The Contemporary Western World

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Chapter 29

• The Contemporary Western World
• Since 1973

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Timeline
3
Map 29.1 The New Europe
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The Revolutionary Era in the Soviet Union

• The Brezhnev Years
• The Brezhnev Doctrine
• Détente
• Economic emphasis on heavy industry
• Patronage system
• By the early 1980s, the Soviet Union was in poor
  shape
• The Gorbachev Era
• Problems of rigid and centralized planning
• Perestroika (restructuring)
• Glasnost (openness)
• Political reforms
• Call for a new Soviet parliament, 1988
• Congress of Peoples Deputies elected 1989
• 1988-1990 nationalist movements erupt
• Lithuania declares independence, 1990

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The End of the Soviet Union

• Gorbachev arrested, August 19, 1991 coup fails
• Ukraine votes for independence, December 1991,
  others follow
• December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigns and turns
  power over to Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia
• Yeltsin introduces a free market economy
• Yeltsin wins the presidency of Russia in 1996 but
  resigns in 1999
• Brutal war against Chechnya
• Vladimir Putin replaced Yeltsin when he resigned
• Vows to return breakaway state of Chechnya
• In 2001 launches reforms including unrestricted
  sale and purchase of land
• Reform did not resolve Russias economic problems

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Chechnya
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Eastern Europe The Collapse of the Communist
Order in Poland

• Edward Gierek becomes Polands leader in 1971
• Economic problems
• 1980 protests erupt in response to increased
  food prices
• Solidarity
• Lech Walesa (b. 1943)
• Free parliamentary elections, 1988
• December, 1990 Walesa elected President
• November, 1995 Alexander Kwasniewski elected
  President

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The Collapse of the Communist Order Hungary
Czechoslovakia

• Hungary
• Jano Kadar in power for more than 30 years
• Moves slowly toward legalizing small private
  enterprises
• The Democratic Forum won the elections of 1990
• Were committed to a democratic government and
  free market economy
• Czechoslovakia
• Communist government collapsed in 1989
• Vaclav Havel was in control of the government
• Ethnic problems will lead to a peaceful division

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Collapse of the Communist Order

• Romania
• Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu established
  dictatorial regime
• Crushed demonstrations in Timisoara that led to
  other demonstrations
• Army will not support Ceausescu
• Ceausescu and his wife were arrested, tried and
  executed
• Bulgaria
• Todor Zhivkov (leader of Bulgarian Communist
  Party, 1954 1989)
• Protests result in Zhivkovs ouster
• 1991 election of new government led by the
  United Democratic Front
• The Reunification of Germany
• Unrest due to economic problems
• Communist government falls, November 1989
• Berlin Wall comes down
• Politically unified, October 3, 1990

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The Berlin Wall 1961 -1989
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The Disintegration of Yugoslavia

• Death of Tito in 1980
• League of Communists
• In 1990 republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia,
  Herzegovina, and Macedonia worked toward a
  federal structure
• Slbodan Milosevic rejects these efforts without
  new border arrangements to accommodate Serb
  minorities
• Slovenia and Croatia declare independence
• Yugoslavian army sent to attach Croatia
• Army becoming more and more a Serbian Army
• 1992 Serbs turn on Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Ethnic cleansing
• NATO strikes back

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Map 29.2 The Lands of Former Yugoslavia
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War in Kosovo

• War erupted in 1999
• Ethnic Albanians
• Stripped of autonomous status in 1989
• Kosovo Liberation Army
• US and NATO intervene
• Milosevic refused to sign agreement and NATO
  resumes air strikes
• Milosovic ousted from office in fall elections,
  2000
• Brought to trial by an international tribunal for
  war crimes against humanity

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Germany Restored

• Willy Brandt (1913-1992), 1969-1974
• Ostpolitik, opening toward the east
• Treaty with East Germany, 1972
• Helmut Schmide (b. 1918)
• Technocrat concerned with economic conditions
• Helmut Kohl (b. 1930)
• Problems of union

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Great Britain Thatcher and Thatcherism

• Thatcherism
• Problems of Northern Ireland
• Direct rule from London, 1972
• Conservatives gain political power, 1979
• Political changes of Prime Minister Margaret
  Thatcher (b. 1925)
• Broke power of the labor unions
• Austerity to control inflation
• Hard line toward communism
• Rebuilds the military
• Anti-tax riots force Thatcher to resign, November
  1990
• Tony Blair (b. 1953), Labour Party, 1957

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Uncertainties in France

• François Mitterrand (1916-1995) , 1981-1995
• Economic difficulties
• Socialistic policies
• Economic weaknesses of the 1990s
• Move to conservatism, Jacques Chirac elected 1995

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Confusion in Italy

• Coalition Politics
• Eurocommunism
• Economic recession in the 1970s, economic growth
  in the 1980s
• Political Corruption
• Silvio Berlusconi

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The Unification of Europe

• 1973 European Economic Community (EEC) becomes
  European Community (EC) when Great Britain,
  Ireland, and Denmark join
• 2000 EC contains 370 million people
• 1994 EC renames itself European Union (EU) and
  focuses on political unification
• 2002 Introduction of common currency (euro)
• Problems
• Toward a United Europe May 2004 Czech Republic,
  Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta,
  Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Cyprus join EU

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Map 29.3 European Union, 2004
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The United States The American Domestic Scene
1968 - 1981

• Richard Nixon (1913-1994) elected in 1968
• Ends Vietnam war, 1973
• Watergate scandal
• Resignation, August 9, 1974
• Jimmy Carter (b. 1924), 1976-1980
• Stagflation high inflation and unemployment
• Oil embargo, 1973
• 53 hostages held by Iran

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The United States The American Domestic Scene
1982 - Present

• Ronald Reagan (b. 1911), 1981-1989
• Reverses the welfare state
• Military buildup
• Supply-side economics
• George H. Bush (b. 1924), 1989-1993
• Economic downturn
• Bill Clinton elected 1992
• Misconduct
• George W. Bush
• Terrorism
• Economic policies

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Presidents Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon in
Historic Photo
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Contemporary Canada

• Pierre Trudeau (1919-2000), elected in 1968
• Brian Mulroney (b. 1939), elected in 1984
• Quebec
• René Lévesque
• Parti Québécois

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The End of the Cold War

• During the late 1980s, US and Soviet Union move
  to slow down arms race
• 1989-1990 Political upheaval in Eastern Europe
  upset postwar status quo
• The Gulf War
• September 11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacked United
  States
• March 2003 Iraq War

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An Age of Terrorism?

• Terrorist methods
• Munich Olympic Games, 1972
• Left and right wing terrorist groups
• Militant nationalism
• Terrorist Attack on the United States
• September 11, 2001
• Al-Qaida
• Osama bin Laden
• Afghanistan

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The West and Islam

• The Israeli-Palestinian conflict fueled
  anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world
• Rise of Islamic governments in Iran and elsewhere
• Impact of the Persian Gulf War
• Impact of the Iraq War

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Briefing on Iraq, with Bush Sr.
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New Directions and New Problems in Western Society

• Transformation in Womens Lives
• Decline in the birthrate
• Rise in the work force
• The Womens Movement
• Abortion
• Womens studies
• Anti-nuclear movement/Ecology
• International womens conferences

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Guest Workers and Immigrants

• Europe experienced a severe labor shortage in the
  1950s and 1960s
• Guest Workers
• Backlash against foreign workers
• 1980s Influx of refugees
• Impact of immigrants on social services
• New limits on immigration

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The Environment and the Green Movements

• Problems in the environment
• Chernobyl, 1986
• Green Parties

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Western Culture Today

• Postmodern Thought
• Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 1913)
• Jacques Derrida (1930 2004)
• Art
• Rejection of object-based artworks
• Postmodernism
• Photorealism
• Literature
• Gabriel Garcia Márquez, One Hundred Years of
  Solitude
• Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
• Music
• Serialism
• Minimalism

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Religion Technology

• Varieties of Religious Life
• Fundamentalism
• The growth of Islam
• Pope John Paul II, 1978-
• The World of Science and Technology
• Military-Industrial Complex
• German rockets jets
• British work in computers
• J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb
• Computers
• Dangers of science and technology
• New conceptions of the Universe

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Popular Culture Image and Globalization

• Music
• Punk
• Music videos
• Rap
• Film Fantasy and Epics
• The Growth of Mass Sports
• Globalization of Popular Culture

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Toward a Global Civilization?

• Problems are global not just national
• Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)
• Interdependency

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Discussion Questions

• How might we see Brezhnev as a transition between
  the old Soviet regime and the changes brought by
  Gorbachev?
• What steps did Czechoslovakia take to gain
  freedom from communism and then a peaceful split
  of the country?
• Why did the end of the Cold War prove so painful
  for Yugoslavia?
• How does the war on terrorism differ from
  previous international struggles?

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Web Links

• Gorbachev
• The United Nations
• Nationmaster Europe
• Europa Gateway to the European Union
• Frontline Truth, War, and Consequences