communicate information fast and cheaply by the 1980s.

• Multinational or transnational corporations are businesses that operate across multiple nations. 

• One of the most important aspects of globalization is the opening up of the world's markets to trade.

  •  Free trade, or the removal of trade barriers such as tariffs, is, in reality, a major goal of globalization. 
  • This pro-free-trade movement is not new. Nations were discussing methods to open commerce as early as 1947.

• Globalization's impact has been the subject of much debate in recent years. Open, competitive markets, as well as the free flow of products, services, technology, and investments, are argued to benefit all nations. 

  • They claim that globalization has resulted in a tremendous rise in the global level of life. 
  • Even some detractors believe that globalization has benefited almost every country in some way.

• Raw materials must be processed before they can be used in manufacturing. The transportation of finished items is required in trade. 

  • These actions, which are necessary for development, consume a lot of energy. 

• Oil has been one of the primary sources of energy for industrialized and developing countries for the past 50 years. 

  • Oil distribution disruption poses economic and political challenges for countries that have little of this resource on their own land.

• Economic growth has had a significant impact on the environment. 

• Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when coal and oil are burned as an energy source, resulting in health-damaging air pollution and acid rain. 

  • Carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere has also contributed to global warming.

  

36.3 -​​ Global Security Issues

• One of the UN's main goals is to promote global peace. The United Nations provides a public venue, private meeting rooms, and trained mediators to assist countries in resolving problems at every stage of development. 
• The UN also provides peacekeeping forces at the request of the warring parties. Soldiers from many countries make up these troops. 
  • They work to implement peace agreements, monitor cease-fires, or put a halt to violence so that peace talks can continue.
• Nations have formed treaties to regulate the development, testing, and trading of weapons in addition to working to prevent and minimize hostilities. 
• The weapons of mass destruction are the ones that create the most concern. 
  • These include nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, all of which have the potential to kill tens of thousands, if not millions, of people.
• Some clashes between individuals of various ethnic or religious groups have been going on for millennia. 
  • Conflicts between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, Palestinians and Israelis in the Middle East, and Serbs, Bosnians, and Croats in southeastern Europe are examples of such conflicts.
• When women first entered the workforce in Western countries, they were frequently discriminated against in terms of employment and pay. 
  • Many women in non-Western countries were not only discriminated against at work, but also refused access to education. 
  • They were frequently victims of violence and abuse in areas torn apart by war or ethnic conflict. 
  • Families, particularly children, suffered as a result of the suffering of women.

36.4 - Terrorism

• Over 14,000 terrorist assaults have occurred globally since the late 1960s. 
• To draw attention to their goals and get considerable media coverage, international terrorist groups have carried out increasingly destructive, high-profile attacks. 
  • Many countries also deal with domestic terrorists who challenge their governments' policies or support particular interests.
• Governments adopt a variety of measures to combat terrorism.
• When it comes to tracking down and prosecuting terrorist organisations, the majority take a very strong stance.
•  Infiltrating the groups to acquire information about membership and future intentions is part of this strategy.
  •  It also entails retaliating brutally in the aftermath of a terrorist assault, including assassinating known terrorist leaders.
• The Israeli-Palestinian dispute for land in the Middle East has spawned a slew of terrorist organizations. 
  • Attempts have been made by groups such as the Palestine Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and Hizballah to obstruct an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. 
  • They demand a Palestinian homeland on their own terms, deny Israel's right to exist, and wish to destroy Israel.
• Most terrorist activity in Africa at the end of the twentieth century was fueled by civil upheaval and regional hostilities. 
  • However, al-Qaeda cells existed in numerous African countries, and al-Qaeda was linked to several major attacks against US people and infrastructure in Africa.

36.5 - Cultures Blend in a Global Age

• In the United States, televisions are more common than telephones.

• In fact, at least one television is found in 99 percent of American households.

• Video and DVD players are found in 91% of households. Most households in Western Europe have one or more televisions as well. 

  • In emerging countries, television viewing is not as widespread as it is in developed countries, but it is increasing.

• The West's dominance of the world's mass media helps to explain the West's massive effect on many diverse civilizations today. 

  • Heavy Western impact on the rest of the world's civilizations, on the other hand, dates back to the nineteenth century. 
  • The dominance of Western customs and ideas in locations all over the world has left a legacy of Western customs and ideas. 
  • Because to Europe's history of colonization in the Americas, Asia, and Africa, Western languages are spoken all over the world.

• Cultural ideas do not simply travel from the West to other parts of the world. People in Europe and the United States are also influenced by non-Western civilizations. 

• Non-Western concepts are absorbed into Western civilization in a variety of ways, including music and dress styles, art and architectural ideas, religious and ethical systems, and religious and ethical systems. 

  • Furthermore, the cultural fusion of Western and non-Western features provides up communication routes for increased global exchange of ideas.

• Like popular culture, modern art has become increasingly transnational. 

  • Advances in transportation and technology have made it easier to share art ideas as well as actual pieces of art. 

• Art from many types and locations is displayed in shows and museums all around the world. 

  • Art from different civilizations that had previously been unavailable to the general public became available.

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