872

The ContemporaryWestern World

1970–Present

Key EventsAs you read this chapter, look for the key events in the development of the contem-

porary Western world.• Political and social changes led to the end of the Cold War and the fall of commu-

nism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.• Economic challenges helped bring about and accompanied these sweeping political

and social changes.• Society and culture reflected these changes with the advent of the women’s

movement, the growth of technology, and a rise in terrorism.

The Impact TodayThe events that occurred during this time period still impact our lives today.

• Energy prices continue to climb as world oil supplies diminish, causing economic challenges for oil-dependent nations.

• The computer and the Internet contribute to the creation of a global society.• Film, television, music, and advertising spread the American way of life throughout

the world.

World History Video The Chapter 28 video, “Solidarity,” chroniclesthe history of the movement for democracy in Poland.

1970 1974 1978 1982 1986

1970sEqual Pay and Sex DiscriminationActs passed inUnited States

1980Lech Walesaorganizes tradeunion Solidarityin Poland

1987Soviet Unionand United States sign INF Treaty

Women’s liberation march

873

Advances in space exploration have been made possible by new technology.

HISTORY

Chapter OverviewVisit the Glencoe WorldHistory Web site at

and click on Chapter 28–ChapterOverview to preview chapter information.

wh.glencoe.com1990 1994 1998 2002 2006

1989Political upheavaland revolutionoccur in EasternEurope; BerlinWall falls

1990Germanyreunified

1991SovietUnion isdissolved

2001Terrorists attackWorld Trade Centerand Pentagon in theUnited States

2002Euro becomescommon currencyof several WesternEuropean nations

The Berlin Wall comes down.

Euro coin

874

“Tear Down This Wall”n 1988, the American president, Ronald Reagan, traveledto West Berlin. Facing the Berlin Wall, he challenged

Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet bloc, to “tear downthis wall.” During his own visit to West Germany a year later,Gorbachev responded, “The wall could disappear once theconditions that generated the need for it disappear. I do notsee much of a problem here.”

East Germany’s Communist leaders, however, did see aproblem, and they refused to remove the wall. In the summerof 1989, tens of thousands of East Germans fled their countrywhile hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demandthe resignation of the hard-line Communist leader, ErichHonecker.

Honecker finally relented. On November 9, 1989, a newEast German government opened the wall and allowed itscitizens to travel freely between West and East Berlin. Thenext day, government workers began to knock down the wall.They were soon joined by thousands of West and East Berlin-ers who used sledgehammers and crowbars to rip apart theCold War symbol.

Germans were overcome with joy. Many danced on thewall while orchestras played in the streets. Churches, theaters,and shops remained open day and night in West Germany asEast Germans took advantage of their new freedom to travel.In 1990, West and East Germany became a single nation, andBerlin was once again the capital of Germany.

I Why It MattersIn 1970, after more than twodecades of the Cold War, the divi-sion of Europe between West andEast seemed well established tomost Europeans. A prosperousWestern Europe that was allied tothe United States stood opposed to a still-struggling Eastern Europethat remained largely subject to the Soviet Union. However, within20 years, a revolutionary upheavalin the Soviet Union and EasternEurope brought an end to the ColdWar and the long-standing divisionof postwar Europe.

History and You Research con-temporary Berlin. Use sources rang-ing from academic histories to travelguides. Make a list of the ways theEast/West split still affects Berlintoday. Which of these reminders ofthe past did you expect, and whichsurprised you? Why?

Near Berlin’sBrandenburg Gatein 1990, crowds ofpeople celebrate the reunification of Germany.

1988Communist Party conferenceinitiates political reforms

1985Mikhail Gorbachev assumesleadership of Soviet Union

2000Ex-KGB agent Vladimir Putinbecomes president of Russia

Guide to Reading

Decline of the Soviet Union

Preview of Events

1991Boris Yeltsin becomespresident of Russia

✦1985 ✦1988 ✦1991 ✦1994 ✦1997 ✦2000

In his book Perestroika, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev wrote:

“There is a great thirst for mutual understanding and mutual communication in theworld. It is felt among politicians, it is gaining momentum among the intelligentsia,representatives of culture, and the public at large. And if the Russian word ‘perestroika’has easily entered the international lexicon [vocabulary], this is due to more than justinterest in what is going on in the Soviet Union. Now the whole world needs restruc-turing, i.e., progressive development, a fundamental change . . . I believe that moreand more people will come to realize that through RESTRUCTURING in the broadsense of the word, the integrity of the world will be enhanced.”

—Perestroika, 1987

After Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, the Soviet Union began to makechanges in its foreign policy, and the Cold War rapidly came to an end.

From Cold War to Post-Cold WarBy the 1970s, American-Soviet relations had entered a new phase, known as

détente, which was marked by a relaxation of tensions and improved relationsbetween the two superpowers. Grain and consumer goods were sold to the SovietUnion. Beginning in 1979, however, the apparent collapse of détente began a newperiod of East-West confrontation.

Voices from the Past

Main Ideas• The Cold War ended after leadership

changed in the Soviet Union.• Gorbachev’s policies contributed to the

disintegration of the Soviet Union.• Conversion from a socialist to a free-

market economy has created manyproblems in the former Soviet states.

Key Termsdétente, dissident, perestroika

People To IdentifyRonald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev,Leonid Brezhnev, Boris Yeltsin, VladimirPutin

Places To LocateAfghanistan, Ukraine, Belarus

Preview Questions1. How and why did the Cold War end?2. What problems arose when the Soviet

Union disintegrated?

Reading StrategyCompare and Contrast Create a chartlike the one below comparing the policiesof Brezhnev and Gorbachev.

CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World 875

Mikhail Gorbachev

Leonid MikhailBrezhnev Gorbachev

Foreign Policy

Economic Policy

Military Policy

Personal Policy

The Cold War Intensifies Détente received amajor setback in 1979, when the Soviet Unioninvaded Afghanistan. TheSoviet Union wanted torestore a pro-Soviet regimethere, which the UnitedStates viewed as an act ofexpansion. President JimmyCarter canceled Americanparticipation in the 1980Olympic Games to be heldin Moscow and placed anembargo on the shipment ofAmerican grain to the Soviets.

The Cold War further intensified when RonaldReagan was elected president in 1980. Calling theSoviet Union an “evil empire,” Reagan began a mil-itary buildup and a new arms race. Reagan also gavemilitary aid to the Afghan rebels, in order to main-tain a war in Afghanistan that the Soviet Unioncould not win.

End of the Cold War The accession of MikhailGorbachev (GAWR•buh•CHAWF) to power in theSoviet Union in 1985 eventually brought a dramaticend to the Cold War. Gorbachev’s “New Thinking”—his willingness to rethink Soviet foreign policy—ledto stunning changes.

Gorbachev made an agreement with the UnitedStates in 1987 (the Intermediate-range Nuclear Force[INF] Treaty) to eliminate intermediate-range nuclearweapons. Both sides had reasons to slow down theexpensive arms race. Gorbachev hoped to make far-reaching economic and internal reforms. As itsnational debt tripled, the United States had movedfrom being a creditor nation (a country that exportsmore than it imports), to being the world’s biggestdebtor nation. By 1990, both countries knew thattheir large military budgets would make it difficultfor them to solve their domestic problems.

In another policy change, Gorbachev stopped giv-ing Soviet military support to Communist govern-ments in Eastern Europe. This opened the door to theoverthrow of Communist regimes in these countries.A mostly peaceful revolutionary movement sweptthrough Eastern Europe in 1989. The reunification ofGermany on October 3, 1990, was a powerful symbolof the end of the Cold War. In 1991, the Soviet Unionwas dissolved. Renewal of the rivalry between thetwo superpowers was now almost impossible.

Summarizing What events immedi-ately preceded the end of the Cold War?

Reading Check

Upheaval in the Soviet UnionYou will learn how movements for

independence caused the breakup of the Soviet Union.Between 1964 and 1982, drastic change in the

Soviet Union had seemed highly unlikely. What hap-pened to create such a dramatic turnaround in such ashort time?

The Brezhnev Era When Nikita Khrushchev wasremoved from office in 1964, two men, Alexei Kosy-gin and Leonid Brezhnev (BREHZH•NEFF), replacedhim. Brezhnev emerged as the dominant leader in the1970s. He was determined to keep Eastern Europe inCommunist hands and was uninterested in reform.Brezhnev insisted on the right of the Soviet Union tointervene if communism was threatened in anotherCommunist state (known as the Brezhnev Doctrine).

At the same time, Brezhnev benefited from themore relaxed atmosphere associated with détente.The Soviet Union was roughly equal to the UnitedStates in nuclear arms. Its leaders thus felt secure andwere willing to relax their authoritarian rule. UnderBrezhnev, the regime allowed more access to Westernstyles of music, dress, and art. However, dissidents—those who spoke out against the regime—were stillpunished.

In his economic policies, Brezhnev continued toemphasize heavy industry. Two problems, however,weakened the Soviet economy. The government’scentral planning led to a huge, complex bureaucracythat discouraged efficiency and led to indifference.Moreover, collective farmers had no incentive towork hard. Many preferred working their own smallprivate plots to laboring in the collective workbrigades.

By the 1970s, the Communist ruling class in theSoviet Union had become complacent and corrupt.Party and state leaders—as well as leaders of thearmy and secret police (KGB)— enjoyed a high stan-dard of living. Brezhnev was unwilling to tamperwith the party leadership and state bureaucracy,regardless of the inefficiency and corruption that thesystem encouraged.

By 1980, the Soviet Union was seriously ailing, witha declining economy, a rise in infant mortality rates, adramatic surge in alcoholism, and poor working con-ditions. Many felt the system was in trouble. Withinthe Communist Party, a small group of reformersemerged. One of these was Mikhail Gorbachev. A newera began in March 1985 when party leaders chosehim to lead the Soviet Union.

876 CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

AralSea

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CHINAIRAN

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877CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

Border of the former Soviet UnionNational boundaryNational capital

Three republics of the Soviet Union—Lithuania, Estonia,and Latvia—became independent states in September of1991. Twelve more countries became independent inDecember of that year.

1. Interpreting Maps Identify the new independent states.2. Applying Geography Skills Why would trade become

more difficult for Russia after the breakup?

Gorbachev and Perestroika From the start, Gor-bachev preached the need for radical reforms. Thebasis of these reforms was perestroika (PEHR•uh•STROY•kuh) or restructuring. At first, this meantrestructuring economic policy. Gorbachev wanted tostart a market economy, where consumers influencewhat is produced. This economy would have limitedfree enterprise (based on private ownership of busi-nesses) and some private property. Soon, however,Gorbachev realized that an attempt to reform theeconomy without political reform would be doomedto failure.

At the Communist Party conference in 1988, Gor-bachev established a new Soviet parliament, the Con-gress of People’s Deputies, whose members were tobe elected. This parliament met in 1989—the firstsuch meeting in Russia since 1918. Early in 1990, Gor-bachev decreed that non-Communist political partiescould organize. He also did away with a constitu-tional provision that guaranteed the CommunistParty a “leading role” in government.

At the same time, Gorbachev strengthened hispower by creating a new state presidency. The posi-tion of first secretary of the party (Gorbachev’s posi-tion) had been the most important post in the SovietUnion. However, as the Communist Party becameless closely tied to the state, the position of first sec-retary carried less power. In March 1990, Gorbachevbecame the Soviet Union’s first (and last) president.

The End of the Soviet Union One of Gorbachev’smost serious problems was the multiethnic nature ofthe Soviet Union. It included 92 nationalities and 112different languages. The iron hand of the CommunistParty, centered in Moscow, had kept centuries-oldethnic tensions contained.

Breakup of the Soviet Union, 1991

� BorisYeltsin

As Gorbachev released this iron grip, these ten-sions again came to the forefront. Nationalist move-ments emerged throughout the republics of theSoviet Union. Between 1988 and 1990, there werecalls for independence first in Soviet Georgia andthen in Latvia, Estonia, Moldavia, Uzbekistan, Azer-baijan, and Lithuania.

During 1990 and 1991, Gorbachev struggled todeal with the problems unleashed by his reforms. By1991, the conservative leaders of the traditionalSoviet institutions—the army, government, KGB,and military industries—were worried. The possiblebreakup of the Soviet Union would mean an end totheir privileges.

On August 19, 1991, a group of these conservativeleaders arrested Gorbachev and tried to seize power.The attempt failed, however, when Boris Yeltsin,president of the Russian Republic, and thousands ofRussians bravely resisted the rebel forces inMoscow.

The Soviet republics now moved for completeindependence. Ukraine voted for independence onDecember 1, 1991. A week later, the leaders of Russia,Ukraine, and Belarus announced that the SovietUnion had “ceased to exist.”

Gorbachev resigned on December 25, 1991, andturned over his responsibilities as commander inchief to Boris Yeltsin, the new president of Russia. Bythe end of 1991, one of the largest empires in worldhistory had come to an end. A new era had begun inits now-independent states.

878 CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

Checking for Understanding1. Define détente, dissident, perestroika.

2. Identify Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gor-bachev, Leonid Brezhnev, BrezhnevDoctrine, Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin.

3. Locate Afghanistan, Ukraine, Belarus.

4. Explain why the conservative leadersof the traditional Soviet institutionsopposed the breakup of the SovietUnion. Name the institutions theseleaders represented.

5. List the problems that weakened theSoviet economy during the 1960s and1970s.

Critical Thinking6. Drawing Inferences Why did the

former Soviet Union have problemsadapting to a free-market society?

7. Organizing Information Create a dia-gram like the one below showing theproblems the Soviet Union faced undercommunism and the problems the for-mer Soviet republics face today.

Analyzing Visuals8. Examine the photographs of Mikhail

Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin on pages875 and 877. What did each leaderaccomplish? What challenges did eachman face? Which of these men had agreater impact on world history? Why?

9. Expository Writing Locate bio-graphical information on LeonidBrezhnev, Mikhail Gorbachev, BorisYeltsin, and Vladimir Putin. In anessay, analyze each leader’sstrengths and weaknesses. How did each man come to power?

SovietUnion

FormerSoviet

Republics

The New Russia Boris Yeltsin was committed tointroducing a free market economy as quickly as pos-sible, but the transition was not easy. Economic hard-ships and social disarray weremade worse by a dramatic rise inthe activities of organized crime.Yeltsin’s brutal use of forceagainst the Chechens (CHET•chunz), who wanted to secedefrom Russia and create their own independent republic, alsoundermined his support. Despitethe odds against him, however,Yeltsin won reelection in 1996.

At the end of 1999, Yeltsin resigned and wasreplaced by Vladimir Putin, who was elected presi-dent in 2000. Putin vowed to return the breakawaystate of Chechnya to Russian authority and to adopt amore assertive role in international affairs. Fighting inChechnya continued throughout 2000, nearly reduc-ing the republic’s capital city of Grozny to ruins.

In July 2001, Putin launched reforms aimed atboosting growth and budget revenues and keepingRussia on a strong economic track. The reformsincluded free sale and purchase of land, tax cuts, andefforts to join the international World Trade Organi-zation. Since then, Russia has experienced a budgetsurplus and a growing economy.

Cause and Effect How didGorbachev’s reforms cause the breakup of the Soviet Union?

Reading Check

BlackSea

RUSSIA

GEORGIA

Chechnya

AZERBAIJAN

ARMENIA

Caspian

Sea

Eastern EuropeGuide to Reading

Main Ideas• Gorbachev’s policy of not giving military

support to Communist governmentscreated the opportunity for revolution.

• Massive demonstrations peacefullyended some Communist regimes, whileviolence ended others.

Key Termsethnic cleansing, autonomous

People To IdentifyLech Walesa, Václav Havel, SlobodanMilosevic

Places To LocateBosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo

Preview Questions1. What caused the East German govern-

ment to open its border in 1989?2. What effect did the 1990 collapse of

communism have on Yugoslavia?

Reading StrategyCategorizing Information Create a chartlisting one or two reasons for, and theresults of, revolution.

Preview of Events

CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World 879

Roy Gutman, a journalist for Newsday, wrote from Bosnia in July 1992:

“Visegrad, with a population of about 30,000, is one of a number of towns whereSerb forces carried out ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Muslims in the past two weeks, accordingto the Bosnian government. ‘There was chaos in Visegrad. Everything was burned,looted and destroyed,’ said [one man], 43, who spoke of the terrible events but wouldgive neither his name nor his profession. He escaped only because he was an invalidwith a gangrenous [diseased] leg. The survivors of the massacre are the old, the infirm,the women and the children. They are traumatized by what they witnessed, barelyable to speak or to control their emotions.”

—The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness History, Jon E. Lewis, 2000

Ethnic cleansing was one aspect of an upheaval in Eastern Europe that began in 1989.

Revolutions in Eastern EuropePeople in Eastern Europe had not always been happy with their Soviet-style

Communist regimes. After Gorbachev made it clear that the Soviet Union wouldnot intervene militarily in their states, revolutions broke out throughout EasternEurope. By looking at four Eastern European states, we can see how the processworked.

Poland Workers’ protests led to demands for change in Poland. In 1980, a workernamed Lech Walesa (lehk vah•LEHN•suh) organized a national trade unionknown as Solidarity. Solidarity gained the support of the workers and of the

Voices from the Past

Country Reasons for Results ofRevolution Revolution

Poland

Czechoslovakia

Romania

East Germany

Yugoslavia

War-damaged Bosnia

1991Slovenia and Croatiadeclare independence

1992Serbs pursue policy of ethniccleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina

1988Poland holds the first free electionsin Eastern Europe in forty years

1989Berlin Wall opens; communism fallsin Czechoslovakia and Romania

✦1987 ✦1988 ✦1989 ✦1990 ✦1991 ✦1992

Roman Catholic Church, which was under the lead-ership of Pope John Paul II, the first Polish pope.During a period of military rule in the 1980s, Walesawas arrested, but the movement continued.

Finally, after a new wave of demonstrations in1988, the Polish regime agreed to free parliamentaryelections—the first free elections in Eastern Europein 40 years. A new government was elected, ending45 years of Communist rule in Poland.

In December 1990, Walesa was chosen as presi-dent. Poland’s new path, however, was not an easyone. Rapid free-market reforms led to severe unem-ployment and popular discontent.

At the end of 1995, Aleksander Kwasniewski, aformer Communist, defeated Walesa and becamethe new president. He has continued Poland’s movetoward an increasingly prosperous free marketeconomy.

Czechoslovakia After Soviet troops crushed thereform movement in Czechoslovakia in 1968, Com-munists used massive repression to maintain theirpower. Writers and other intellectuals continued tooppose the government, but they initially had littlesuccess.

Then, in 1988 and 1989, mass demonstrations tookplace throughout Czechoslovakia. By November

1989, crowds as large as five hundred thousand wereforming in Prague. In December 1989, the Commu-nist government collapsed.

At the end of December, Václav Havel (VAHT•SLAHF HAH•vel), a writer who had played animportant role in bringing down the Communistgovernment, became the new president. Havelbecame an eloquent spokesperson for Czech democ-racy and a new order in Europe.

Within Czechoslovakia, the new governmentsoon faced old ethnic conflicts. The two nationalgroups, Czechs and Slovaks, agreed to a peacefuldivision of the country. On January 1, 1993, Czecho-slovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.Václav Havel was elected the first president of thenew Czech Republic. Michal Kovác was electedpresident of Slovakia.

Romania In 1965, the Communist leader NicolaeCeausescu, (NEE•koh•lay chow•SHEHS•koo) andhis wife, Elena, set up a rigid and dictatorial regimein Romania. Ceausescu ruled Romania with an irongrip, using secret police to crush all dissent. Nonethe-less, opposition to his regime grew.

Ceausescu’s economic policies led to a sharp dropin living standards, including food shortages and therationing of bread, flour, and sugar. His plan for rapidurbanization, especially a program that called for the bulldozing of entire villages, further angered theRomanian people.

One incident ignited the flames of revolution. InDecember 1989, the secret police murdered thousandsof men, women, and children who were peacefullydemonstrating. Finally, the army refused to supportany more repression. Ceausescu and his wife werecaptured on December 22 and executed on ChristmasDay. A new government was quickly formed.

German Reunification In 1971, Erich Honeckerbecame head of the Communist Party in East Germany.He used the Stasi, the secretpolice, to rule for the next18 years. In 1988, however,popular unrest, fueled byHonecker’s harsh regime,led many East Germans toflee their country. Massdemonstrations against theregime broke out in thesummer and fall of 1989.

On November 9, theCommunist government

880 CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

Solidarity organizer Lech Walesa became president of Poland in 1990.

HISTORY

Web Activity Visitthe Glencoe WorldHistory Web site at

andclick on Chapter 28–Student Web Activity to learn more about thefall of the Berlin Wall.

wh.glencoe.com

surrendered to popular pressure by opening its entireborder with the West. Hundreds of thousands of EastGermans swarmed across the border. Families andfriends who had not seen each other in decades werereunited. People on both sides of the wall began tear-ing it down. The government, helpless before thispopular uprising, ordered the rest of the wall torndown. The Berlin Wall, long a symbol of the ColdWar, was no more.

During East Germany’s first free elections in March1990, the Christian Democrats won almost 50 percent

of the vote. The ChristianDemocrats supported politi-cal union with West Germany.The reunification of East andWest took place on October 3,1990. What had seemedalmost impossible at thebeginning of 1989 had becomea reality by the end of 1990—the countries of West and EastGermany had reunited toform one Germany.

Describing How did the inhabitantsof Eastern Europe respond to the repression of their totalitarianleaders?

The Disintegration of YugoslaviaAlthough Yugoslavia had a Communist govern-

ment, it had never been a Soviet satellite state. AfterWorld War II, its dictatorial leader, Josip Broz Tito,worked to keep the six republics and two provincesthat made up Yugoslavia together. After Tito died in1980, a collective federal government composed ofrepresentatives from the separate republics andprovinces kept Yugoslavia under Communist rule. Atthe end of the 1980s, Yugoslavia was caught up in thereform movements sweeping Eastern Europe. By1990, new parties had emerged, and the authority ofthe Communist Party had collapsed.

Calls for Independence The Yugoslav politicalscene was complex. In 1990, the Yugoslav republicsof Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Mace-donia began to lobby for independence. SlobodanMilosevic (SLOH•buh•DAHN muh•LOH•suh•VIHCH), who became leader of the Yugoslav republicof Serbia in 1987, rejected these efforts. The popu-lations of these republics included Serb minorities. In Milosevic’s view, the republics could only be

Reading Check

independent if their borders were re-drawn toinclude the Serb minorities in a new Greater Serbianstate.

After negotiations failed, Slovenia and Croatiadeclared their independence in June 1991. In Septem-ber 1991, the Yugoslavian army began a full assaultagainst Croatia. Increasingly, the Yugoslavian armywas dominated by Serbia, and it was aided by Ser-bian minorities in Croatia. Before a cease-fire wasarranged, the Serbian forces had captured one-thirdof Croatia’s territory in brutal fighting.

The War in Bosnia Early in 1992, the Serbs turnedtheir guns on Bosnia-Herzegovina. By mid-1993,Serbian forces had acquired 70 percent of Bosnianterritory.

Many Bosnians were Muslims. Toward them, theSerbs followed a policy they called ethnic cleansing—killing them or forcibly removing them from theirlands. Ethnic cleansing revived memories of Naziatrocities in World War II. By 1995, 250,000 Bosnians(mostly civilians) had been killed. Two million otherswere left homeless.

881CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

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The violence in Yugoslavia led to NATO involvement.

1. Interpreting Maps List the states that formed afterthe breakup of Yugoslavia and note their capitals.

2. Applying Geography Skills Explain why a peaceboundary was created in Bosnia in 1995.

GERMANY

FRANCE

NETH.

BELG.CZECH.

SWITZ. AUSTRIA

DENMARK

Berlin

POLAN

D

Boundary of formerYugoslavia, 1991Yugoslavia, 1999

Dayton Peace Agreementboundary that ended thewar in Bosnia, 1995Boundary of Bosnia andHerzegovina

In 1995, new offensives by Bos-nian government army forces andby the Croatian army regained con-siderable territory that had been lostto Serbian forces. Air strikes byNATO bombers, strongly advocatedby U.S. President Bill Clinton, werelaunched in retaliation for Serbattacks on civilians.

These attacks forced the Serbs tosign a formal peace treaty on Decem-ber 14. The agreement split Bosniainto a loose union of a Serb republicand a Muslim-Croat federation.NATO sent a force of sixty thousandtroops to monitor the frontierbetween the new political entities.

The War in Kosovo Peace in Bosnia did not bringpeace to the region. A new war erupted in 1998 overKosovo. In 1974, Tito had made Kosovo an autono-mous (self-governing) province within Yugoslavia.Kosovo’s inhabitants were mainly ethnic Albanianswho had kept their own language and customs.

In 1989, Slobodan Milosevic stripped Kosovo of itsautonomous status. Some groups of ethnic Albaniansfounded the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in themid-1990s and began a campaign against Serbianrule in Kosovo. In an effort to crush the KLA, Serbforces began to massacre ethnic Albanians. TheUnited States and its NATO allies then sought toarrange a settlement.

After months of negotiations, the Kosovo Albani-ans agreed in 1999 to a peace plan that would givethe ethnic Albanians in Kosovo broad autonomy fora three-year interim period. When Milosevic refusedto sign the agreement, the United States and itsNATO allies began a bombing campaign that forcedthe Yugoslavian government to cooperate. In the fallelections of 2000, Milosevic was ousted from power.

Identifying What events resultedfrom the disintegration of Yugoslavia?

Reading Check

882 CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

Checking for Understanding1. Define ethnic cleansing, autonomous.

2. Identify Lech Walesa, Václav Havel,Slobodan Milosevic.

3. Locate Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo.

4. Explain why the Communist govern-ment ordered the Berlin Wall to be torndown.

5. List the four Eastern European statesdiscussed in this section that had notbeen Soviet satellites. What eventsoccurred in each state after the with-drawal of Soviet influence?

Critical Thinking6. Explain Why did the inhabitants of

Communist countries in Eastern Europefeel it was safe to rebel in 1989?

7. Summarizing Information Create achart like the one below listing theYugoslav republics that wanted inde-pendence after 1990, the inhabitants ofthese republics (if listed), and the rea-sons the republics fought each other.

Analyzing Visuals8. Study the photo of ethnic Albanians

shown on this page. What do they havein common with other victims of oppres-sion throughout history? If you and yourfamily were forced to leave your home,what would be your greatest concerns?

In 1999, Serbs forced hundreds of thousands ofethnic Albanians from their homes in Kosovo,creating a massive refugee crisis. What issues led to conflict in Kosovo?

History

Republics Inhabitants Causes ofFighting

9. Informative Writing Research andwrite an essay about the Polish Soli-darity movement begun by LechWalesa in 1980. Why was it success-ful? Be sure to discuss Walesa’s sup-porters, his adversaries, and thestatus of the movement today.

883

Václav Havel—The Call for a New Politics

IN THEIR ATTEMPTS TO DEAL WITH THE WORLD’Sproblems, some European leaders have pointed tothe need for a new perspective. This excerpt istaken from a speech that Václav Havel deliveredto the United States Congress on February 21,1990, two months after he had become presidentof Czechoslovakia.

“For this reason, the salvation of this humanworld lies nowhere else than in the human heart, inthe human power to reflect, in human meeknessand in human responsibility.

Without a global revolution in the sphere ofhuman consciousness, nothing will change for thebetter in the sphere of our being as humans, andthe catastrophe toward which this world is headed—be it ecological, social, demographic or a generalbreakdown of civilization—will be unavoidable. . . .

We are still a long way from that “family of man.” In fact, we seem to be receding from the ideal rather than growing closer to it. Interests of all kinds—personal, selfish, state, nation, group, andif you like, company interests—still considerablyoutweigh genuinely common and global interests.We are still under the sway of the destructive andvain belief that man is the pinnacle of creation andnot just a part of it and that therefore everything is permitted. . . .

In other words, we still don’t know how to putmorality ahead of politics, science and economics.We are still incapable of understanding that the onlygenuine backbone of all our actions, if they are tobe moral, is responsibility.

Responsibility to something higher than my fam-ily, my country, my company, my success—responsi-bility to the order of being where all our actions areindelibly recorded and where and only where theywill be properly judged.

The interpreter or mediator between us and thishigher authority is what is traditionally referred to ashuman conscience.”

—Václav Havel, Speech to the U.S. Congress

Analyzing Primary Sources

1. What is the difference between the way Václav Havelviews politics and the way that most politicians havetraditionally viewed politics?

2. Political ideas are of little value unlessthey can be implemented. What isyour opinion—do you think thatHavel’s ideas could be turned intopolitical reality? Why or why not?

After addressing the United States Congress, VáclavHavel gives a victory sign.

1971West German chancellor WillyBrandt wins Nobel Peace Prize

1974Richard Nixon resigns the presidency of the United States

1995Canadian voters reject independence for Quebec

Guide to Reading

Europe and North America

Preview of Events✦1970 ✦1975 ✦1980 ✦1985 ✦1990 ✦1995 ✦2000

A German reporter described violence against foreigners in Germany in 1991:

“The municipality in northern Saxony has a population of just under 70,000, includ-ing 70 people from Mozambique and Vietnam who live in a hostel [inn] at the otherend of town. The ‘political situation’ was triggered by an attack by a neo-Nazi gang onVietnamese traders selling their goods on the market square on 17 September. Afterbeing dispersed by the police the Faschos [neo-Nazis] carried out their first attack onthe hostel for foreigners. The attacks then turned into a regular evening hunt by agrowing group of right-wing radicals, some of them minors, who presented their ideaof a clean Germany by roaming the streets armed with truncheons, stones, steel balls,bottles and Molotov cocktails.”

—The German Tribune, October 6, 1991

Attacks against foreigners by neo-Nazis became a problem in Germany during the 1990s.

Winds of Change in Western EuropeBetween the early 1950s and late 1970s, Western Europe experienced virtually

full employment. An economic downturn, however, occurred in the mid-1970sand early 1980s. Both inflation and unemployment rose dramatically. Undoubt-edly, a dramatic increase in the price of oil following the Arab-Israeli conflict in1973 (see Chapter 30) was a major cause for the downturn. Western Europeaneconomies recovered in the course of the 1980s, but problems remained.

Voices from the Past

Main Ideas• Western European nations moved to

unite their economies after 1970.• Domestic problems arose in the United

States, Great Britain, France, Germany,and Canada.

Key TermsThatcherism, budget deficit

People To IdentifyWilly Brandt, Margaret Thatcher, RichardNixon, Pierre Trudeau

Places To LocateFrance, Northern Ireland

Preview Questions1. What problems faced Western Europe

after 1980?2. What was the focus of U.S. domestic

politics in the 1970s?

Reading StrategyCompare and Contrast Draw a Venndiagram comparing and contrastingeconomic policies of Thatcherism withthose of the Reagan Revolution.

884 CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

Thatcherism Reagan Revolution

German neo-Nazis

Uncertainties in France France’s deterioratingeconomic situation in the 1970s caused a shift to theleft politically. By 1981, the Socialists had become thechief party in the National Assembly. The Socialistleader, François Mitterrand, was elected president.

Mitterrand initiated a number of measures to aidworkers: an increased minimum wage, a 39-hourwork week, and higher taxes for the rich. The Social-ist government also nationalized, or took over, majorbanks, the steel industry, the space and electronicsindustries, and insurance firms.

Socialist policies, however, largely failed to work,and France’s economic decline continued. In 1993,French unemployment stood at 10.6 percent. In theelections in March of that year, the Socialists won only28 percent of the vote. A coalition of conservative par-ties gained 80 percent of the seats in the NationalAssembly. The move to the right in France wasstrengthened when the conservative mayor of Paris,Jacques Chirac, was elected president in May 1995.

From West Germany to Germany In 1969, theSocial Democrats, a moderate Socialist party, replacedthe Christian Democrats as the leading party in WestGermany. The first Social Democratic chancellor ofWest Germany was Willy Brandt. In March 1971,Brandt worked out the details of a treaty with EastGermany that led to greater cultural, personal, andeconomic contacts between West and East Germany.For this, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for 1971.

In 1982, the Christian Democratic Union of Hel-mut Kohl formed a new, more conservative govern-ment. Kohl was a smart politician whobenefited greatly from an eco-nomic boom in the mid-1980s.Then events in East Germanyled to the unexpected reunifi-cation of the two Germaniesin 1990. With a population of79 million people, the newGermany became the leadingpower in Europe.

The joy over reunificationsoon faded as new problemsarose. It became clear that the rebuilding of easternGermany would takefar more money thanhad originally beenthought.

The Western European nations moved toward agreater union of their economies after 1970. The Euro-pean Economic Community (EEC) expanded in 1973to include Great Britain, Ireland, and Denmark. By1986, Spain, Portugal, and Greece had become mem-bers. Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined in 1995.

The EEC or European Community (EC) waschiefly an economic union. By 1992, it comprised 344million people and made up the world’s largest sin-gle trading bloc. The Treaty on European Union,which went into effect on January 1, 1994, turned theEC into the principal organization within the evenmore solidified European Union (EU). One of theEU’s first goals was to establish a common Europeancurrency, the euro. Most of the EU nations planned toabandon their currency in favor of the euro by Janu-ary 1, 2002.

885

S

N

EW

500 kilometers

500 miles0

0Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection

20°W30°W 10°W 0° 10°E 20°E 30°E

60°N

50°N

40°N

Mediterranean Sea

B altic

Sea

North Sea

Atlantic

Ocean

DENMARK

NETH.

GERMANYBELG.

UNITED

KINGDOMIRELAND

POR

TUG

AL

AUSTRIA

LUX.

FRANCE

S P A I N

SWEDEN

FINLAND

ITALY

GREECE

Expansion of the EuropeanUnion, 1957–1995

The European Union (EU) allows members to work togetherto increase trade and develop favorable economic policies.

1. Interpreting Maps How long have the original mem-bers been part of the EU?

2. Applying Geography Skills What does the EU’sgrowth suggest about its value to European states?

Willy Brandt

Original members, 1957

by 1973by 1986by 1995

Additional members:

Kohl’s government was soon forced to face thepolitically undesirable task of raising taxes. In addi-tion, the virtual collapse of the economy in easternGermany had led to extremely high levels of unem-ployment and severe discontent. One result was areturn to power for the Social Democrats, who werevictorious in the 1998 elections.

The collapse of the economy also led to increasingattacks on foreigners. For years, illegal immigrantsand foreigners seeking refuge had found haven inGermany because of its very liberal immigrationlaws. In 1992, over 440,000 immigrants came to Ger-many seeking refuge; 123,000 came from formerYugoslavia alone. Increased unemployment and eco-nomic problems, however, caused tensions to growbetween some Germans and immigrant groups.Attacks against foreigners by right-wing extrem-ists—especially young neo-Nazis who believed inHitler’s idea of a pure Aryan race—became part ofGerman life.

Great Britain and Thatcherism Between 1964 and1979, Great Britain’s Conservative Party and LabourParty alternated being inpower. One problem both par-ties had to face was the intensefighting between Catholicsand Protestants in NorthernIreland. An ailing economyand frequent labor strikes weretwo other issues that the gov-ernment struggled to solve.

In 1979, the Conservativescame to power underMargaret Thatcher. Thatcher pledged to limit socialwelfare, restrict union power, and end inflation.Although she did not eliminate the basic parts of thesocial welfare system, she did break the power of thelabor unions and control inflation.

Thatcherism, as her economic policy was termed,improved the British economic situation, but at aprice. The south of England, for example, prospered.Old industrial areas elsewhere, however, were besetby high unemployment, poverty, and even violence.

Thatcher dominated British politics in the 1980s.Only in 1990 did Labour’s fortunes seem to revive. Atthat time, Thatcher’s government tried to replacelocal property taxes with a flat-rate tax payable byevery adult. In 1990, antitax riots broke out.Thatcher’s popularity fell to an all-time low, and sheresigned as prime minister.

The Conservative Party, now led by John Major,continued to hold a narrow majority. His govern-ment, however, failed to capture the imagination ofmost Britons. In new elections in 1997, the LabourParty won a landslide victory. Tony Blair, a moderate,became prime minister.

Explaining What were the policies of Thatcherism?

The U.S. Domestic SceneWith the election of Richard Nixon as president in

1968, politics in the United States shifted to the right.Economic issues became the focus of domestic poli-tics by the mid-1970s.

Nixon and Watergate In his campaign for thepresidency, Nixon believed that “law and order”issues and a slowdown in racial desegregation wouldappeal to southern whites. The South, which hadonce been a stronghold for the Democrats, began toform a new allegiance to the Republican Party.

Reading Check

886 CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

IRELAND

NORTHERNIRELAND

Belfast

Dublin

ATLANTICOCEAN

• The economy iscontrolled by the state.

• Industries are ownedby the nationalgovernment.

• The governmentdetermines allowableprofit.

• Workers’ rights arevalued over owners’privileges.

• The state suppliessocial services.

• The economy is basedon free enterprise.

• Industries are privatelyowned.

• Owners set pricesand work for profit.

• Workers andowners negotiate.

• Consumers pay forsocial services.

Left Right

Economic Spectrum

The chart above represents a simplified view of twoopposite economic models.

1. Identifying Select a minimum of five countriesfrom this chapter. On which side of the economicspectrum would their economies belong?

2. Describing Look up the following words andphrases in a dictionary: laissez-faire, commandeconomy, capitalism, invisible hand, communism,socialism. Decide if the definition describes a termon the left or the right of the economic spectrum.

887CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

Richard Nixon bids his staff goodbye afterresigning his job as president of the UnitedStates. What events led Nixon to decide toleave office?

History

As president, Nixon began to use illegal methodsto gain political information about his opponents.Nixon’s zeal led to the Watergate scandal. A group ofmen working for Nixon’s reelection campaign brokeinto the Democratic National Headquarters, locatedin the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. Theywere caught there trying to install electronic listeningdevices.

Nixon repeatedly lied to the American public abouthis involvement in the affair. Secret tapes of his ownconversations in the White House, however, revealedthe truth. On August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned the pres-idency rather than face possible impeachment.

The Carter Administration Vice President GeraldFord became president when Nixon resigned, only tolose in the 1976 election to the former governor ofGeorgia, Jimmy Carter. By 1980, the Carter adminis-tration was faced with two devastating problems.First, high rates of inflation and a noticeable declinein average weekly earnings were causing a drop inAmerican living standards.

At the same time, a crisis abroad erupted when 52 Americans were held hostage by the Iranian government of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini(koh•MAY•nee) (see Chapter 30). Carter’s inabilityto gain the release of the American hostages con-tributed to his overwhelming loss to Ronald Reaganin the election of 1980.

The Reagan Revolution The Reagan Revolution,as it has been called, sent U.S. policy in new direc-tions. Reversing decades of policy, Reagan cut backon the welfare state by decreasing spending on foodstamps, school lunch programs, and job programs. Atthe same time, his administration oversaw the largestpeacetime military buildup in U.S. history.

Total federal spending rose from $631 billion in1981 to over a trillion dollars by 1987. The spendingpolicies of the Reagan administration producedrecord government budget deficits. A budget deficitexists when the government spends more than it col-lects in revenues. In the 1970s, the total deficit was$420 billion. Between 1981 and 1987, budget deficitswere three times that amount.

The Clinton Years George Bush, Reagan’s vicepresident, succeeded him as president. Bush’s inabil-ity to deal with the deficit problem, as well as an eco-nomic downturn, enabled a Democrat, Bill Clinton,to be elected president in 1992.

The new president was a southern Democrat whoclaimed to be a new Democrat—one who favored anumber of the Republican policies of the 1980s. Thiswas a clear indication that the rightward drift inAmerican politics was by no means ended by thisDemocratic victory.

President Clinton’s political fortunes were aidedconsiderably by a lengthy economic revival. Much ofClinton’s second term, however, was overshadowedby charges of presidential misconduct. Clinton wasthreatened with removal from office when the Houseof Representatives voted two articles of impeach-ment—formal charges of misconduct—against him.He was tried in the Senate and acquitted after a bitterpartisan struggle. Clinton’s problems, however,helped the Republican candidate, George W. Bush, towin the presidential election in 2000.

Summarizing What changes in U.S.policy were part of the Reagan Revolution?

Reading Check

CanadaDuring a major economic recession in Canada in

the early 1960s, the Liberals came into power. Themost prominent Liberal government of the time wasthat of Pierre Trudeau (TROO•DOH), who becameprime minister in 1968. Although he came from aFrench-Canadian background, Trudeau was dedi-cated to preserving a united Canada, while at thesame time acknowledging the rights of French-speaking Canadians. His government passed theOfficial Languages Act, which allowed both Englishand French to be used in the federal civil service.Trudeau’s government also supported a vigorousprogram of industrialization.

An economic recession in the early 1980s broughtBrian Mulroney to power in 1984. Mulroney’s gov-ernment sought to return some of Canada’s state-run corporations to private owners. In 1993, Canadaapproved the North American Free Trade Agree-ment (NAFTA) along with the United States andMexico. The purpose of NAFTA was to make tradeeasier and more profitable by establishing guidelinesfor cooperation between the countries. The agree-ment, bitterly attacked by many Canadians as beingtoo favorable to the United States, cost Mulroneymuch of his popularity. In 1993, the Liberal Partycame to power with Jean Chrétien as prime minister.Chrétien was reelected in both 1997 and 2000.

Neither Trudeau’s nor Mulroney’s governmentwas able to settle an ongoing crisis over the French-

speaking province of Quebec. In the late 1960s, theParti Québecois (KAY•buh•KWAH), headed by RenéLévesque, had begun to advocate that Quebec secedefrom the Canadian union. In 1980, the party called fora vote that would grant Quebec’s independence fromthe rest of Canada. In 1995, voters in Quebec nar-rowly rejected the plan. Debate over Quebec’s statuscontinues to divide Canada.

Summarizing What was the pur-pose of the Official Languages Act?

Reading Check

888 CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

Checking for Understanding1. Define Thatcherism, budget deficit.

2. Identify Willy Brandt, MargaretThatcher, Richard Nixon, PierreTrudeau.

3. Locate France, Northern Ireland.

4. Explain the ongoing debate in Canadaover the status of Quebec. Why dosome people want Quebec to becomeindependent?

5. List some of the changes initiated byFrançois Mitterrand’s government inFrance. How successful were Mitter-rand’s socialist policies?

Critical Thinking6. Cause and Effect What factors led to

the economic downturn of the 1970s?How did European nations respond?

7. Organizing Information Create achart like the one below listing theproblems faced by Germany when itwas unified in 1990.

Analyzing Visuals8. Compare the photo on page 884 with

the Hitler Youth photos on pages 749and 768. What similarities and differ-ences do you see among the photos?

Quebec had seceded from Canada?Less than 50,000 votes kept Quebec a part of

Canada in 1995. Although the separatists are stillfighting to secede, the 1995 vote reflects how closethey are to winning. Quebec’s secession fromCanada would make it an entirely independentcountry.

Consider the Consequences Consider whatwould be different if the separatists had wonthe 1995 referendum. Identify at least twochanges that would have occurred if Quebechad become a separate country at that time.

9. Expository Writing When a coun-try faces economic problems, itsinhabitants often blame a person or a group. Look up the word scape-goating. Do you think that the waysome Germans treated foreigners inthe 1990s is an example of scape-goating? Write an essay about theuse of scapegoating, including twoor three examples from history.

Problems Created by German Unification

1972Fighting escalatesin Northern Ireland

1981Women protest presence of Americannuclear missiles in Britain

Guide to Reading

Western Society and Culture

Preview of Events✦1970 ✦1975 ✦1980 ✦1985 ✦1990 ✦1995 ✦2000

In his 1975 book Small Is Beautiful, the British economist E. F. Schumacher wrote:

“We must begin to see the possibility of evolving a new lifestyle, with new methods of pro-duction and new patterns of consumption: a lifestyle designed for permanence. To give onlytwo examples: in agriculture, we can interest ourselves in the perfection of production meth-ods which are biologically sound and produce health, beauty and permanence. In industry,we can interest ourselves in small-scale technology, ‘technology with a human face,’ so thatpeople have a chance to enjoy themselves while they are working, instead of working solelyfor their pay packet and hoping for enjoyment solely during their leisure time.”

—Small Is Beautiful, E. F. Schumacher, 1973

Schumacher was a major critic of the sometimes destructive aspects of the new sci-ence and technology of the postwar world.

Changes in Women’s LivesSince 1970, the number of women in the work force has continued to rise. In

Britain, for example, the number of women in the labor force went from 32 per-cent to 44 percent between 1970 and 1990. Greater access to universities enabledmore women to pursue careers in such fields as law, medicine, and government.However, women continued to receive lower wages than men for the same workand to have fewer chances to advance to top positions.

Voices from the Past

Main Ideas• Technological and scientific advances

have created a global society.• Artistic trends reflect how the emerging

global society has led to a blending ofcultural forms and ideas.

Key Termspop art, postmodernism

People To IdentifyJackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Elvis Presley, Beatles

Places To LocateNorthern Ireland, Afghanistan

Preview Questions1. What have been the major social

developments since 1970?2. What have been the major cultural,

scientific, and technological develop-ments in the postwar world?

Reading StrategyCategorizing Information Complete acluster chart like the one below illustrat-ing how women have been involved withcauses related solely to women’s issuesand to broader, more universal causes.

CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World 889

Women’sMovement

Beyond theMovement

E. F. Schumacher

2001Global opposition toterrorism forms

CHAPTER # Chapter Title

In the 1960s and 1970s, some women in thewomen’s liberation movement came to believe thatwomen themselves must transform the fundamentalconditions of their lives. Women formed “conscious-ness-raising” groups to make people aware ofwomen’s issues. Gender stereotyping, contraception,and social and economic equality were a few of theissues that became politicized. During this time in theUnited States, for example, the Equal Pay and SexDiscrimination Acts were passed, giving legal sup-port to equal rights for women.

As more women became activists in the 1980s and1990s, they became involved in other issues. To affectthe political environment, some women joined theantinuclear movement. In 1981, for example, a groupof women protested American nuclear missiles inBritain by chaining themselves to the fence of anAmerican military base. Other feminists focused onchanging cultural attitudes through university pro-grams in women’s studies or worked for environ-mental causes.

In the 1990s, there was a backlash to the women’smovement as some women advocated a return to tra-ditional values and gender roles. Other women eitherrejected or attempted to redefine the term “femi-nism” as the struggle to balance career, family, andpersonal goals continued for both men and women.

Summarizing What reforms didwomen want when they started the women’s movement?

Reading Check

The Growth of TerrorismActs of terror have become a regular aspect of

modern Western society. Bands of terrorists use thekilling of civilians (especially by bombing), the tak-ing of hostages, and the hijacking of airplanes todraw attention to their demands or to achieve theirpolitical goals.

Some terrorists are militant nationalists who wishto create separatist states. One such group is the IrishRepublican Army (IRA), whose goal is to uniteNorthern Ireland, governed by Great Britain, withthe Irish Republic. The IRA has resorted to attacksagainst government and civilian targets. Since theearly 1970s, IRA terrorists have been responsible forthe deaths of thousands of people.

State-sponsored terrorism has often been animportant part of international terrorism. Some mili-tant governments, such as those in Iraq, Syria, Cuba,and North Korea, have provided sanctuary and sup-port to numerous terrorist organizations.

One of the most destructive acts of terrorismoccurred on September 11, 2001, in the United States.Four groups of terrorists hijacked four commercial jetairplanes in Boston, Newark, and Washington, D.C.The hijackers flew two of the airplanes directly intothe World Trade Center towers in New York City,destroying both buildings and causing a number ofsurrounding buildings to collapse. A third hijackedplane slammed into the Pentagon in Washington,

D.C. The fourth plane crashed intoan isolated area of Pennsylvania,diverted from its apparent objec-tive in Washington, D.C. by heroicpassengers. Thousands of peoplewere killed, including all personsaboard the airliners.

The U.S. government accumu-lated evidence indicating that theseacts had been carried out by al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization ofOsama bin Laden. Bin Laden hadused his inherited fortune to train

A New York firefighter surveys the remainsof the twin towers of the World Trade Cen-ter. Many firefighters, police, and emergencyworkers were killed as they attempted res-cue operations. What was the short-termimpact of this act of terrorism on theUnited States and the world?

History

891CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

Global TerrorismTerrorist acts became more frequent in the second

half of the twentieth century. A growing number ofgroups have used terrorism as a means to achieve theirpolitical goals. The U.S. State Department, for example,has designated close to 30 such groups around theworld as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. These groupsinclude urban guerrilla groups in Latin America; mili-tants dedicated to the liberation of Palestine; Islamicmilitants fighting Western influence in the Middle East;and separatists seeking independent states, such as theBasques in Spain and the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

International terrorists have not limited their targetsto their own countries. In 1972, three members of theneo-Marxist Japanese Red Army, who had been hired bythe Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, openedfire at Tel Aviv’s airport in Israel, killing 24 people, chieflyChristian pilgrims from Puerto Rico. The goal of the

terrorists was to hurt Israel by discouraging people fromvisiting there.

Worldwide television newscasts have contributed tothe expansion of global terrorism. International terror-ists know that these news broadcasts create instantpublicity for their causes. Televised images of Americancommercial jetliners flying into the twin towers of theWorld Trade Center in New York in 2001, for example,provided vivid evidence of the war that some militantgroups have long threatened to wage against theUnited States.

Using outside sources, locate recent acts of terror-ism that occurred in two separate countries. Com-pare how these acts were similar and how theywere different. Do you think the terrorists willachieve their goals by performing these acts?

terrorists in Afghanistan, which was controlled atthe time by a militant Islamic group, the Taliban. BinLaden was also suspected of directing earlier terror-ist attacks against the United States, including thebombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998 andthe attack on the USS Cole in 2000.

Following the World Trade Center and Pentagonattacks, United States president George W. Bushvowed to wage war on terrorism. The United Statesdeveloped a global coalition of nations to rid theworld of terrorist groups, a process that began withmilitary action against Afghanistan in October 2001.

United States and NATO air strikes targeted Taliban-controlled command centers, airfields, andal-Qaeda hiding places. At the same time, food andsupplies were dropped to aid the starving Afghanpeople. On the ground, opposition forces inAfghanistan pushed the Taliban out of the capital atKabul and claimed control of more than half of thecountry by mid-November. Weeks later, representa-tives of rival Afghan factions met in Germany forUN-sponsored talks about Afghanistan’s future.

At home, President Bush established the White

House Office of Homeland Security for the purpose ofprotecting the United States from terrorism andresponding to any future terrorist attacks. PresidentBush also signed an air security bill that made bag-gage screeners federal employees and required theinspection of all luggage checked on U.S. domesticflights. Across the nation, American flew flags, gaveblood, and donated millions of dollars to charities toaid the families of victims of the September 11 attacks.

Explaining What methods doterrorists use to achieve their goals?

Science and TechnologyScientific and technological achievements since

World War II have revolutionized people’s lives.During the war, many scientists were recruited bygovernments to develop new weapons and otherinstruments of war. Perhaps the most famous prod-uct of wartime scientific research was the atomicbomb, created by a team of American and Europeanscientists. Most wartime devices, like the atomic

Reading Check

bomb, were created for destructive purposes. Com-puters and jet airplanes, however, show how wartimetechnology can easily be adapted for peacetime uses.

By sponsoring projects, governments and the military created a new model for scientific researchduring World War II. Wartime projects were complexand required large teams of scientists, huge laborato-ries, and sophisticated equipment. Such facilitieswere so expensive that they could only be providedby governments and large corporations.

A stunning example of how the new scientific estab-lishment operated is the space race. In 1961, four yearsafter the Soviet Union sent Sputnik I into orbit, PresidentKennedy predicted that the United States would landastronauts on the Moon within a decade. Massive gov-ernment funding enabled the United States to do so in1969. ; (See page 1000 to read excerpts from John Glenn’sProgress Never Stops in the Primary Sources Library.)

The postwar alliance of science and technology ledto a fast rate of change that became a fact of life inWestern society. Underlying this alliance was theassumption that scientific knowledge gave humanbeings the ability and the right to manipulate theenvironment for their benefit.

Critics in the 1960s and 1970s noted that sometechnological advances had far-reaching side effectsthat were damaging to the environment. Chemicalfertilizers, for example, were used for growing moreabundant crops, but these fertilizers also destroyedthe ecological balance of streams, rivers, and wood-lands. In 2000, debates over organic farming andgenetically enhanced food intensified as people con-tinued to disagree over the role science should playin food production.

Summarizing How did governmen-tal projects help to create a new model for scientific research?

Religious RevivalMany people perceived a collapse in values dur-

ing the twentieth century. The revival of religion wasone response to that collapse. Ever since the Enlight-enment of the eighteenth century, Christianity, aswell as religion in general, had been on the defensive.A number of religious thinkers and leaders tried tobring new life to Christianity in the twentieth cen-tury. Despite the attempts of the Communist worldto build an atheistic society and the attempts of theWest to build a secular society, religion continued toplay an important role in the lives of many people.

One expression of the religious revival was theattempt by Christian thinkers, such as the Protes-

Reading Check

tant Karl Barth (BART), to breathe new life intotraditional Christian teachings. In his numerous writ-ings, Barth tried to show how the religious insights ofthe Reformation were still relevant for the modernworld. To Barth the imperfect nature of human beingsmeant that humans could know religious truth notthrough reason but only through the grace of God.

In the Catholic Church, attempts at religiousrenewal came from two popes—John XXIII and JohnPaul II. Pope John XXIII reigned as pope for only ashort time (1958 to 1963). Nevertheless, he sparked adramatic revival of Catholicism when he summonedthe twenty-first ecumenical council of the CatholicChurch. Known as Vatican Council II, it liberalized anumber of Catholic practices. For example, the masscould now be celebrated in the vernacular languagesas well as Latin. New avenues of communicationwith other Christian faiths were also opened for thefirst time since the Reformation.

John Paul II, who had been the archbishop of Cra-cow in Poland before he became pope in 1978, was thefirst non-Italian pope since the sixteenth century. PopeJohn Paul’s numerous travels around the worldhelped strengthen the Catholic Church throughout thenon-Western world. Although he alienated a numberof people by reasserting traditional Catholic teachingon such issues as birth control and a ban on women inthe priesthood, John Paul II has been a powerful figurein reminding Catholics of the need to temper the pur-suit of materialism with spiritual concerns.

Describing What are two ways thatthe revival of religion was expressed in the twentieth century?

Trends in ArtFor the most part, the United States has dominated

the art world since the end of World War II. Americanart, often vibrantly colored and filled with activity,reflected the energy of the postwar United States.After 1945, New York City became the artistic centerof the Western world.

Abstractionism, especially abstract expressionism,was the most popular form of modern art after World War II. Artists conveyed emotion and feelingand were less concerned about representing subjectmatter. The enormous canvases of the artist Jackson Pollock are filled with the vibrant energy of abstractexpressionism.

The early 1960s saw the emergence of pop art,which took images of popular culture and trans-formed them into works of fine art. Andy Warholwas the most famous of the pop artists. Warhol took

Reading Check

892 CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

his subject matter from commercial art, such asCampbell soup cans, and photographs of celebritiessuch as Marilyn Monroe.

In the 1980s, styles emerged that some havereferred to as postmodern. Postmodernism ismarked by a revival of traditional elements and tech-niques, including not only traditional painting stylesbut also traditional crafts. Weavers, potters, glass-makers, metalsmiths, and furniture makers have allgained respect as postmodern artists.

During the 1980s and 1990s, many artists experi-mented with emerging technologies such as digitalcameras and computer programs to create new artforms. These new art forms are often interactive, andthey give the viewer the opportunity to influence theproduction of the art work itself—a process thatblurs the line between the role of the artist and therole of the viewer.

Describing What are the characteris-tics of pop art?

Popular CultureThe United States has been the most powerful

force in shaping popular culture in the West and, to alesser degree, in the world. Through movies, televi-sion, and music, the United States has spread itsideals and values of material prosperity—the Amer-ican Dream—to millions around the world. Othercountries object to the influence of American culture.It has often been called “cultural imperialism.” Somenations, notably France, have taken active measuresto resist the Americanization of their culture.

Already in 1923, the New York Morning Post notedthat “the film is to America what the flag was once toBritain. By its means Uncle Sam may hope someday . . . to Americanize the world.” That day hascome. Movies were important vehicles for the spreadof American popular culture in the years immedi-ately after World War II. In the following decades,American movies have continued to dominate bothEuropean and American markets.

Television did not become readily available untilthe late 1940s. By 1954, there were 32 million televi-sion sets in the United States. Television became thecenterpiece of middle-class life. In the 1960s, as televi-sion spread around the world, U.S. programs becamepopular in both European and non-Western nations.

The United States has also dominated popularmusic since the end of World War II. Jazz, blues,rhythm and blues, rock, and rap have been by far themost popular music forms in the Western world—

Reading Check

and in much of the non-Western world—during thistime. All of these genres began in the United States,and all are rooted in African American musical forms.

When American popular music spread to the restof the world, it inspired local artists, who then trans-formed the music in their own way. For example, inthe 1950s, American figures such as Chuck Berry andElvis Presley inspired the Beatles and other Britishperformers. The Beatles, in turn, led an “invasion” ofthe United States in the 1960s that inspired newAmerican musicians.

The establishment of the video music channelMTV in the early 1980s changed the music scene bymaking image as important as sound to the selling ofrecords. In the mid-1990s, teen and pre-teen con-sumers made performers such as ‘N Sync and Brit-ney Spears into multi-million dollar musical acts.

Between music videos and computer technology,consumer access to a variety of artists and musicalgenres has grown tremendously. An increasing num-ber of performers are moving beyond regionalboundaries to develop international audiences. Forexample, in the late 1990s, Latin American artistsbecame popular in non-Latin markets. In this way,musical styles and markets continue to expand anddiversify.

Identifying Through what differentmedia has American culture spread throughout the world?

Reading Check

893CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

Jackson Pollock1912–1956—American painter

Jackson Pollock became wellknown for his abstract expressionistpaintings. Born in Wyoming, he wasa child of the American West andwas influenced by the sand paintingsof Native Americans.

Pollock moved to New York in the early 1930s. Self-destructive and alcoholic, he saw painting as a way todeal with his problems. In such works as his LavenderMist (1950), paint seems to explode, assaulting theviewer with emotion and movement.

In the 1940s, Pollock began to produce drip paintings.These he created by dropping paint with sticks andbrushes on large canvases on the floor of his studio. Hesaid: “On the floor I am more at ease. This way I can lit-erally be in the painting. When I am in the painting I amnot aware of what I am doing. There is pure harmony.”

Sports, Television, PoliticsIn the postwar years, sports became a major prod-

uct of both popular culture and the leisure industry.Through television, sports were transformed into aworldwide experience. The Olympic Games, forexample, could now be broadcast across the globefrom any location.

Televised sports were an inexpensive form ofentertainment from consumers’ point of view. Fanscould now enjoy sporting events without buyingtickets. In fact, some sports organizations at firstresisted televising events because they feared that itwould hurt ticket sales. Enormous revenues from tel-evision contracts helped change their minds.

894 CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World

Television dominates popular culture around the world.

Checking for Understanding1. Define pop art, postmodernism.

2. Identify Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol,Elvis Presley, Beatles.

3. Locate Northern Ireland, Afghanistan.

4. Explain why some critics began toquestion the value of technologicalprogress in postwar society. Give anexample of a scientific or technologicalachievement that was criticized andexplain why.

5. List the reasons why terrorists chooseto pursue terrorism. What are some ofthe political goals of terrorists? In whatways are some terrorists associatedwith governments?

Critical Thinking6. Summarize What are the components

of the new scientific establishment?Explain the benefits and shortcomingsof these components.

7. Organizing Information Create achart like the one below listing themain goals of terrorists, the methodsthey use to achieve these goals, andhow governments have responded.

Analyzing Visuals8. Examine the photograph of the

destruction of the World Trade Center,shown on page 890. Describe the dif-ferent roles citizens play during timesof national or international crisis.

9. Descriptive Writing Abstraction-ism, abstract expressionism, and popart became popular art forms afterWorld War II. Research these artforms and make a list of two orthree artists who followed eachform. Find examples of these artists’works and describe in an essay howthese works represent the innova-tions of the new art forms.

Many sports organizations came to receive most oftheir yearly revenues from television contracts. TheOlympics, for example, are now funded chiefly byAmerican television. These funds come from adver-tising sponsors.

Sports have become big politics as well as bigbusiness. Indeed, politicization has been one of themost important recent trends in sports. Soccer, forexample, is a vehicle for national feeling. Althoughthe sport has been a positive outlet for national pride,all too often it has also been marked by violence.

The most telling example of the mix of politics andsport is the Olympic Games. When the Sovietsentered Olympic competition in 1952, the Olympicsbecame part of the Cold War. They were known asthe “war without weapons.” The Soviets used theOlympics to promote the Communist system as thebest path for social progress.

The political nature of the games found expressionin other ways as well. In 1972, at the Munich Games,a Palestinian terrorist group seized 11 Israeli athletesas hostages. Two hostages were killed immediatelyand the other 9 died in a shootout at the airport. TheSoviets refused to participate in the Los AngelesGames in 1984 after the United States boycotted the1980 Moscow Olympics.

Explaining How have sports becomebig politics?

Reading Check

Terrorism

Goals Methods Government Responses

Preparing A BibliographyWhy Learn This Skill?

In Chapter 22 you learned how to write a report.At the end of any report that you write, you need tolist all the sources you used. A bibliography is a listof the books and articles used to research the mate-rial in your report.

Learning the SkillA bibliography must follow a specific format:

• Entries should be arranged alphabetically by theauthor’s last name. If there is no author, as in anencyclopedia reference, use the words in the titleof the article to put it into alphabetical order.

• Different types of sources have different formats:

Books Author’s last name, first name. Full Title.Place of publication: publisher, copyright date.Reich, Charles. The Greening of America. New

York: Random House, 1970.

Articles from magazines Author’s last name, firstname. “Title of Article.” Periodical in which articleappears, Volume number (issue date): page numbers.Watson, Bruce. “The New Peace Corps in the

New Kazakhstan.” Smithsonian, Vol. 25 (August 1994): pp. 26–35.

Articles from newspapers Author’s last name, firstname (if given). “Title of Article.” Newspaper inwhich article appears, date, section and pagenumbers. (If the newspaper has more than oneedition, the edition should be cited rather than

the page number, since thepage number might be dif-ferent in each edition.)Finnonian, Albert. “The

Iron Curtain Rises.” Wilberton Journal, Febru-ary 7, 1990, final edition.

Articles from encyclopedias “Title of article.” Ency-clopedia’s Name. Edition (if not the first).“Cold War.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 11th Edition.

Web sites Title of referenced source. Web site’sname (if given).www.Internet address.com.A Concrete Curtain: The Life and Death of the Berlin Wall. www.wall-berlin.org.

Practicing the SkillReview the sample bibliography, then answer

the questions that follow.

Bibliography

Winkler, Allan M. The Cold War: a history in documents. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Hazen, Walter A. Post-Cold War Europe. Grand Rapids, Mich: Instructional Fair/TS Denison, 2000.

Havel, Václav. “The Call for New Politics.” The Washington Post. February 22, 1990, p. A28.

The European Union: A Guide for Americans.www.eurunion.org.

1 Are the bibliography entries in the correctorder? Why or why not?

2 What is incorrect in the second book listing?

3 What is incorrect in the article listing?

895

Applying the Skill

Compile a bibliography for the research report youcompleted in Chapter 22. Include at least five sources.

Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook,Level 2, provides instruction and practice in keysocial studies skills.Different types of sources

require different formatsin the bibliography.

CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World896

Using Key Terms1. was a phase in American/Soviet relations that was

marked by decreased tension.

2. Serbian forces engaged in to forcibly remove BosnianMuslims from their lands.

3. The conservative British economic policy that limited socialwelfare, restricted union power, and ended inflation wasknown as .

4. spoke out against the repressive Soviet regime.

5. Mikhail Gorbachev introduced to restructure Sovieteconomic policy.

Reviewing Key Facts6. Government What doctrine gave the Soviet Union the right

to intervene if communism in another Communist state wasthreatened?

7. Economics What problems arose in Russia after the SovietUnion dissolved?

8. Society How did religion contribute to changes in Bosniaand Poland?

9. Government List the three Eastern European countries thatmade peaceful transitions from Communist to free-marketsocieties.

10. Government Which countries’ transitions to free-marketsocieties were filled with violence and bloodshed?

11. Economics What caused the economic downturn in West-ern Europe from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s?

12. Society What problems surfaced in Germany as a result of reunification?

13. Culture Why was the Official Languages Act passed inCanada in 1968?

14. Society What goal did women in the United States andEurope work toward when the women’s movement began?

15. Society List the methods terrorists use to draw attention totheir causes or achieve their political goals.

16. Science and Technology Name the World War II inventionthat has become a fixture in homes, schools, and businessesin the United States and other developed countries.

Critical Thinking17. Evaluating What were the results of the Reagan administra-

tion’s military buildup?

18. Analyzing Explain why the United States, Great Britain,France, and Canada alternated between liberal and conser-vative government leaders from 1970 through 2000.

The end of the Cold War brought dramatic economic,political, and social changes to Europe and North Amer-ica. Many of these changes can be understood throughthe themes of conflict, change, regionalism, and cooper-ation. Below, some of the major events in postwar soci-ety are categorized according to these themes.

Conflict

Change

Regionalism

Cooperation

• Serb forces carry out “ethnic cleansing” of Muslims. • Terrorism becomes a regular aspect of modern society.• Soviet troops crush a reform movement in

Czechoslovakia.• Nicolae Ceausescu is arrested and executed.

• The Soviet Union adopts a policy of perestroikaunder Gorbachev.

• Lech Walesa becomes the first freely elected president ofan Eastern European nation in 40 years.

• The national debt triples in the United States during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

• Television, movies, and music spread American culturethroughout the world.

• Ethnic Albanians declare Kosovo an independentprovince.

• Bosnian Serbs fight Bosnian Muslims and Croats.• Bands of German youths attack illegal immigrants.• Intense fighting breaks out between Protestants and

Catholics in Northern Ireland.

• British women hold an antinuclear protest.• American culture spreads through popular media.• East Germany and West Germany are reunited into

one nation.• The Soviet Union and the United States sign the INF Treaty.

Self-Check QuizVisit the Glencoe World History Web site at

and click on Chapter 28–Self-CheckQuiz to prepare for the Chapter Test.wh.glencoe.com

HISTORY

Directions: Choose the best answer to thequestion below.

What happened after the Communist Party collapsed inCzechoslovakia?

F Rival ethnic states could not agree on national borders.

G East and West Germany were reunified.

H Conservative movements came to power in America andGreat Britain.

J Mikhail Gorbachev invaded Czechoslovakia to regaincontrol.

Test-Taking Tip: If you do not know the correct answer tothis question, read the answer choices carefully. Eliminateany statement that is historically incorrect. This will helpyou focus on the remaining answer choices and increaseyour chances of choosing the correct answer.

CHAPTER 28 The Contemporary Western World 897

19. Analyzing The United States has been accused of “culturalimperialism.” What positive and negative effects does thespread of American popular culture have? How has Amer-ican popular culture been influenced in return?

Writing about History20. Persuasive Writing In the latter part of the twentieth cen-

tury, Communist governments ceased to exist in the SovietUnion and Eastern Europe. Countries instantly convertedtheir economic systems from socialist to free-market soci-eties. These conversions created many problems for the newsocieties. Write a paper listing the problems created by thefall of communism and describe solutions that would havemade the transition easier.

Analyzing SourcesIn his book Perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachev wrote:

“There is a great thirst for mutual understanding andmutual communication in the world. It is felt among politi-cians, it is gaining momentum among the intelligentsia, rep-resentatives of culture, and the public at large. . . . Now thewhole world needs restructuring, i.e., progressive develop-ment, a fundamental change . . . I believe that more andmore people will come to realize that through restructuringin the broad sense of the word, the integrity of the worldwill be enhanced.”21. What does Gorbachev think is gaining momentum among

the public at large?

22. How does Gorbachev’s quote apply to today’s world?

Making Decisions23. Imagine that it is 1991 and you are in Ukraine, casting a vote

for or against independence. What are the reasons you mightchoose to sever Ukraine from the Soviet Union? Why mightyou want to remain part of the Soviet Union? What factors doyou consider most important? What is your final decision?

24. As the editor of a history textbook, you plan to include a fea-ture on the popular culture of the 2000s. Who would youinclude as influential musicians, artists, and entertainers?What values do these individuals model? Who are the heroesand who are the superstars? Is there a difference?

N

SE

W

Two-Point Equidistant projection200 kilometers

200 miles0

0

40°N

50°E

40°EBlackSea

CaspianSeaARMENIA

GEORGIA

AZERBAIJAN

RUSSIA

TURKEY

IRAN

CAUCA SU S MOUNTA IN S

Baku

Tbilisi

Yerevan

Caucasus Region, 1991

Analyzing Maps and ChartsStudy the map above to answer the following questions.

25. Which of these states is completely landlocked?

26. Which state’s territory is separated by Armenia? Whatproblems might that present?

Applying Technology Skills27. Using the Internet Using the information in your text and

outside sources, develop a PowerPoint presentation on thehistory of communism. Use specific examples.

StandardizedTest Practice