[Y1T3M] CONTEMPORARY WORLD

• The gap between the rich and poor countries has become wider
• The poor countries have become poorer and the rich countries have become richer
• All over the world, 800 million individuals live in extreme poverty
• Most of them are found in Africa, Asia, and Latin America (Central and South America)
• North


  The rich world
• South


  The poor world
• The latter (the South) has not been able to eliminate poverty, hunger, disease, squalor, and ignorance
• Their (the South's) social and economic conditions even become worse
• The North becomes richer
• More than 90 percent of the manufacturing industry is located in the North
• Common situations of the countries of the South

  • They are economically dependent on the North
  • They feed the factories of the North with the raw materials and labour
  • They are the consumers of the finished products of the North
• Most of the countries of the South were colonies of the North
• Global politics


  Names both the discipline that studies the political and economic patterns of the world and the field that is being studied
• Global politics (first meaning)


  Worldwide, having planetary (not merely regional or national) significance
• Global politics (second meaning)


  Politics that is conducted at a global rather than national or regional level
• Examples of global politics

  • UN almost has universal membership
  • Environment acquired a global character
  • Economy became global because fewer and fewer countries now remain outside the international trading and financial system
• The author does not believe that this state of interconnectedness absorbs all of its units into a global whole
• The author does not support the claim that we live in a 'borderless world', or the assertion that the state is dead and sovereignty is irrelevant
• Global politics (second meaning)


  It refers to all elements within a system, not just to the system as a whole
• International politics


  Should be described as 'inter-state' politics
• Qualities a state must possess


  • A defined territory
  • A permanent population
  • An effective government
  • The capacity to enter into relations with other states
• States are taken to be the key actors on the world stage since the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which established sovereignty as a distinguishing feature of the state
• States are not the only significant actors on the world stage anymore
• Other significant actors on the world stage

  • Transnational corporations (TNC)
  • Nongovernmental organizations (NGO)
  • Other non-state bodies
• No TNC or NGO can rival the state's coercive power
• Anarchy


  The absence of any higher authority than the state, meaning that the state system operates in a context of anarchy
• Conflict and war are inevitable features of the international system
• Balance of power


  A condition in which no one state predominates over others, tending to create general equilibrium and curb the hegemonic ambitions of all states
• The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the symbolic end of the Cold War division between East and West Germany
• The attack on the New York World Trade Center's twin towers on September 11, 2001, commonly referred to as 9/11, was a series of coordinated terrorist attacks by the extremist group al-Qaeda
• The crash of Wall Street in 2008, known as the global financial crisis, was sparked by the collapse of the housing market in the United States
• During the Cold War era, power appeared to be easily located in two 'superpowers' that dominated world politics leading to a bipolar world order
• The disintegration of the Soviet Union left the USA as the world's sole superpower meaning that it had been transformed into a global hegemon
• Power may have shifted away from states generally through the growing importance of non-state actors and the increased role played by international organizations
• Globalization increased the influence of global markets and drew states into a web of economic interdependence that substantially restricts their freedom of maneuver
• Soft power (influencing others by persuading them to follow certain norms) is becoming as important as hard power in influencing political outcomes
• Nations such as Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia willingly accepted constitutionalism, the division of power, political parties, a competitive election system, freedom of the press, the protection of civil rights, and freedom of assembly
• Hope and enthusiasm fell when aberrant happenings began taking place, such as inter-ethnic fighting in former Yugoslavia
• All major (and minor) powers face challenges of economic growth, energy security, and environmental sustainability
• Power shifts at the global level are creating a more diverse international order as emerging and resurgent players pursue and assert their own interests