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But economic success has begun to undermine the
authoritarian foundations of the system as a more so-
phisticated citizenry voices aspirations for more political
freedoms and an end to government paternalism. Lee
Kuan-yew’s successor, Goh Chok Tong (b. 1950), prom-
ised a ‘‘kinder, gentler’’ Singapore, and political re-
strictions on individual behavior were gradually relaxed.
In 2004, Lee Hsien-luong (b. 1952), the son of Lee Kaun-
yew, became prime minister, arousing optimism that the
trend toward a more pluralistic political system would
continue.
The future of Hong Kong is not so clear-cut. As in
Singapore, sensible government policies and the hard
work of its people have enabled Hong Kong to thrive. At
first, the prosperity of the colony depended on a plentiful
supply of cheap labor. Inundated with refugees from the
mainland during the 1950s and 1960s, the population of
Hong Kong burgeoned to more than six million. More
recently, Hong Kong has benefited from increased tour-
ism, manufacturing, and the growing economic
prosperity of neighboring Guangdong province, the most
prosperous region of the PRC. Unlike the other societies
discussed in this chapter, Hong Kong has relied on an
unbridled free market system rather than active state in-
tervention in the economy. At the same time, by allocating
substantial funds for transportation, sanitation, education,
and public housing,
the government has
created fav orable
conditions for eco-
nomic dev elopment.
When Britain ’ s
ninety-nine-yearlease
on the New Territo-
ries, the foodbasket
of the colon y, ex-
pired on July 1, 1997,
Hong K o ng returned
to mainland author-
ity. Although the
TO THOSE LIVING IN GLASS HOUSES
Kishore Mahbubani was permanent secretary in
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singapore from
1993 to 1998. Previously, he served as his coun-
try’s ambassador to the United Nations. In this
1994 article, adapted from a piece in the Washington Quarterly,
the author advises his audience to stop lecturing Asian socie-
ties on the issue of human rights and focus attention instead
on problems in the United States. In his view, today the coun-
tries of the West have much to learn from their counterparts in
East Asia. This viewpoint is shared by many other observers,
political leaders, and foreign affairs specialists in the region.
Kishore Mahbubani, ‘‘Go East, Young Man’’
In a major reversal of a pattern lasting centuries, many Western so-
cieties, including the U.S., are doing some major things fundamen-
tally wrong, while a growing number of East Asian societies are
doing the same things right. The results are most evident in the eco-
nomic sphere. In purchasing power parity terms, East Asia’s gross
domestic product is already larger than that of either the U.S. or Eu-
ropean community. Such economic prosperity, contrary to American
belief, results not just from free-market arrangements but also from
the right social and political choices. ...
In most Asian eyes, the evidence of real social decay in the U.S.
is clear and palpable. Since 1960, the U.S. population has grown by
41%. In the same period, there has been a 560% increase in violent
crimes, a 419% increase in illegitimate births, a 400% increase in di-
vorce rates, a 300% increase in children living in single-parent
homes, a more than 200% increase in teenage suicide rates, and a
drop of almost 80 points in [SAT] scores. A clear American paradox
is that a society that places such a high premium on freedom has ef-
fectively reduced the physical freedom of most Americans, especially
those who live in large cities. They live in heavily fortified homes,
think tw ice before taking an evening stroll around their neighbor-
hoods, and feel increasingly threatened by random violence when
they are outside.
To any Asian, it is obvious that the breakdown of the family
and social order in the U.S. owes itself to a mindless ideology that
maintains that the freedom of a small number of individuals who
are known to pose a threat to society (criminals, terrorists, street
gang members, drug dealers) should not be constrained (for exam-
ple, through detention without trial), even if to do so would en-
hance the freedom of the majority. ... This belief is purely and
simply a gross violation of common sense.
My hope is that Americans will come to visit East Asia in
greater numbers. When they do, they will come to realize that their
society has swung much too much in one direction: liberating the
individual while imprisoning society. The relatively strong and stable
family and social institutions of East Asia will appear more appeal-
ing. And as Americans experience the freedom of walking on city
streets in Asia, they may begin to understand that freedom can also
result from greater social order and discipline. Perhaps the best ad-
vice to give to a young American is: ‘‘Go East, Young Man.’’
Q
What are the author’s criticisms of Western civilization?
How does he justify the ‘‘Asian’’ approach to politics and
society?
Victoria
Kowloon
Shenzhen
CHINA
NEW TERRITORIES
South
China
Sea
6 Miles
10 Kilometers0
0
Hong Ko ng
774 CHAPTER 30 TOWARD THE PACIFIC CENTURY?
Chinese promised the British that for fifty years, the
people of Hong Kong would live under a capitalist system
and be essentially self-governing, recent statements by
Chinese leaders have raised questions about the degree of
autonomy Hong Kong will continue to receive under
Chinese rule.
The China Factor
One of the primary reasons for the growing preeminence
of East Asia on the economic scene is the emergence of
mainland China as a major player in the global market-
place. A quarter of a century ago, China was a predom-
inantly rural nation with an archaic state-run industrial
sector. Today, with a predominantly market-driven
economy and an industrious low-wage workforce, it has
become an economic powerhouse, taking over the role
previously played by Japan in leading the resurgence of
East Asia in world affairs (see Chapter 27).
What effect this will have on future developments in
the region is still unclear. For the moment, the new China
is both a blessing and a curse to its neighbors: a major
importer of raw materials from other countries in Asia,
but a dangerous competitor in the export market. A pe-
riod of political instability in China, of course, would
dramatically change the equation. Barring unforseen cir-
cumstances, however, the emergence of China represents
a significant step in transforming the vision of the Pacific
Century into a reality.
On the Margins of Asia: Postwar
Australia and New Zealand
Technically, Australia and New Zealand are not par t of
Asia, and throughout their shor t histor y, both countries
have identified culturally and politically with the West
rather than with their Asian neig hbors. Their political
institutions and values are derived from Europe, and
their economies resemble those of the advanced coun-
tries of the world rather than the preindustrial societies
of much of Southeast Asia. Both are currently members
of the British Commonwealth and of the U.S.-led
ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, and the United States)
alliance.
Yet trends in recent years have been drawing both
states, especially Australia, closer to Asia. In the first
place, immigration from East and Southeast Asia has
increased rapidly. More than one-half of current immi-
grants into Australia come from East Asia, and by early
this century, about 7 percent of the population of about
18 million people will be of Asian descent. In New
Zealand, residents of Asian descent represent only about
3 percent of the population of 3.5 million, but about
12 percent of the population are Maoris, Polynesian
peoples who settled on the islands about a thousand years
ago. Second, trade relations with Asia are increasing
rapidly. About 60 percent of Australia’s export markets
today are in East Asia, and the region is the source of
about one-half of its imports. Asian trade with New
Zealand is also on the increase.
Whether Australia and New Zealand will ever
become an integral par t of the Asia-Pacific region is
uncertain. Cultural differences stemming from the
Euro pean origins of the majorit y of the population in
both countries hinder mutual understanding on both
sides of the divide. But economic and geographic
realities act as a powerful force, and should the Pacific
region continue on its current course toward eco-
nomic prosperity and political stabilit y, the role of
Australia and New Zealand will assume greater
significance.
CHRONOLOGY
Japan and the Little Tigers Since
World War II
End of World War II in the Pacific 1945
Chiang Kai-shek retreats to Taiwan 1949
End of U.S. occupation of Japan 1951
End of Korean War 1953
United States--Republic of China
security treaty
1954
Syngman Rhee overthrown
in South Korea
1960
Rise to power of Chung Hee Park
in South Korea
1961
Independence of Singapore 1965
Death of Chiang Kai-shek 1975
Chung Hee Park assassinated 1979
Student riots in South Korea 1987
Lee Kuan-yew era ends in Singapore 1990
First free general elections on Taiwan 1992
Return of Hong Kong to Chinese control 1997
Financial crisis hits the region 1997
Chen Shui-bian elected president of Taiwan 2000
Junichiro Koizumi elected prime minister
in Japan
2001
Koizumi era ends in Japan 2006
Lee Myung-bak elected president
of South Korea
2007
Nationalist Party returns to power in Taiwan 2008
T
HE LITTLE TIGERS 775
COMPARATIVE ESSAY
O
NE WORLD,ONE ENVIRONMENT
A crucial factor affecting the evolution of society
and the global economy in the early twenty-first
century is the growing concern over the impact of
industrialization on the earth’s environment.
Humans have always caused some harm to their natural sur-
roundings, but never has the danger of significant ecological
damage been as extensive as during the past century. The
effects of chemicals introduced into the atmosphere or into riv-
ers, lakes, and oceans have increasingly threatened the health
and well-being of all living species.
For many years, the main focus of environmental concern was in
the developed countries of the West, where industrial effluents, auto-
mobile exhaust, and the use of artificial fertilizers and insecticides
led to urban smog, extensive damage to crops and wildlife, and a
major reduction of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere. In re-
cent years, the problem has spread elsewhere. China’s headlong rush
to industrialization has resulted in major ecological damage in that
country. Industrial smog has created almost unlivable conditions in
many cities in Asia, while hillsides de-
nuded of their forests have caused severe
problems of erosion that have destroyed
farmlands. Destruction of the rain forest is
a growing problem in man y parts of the
world, notably in Brazil and Indonesia.
W ith the forest cover throughout the
earth rapidly disappearing, there is less
plantlifetoperformthecrucialprocessof
reducing carbon dioxide levels in the
atmosphere.
One of the few beneficial conse-
quences of such incidents has been a
growing international consensus that en-
vironmental concerns have taken on a
truly global character. Although the dan-
ger of g lobal warming---caused by the re-
lease, as a result of industrialization, of
hothouse gases into the atmosphere---has not yet been definitively
proved, it has become a source of sufficient concern to bring about
an international conference on the subject in Kyoto, Japan, in
December 1997. If, as many scientists predict, worldwide tempera-
tures continue to increase, the rise in sea levels could pose a signifi-
cant threat to low-lying islands and coastal areas throughout the
world, while climatic change could lead to severe droughts or exces-
sive rainfall in cultivated areas.
It is one thing to recognize a problem, however, and another to
solve it. So far, cooperative efforts among nations to alleviate environ-
mental problems have all too often been hindered by economic forces
or by political, ethnic, and religious disputes. The 1997 conference on
global warming, for example, was marked by bitter disagreement over
the degree to which developing countries should share the burden of
cleaning up the environment. The fact is, few nations have been will-
ing to take unilateral action that might pose an obstacle to economic
development plans or lead to a rise in unemployment. In 2001,
President George W. Bush refused to sign the Kyoto Agreement on
the grounds that it discriminated against advanced Western countries.
At the end of 2009, another international
conference on global warming, held in
Copenhagen, Denmark, also was marked by
disagreements between the developed and
developing nations. As a result, it achieved
few concrete results, despite a more active
role by the United States.
Q
What are the major reasons why
progress in cleaning up the environment
has been so difficult to achieve?
c
Judyth Platt/Ecoscene/CORBIS
Destruction of the Environment. This
stunted tree has been killed by acid rain, a
combination of sulfuric and nitric acids mixed
with moisture in the air. Entire forests of trees
killed by acid rain are becoming common sights
in Canada, the United States, and northern
Europe.
CONCLUSION
THE RISE OF ASIA as a crucial factor in the global economic
order has sparked widespread debate, and sometimes concern, in
major world capitals. Some observers see major Asian states like
China, Japan, and even India as future competitors with advanced
Western nations (see the comparative essay ‘‘Global Village or Clash
of Civ ilizations?’’ in Chapter 26), an observation made more
ominous in recent years by the outsourcing of jobs to the region.
To some observers, the economic achievements of the nations
of the western Pacific have come at a high price, in the form of
political authoritarianism and a lack of attention to human rights.
Until recently, government repression of opposition has been
common in many of these nations. In addition, the rights of
national minorities and women are often still limited in comparison
with the advanced nations of the West. Developments such as the
776 CHAPTER 30 TOWARD THE PACIFIC CENTURY?
TIMELINE
1945 1955
1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2010
East Asia
South Asia
Southeast
Asia
End of World War II in the Pacific
Korean War
United States–
Republic of China
security treaty
Independence of
Republic of Singapore
Hong Kong returned to
China
Syngman Rhee overthrown
in South Korea
Chung Hee Park
assassinated
Student riots
in South Korea
Liberal Democrats
defeated in Japan
First free general
elections in Taiwan
Chen Shui-bian elected
president of Taiwan
Financial crisis
hits South Korea
Koizumi steps
down as prime
minister
United States–Japan security treaty
Economic recession
in Japan
U.S.
occupation
of Japan
India and Pakistan
declare independence
Southeast Asian states
restore independence
Formation
of ASEAN
Era of guided democracy
in Indonesia
Corazon Aquino elected
president of the Philippines
Death of Jawaharlal Nehru
Era of Indira Gandhi
Khmer Rouge control
Cambodia
Suharto steps down
as president of Indonesia
Destruction of
mosque at Ayodhya
Musharraf seizes
power in Pakistan
Assassination of Benazir Bhutto
Peace talks
on Kashmir
Financial crisis
hits Southeast Asia
Giant
tsunami
financial crisis of 1997 and the long economic downturn in Japan
have also somewhat tarnished the image of the ‘‘Asian miracle,’’
raising concern that some of the factors that contributed to
economic success in prior years are now making it difficult for
governments to develop open and accountable financial systems.
Rapid economic development in eastern and southern Asia has
also exacted an environmental price. Industrial pollution in China
and India and the burning of forests in Indonesia and other
Southeast Asian nations increasingly threaten the fragile ecosystem
and create friction among nations within the region (see the
comparative essay ‘‘One World, One Environment’’ on p. 776).
Unless the region’s nations learn to cooperate effectively to deal with
the problem in future years, it will ultimately begin to undermine
the dramatic economic and social progress that has taken place.
Still, it should be kept in mind that progress has not always been
easy to achieve in the West and even now frequently fails to match
expectations. A look at the historical record suggests that political
pluralism is often a by-product of economic growth and that political
values and institutions evolve in response to changing social
conditions. A rising standard of living and increased social mobility
should go far toward enhancing political freedom and promoting
social justice in the countries bordering the western Pacific.
The efforts of these nations to find a way to accommodate
traditional and modern, native and foreign, raise a final question.
As we have seen, Mahatma Gandhi believed that materialism is
ultimately a dead end. In light of contemporary concerns about the
emptiness of life in the West and the self-destructiveness of material
culture, can his message be ignored?
CONCLUSION 777
SUGGESTED READING
The Indian Subcontinent Since 1945 For a survey of postwar
Indian history, see P. Brass, The New Cambridge History of India:
The Politics of Independence (Cambridge, 1990), and S. Tharoor,
India: From Midnight to the Millennium (New York, 1997). On
India’s founding father, see J. Brown, Nehru: A Political Life (New
Haven, Conn., 2003). The life and career of Indira Gandhi have
been well chronicled. Two fine biographies are T. Ali, An Indian
Dynasty: The Story of the Nehru-Gandhi Family (New York, 1985),
and K. Frank, Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi (New York,
2000). On Pakistan, see O. B. Jones, Pakistan: Eye of the Storm
(New Haven, Conn., 2002). Also of interest is C. Baxter,
Bangladesh: From a Nation to a State (Boulder, Colo., 1997).
Indian Literature On Indian literature, see D. Ray and
A. Singh, eds., India: An Anthology of Contemporary Writing
(Athens, Ohio, 1983). See also S. Tharu and K. Lalita, eds., Women
Writing in India, vol. 2 (New York, 1993).
Southeast Asia Since 1945 There are a number of standard
surveys of the history of modern Southeast Asia. One is N. Tarling,
Southeast Asia: A Modern History (Oxford, 2002). For a more
scholarly approach, see N. Tarling, ed., The Cambridge History of
Southeast Asia, vol. 4 (Cambridge, 1999). T. Friend, Indonesian
Destinies (Cambridge, Mass., 2003), is a fine introduction to
Indonesian society and culture. For a political perspective on the
Suharto years, see M. Vatiokis, Indonesian Politics Under Suharto
(London, 1993). The rise of terrorism in the region is discussed in
Z. Abuza, Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: Crucible of Terror
(Boulder, Colo., 2003).
Women in Southeast Asia For an overview of women’s
issues in contemporar y South and Southeast Asia, consult
B. Ramusack and S. Sievers, Women in Asia (Bloomington, Ind.,
1999). K. Bhasin, R. Menon,andN. S. Khan, eds., Against All
Odds: Essays on Women, Religion and Development from India
and Pakistan (New Delhi, 1994), explores fundamentalist
cons erv atism among both Hindu and Musli m women. Of interest
on Southeast Asian women’s issues are W. Williams, Japanese
Lives: Women and Men in Modern Indonesian Society (New
Brunswick, N.J., 1991), and C. B. N. Chin, In Service and
Servitude: Foreign Female Domestic Workers and the Malaysian
‘‘Modernity’’ Project (New York, 1998).
Japan Since 1945 For a balanced treatment of all issues
relating to postwar Japan, see J. McLain, Japan: A Modern History
(New York, 2001). I. Buruma, Inventing Japan (New York, 2002),
offers a more journalistic approach that raises questions about the
future of democracy in Japan. For a topical treatment w ith a strong
emphasis on economic and social matters, J. E. Hunter, The
Emergence of Modern Japan: An Introductory History Since 1853
(London, 1989), is excellent. For an extensive analysis of Japan’s
adjustment to the Allied occupation, see J. W. Dower, Embracing
Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II (New York, 1999).
T. Heymann, On an Average Day in Japan (New York, 1992),
provides an interesting statistical comparison of Japanese and
American society. On the role of women in modern Japan, see
D. Robins-Mowry, The Hidden Sun: Women of Modern Japan
(Boulder, Colo., 1983), and N. Bornoff, Pink Samurai: Love,
Marriage, and Sex in Contemporary Japan (New York, 1991).
The Little Tigers On the four Little Tigers and their
economic development, see E. F. Vogel, The Four Little Dragons:
The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (Cambridge, Mass.,
1991); J. W. Morley, ed., Driven by Growth: Political Change in the
Asia-Pacific Region (Armonk, N.Y., 1992); and J. Woronoff, Asia’s
Miracle Economies (New York, 1986). For individual treatments of
the Little Tigers, see Hak-kyu Sohn, Authoritarianism and
Opposition in South Korea (London, 1989); Lee Kuan Yew, From
Third World to First: The Singapore Story, 1965--2000 (New York,
2000); and K. Rafferty, City on the Rocks: Hong Kong’s Uncertain
Future (London, 1991). Also see M. Rubinstein, Taiwan: A New
History (New York, 2001).
Visit the website for The Essential World History to access study
aids such as Flashcards, Critical Thinking Exercises, and
Chapter Quizzes:
www.cengage.com/history/duikspiel/essentialworld6e
778 CHAPTER 30 TOWARD THE PACIFIC CENTURY?
779
ON A VISIT TO NUREMBERG, Germany, with his
family in 2000, Jackson Spielvogel, one of the authors of
this textbook, was startled to nd that the main railroad
station, where he had once arrived as a Fulbright stu-
dent, was now ostentatiously adorned with McDonald’s
Golden Arches. McDonald’s was the brainstorm of
two brothers who opened a cheap burger restaurant in
California in 1940. When they expanded their opera-
tions to Arizona, they began to use two yellow arches
to make their building visible from blocks away. A er
Ray Kroc, an enterprising businessman, bought the bur-
geoning business from the brothers, McDonald’s arches
rapidly spread all over the United States. And they didn’t
stop there. e fast-food industry, which now relied on
computers to maximize the automated processing of its
food, found an international market. McDonald’s spread
to Japan in 1971 and to Russia and China in 1990; by
1995, more than half of all McDonald’s restaurants were
located outside the United States. By 2000, McDonald’s
was serving 50 million people throughout the world
every day.
McDonald’s is but one of numerous U.S. companies
that use the latest technology and actively seek global
markets. Indeed, sociologists have coined the term
McDonaldization to refer to “the process whereby the
principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to domi-
nate more and more sectors of American society as well
as the rest of the world.”
1
Multinational corporations like
McDonald’s have brought about a worldwide homogeni-
zation of societies and made us aware of the political, eco-
nomic, and social interdependence of the world’s nations
and the global nature of our contemporary problems.
An important part of this global awareness is the tech-
nological dimension. e growth of new technology has
made possible levels of world communication that simply
did not exist before. At the same time that Osama bin
Laden and al-Qaeda were denouncing the forces of mod-
ernization, they were promoting their message by using
advanced telecommunication systems that have only re-
cently been developed. e Technological Revolution has
tied peoples and nations closely together and contributed
to globalization, the term that is frequently used today to
describe the process by which peoples and nations have
become more interdependent.
e Global Economy
Especially since the 1970s, the world has developed a
global economy in which the production, distribution,
and sale of goods are accomplished on a worldwide scale.
Several international institutions have contributed to the
rise of the global economy. Soon a er the end of World
War II, the United States and other nations established the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
as a means of expanding global markets and avoiding
McDonald’s in India. McDonald’s has become an important
symbol of U.S. cultural in uence throughout the world. Seen here is a
McDonald’s located in a traditional building in New Delhi, India. e
children outside are trying to make some money by selling balloons to
other children who can a ord to buy fast food.
© Mark Edwards/Peter Arnold Inc.
EPILOGUE
A GLOBAL CIVILIZATION
780
faced new and daunting economic challenges. e IMF
estimated that global output would fall by 1.3 percent in
2009, the rst decline in sixty years. Although there were
some signs of recovery by May, most economists believed
that the worst global slump since the Great Depression of
the 1930s was far from over.
Global Culture and the Digital Age
Since the invention of the microprocessor in 1971, the
capabilities of computers have expanded by leaps and
bounds, resulting in today’s information age or digital age.
Beginning in the 1980s, computer companies like Apple
and Microso competed to create more powerful comput-
ers. By the 1990s, the booming technology industry had
made Microso founder Bill Gates the richest man in the
world. Much of this success was due to several innovations
involving computers that made them indispensable devices
for communication, information, and entertainment.
e Technological World
e advent of electronic mail, or e-mail, transformed
communication in the mid-1990s. As the capacity of com-
puters to transmit data increased, e-mail messages could
be accompanied by document and image attachments,
making them a workable and speedier alternative to con-
ventional postal mail and other delivery methods. At the
same time, the Internet, especially its World Wide Web,
was becoming an information exchange for people around
the world. A network of smaller, interlinking Web pages,
the Internet provides access to sites devoted to news, com-
merce, entertainment, and academic scholarship. As com-
puter processors have become more powerful, these web-
sites now possess video and music capabilities in addition
to text-based documents.
Advances in telecommunications led to cellular or mo-
bile phones. ough cellular phones existed in the 1970s
and 1980s, it was not until the digital components of these
devices were reduced in size in the 1990s that cell phones
became truly portable. Cell phones have since become
enormously important, and not only for communication.
Indeed, many nations have become nancially dependent
on their sales for economic growth. e ubiquity of cell
phones and their ability to transfer data electronically
have made text messaging a global communications craze.
Text and instant messaging have revolutionized written
language, as shorthand script has replaced complete sen-
tences for the purposes of relaying brief messages.
In 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, a portable digi-
tal music player. e pocket-sized device has since rev-
olutionized the music industry, as downloading music
dramatic economic crises such as the Great Depression
of the 1930s. e World Bank is actually a group of ve
international organizations, largely controlled by devel-
oped countries, which provides grants, loans, and advice
for economic development to developing countries. e
goal of the IMF is to oversee the global nancial system
by supervising exchange rates and o ering nancial and
technical assistance to developing nations. Today, 186
countries are members of the IMF. Critics have argued,
however, that both the World Bank and the IMF some-
times push non-Western nations to adopt inappropriate
Western economic practices that only aggravate the pov-
erty and debt of developing nations.
Another re ection of the new global economic or-
der is the multinational corporation or transnational
corporation (a company that has divisions in more than
two countries). Prominent examples of multinational
corporations include Siemens, Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil,
Mitsubishi, and Sony. ese companies are among the
two hundred largest multinational corporations, which
are responsible for more than half of the world’s indus-
trial production. In 2000, some 71 percent of these cor-
porations were headquartered in just three countries—the
United States, Japan, and Germany. In addition, these su-
percorporations dominate much of the world’s investment
capital, technology, and markets. A recent comparison of
corporate sales and national gross domestic product dis-
closed that only forty-nine of the world’s hundred larg-
est economic entities are nations; the remaining y-one
are corporations. For this reason, some observers believe
that economic globalization is more appropriately labeled
“corporate globalization.”
Another important component of economic global-
ization is free trade. In 1947, talks led to the creation of
the General Agreement on Tari s and Trade (GATT), a
global trade organization that was replaced in 1995 by
the World Trade Organization (WTO). Made up of more
than 150 member nations, the WTO arranges trade agree-
ments and settles trade disputes. e goal of the WTO is
to open up world markets and maximize global produc-
tion. But the WTO also has its critics. Some charge that it
has harmed small and developing countries, contributing
to the ever growing gap between rich and poor nations.
Others contend that it has ignored environmental and
health problems that have arisen as manufacturing jobs
have been transferred from developed countries like the
United States to developing countries with fewer protec-
tions for workers and the environment.
e extent of globalization became especially evident
in 2008 when a collapse of the largely unregulated nan-
cial markets in the United States quickly led to a world-
wide recession. Manufacturing plunged, unemployment
rose, and banks faltered as countries around the world
Global Culture and the Digital Age 781
One problem is population growth. As of December
2009, the world population was estimated at more than
6.8 billion people, only twenty-one years a er passing the
5 billion mark. At its current rate of growth, the world
population could reach 12.8 billion by 2050, according to
the United Nations’ long-range population projections.
e result has been an increased demand for food and
other resources that has put great pressure on the earth’s
ecosystems. At the same time, the failure to grow enough
food for more and more people, a problem exacerbated
by drought conditions beginning to appear on several
continents, has created a severe problem, as an estimated
1 billion people worldwide today su er from hunger. Every
year, more than 8 million people die of hunger, many of
them young children.
Another problem is the pattern of consumption as
the wealthy nations of the Northern Hemisphere con-
sume vast quantities of the planet’s natural resources. e
United States, for example, which has 6 percent of the
planet’s people, consumes 30 to 40 percent of its resources.
e spread of these consumption patterns to other parts of
the world raises serious questions about the ability of the
planet to sustain itself and its population. As a result of the
economic slowdown in 2008 and 2009, for example, more
automobiles are now sold in China than in the United
States.
Yet another threat to the environment is global warm-
ing, which has the potential to create a worldwide crisis.
Virtually all of the world’s scientists agree that the green-
house e ect, the warming of the earth because of the
buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, is contrib-
uting to devastating droughts and storms, the melting of
the polar ice caps, and rising sea levels that could inundate
coastal regions in the second half of the twenty- rst century.
Also alarming is the potential loss of biodiversity. Seven out
of ten biologists believe the planet is now experiencing an
alarming extinction of both plant and animal species.
e Social Challenges
of Globalization
Since 1945, tens of millions of people have migrated from
one part of the world to another. ese migrations have
occurred for many reasons. Persecution for political rea-
sons caused many people from Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Sri Lanka, and eastern Europe to seek refuge in west-
ern European countries, while brutal civil wars in Asia,
Africa, the Middle East, and Europe led millions of refu-
gees to seek safety in neighboring countries. Most people
who have migrated, however, have done so to nd jobs.
Latin Americans seeking a better life have migrated to the
electronically from the Internet has surpassed the pur-
chasing of records (CDs, tapes, and other physical forms)
in stores. In fact, CD sales declined by nearly 25 percent
from 2000 to 2006.
Reality in the Digital Age
Advances in communication and information during the
digital age have led many people to suggest that world cul-
tures are becoming increasingly interdependent and ho-
mogenized. Many contemporary artists have questioned the
e ects of the computer age on identity and material real-
ity. According to some, the era of virtual reality, or what the
French philosopher Jean Baudrillard has termed “hyperreal-
ity,” has displaced cultural uniqueness and bodily presence.
The Body and Identity in Contemporary Art By focus-
ing on bodily experience and cultural norms, contempo-
rary artists have attempted to restore what has been lost
in the digital age. Kiki Smith (b. 1954), an American artist
born in Germany, creates sculptures of the human body
that o en focus on anatomical processes. ese works,
commonly made of wax or plaster, question the politics
surrounding the body, including AIDS and domestic
abuse, while reconnecting to bodily experiences.
Contemporary artists also continue to explore the
interaction between the Western and non-Western
world, particularly with the multiculturalism gener-
ated by global migrations (see “ e Social Challenges of
Globalization” later in this Epilogue). For example, the art
of Yinka Shonibare (b. 1962), who was born in London to
Nigerian parents, grew up in Nigeria, and now resides in
England, investigates the notion of hybrid identity as he
creates clothing and tableaux that fuse European designs
with African traditions. e success of Shonibare’s work
indicates how, in the digital age, Western peoples remain
interested in other cultures and traditions. is emergence
of a global culture has become part of the new globalism
at the beginning of the twenty- rst century.
Globalization and the
Environmental Crisis
Taking a global perspective at the beginning of the twenty-
rst century has led many people to realize that every-
where on the planet, human beings are interdependent in
regard to the air they breathe, the water they drink, the
food they consume, and the climate that a ects their lives.
At the same time, however, human activities are creating
environmental challenges that threaten the very founda-
tion of human existence on earth (see the box on p. 783).
782 EPILOGUE A GLOBAL CIVILIZATION
As human threats to the environment grew, world
scientists began to organize and respond to the
crisis. One group, founded in 1969, was the Union
of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofi t organization of
professional scientists and private citizens, now with more than
200,000 members. In November 1992, the Union of Concerned
Scientists published an appeal from 1,700 of the world’s lead-
ing scientists. The fi rst selection is taken from this “Warning to
Humanity.”
Earlier, in 1988, in response to the threat of global warm-
ing, the United Nations established the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) to study the latest scientifi c informa-
tion on global warming and climate change. In 2007, more than
2,500 scientists from more than 130 countries contributed to
the group’s most recent report, “Climate Change, 2007: The
Fourth Assessment Report,” released in November 2007. The
second selection is taken from the Web page that summarizes
the basic fi ndings of the 2007 report.
“World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity,” 1992
Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course. Human
activities in ict harsh and o en irreversible damage on the environment
and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices
put at serious risk the future that we wish for human society and the
plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter the living world that it
will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know. Fundamental
changes are urgent if we are to avoid the collision our present course
will bring about. e environment is su ering critical stress:
e Atmosphere
Stratospheric ozone depletion threatens us with enhanced ultraviolet
radiation at the earth’s surface, which can be damaging or lethal to many
life forms. Air pollution near ground level, and acid precipitation, are
already causing widespread injury to humans, forests, and crops.
Water Resources
Heedless exploitation of depletable ground water supplies endangers
food production and other essential human systems. Heavy demands
on the world’s surface waters have resulted in serious shortages
in some 80 countries, containing 40% of the world’s population.
Pollution of rivers, lakes, and ground water further limits the supply.
Oceans
Destructive pressure on the oceans is severe, particularly in the coastal
regions which produce most of the world’s food sh. e total marine
catch is now at or above the estimated maximum sustainable yield.
Some sheries have already shown signs of collapse.
Soil
Loss of soil productivity, which is causing extensive land abandon-
ment, is a widespread by-product of current practices in agriculture
and animal husbandry. Since 1945, 11% of the earth’s vegetated sur-
face has been degraded—an area larger than India and China com-
bined—and per capita food production in many parts of the world is
decreasing.
Forests
Tropical rain forests, as well as tropical and temperate dry forests, are
being destroyed rapidly. At present rates, some critical forest types will
be gone in a few years, and most of the tropical rain forest will be gone
before the end of the next century. With them will go large numbers of
plant and animal species.
Living Species
e irreversible loss of species, which by 2100 may reach one-third of
all species now living, is especially serious. . . . Much of this damage
is irreversible on a scale of centuries, or permanent. Other processes
appear to pose additional threats. Increasing levels of gases in the
atmosphere from human activities, including carbon dioxide released
from fossil fuel burning and from deforestation, may alter climate on
a global scale.
Warning
We the undersigned, senior members of the world’s scienti c com-
munity, hereby warn all humanity of what lies ahead. A great change
in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required, if vast hu-
man misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not
to be irretrievably mutilated.
“Findings of the IPCC Fourth Assessment
Report,” 2007
Human Responsibility for Climate Change
e report nds that it is “very likely” that emissions of heat-trapping
gases from human activities have caused “most of the observed in-
crease in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century.”
Evidence that human activities are the major cause of recent climate
change is even stronger than in prior assessments.
A Warning to Humanity
(continued)
The Social Challenges of Globalization 783