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Chapter 29
The Contemporary Western World: Since 1970
Still under construction . . .
Outline:
I. Moving Beyond the Cold War: A New World Order?
A. The End of the Cold War
II. Toward a New Western Order
A. Revolutionary Era in the Soviet Union
1. The Gorbachev Era
2. The End of the Soviet Union
B. Eastern Europe: The Collapse of the Communist Order
C. The Reunification of Germany
D. The Disintergration of Yugoslavia
1. The War in Kosovo
E. Western Europe: The Winds of Change
1. Germany Restored
2. Great Britain: Thatcher and Thatcherism
3. Uncertainties in France
F. The United States: The American Domestic Scene
G. Contemporary Canada
III. New Directions and New Problems in Western Society
A. Transformation in Women's Lives
1. The Women's Movement
B. The Growth of Terrorism
1. Terrorist Attacks on the United States
C. The Environment and the Green Movements
IV. The World of Western Culture
A. Trends in Art and Literature
B. The Revival of ReligionThe New World of Science and Technology
C. The Expolsion of Popular Culture
1. Popular Culture and the Americanization of the World
V. Toward a Global Civilization
Key terms and People:
Chapter Summary:
The Western world has seen amazing changes during the past thirty years, the most remarkable being the disintegration
of the Soviet Union, the release of its dependent satellites, and the formation of a "New World Order". In 1980 the Cold War
was still being waged as an ideological struggle between Capitalism and Communism; but by 1990 the entire picture had changed.
Beginning
with Mikhail Gorbachev’s attempt to reform the Soviet economy, pressure for change gathered such strength that the Soviet
Union disintegrated and all the countries that were once a part of its sphere of influence were freed to go their own ways.
Germany unified, while Yugoslavia crumbled into warring factions. Old enemies became friends in an effort to cope with threats
of chaos from many sides, while ethnic groups, once forcibly combined under single national banners, began pulling apart to
create autonomous states. On the threshold of the twenty-first century, the world looked quite different from the one formed
just after World War II.
What the "New World Order" would be remained unclear, but the challenges facing it were obvious.
Terrorism, alien residents, and environmental abuses would engage energies for the foreseeable future. Trends in the arts,
literature, the sciences, philosophy and religion reflected both the tensions of the Cold War just ended and the uncertainties
that come with its demise.
At present all thoughtful people see that in order to cope with the dangers and realize
the opportunities of the future we must begin to think globally. The nation-state, for so long the normative institution in
Western life, must take second place to the state of humankind if we are to be at peace. The heroes of the future may be the
men and women who show the way to think and live in this fashion.
Focus Questions:
- How and why did the Cold War end?
- What reforms did Gorbachev institute in the Soviet union, and what role did he play in the Soviet Union's
demise?
- What changes have occurred in Easern Europe as a result of the revolutions of 1989?
- What are the major political and social developments in Western Europe and North America since 1970?
- What major cultural and intellectual trends have emerged since 1970?
- What are the similarities and differences between the feminist movement of the nineteenth century and the
post war feminist movement?
Chapter 17
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