3.0.6 The Making of the Modern World - Overview

Version 1.3 March 2016                                               (Previous Version)

The modern world began around the Second World War (1939-45), but there is no sharp boundary.

The detailed pages in Chapter 3.6 look at political changes, such as:

·       The advance of human rights, marked by the English Revolution and the European Enlightenment, which inspired the American and French revolutions, which inspired others.

·       The abolition of slavery and the collapse of the colonial world, due as much to the increased costs and reduced benefits of slavery than the increased recognition of human dignity!

·       The First World War (WWI, 1914-18), really a European civil war that involved its colonies around the world, which set the conditions for the Second World War (WWII, 1939-45).

·       The Cold War (1947-91), between capitalist America (and Europe) against the communist Russian empire (the USSR) and China, lost by the Russians when its empire collapsed, and abandoned by the Chinese when they adopted capitalist economics (but kept one party rule).

·       America pushing capitalism and democracy in Germany and Japan as anti-communist bastions.

·       America becoming the world’s dominant military power, able to destroy any other country, but failing to appreciate that its hypocritical foreign policy is counterproductive and failing.

·       The resurgence of India and China as world powers, and the rise of other major nations such as Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and Korea.

·       The rise of feminism and move towards greater gender equality in many countries.

·       The rise of the United Nations Organization and its agencies to promote global cooperation.

We look at advances in science and technology, such as:

·       Mechanization, and the reduced the need for labour in agriculture and manufacturing;

·       Transport, reduced shipping costs, and cheap international travel (for the affluent);

·       Consumer goods, cars, home appliances, heating and air conditioning, and entertainment;

·       Communications, especially the telegraph, telephone, television and internet.

We look at the evolution of the modern financial system:

·       Early thinkers thought little could be done to control the economy.  Moral philosophers, such as Adam Smith, supported this “laissez faire” economics but also moral constraints on behaviour.

·       In the early 1900s economists began to understand the business cycle, and Keynes developed his theory, enabling governments to manage the economy via interest rates, taxes and spending.

·       In the 1980s monetary theory provided governments additional economic management tools.

·       Financial crises still occur, frequently because of unmanaged risk in debt and credit markets.

·       Excessive free market ideology now dominates the West, despite lacking supporting evidence.

We work through the next level of detail on each of the above issues (more).  After considering this evidence, we’ve looked for a way to state our conclusions briefly, and we come to the following summary.

Is this the best way to state our conclusions in this area?  Click on feedback, or add a comment below, if you can improve the substance or the phrasing.

more                                                                                Statement 19

This period provides guidance on how to support our core values of diversity and equality.