Question 1; why was Europe such a dominant influence on the world in the 19th century?
Within the nineteenth century, Europe was considered a global powerhouse especially in the economic perspective. The production prowess and efficiency of the continent was above all the rest. There are different reasons attributed to the European dominance within the 19th century. One of the reasons was its powerful connection between market incentives and technology, which enabled it uncover the prospect of coal energy. Secondly, there emerged different developments in physics, medicine and even science, which offered immeasurable contributions to the population growth within Europe. The growth in population directly and indirectly improved the economic developments therefore reinforcing the continent’s dominance. In the beginning, medical practices slowly transformed to be more effective and reliable through the reduced usage of leeches. Much reliable and relatively sophisticated surgical techniques were made available, and the surgeons began employing the use of chloroform and ether as pain management mechanisms. Moreover, in Europe, there were admirable developments in antiseptic procedures to ensure that the spread of infectious diseases were controlled, therefore ensuring an even healthier more productive population. Louis Pasteur also contributed to the reinforcement of the already existent dominance by his improved authentication of the theory regarding germs and diseases. Also, apart from the scientific and medical advances, Europe was on the forefront in spreading Christianity and civilization, and even improving the lives of the less fortunate in the society.
Question 2; has traditional military power outlived its usefulness in world affairs?
Even though traditional military was once considered one of the most viable mechanisms which could be used to overcome power, there have emerged more elements which need to be considered. Nevertheless military power still has some positive implications in the current world. To assist citizens who are also victims of inhuman policies by their governments, the use of military power has always been very necessary. However, recently there have been several issues which have been raised concerning a country’s interest and humanitarian considerations, hence making it even more difficult to predict the result of war. One factor which have rendered traditional military power even less useful is terrorism, a contemporary security threat. Terrorism therefore require states to come up with individual military techniques to safeguard their internal security. Since globalization promises an even cheaper channel to ensure that a nation is protected from terrorism, there is not much gain in conquests. For these reasons and others, traditional military power is seen as increasing the costs, destroying essential partnerships and even the loss of some important investments in other countries, thus is not considered a viable option.
Question 3; does it make sense to think of the world as a single moral community?
The world can be seen as a consolidated moral community because regardless of the present extremism, corruption, distractions and even tribalism among other vices, societies from different backgrounds can demand that their voices be heard especially concerning issues with government operations, economic opportunities and even important public services. As one, societies from different regions and ethnicities have demanded for equality, respect and dignity, as stated by the human rights declaration. Moreover, as a single community, populations have always struggled to ensure that people are empowered and encouraged to expose and fight global issues like poor working conditions, sexual abuse, violence against women, the climate, and any form of segregation. The social media is also another evidence of the integration and cohesion that is pulling the world together as one big family. More than two billion people are members of online communities who refuse to be defined by the societies ’officials and other external factors. Moreover, since there are devices like mobile phones, computers and television sets, populations within different backgrounds including the most disadvantaged parts of Asia and Africa, are able to get useful updates from all over the world, in real time.
Question 4; does global consumer culture liberate people or enslave them?
Consumer culture is described as the societal organization whereby the associations between the social resources and cultural experiences ,the ways of life and the material resources to which they rely on, is facilitated through markets. Therefore consumer culture is an arrangement whereby several sets of behaviors and consumptions experienced in different regions at different periods, are determined by the depletion of commercial products. Moreover, in global consumer culture, the transformation of the current customary ways, norms and even societal values from a generation to the next, is better understood to be conducted through an application of an individual’s choice. However, global consumer culture enslaves people since it is tied up to the notion of modernity and other emerging trends. Thus, since consumer culture is no longer regulated by tradition, it is therefore considered enslaving. Global consumer culture represent a global economy whereby material satisfaction has been successfully separated from value and associated with the sign value of commercial products. Hence, social imitations, emulations, duplications and matching are the main drivers of global consumer culture.
Question 5; was rivalry and tension between the USA and Soviet Union inevitable after 1945?
The conflict between the Soviet Union and the USA was unavoidable, especially after the Second World War. Historians believe that the rivalry began even long before the Second World War came to an end. The main cause of the rivalry was the mistrust between Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Premier, President Harry Truman and president Roosevelt, which was evident regardless of the fact that the three worked together to overpower the Nazis. Joseph Stalin was also angered by the fact that Britain and USA failed to involve him in the study concerning nuclear weapons, and their reluctance to involve Germany on a subsequent front. Moreover, the fact that the USSR was denied the post relief loans which were offered to the Great Britain also displeased Joseph Stalin. Main difference in their ideologies also made the enmity predictable. The USA believed in democracy and used its foreign policy administrators to spread the notion of democracy all through the globe, on the other hand, the USSR really wanted to overthrow capitalism. The soviet leaders also needed to reorganize Europe to ensure the existence of a barrier in between the Soviet border and the German border. The United States and the Soviet Union were aware of the risk involved in trying to ensure their survival, therefore they both knew that they had to appropriately prepare themselves to win the impending fight. As a consequence, the Soviet Union and the United States succumbed to a prisoner’s predicament; collaboration would give them desired outcomes, however, with a lot at stake, both the Soviet Union and the United States found trusting one another a big risk to take.
Question 6; did the Cold War make the world more peaceful and stable or less?
The cold war impacted on the whole globe in both negative and positive ways. This war emerged a great influence on different elements within the American society for most part of the century. The war heightened because of conflicting antagonist values between the Soviet Union and the United States, with the Soviet Union standing for authoritarianism and communism, and the United States representing democracy and capitalism. Being the main world powers after the Second World War, a conflict arose between the two. It is important to note that the cold war was different from the Great War and the Second World War since it was mainly driven by propaganda. The Soviet Union and the United States showed huge differences, since the Americans campaigned for a fair marketplace capitalism unlike the Soviets who supported Communism. Both countries supported the advantages of their selected ideologies and also highlighted the disadvantages of the other country’s ideologies. Therefore, for the Americans, this offered a chance to champion their affluence and technologies which came by as a result of market capitalism, and at the same time, associating the Soviets ideologies with oppression. The soviets in return saw the Americans as a very materialistic lot, and chose to campaign for egalitarianism. Due to these, the Americans decided to purchase consumer products which would facilitate growth of the economy. The long-term effect of this step was the emergence of the United States as the supreme economic powerhouse, hence even more improved developments in other areas including healthcare, science and technology, and education.
Question 7; is the possession and use of nuclear weapons morally defensible?
Yes. The use of nuclear weapons can be morally defensible when they are aimed at ensuring that unnecessary aggression is regulated. According to different scholars, regardless of the evident enmity between the Soviet Union and the United States of America, which came strongly after the Second World War, the existence of nuclear weapons amidst them have brought about peace. Moreover, the fact that nuclear weapons have existed with no serious warfare demonstrates that it is possible to avoid war. Also, in some perspectives, the application of evil procedures aimed at attaining much more advantageous outcomes like defeating the Axis during the Second World War can be considered good, since winning holds more advantages to the future than the lives lost. Finally, nuclear weapons can be morally defensible since they offer a country adequate security at reduced costs hence ensuring that natural resources like forests and coals are preserved for future use. Hence it is possible to morally defend the possession of nuclear weapons and even their uses if and only if their intended usage will bring more good than harm to the international community.
Question 8
The United States is a global body with the core concern being to promote international security as well as peace. This has however expanded over time to include social and economic agendas. While it has established itself as a true global organization, The UN has largely been ineffective in constructing a viable collective security system because of its present configuration that does not reflect the realities of politics of power and sovereign equalities that each member state has. This has therefore created ‘two UNs’ and restricted it carrying out of the principle responsibilities to the veto powers who are 5 most powerful states in the world. The body also lacks its own independent military capacity and has to constantly rely on the willing ness of the member states to volunteer the army personnel, and the subscriptions to foot the bill of the military operations. The performance of the UN especially in the peacekeeping has eventually led to low concern for peace-building process. The concern has also been reflected in the developing world where nations from less developed countries accuse their developed counterparts who make majority of the members in the Security Council as pressuring them to develop programs that do not favor them hence creating more mistrust and they end up not supporting the United states on its principal aims of maintaining international peace and security.
Question 9
The traditional currency that has been used in international power politics has mainly been the military power where nations exercise their influence on other states through the use of threats and use of force. In the traditional contexts, war was viewed as an armed conflict between states but this has significantly changed over time and has been refashioned by military technology as well as military strategy which have changed over time. The traditional military weaponry were the machine guns, longbow and the musket but have since been considered as obsolete. The postmodern war equipment is more industrial technology that involves the use of smart weapons and high tech technology. The challenge with this new technology is that often, on is unable to distinguish between the military and the civilians since both are almost asymmetrical. This makes compacting more lethal with more casualties in areas where the civilian population is high and especially because the enemy is now highly mobile. Arguably this new weapons are more catastrophic than traditional weapons in areas with high population levels. When this technology is used in areas where the intensity of the war is high, there is more likely destruction likely to occur on property and civilian lives lost.
Question 10
Globally, human rights have been considered as fundamental, indivisible, universal and absolute. The universality of the human rights means that states now have significant domestic and foreign obligations to protect civil, economic, political and cultural rights of its citizens by ensuring that human beings can acquire justice in affair manner. With now more international laws, human rights documents and supporting bodies such as the United States and human right groups, states must advance human rights. Nevertheless, there is an observable inherent tension that exists between human rights groups UN bodies and the state governments. In some case, these supporting groups carry out humanitarian intervention in form of military engagement hence the need to redefine the sovereignty of nations in the era of responsibility in sovereignty. The humanitarian intervention sometimes has reflected benefits that exceed costs such as human suffering and lost live but in some cases there interventions have done more harm than good. The current notion by some states that their obeying and following international law is based on the benefits they will gain does less in reducing harm. Some nations obey international law for fear of disorder, isolation or punishment. The principles that nations should employ in following rightful and morally right human rights recognized internationally should not be dependent on the perceived benefits and losses that the leaders see as their countries as likely to experience.
11. Are universal human rights a form of Western cultural imperialism? (Ch. 13, 8)
Human rights are believed to be a form of western conformity forced upon sovereign states of the world. According to the United Nations, Human rights are universal. It is a right for everyone to be treated humanely. If that is so, then why is it that millions of children are starving all over the world? Approximately 16000 children are dying every day. According to Stephen Kinzer, human rights have been used as an excuse to trample over the sovereignty of nations to establish western cultural imperialism. In order to understand how western cultural imperialism is linked to universal human rights, it is imperative to define the scope of both in meaning. Human rights are “rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status”. According to the Australian human rights commission, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Universal Declaration) is an international document that states basic rights and fundamental freedoms to which all human beings are entitled”. The manuscript was assimilated by the UN general assembly in the December of 1948. There is alarm expressed over human rights as propagating western cultural imperialism. The United States for instance is the self-proclaimed arbiter of human rights. In recent times they have cited human rights as grounds for military intervention in sovereign states. Given the aggressive manner they have laid waste to countries that do not conform to western idealism and how the west ignored situation Rwanda, for instance, can only go so far to show how universal human rights have been used to propagate western imperialism.
12. Does the tension between Islamic and Western societies have a cultural or civilizational character? (Ch. 6, 7, 8)
The tension between Islamic and western societies can be attributed to both cultural and civilizational roots. Culture is a way of life of a people. It entails the knowledge of a people; their collective experience; their beliefs; their religion; their attitudes; roles and collective knowledge.. The Islam culture is deeply embedded in religion. The religion of Islam also defines their civilization. Civilization is considered as the way of life a society in a particular area adopts. For instance, the Middle East region of the world is largely composed of Islamic civilization while most western countries subscribe to the various western civilizations of the region. In terms of civilization, the west sees the Islamic civilization as backward and bound by archaic beliefs. The west see their own democracies and secular civilizations as more advanced and more adept in terms of the changing world compared to the rigid system of belief in the Islamic states. Therefore, culture gives birth to the civilization of the people. The root of all tension between the west and Islam can be traced to religion. The west is a democratic society that subscribes to the religious beliefs set forth by the bible while the Islam equivalent is the Qur’an. The west believes Islam religions is outdated in current times and portray Muslims harshly. Likewise, Islam believes the Bible has been corrupted over time due to numerous translations and therefore believes the Qur’an has surpassed it. This is the root cause of the tension between the west and Islam therefor has both civilizational and cultural aspects.
13. Are transnational corporations a beneficial or negative force in the world? Give reasons for your answer. (Ch. 4)
Transnational corporations are corporations that conduct business in various countries. All transnational corporations are Multinational Corporation: however, all multinational corporations are not transnational corporations. The major difference between the two is a source of conflict that must be addressed before their benefits are explored. There is but one major difference that distinguishes the two: a multinational corporation is headquartered in one particular country but has branches on other countries while a transnational corporation has no definitive headquarters. The advancement in IT has made conduction of business overseas expedient and efficient. Transnational corporations can therefore effect change globally simultaneously as a result. This is quite the benefit for countries that lack certain products and services provide by transnational corporations. However, this has also granted power and influence to transnational corporations. Given their influence and large resource base, they have gained a bargaining power levied against governments forced to bend to the will of the business. Transnational corporations also take advantage of cheap labor force: weak labor policies. They use politics, for instance Wal-Mart uses political influence to lobby for government policy change. Given their monopoly, they are uniquely placed to issue threats of withdrawing investment. Primarily, government benefit from economic revenue generated by transnational corporations. Transnational corporations use this information to have governments engage in bidding wars: that has them – governments – sabotaging policies and implementing reduced taxes levied against the multinational corporation in order to provide a lucrative market for transnational corporations.
14. How does global governance differ from international anarchy? (Ch. 19, 20)
Governance refers to the processes used to manage and conduct the social welfares of the people. Global governance is much more concerned with decision making processes foster international co-operation of several sovereign states: all of which subscribe to various diverse systems of governance. International anarchy in contrast, refers to a lawless world. In a world of anarchy, there is no law or concept of order; no justice system or body that regulates the faithfulness of those justice systems; no system of policing and maintaining peace and order. This is a world lacking in forms of government, national boundaries or sovereign states. As such, it is free for all and subscribes to Darwinism: only the strong survive. Global governance is enforced by bodies such as the United Nations: which governance various aspect of the human social life in various regions of the world, states and national boundaries. Global governance can also be applied in global economics through bodies such as the World Bank, IMF and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
15. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the ‘development as economic growth’ model? (Ch. 15)
Development refers to stages of achieving improvement through planning. Economic development therefore refers to the change in quality of life in citizens. The citizens’ quality of life is measured by use of the Human index tool: this entails investigation poverty levels; literacy levels and life expectancy of citizens. If say citizens have graduated from using poor social amenities to using health approved social amenities, this constitutes economic development. Economic growth however refers to a change in the Gross Domestic Product (measured annually). If say the country experiences heavy foreign investment and is able to generate a lot of revenue that reflects in positive values of the GDP, then the country has experienced economic growth. Development can be traced in economic growth. Rostow designed such a model of five stages: traditional society, pre-conditions for takeoff, take off, drive to maturity and Age of mass consumption.. There are two main advantages, the aspect of economic growth and development in terms of economy and quality of life for the living. However, economic forces such as the need to make profits drive companies to lay off workers in the bid to lower labor costs. Penetration of IT leads to automation: which translates to more workers laid off. Foreign investment curtails growth of domestic industries. Monopoly of foreign investors and threat to withdraw investment causes government to implement policies that favor foreign investors.
16. How is gender implicated in patterns of global poverty? What explains these patterns? (Ch. 17)
Contemporary definition of gender is rather a spectrum. There are men and women: then there are transgender, gays, and lesbians and so on. Poverty is a state of being unable to cater for own basic needs. Global poverty is the situation in the world of people unable to cater for their own basic needs. Basic needs primarily focus on three things: access to food, shelter and clothing. There are emerging trends in global poverty that depict a close association between poverty levels extreme in particular genders. For instance, the female gender, given the fact that they populate almost half the planet, has been a prime area of focus. Women who lived their prime lives in late 20th century are described as ‘pension poor.’ What this means, is that they were unable to save enough during their working years. In addition to this, they are also a vulnerable group who are now leading single lives as single parents and have to carter for their kids.
17. How is terrorism distinguished from other forms of political violence? Are these distinctions valid? (Ch. 12)
Terrorism is the act of using violence to advance political agenda. Terrorist activities shot up beginning in late 20th century and have escalated in contemporary times. The matter of terrorism is complex and difficult to accurately pinpoint. This is primarily because the International community supports the use of violence to advance political agenda. For instance, the NATO recently used violence to oust Gaddafi from power. The United Nations uses violence of its peace trooper to enhance peace. The US raided Middle East to pursue human rights violations meted against the people by a dictator. Their military intervention led to the death of several men, women and children in Afghanistan. Compare this to the deaths caused by September 11th attack on the US: there are no differences. The main distinction used to separate politically violent acts from terrorism is the morality concept. The International Community feels they are justified, if say America removes Saddam from power using violence. The Country was plagued by dictatorship in a global community of democracies. The people were portrayed to be languishing in poverty and suffering from human rights violations. A terrorist will however advance political violence for unknown and probably selfish reasons. However, the two politically violent acts all end up in the death of people, therefore, this difference is not valid.
18. Have religious motivations transformed the nature of terrorism? (Ch. 12, 8)
This is a fact. In the 19th and 20th centuries, military intervention and all forms of political violence was based on the benefit to the country meting violence or the leader in charge. During the World War I and II, terrorism of another country or by individual acts during the cold war was accomplished with a goal. However, following the September 11th attacks on the US, the dynamics for terrorism changed drastically. The terrorist who committed the acts of political violence began quoting the Qur’an as their justification. According to Qur’an, Jihad is the last option if all else fails to appeal to the humanity of the non-believer. The US raided most of Middle Eastern countries and quoted morality of their judgment. However, this only escalated the political violence in form of terrorism meted by the jihadist groups. The tension between the west and some Islamic States for instance is primarily tied to religion. The west does not understand why the Muslim community declared Jihad on them and the Muslims wonder why they are meddling in their affairs. This transformation in contemporary times has developed into religious fanaticism. There is a shift from political violence of religious violence.
19. Do we have environmental obligations toward future generations, and if so, what does this imply? (Ch. 16)
The concept of environmental obligation to future generation is a subject met with objections. The current environmental condition of the planet is severely affected by pollution, nuclear waste on land and oil on water. Most industries in the world still use fossil fuels to produce energy for their operations. These fossil fuels produce carbon emissions in alarming quantities into the air. There is consideration for a shift into renewable energy given the steady depletion of fossil fuels that collect very slowly. Alternative methods such as hydraulic fracking also release significant greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere and causes derelict land. The renewable energy methods require heavy investment and yield very little power against a heavy demand. The dilemma is between sacrificing our comfort for a generation not yet conceived and maintaining our lifestyle committing future generation to doom. The aspect of ethics in environmentalist has them calling for environmental conservation. This can be done by adopting renewable energy resource to homes; reducing pollution; adopting alternative methods of waste processing and disposal.
20. Should developed countries take primary responsibility for mitigating climate change? (Ch. 16)
I believe developed countries should take the primary responsibility to enforce climate change. Developed countries have established systems of industrial sectors that require heavy use of fossil fuel products. They are also the biggest consumers of oil in the world. As such, it so follows that the greenhouse emission from the developed countries is high. In addition to this fact, developed countries have advanced economies, powerful governments and advances in technology that make it possible to adopt renewable energy in large scale. This primarily means that if they implement such strategies, most, if not all of the energy demand will be catered for by renewable energy sources. Developing countries have economic challenges and are still unable to acquire the technology for effectively assimilating renewable energy resources into their national grid.
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