Review XII

1. Review XII

2. Deng Xiaoping • 1976: replaced Mao Zedong as leader of communist China; introduced new economic reforms but little extension of individual political rights • Four Modernizations: an attempt by Deng to promote trade and contact with the West; he introduced reforms in the areas of farming, industry, science and technology, and defense • Deng reformed land distribution and allowed private ownership after government needs were met; private businesses helped China’s economy; also led to an increasing gap between rich and poor • Deng encouraged foreign investments of technology and capital

3. Tiananmen Square (1989) • Chinese students peacefully protested lack of political freedoms • On Deng Xiaoping’s orders, the government opened fire on defenseless citizens and killed or wounded thousands • A demonstration of the importance that government placed on maintaining order • Deng Xiaoping, as a moderate leader, was willing to make economic reforms, but not political ones

4. Globalization • Goal: a global economy to facilitate the movement of goods and trade, associated with the term free trade (trade unrestricted by state limits as it crosses borders) • IMF (International Monetary Fund), established in 1944 to promote free trade and increase growth rates of nations • GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), concluded in 1947 to lessen barriers and promote free trade (123 member nations by 1994), all agreed to form the WTO (World Trade Organization) • NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), concluded in 1993 – the United States, Canada, and Mexico created the world’s largest free-trade zone

5. OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) • An organization of producers of oil established in 1960 • Member nations include Abu Dhabi, Algeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela • Goal: to control the price of oil through cooperation • Power lessened in the 1980s as a result of overproduction and the Iran-Iraq and Gulf wars

6. Mikhail Gorbachev • Controlled the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 • Introduced reforms glasnost (openness) and perestroika (economic restructuring); led people to speak out against the Soviet state • Backed free-market reforms, which were in direct violation of the communist economic philosophy • Mid-1991: communist hardliners attempted an unsuccessful coup d'état, which was followed by Gorbachev’s resignation • Agreed not to enforce the Brezhnev Doctrine, a pledge to maintain Communism in satellite nations, instead allowing Eastern bloc nations to determine their own political futures

7. Iron Curtain: Demise • In November 1989, the Berlin Wall was opened, allowing people to travel freely from east to west; soon the entire wall was torn down, symbolizing the end of the Cold War • With the end of the Cold War, democracy spread across eastern Europe, and the Iron Curtain that had for so long represented the symbolic division of Europe no longer existed

8. Fall of Soviet Union • Failed invasion of Afghanistan contributed to the decline as resources were strained to support an unpopular and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to expand Soviet influence • Gorbachev’s reforms: glasnost (openness) and perestroika (economic restructuring) led people to speak out against the Soviet state • 1989: the fall of the Berlin Wall  East Germany no longer was backed by the Soviet Union • Solidarity movement in Poland, led by Lech Walesa, was outlawed by Soviets but ultimately successful • 1991: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania regained independence, and other Soviet republics followed

9. Nuclear Arms Race Since the Fall of Soviet Union • With the collapse of the Soviet Union, both the United States and Russia dramatically reduced their nuclear weapons spending • India and Pakistan, two nations with a violent history of territorial disputes, raced to develop nuclear weapons • Today only five other nations have successfully tested nuclear weapons

10. Genocide • The killing of a specific group of people based on specific ethnic, religious, or racial characteristics • Holocaust, led by Hitler in Germany, included a plan called the Final Solution to eliminate the Jews and produce a “pure” Aryan race • Ethnic cleansing, led by Slobodan Milosevic in the Balkans, was an attempt to eliminate Bosnians • Ethnic conflict in Rwanda led to a mass killing of Hutus and Tutsis as they wrestled for control • Genocide was committed in Cambodia (Kampuchea) and Armenia • 1948: the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states the rights that all human beings are born with; the UN has put on trial those who have violated the declaration

11. Feminism • Women make up 40 to 50 percent of workforce in industrialized societies, 20 percent in developing countries • Jobs characterized as “women’s work”: teaching, clerical work • Discrimination in the workplace is the catalyst for the women’s movement; women also fought for equality in all aspects of life, including control over their own bodies (birth control, abortion) • U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids discrimination based on sex or race • China: women have never gained full equality, although communist governments did grant them more rights; traditional Confucian values limit their ability to advance • India; in 1980s, literacy rate low among women (25%)

12. Islamic Fundamentalism • The term is often used by western sources to describe an extreme movement to replace secular states with Islamic ones • Increased in response to opposition to westernization reforms in Muslim countries • Libya: Muammar al-Qaddafi gained power in 1969  government based on Islamic principles • Iran  1979, Ayatollah Khomeini led Islamic fundamentalists, wrestled control of government from ailing shah  instituted Islamic Republic • Turkey  in effort to overturn Western reforms first introduced by Kemal Ataturk, Islamic fundamentalists increased their power by increasing influence in political parties in 1990s

13. Intifada • Part of the Arab-Israeli conflict over the struggle for control of Israel that began as a result of U.N. Resolution 181, in which the United Nations created Israel from lands claimed by Palestinians • Launched in 1987 by young Palestinians, the intifada (uprising) attacked Israeli soldiers with homemade bombs and rocks • Crackdowns on violence by the Israeli government only fueled further conflict

14. Persian Gulf War (1991) • Saddam Hussein’s Iraq troops invaded Kuwait and took control of its oil fields • The U.S. response was initially a trade embargo but saw this action as a threat to the flow of oil and to Saudi Arabia • However, with Middle Eastern nations pitted against each other, peace-keeping troops were soon sent in to Saudi Arabia • Hussein refused to withdraw his troops; the Persian Gulf War began and quickly ended after Kuwait was liberated and Hussein withdrew

15. Asian Tigers • Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan enjoyed rapid growth rates and were major economic powers by the 1980s • Competed economically with Japan, even though they suffered from limitations (lack of natural resources, overpopulation, and shortage of capital) • Later joined by Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia

16. Global Problems • Poverty: Unequal distribution of resources and income (scarcity) leads to poverty, especially in underdeveloped areas of Africa, Latin America, eastern Europe, and Asia  people lack food, clean water, and adequate shelter • Trafficking: Women, children and others may be used to transport drugs or forced into servitude  especially in Russia, Ukraine, and South Asia • HIV/AIDS: An infection that can spread through sexual intercourse, through blood transfusion or contact with infected blood, or from mother to child during birth or breast feeding  especially problematic in African countries • Terrorism: The deliberate use of unpredictable violence, especially against civilians for political goals

17. Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOS) • A group that has no connection to a government; not funded by one government • United Nations (outgrowth of unsuccessful League of Nations): created post-World War II in an attempt to find solutions to global problems  led to the creation of other international organizations, such as the World Health Organization • The Red Cross: International humanitarian agency, created to help prisoners of war, the wounded, and civilians in wartime; later extended to peacetime • Greenpeace: Environmental organization  goal  to preserve earth’s natural resources and wildlife