Europe and the Western Hemisphere Since 1945

1
Europe and the Western Hemisphere Since 1945
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2
Recovery and Renewal in Europe

• Western Europe The Triumph of Democracy
• The economic aid of the Marshall Plan allowed
  Western European countries to recover rapidly
• Industrial production surpassed previous records
  in 1950s-1970s
• Western Europe experienced almost full employment
• France From De Gaulle to New Uncertainties
• Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), 1958-1969
• Fourth Republic
• Algerian crisis
• Fifth Republic, 1958
• Greater global presence
• Growth of the economy
• Weaknesses in the 1970s

3
France From de Gaulle to New Uncertainties

• François Mitterrand (1916-1995), 1981-1995
• Reforms and nationalization
• Economic weaknesses of the 1990s
• Jacques Chirac (b. 1932) elected president, May
  1995

4
From West Germany to Germany

• Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967), 1949-1963
• Ludwig Erhard and economic recovery
• Willy Brandt (1913-1992), 1969-1974
• Ostpolitik (opening toward the east)
• Helmut Kohl (b. 1930), 1982
• Reunification
• Problems with reunification

5
Decline of Great Britain

• Clement Attlee (1883-1967) succeeded Churchill
• Creation of the modern welfare state
• Margaret Thatcher (b. 1925), 1979-1990
• Thatcherism
• Problems over flat-rate tax
• Thatcher resigned, November 1990
• Thatcher succeeded by John Major and then Tony
  Blair

6
Eastern Europe After Communism

• Fall of Communist governments in Eastern Europe
  in 1989
• New governments scrapped old system and replaced
  it with democratic procedures and market systems
• Desire to join NATO and European Union

7
The Disintegration of Yugoslavia

• Marshal Tito managed 6 republics and 2 autonomous
  provinces as Yugoslavia
• After his death in 1980, reform movements swept
  in
• Slovenia and Croatia declared independence in
  June 1991
• Slobodan Milosevic, leader of Serbia, opposed
  action and attacked these states
• Captured 1/3 of Croatia, unsuccessful against
  Slovenia
• Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina declared
  their independence
• Milosevic ethnic cleansing on Bosnia and
  acquired 70 of territory
• European nations and U.S. intervened -cease-fire
  agreement in 1995
• 1999, Milosevic led ethnic cleansing campaign
  against Kosovars
• U.S. and NATO forced Milosevic to stop
• Milosevic was tried for war crimes against
  humanity.
• He died in 2006 during the trial.
• Montenegro declared independence in 2006.
• all 6 republics of Yugoslavia in 1918 now
  independent nations

8
The New Russia From Empire to Nation

• President Boris Yeltsin with a new constitution
• Two-chamber parliament
• Course towards a pluralistic political system and
  a market economy
• Economic inequality and rampant corruption
• War in Caucasus Chechnya wants independence

9
The Putin Era

• Vladimir Putin, former member of KGB
• Centralized power in the hands of the federal
  government
• Regulate political parties
• Silence critics, especially the media
• Vowed to bring Chechnya back into Russia
• Restored Russias position as an influential
  force in the world
• Widespread sense of unease and decline of the
  social disorder
• Alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, criminal
  activities, disintegration of traditional family
  system
• Still attempts to restore pride and discipline in
  Russian society

10
The Unification of Europe

• NATO formed in 1949
• European Economic Community (EEC) created in
  1957 France, West Germany, the Benelux
  Countries and Italy
• Eliminated customs barriers for ember nations
• Crated a free-trade area protected by a common
  external tariff
• Renamed European Community
• New Members Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark,
  Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Finland, and
  Sweden

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The European Union

• By 2000, EC had 370 million people
• Worlds largest single trading entity
• ¼ of worlds commerce
• 1994, the European Community became the European
  Union (EU)
• An economic and monetary union
• Common currency the euro
• Established a common agricultural policy
• Ended national passports

12
European Union, 2004
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Toward a United Europe

• New goal to incorporate into the union the
  states of eastern and southeastern Europe
• 10 new members Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia,
  Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland,
  Slovakia, and Slovenia
• EU population - 455 million people

14
Emergence of the Superpower The United States

• American Politics and Society Through the Vietnam
  Era
• Economic boom after World War II
• John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 1961-1963
• Lyndon Johnson (1908-1973), 1963-1969
• Martin Luther King (1929-1968)
• Desegregation, Civil Rights Act, 1964
• Voting Rights Act, 1965
• Race riots 1965-1967
• Vietnam War, Anti-war protests
• Richard Nixon (1913-1994) elected in 1968

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Shift Rightward after 1973

• Nixons presidency
• Watergate
• Jimmy Carter (b. 1924), 1976-1980
• Stagflation high inflation and decline in
  earnings
• 53 hostages held by Iran
• Ronald Reagan (b. 1911), 1981-1989
• Reverses the welfare state
• Military buildup
• Deficit spending problems
• George H.W. Bush (b. 1924)
• Bill Clinton elected in 1992
• Supported many Republican issues
• Period of economic growth
• Charges of misconduct and impeachment

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George W. Bush

• George W. Bush elected in 2000
• Bush lost popular vote to Al Gore, won the
  electoral vote after a highly controversial
  victory in the state of Florida
• First 4 years War on Terrorism and U.S.-led war
  on Iraq
• Tax cuts favored wealthy and produced record
  deficits
• Environmental laws weakened
• In 2004, Bush elected for a second term
• In 2005, Bushs popularity plummeted as
  discontent grew over war in Iraq and financial
  corruption in Republic Party
• Poor handling of relief efforts after Hurricane
  Katrina

17
The Development of Canada

• After WW II, Canada had economic prosperity
• Pursuit of industrial development electronic,
  aircraft, nuclear, chemical engineering
  industries
• After 1945, Liberal Party dominated Canadian
  Politics
• Lester Pearson (1897-1972)
• created a welfare state with national social
  security system and national health insurance
  plan
• Pierre Trudeau (1919-2000), most prominent
  Liberal government
• industrialization and inflation
• Brian Mulroney, Conservative Prime Minister
• Sought greater privatization of state-run
  corporations
• Entered free trade agreement with the U.S.,
  NAFTA, which was resented by Canadians

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Canada

• Jean Crétien, Liberal Prime Minister
• Conservative fiscal policies with strong economic
  growth yielded a surplus
• Reelected in 1997
• Stephen Harper, Conservative Prime Minister
• Financial corruption in Crétiens party brought
  another Conservative government

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Latin America Since 1945

• Great Depression led to political instability
  that brought on military coups and militaristic
  regimes
• Great Depression helped shift from a traditional
  to modern economic structure
• With exports cut in half and unable to buy
  foreign manufactured goods, Latin America
  developed its own industries
• Without private capital from trade, governments
  invested in new industries steel in Chile and
  Brazil and oil in Argentina and Mexico
• By the 1960s, Latin America still economically
  dependent on U.S. Europe and now Japan
• Great poverty, small domestic markets, failure to
  find foreign markets for their products led to
  instability and a reliance on military regimes
• Needed to curb the power of new industrial middle
  class and working class

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Latin America, contd

• 1960s, repressive military regimes in Chile,
  Brazil, and Argentina
• Abolished political parties
• Returned to export-import economies financed by
  foreigners
• 1970s, debt crisis from borrowing from abroad
• 1980s, movement toward democracy wanted basic
  rights and fee and fair elections
• Organization of American States
• During Cold War, the U.S. grew anxious about
  communism in Central America and the Caribbean
• U.S. returned to policy of unilateral action to
  prevent another Cuba
• U.S. provided military aid to anti-communist
  regimes

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South America
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The Threat of Maxist Revolutions The Example
of Cuba

• Since 1934, Cuba ruled by dictator, Fulgencio
  Batista, who had close economic ties to American
  investors
• Fidel Castro led the opposition movement along
  with Ernesto Che Guevara
• Batista lost support after a brutal attack on
  Castros movement and fled Cuba
• Castro seized Havana on January 1, 1959

23
Cuba

• Soviet Union provided 100 million in credits and
  agreed to buy Cuban sugar
• U.S. imposed trade embargo on Cuba driving Castro
  closer to the Soviets
• U.S. breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba in
  1961
• President Kennedy supported a coup attempt
  against Castro
• Bay of Pigs invasion was a military disaster
  for U.S.
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• Castros social revolution had mixed results
• Gains in health care and education
• Agricultural diversification but still reliant
  upon sugar
• Collapse of the Soviet Union meant the end of
  Soviet subsidies

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Nationalism and the Military The Example of
Argentina

• Group of officers overthrows government, June
  1943
• Juan Perón (1895-1974), elected president 1946
• Increased industrialization
• Frees Argentina from foreign investors
• Eva Perón
• Overthrown by the military 1955
• Returns in 1973 and elected president, died in
  1974

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Juan and Eva Peron
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Argentina

• Military seizes power, 1976
• Disappearance of opponents
• Falkland Islands (Malvinas) War, April 1982
• Return of civil power in 1983
• Raul Alfonsin
• reestablished democratic practices
• Carlos Saul Menem
• elected in 1989 with peaceful transfer of power
• Néstor Kirchner
• Problems of foreign debt and inflation with some
  economic growth

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Mexican Way

• Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) controls
  Mexican politics
• Industrial growth in 1950s and 1960s
• Student protests, 1968
• One party system protested
• Protest in Tlatelolco Square
• Political reform Luis Echeverria and Jose
  Portillo in 1970s
• Registering political parties
• Freedom of debate in press and at universities

28
Mexico

• Foreign debt
• Oil reserves discovered making Mexico dependent
  of these revenues
• Mid-1980s oil prices drop and Mexico could no
  longer service its debts
• Vicente Fox defeats the PRI to be elected
  president, 2000
• Failed to deal with police corruption and
  bureaucratic inefficiency

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Society and Culture in the Western World

• The Emergence of a New Society
• The technocratic society
• Changes in the middle class managers and
  technicians
• Changes among the traditional lower class
• Leisure activity
• Education
• Student protests of the 60s and 70s
• Student radicalism

30
Society and Culture in the Western World,
contd

• The Permissive Society
• Sexual revolution
• Breakdown of the traditional family
• Drug culture

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A Love-in
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Women in the Postwar World

• The return to traditional roles and the baby boom
• Smaller families due to birth control
• More women enter the work force
• Working women at lower wages
• The Feminist Movement The Search for Liberation
• More women gain the right to vote after World War
  II
• By the 1960s women began to assert their rights
• Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), The Second Sex
• Argues that living in a male-dominated society,
  women have been defined by their differences from
  men and consequently receive second-class status

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Transformation of Womens Lives

• Women need to average 2.1 children in order to
  ensure a natural replacement of a countrys
  population
• Increasing number of women in the workforce
• Womens liberation movement
• Control over their own bodies
• Political activism
• Ecological activity
• Women reach out to other women

34
The Growth of Terrorism

• Munich Olympic games, 1972
• Motivations
• Militant nationalism seeking separate states
• Attacks against the ruling government the IRA
• Palestinian terrorists
• Angry over the loss of land
• Rome and Vienna, 1985
• State sponsored terrorism
• Pan American flight 103, December 21, 1988

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Terrorist Attack on the United States

• Attack on the World Trade Center and the
  Pentagon, September 11, 2001
• Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden
• U.S. and NATO attack on Taliban-controlled
  centers and al-Qaeda hiding places in
  Afghanistan
• Afghan forces assisted by U.S. pushed Taliban out
  
• Installed new democratic multiethnic government
• Continues to face revived Taliban activity

36
The Environment and the Green Movements

• Ecological problems
• Major political parties in Europe to advocate new
  regulations to protect the environment
• Chernobyl, Ukraine, 1986
• Green Parties
• Germany, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland

37
Western Culture Since 1945

• Western world saw diversity and innovation
  intellectually and culturally
• New direction in 1970s postmodern cultural
  world
• Postwar Literature
• Theater of the Absurd
• Samuel Becket (1906-1990), Waiting for Godot
• Post-war disillusionment
• Fixed ideological beliefs in politics or religion
  inspired existentialism meaning and existence

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Literature, contd

• Albert Camus (1913-1960) Jean-Paul Sartre
  (1905-1980)
• Sense of worlds meaninglessness
• Bleak worldview of absurdist drama and literature
• With absence of God in universe, humans had no
  preordained destiny and utterly alone with no
  future and no hope, but with one source of hope
  themselves.

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Postmodernism

• 1970s postmodern covers intellectual and
  artistic styles and ways of thinking
• It rejects modern Western belief in an objective
  truth
• Focuses on relative nature of reality and
  knowledge
• Jacques Derrida (1930-2004)
• Poststructuralism or deconstruction
• Culture is created and can be analyzed according
  to the manner in which people create their own
  meaning
• No fixed truth or universal meaning
• Michel Foucault (1926-1984)
• Explored relationships of power
• power is exercised, rather than possessed
• The diffusion of power and oppression marks all
  relationship

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Postmodernism in Literature

• Central and Eastern Europe
• Milan Kundera (b. 1929) of Czechoslovakia,
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being, 1984
• Speaks to using love as a way to a better life
  rather than despairing because of the political
  repression
• Human spirit can be lessened but not destroyed.

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Trends in Art

• Following WWII, U.S. dominated art world and
  popular culture
• New York City replaced Paris as the artistic
  center of the West
• Guggenheim Museum, MOMA, Whitney, art galleries
  promoted modern art and helped determine artistic
  tastes throughout the world
• Abstract Expressionism action painting
• Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)
• Postmodern architecture of late 1970s
• Modernist glass box of 1980s

42
The World of Science and Technology

• Government and military sponsorship of science
• Radar, rockets, jets, computers, atomic bomb
• First computer to break German secret codes
• Questioning of science and technology

43
The Explosion of Popular Culture

• Popular Culture and Americanization of the World
• Motion pictures
• Popular music
• Sports
• Satellite television

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Discussion Questions

• What political, social, and economic changes has
  the United States experienced since 1945?
• What problems have the nations of Latin America
  faced since 1945, and what role has Marxist
  ideology played in their efforts to solve these
  problems?
• What major social, cultural, and intellectual
  developments have occurred in Western Europe and
  North America since 1945?