AP World History Unit 9 Flashcards

Advancements in Technology: Impact and Limitations

Globalization and technology are interconnected; advancements lead to positive impacts but also have negative effects.

Communication and Transportation

Technologies: TV, radio, cell phones, social media, airplanes, cargo planes, tankers.
Impact:
- Faster spread of information and culture (e.g., Arab Spring influenced by internet videos).
- Increased migration, trade, and global connections.
Limitations:
- Questionable reliability of information.
- Potential for homogenization into a single global culture.

Agriculture

Green Revolution: Crossbreeding, fertilizers, irrigation for resistant, high-yield grains.
Impact:
- More productive crops increase grain availability, impacting population.
Limitations:
- Small farmers lose land due to fertilizer costs, larger farms dominate.
- Fewer agricultural jobs due to mechanization.
- Environmental damage:
  - Soil damage from chemicals and deforestation.
  - Pollinator Decline: Pollinators like bumblebees are affected by pesticides and crops with reduced pollen.

Energy

Sources: Fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas), nuclear energy, renewable resources (wind, solar).
Impact:
- Increased energy leads to higher productivity.
- Cleaner energies can alleviate environmental concerns.
Limitations:
- Fossil fuels cause air pollution and climate change.
- Nuclear power poses risks if waste isn't stored properly or in case of accidents; only $5\%$ of energy consumption is nuclear, another $5\%$ is solar.

Medicine

Advancements: Antibiotics (e.g., Penicillin), birth control, vaccines (Polio, Measles, Smallpox, Mumps, tetanus).
Impact:
- Antibiotics helped save soldiers in WWII and combat illnesses in civilians.
- Declining fertility rates due to birth control, reshaping gender roles.
- Vaccines have made diseases rare or eradicated (smallpox in the 1980s), preventing an estimated 3 million deaths in the 21st century.
Limitations:
- Antibiotic resistance leads to stronger disease strains.
- Lack of Access: Poverty and associated factors lead to the spread of diseases in low-income regions:
  - Malaria impacts tropical areas.
  - Tuberculosis affects densely populated areas.
  - Cholera spreads through contaminated water.
  - Polio spreads through contaminated water, impacting Pakistan and Afghanistan.
- Emerging Epidemics: Diseases spread faster due to connectivity:
  - Spanish Flu (1918-1919) killed more soldiers than WWI, infected $1/5$ of the world population.
  - HIV/AIDS (1981-2014) killed over 25 million; antiretroviral drugs extend life.
  - Ebola outbreak in 2014, West Africa; WHO led response.
- New Diseases Impacting Longevity:
  - Heart Disease: Lifestyle, genetics, and increased longevity contribute; treatments include transplants, stents, and medications.
  - Alzheimer’s Disease: Dementia leading to memory loss and eventual death; cure unknown, research ongoing.

Technology and the Environment

General Look:
- Deforestation: Loss of trees due to cutting down land for agriculture.
- Desertification: Overuse of agriculture and removal of natural vegetation in arid lands.
- Air and Water Pollution: Decline in quality of air due to pollution.
- Increased consumption of water and resources.
Causes of Changes:
- Population Growth and Agriculture: More people mean more demand for food, which means more crops.
  - This means more deforestation, soil erosion, and decline of habitats for animals and people.
  - Changing World Population: 1900 - $1.6$ billion; 1950 - $2.55$ billion; 2000 - $6.12$ billion
- Population Growth and Urbanization: more cities and larger cities have led to more waste and pollution.
- Globalization and Industrialization: as more energy is needed to produce goods, more resources are depleted and pollution is increased
Effects of Changes:
- Resource Depletion: Since the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels are rapidly depleting and could be used up in the next 30-40 years.
- Inequality/Scarcity of Resources: Pollution of and increased consumption of water leads to shortages, especially in lower income regions.
  - WHO predicts that by 2025 over $1/2$ of the world’s population will lack clean water due to increased scarcity of clean/safe water.
  - Since low income regions depend on women/children to collect water, this leads to lack of time in education, skill development, or in income centered jobs (which has impacted gender roles and continued to reinforce the gap between developing and developed nations).
- Changes to Atmosphere: increase in greenhouse gases from factories, cars, airplanes, and industrialization.
- New Energy Sources: new renewable energy like wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal power have become more popular. At first they were too expensive, but as technologies have developed and become more readily available, more companies and countries invest in them. By 2050, maybe half the world’s electricity will be from wind and solar power!
- New Awareness: New “Environmental Cool Club Kids” have emerged!
  - Club of Rome (1968) - organization with representatives from all walks of life (scientists, diplomats, etc) formed to discuss solutions to global challenges, specifically discussing resource depletion.
  - Green Party - organization in many countries focusing on identifying solutions to environmental issues.
  - Green Belt Movement - helping to protect environment through initiatives like preservation of ecosystems (ex. Planting 51 million trees in Kenya)
The Debate: While many agree that Climate Change (at times called global warming) has led to changes and can lead to potentially more catastrophic issues (rising sea levels, more severe droughts, hurricanes, etc) others remain skeptical. Many governments have come to agreements to help de escalate the crisis:
- Kyoto Protocol (1997): developed nations (W Europe) argued that developing nations (ex. China and India) needed to limit increased output of CO2; US did not ratify it
- Paris Agreement (2015): 195 countries signed a deal to refocus efforts on environmental initiatives ( US left in 2017 under Pres. Trump, rejoined in 2021 under Pres. Biden)
- Increased Activism:
  - Greta Thunberg speech at UN (2018): “You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.”
  - Extinction Rebellion (2018): group engaged in civil disobedience in England by blocking bridges and intersections, chaining themselves to headquarters of businesses, etc. though many were arrested, parliament discussed the climate emergency due to their efforts
- Is it a New Age:
  - Holocene epoch: “current age”, means entirely recent; some scientists argue this is the name for our time period
  - Anthropocene: “new man”, some scientists voted to approve this name due to the fact that humans now directly affect almost the entire planet

Economics Global World and

Developments

Economic liberalization: opening up of economies (nod to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and free markets).
- Led some corporations to move where wages, taxes, and regulations were cheaper or fewer; rise in labor exploitation and damage to environment.
Movement of Manufacturing: manufacturing plants have moved to different regions, like Asia and Latin America instead of Europe and the US
- Ex. Vietnam and Bangladesh: labor costs are lower than even in China, large manufacturing of clothing/textiles and items like phones.
New Institutions:
- Ex. Chile (August Pinochet 1974-1990; violent tactics yet opened up free-market).
- Ex. China (Deng Xiaoping 1981 opened up China to more economic reforms like replacing communes with peasant least lands, allowing factories more control over production, more private business in Shanghai).
Knowledge Economies: focus on information, creation, spread of knowledge to increase economic success
- Ex. Finland (resources into research, education, innovation; built success on mobile phones and software).
- Ex. Japan (increased exports/decreased imports, high emphasis on education and growth in technological developments).
- Ex. Asian Tigers: other countries who focused on government-business partnerships and intense education (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan).
- Ex. Mexico and Honduras: due to development of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) in 1994, maquiladoras (factories) set up in Mexico; many jobs shifted to these locations where there are low wages
  - Honduras has begun to upgrade their practices (recycling materials, fair labor practices)
Economic Clubs: many organizations were created after WWII to allow ease of trade. With less restrictions, certain countries enjoy trading benefits with one another. Some of these, like WTO, also focus on creating fair labor practices.
- Ex. Mercosur (South America).
- Ex. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
- Ex. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
- Ex. World Trade Organization (WTO).
Multinational Corporations: a corporation legally incorporated in one country but sells (or makes) its product in others.
- Ex. Go wayyy back to joint stock companies (British East India Co)
- Ex. Microsoft, Google, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle
  - Mahindra & Mahindra is based in India, and has been awarded for its responsible practices - it is considered the “most trusted business in India”
  - Nestle is a Swiss based company, and is known for buying cocoa from suppliers that use child labor; however it also is investing in research aimed at better environmental practices and agricultural training

Reform Movements and Impacts

An “Era of Rights” and the United Nations

Since WWII, the development of the United Nations (UN) has led to movements toward justice, equality, and change:
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights: basic rights and fundamental freedoms.
- Human Rights Initiatives: UN protects people (e.g., UNICEF).
- International Court of Justice: negotiates disputes over international law.
- UNHCR and NGOs: protect refugees, provide aid.
- Global Feminism: equal rights (e.g., 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women).
- Cultural/Religious Movements: rights for various groups (e.g., Negritude and its focus on “blackness”/self-determination)

Gender Equality

Along with access to professions, healthcare, and other rights in the 20th century, there has been more change for women
Education has increased - not just in literacy but in college attendance
- US

Racial Equality

1965 Civil Rights Act: outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin
Suffrage - as of 2018 only Vatican City did not allow women to vote; there are still barricades to voting, however (ex. Pakistan)
1965 Voting Rights Act: banned discrimination in voting
Continued developments seeking and allowing more access/fair treatment in education, workplace rights, and more continue
South Africa
- 1948 Apartheid enforced segregation of people based on race, placing the 15% minority white South Africans in charge of the 85% majority black, South Asian, or mixed race South Africans
- Segregation laws banned the black population from certain areas, banned mixed marriages, and taught classes only in Afrikaans (language of white South Africans)
Challenges to Apartheid
- Desmond Tutu (Anglican Archbishop, human rights activist): “I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion, I want the full menu of rights.”
- Nelson Mandela (leader of ANC - African National Congress): imprisoned in 1964 for a life term due to protesting against apartheid
  - His imprisonment and work while in prison brought awareness of apartheid to the world, leading to protests by musicians, students, countries, and even the UN
  - South Africa became a pariah state (undesirable) in 1980s, and Mandela was released in 1989
  - Apartheid ended in the 1990s, and in 1994 South Africa elected their own new leaders - with Nelson Mandela president
Aftermath of Apartheid
- Instead of seeking to try those in South Africa for apartheid, Nelson Mandela focused on uniting the mixed races through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
India’s Caste System
- Though made illegal in 1949 via India’s Constitution, the social classes of the Caste System still receive limitations based on their inherited position on the hierarchy, especially those connected to the lowest group - dalit, or untouchable
- Caste Reservation System: government has tried to alleviate this by guaranteeing a certain amount of spots in government, education, and the workforce

Human Rights and China: A Closer Look

Though China began to loosen up its government control of the economy, its social controls remained intact. News and education were still censored, NGOs were not allowed to operate without supervision, and the political system essentially ensured the continuation of the Chinese Communist Party.
- Tiananmen Square: pro-democracy activists demonstrated after the death of a high level government figure sympathetic to their desire for more democratic reforms. Many of the protestors were students, professors, and urban workers.
  - The protestors demanded a chance to speak with the government about reforms like freedom of the press
  - The government refused to meet with them
  - 400 cities staged sit ins and began other measures of civil disobedience (refusing to go to class, hunger strikes)
    - Most notable: hundreds of thousands protested in Beijing in Tiananmen Square
  - Though the protestors tried to blockade them, the government responded to the Tiananmen Square protests by declaring martial law and sending in troops with tanks and weapons
  - June 4, 1989: the army attacked those in Tiananmen Square
    - China’s government maintains that no one died and has excluded this from history books, education, and even web searches; they prohibit mourning those who died publicly, and imprison those who do
    - Organizations like Amnesty International have estimated several hundred to a few thousand died
- Minority Rights: with 55 ethnic minorities (ex. Tibetans), China has also had to deal with demands for independence or solutions to discriminatory practices
- Hong Kong: pro-democracy protests continue to occur to today here - check out the news for more info on developments

Environmental Repair

Earth Day: Began in 1970 in the US. April 22 is a day for people to focus on environmental awareness (highlight policies, information, initiatives).
Greenpeace: Founded in 1971, is now a multinational agency that essentially speaks for the planet, trying to confront desertification, global warming, overfishing, and overkilling of whales.

Economic Fairness

Since the WTO mostly focused on commercial interests, a new group was created: World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) in 1989
- Made up of organizations from around the world who follow these rules:
  - Create opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers
  - Transparency and accountability
  - Fair trading practices
  - Payment of a fair price
  - Ensuring no child labor or forced labor
  - Commitment to nondiscrimination, gender equity, and freedom of association:
  - Ensuring good work conditions
  - Providing capacity building
  - Promoting fair trade
  - Respect for the environment
Green Belt Movement: began in 1977 by Wangari Maathai (who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 - first African Woman to win!); helped women work to plant trees to improve soil and collect rainwater as they had seen streams disappear and wanted to change the crisis. “We are called to assist the earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own.”

Globalization and Resistance to Globalization

Examples of Globalization in Various Realms

Political Changes
- Moving away from competition via imperialism or Cold War, there is now more cooperation through regional organizations (ex. UN)
Social Changes
- People are now more connected - even if virtually so, leading to more conversation and more voices within the discussion on everything from rights, to the environment, to which are the best cat memes
Economic Changes
- Global Brands: some companies become multinational (ex. Apple, Nike, Rolex, Toyota, Amazon, Coca Cola)
- Online Commerce: trade is easier than ever, where you can buy goods from other countries easily
Cultural Changes
- Popular Culture (1920s): culture of everyday peoples, not just the wealthy; spreads through radio and TV
  - Americanization: more people learn about American culture; some resent it, viewing the US as “throwaway culture” of waste and pollution
  - English language also spreads rapidly
- ART/COMMUNICATION
  - Harlem Renaissance: rebirth of black artistic expression, ex. Jazz
  - Bollywood: blend of film styles in India (they make more films than any other country)
  - Anime: hand-drawn animation in the Japanese style; 60% of animated TV shows were based on anime in 2016
  - Reggae: Jamaican music blending New Orleans jazz with mento
  - K-pop: artists whose songs are a mixture of Korean and English, led to more popularity for South Korean goods
  - Social Media: new format of communication through means such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
    - Has led to inspiration and movements for reform, but also is easy to manipulate leading to current debate over usage
    - Some countries limit/ban social media (ex. China) although it allows its own censored platforms

Examples of Resistance in Various Realms

Though globalization has led to connection, raised awareness and spread of diversity, and technological developments, many have pushed back against it for various reasons.
- The Battle of Seattle (1999): protests occurred at a WTO conference in Seattle, WA. The 40,000 protestors included environmentalists, students, labor unions, farmers, and more. Significant as it was planned on the internet and is seen as a beginning of the anti-globalization movement
Why Resistance
- Economic reasons
  - Poor labor conditions: ex. child labor, sweatshops
  - Harm to small businesses
  - Push for: fair trade, sustainable development, debt relief
- Environmental reasons
  - Damage: ex. climate change, deforestation
- Distrust
  - Threat to nations, concern for sovereignty: ex. Brexit (from the EU)
  - Unreliability of information, ex. Social media

New Globalized Institutions - The UN and NGOs

United Nations - new and stronger edition of the old League of Nations
- Includes:
  - General Assembly (decides issues on peace, security, budget)
  - Security Council (debates issues from General Assembly, has five permanent member - US, France, Great Britain, Russia, China; elects ten other members on rotation)
    - The big 5 have veto power, but some dispute its fairness
  - Secretariat: administrative arm of the UN
  - International Court of Justice: settles disputes about international law
  - Economic and Social Council: directs economic, social, humanitarian, cultural initiatives (ex. Green energy)
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights: made in 1948, includes basic rights and freedoms that all should have globally (ex. Freedom from slavery, right to nationality, right to own property, freedom of thought, etc.)
- UN Priorities
  - Peacekeeping
  - Protecting Refugees
  - Alleviating world hunger/poverty
  - Supporting education, science, culture (ex. UNESCO)
  - Human Rights Watch
  - More NGOs - non governmental organizations
  - World Bank - fighting poverty by giving loans to countries
  - International Monetary Fund: promotes stable currency exchange rates
  - International Peace Bureau (apart from the UN) - nuclear disarmament