20th Century Geopolitics: A Global Perspective
Vocabulary
Political Figures
Richard Nixon
The former U.S. Republican President who claimed victory in the Vietnam War. His ending was marred by the Watergate scandal, which led to his resignation.
Fidel Castro
Marxist revolutionary leader who fought against Batista and took power in Cuba, remaining in power until recent times.
Indira Gandhi
The only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, she took her surname from her husband Feroze Gandhi. She served as Prime Minister of India and was assassinated in 1984.
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Egyptian President who was one of the important leaders at the 1955 Bandung Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement. He nationalized the Suez Canal.
Léopold Sédar Senghor
The first president of the Republic of Senegal, a socialist with a strong poetic vocation who advocated for equality between white and black people.
Patrice Lumumba
Congolese leader who supported the USSR and favored a unitary state.
Political Concepts
Populism
A political ideology centered around a leader who acts as a savior and protector of “his people,” fostering a paternalistic relationship.
FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)
A group of landless peasants organized into guerrilla armies, financed by kidnapping and drug trafficking, who continue to exist today.
Carnation Revolution
A military uprising that took place in Portugal in April 1974, triggering the fall of the Salazar regime.
Helsinki Accords
Agreements signed in Helsinki, Finland, culminating in the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Final Act, signed by 35 countries.
Islamism
A political ideology that organizes society based on religion, influencing both private and individual behaviors as well as the organization of public institutions.
Imam
A religious leader who leads prayers in a mosque and whose rituals should be imitated by the faithful.
Taliban
Members of a fundamentalist political movement created in Afghanistan in the late 20th century. They were students of Koranic schools.
People’s Communes
Economic cells that combined agricultural and industrial production in small factories within the same space.
Dayton Agreement
Agreements drafted based on the principles of the UN Charter, which divided Bosnia-Herzegovina between Serbia and Croatia.
Transnationalization
Also known as globalization of the economy, it has transformed the world into a vast market for goods and capital.
Globalization
A term originating in the U.S., it primarily refers to the economic process of integrating different national economies into a single global market economy.
G8
A group comprising the world’s wealthiest countries (USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, and Russia).
Third Way
A variety of theoretical and political approaches that generally suggest a mixed economy system and a centrist or reformist government ideology.
Operation Desert Storm
Also known as the Gulf War, it was a conflict between Iraq and a U.S.-led international coalition in response to Iraq’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait.
Intifada
The popular name for two Palestinian uprisings in the West Bank and Gaza Strip against the State of Israel.
The Hegemony of the USSR After the Iron Curtain
Following Stalin’s death, Khrushchev attempted to reform the Soviet Union with democratizing and liberalizing changes, seeking peaceful coexistence between blocs. However, he underestimated the impact of these reforms. The spirit of change reached the satellite states, which sought to continue his reform policies. This surge in freedom had to be suppressed by the Soviet army in Hungary and Poland, who attempted to break away. On the other hand, his desire for coexistence between blocs was challenged by problems in Suez concerning the possession of the Canal, in Berlin where the Wall was built, and in Cuba during the missile crisis. Opposition from the nomenklatura and Kennedy’s death, which ended the period of peaceful coexistence, put an end to Khrushchev’s policies.
His successor, Brezhnev, returned to communist political orthodoxy internally, suppressing the Prague Spring in 1968. He maintained contact with the U.S. and supported the process of limiting nuclear weapons through the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Accords. However, he installed more missiles in Europe and Asia and participated politically and militarily in the Third World, particularly in Afghanistan. Gorbachev’s rise to power would signify a radical shift in Soviet policy.
The Middle East Question
The creation of the State of Israel and its initial displays of force led to the emergence of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the support of Arab countries in the region for the Palestinian cause. Three wars were fought between the two sides, and the successive defeats of the Arab nations led them to strengthen their faith and traditions, initiating a return to their origins known as fundamentalism.
The fourth war prompted the oil-producing Arab countries in the Persian Gulf to pressure the international community to resolve the conflict by withholding and increasing the price of oil.
A peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, mediated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, was shattered by the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
Israel’s occupation of territories and the intensification of Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas led to the Palestinian intifada against Israeli interests.
The Golden Age of Capitalism
The Marshall Plan, aimed at post-war European recovery under U.S. guidance, led to the creation of a consumer society that imitated the American lifestyle. The United States supported economic development by applying Keynesian theories and collaborating with social democracy.
The Federal Republic of Germany implemented a social market economy and quickly rose to prominence in Europe. Its currency, the Deutsche Mark, became a symbol of strength and stability. Japan’s economy was organized around the modernization of industry and the competitiveness of its low labor costs. Its development was spectacular.
Growth in Europe, which was well-supplied, was accompanied by a crisis in the U.S., which lost markets in the Old Continent and was forced to devalue its currency and implement protectionist tariffs. The European economic boom culminated in the establishment of democracy in the last three countries where it was yet to be implemented: Greece, Portugal, and Spain.
May 1968 Revolution, Postmodernity, and New Civilian Movements
John F. Kennedy promoted the welfare state and extended it to the black population during a decade in which civil rights demands for people of color were led by Martin Luther King Jr.
The assassinations of Kennedy and King sparked more radical protests, culminating in the events of 1968 and the disillusionment caused by the failure of the Vietnam War. These factors contributed to the end of the Democratic government, paving the way for the Republicans.
The 1968 revolution was a rejection of the emerging welfare state by the youth, who found it comfortable and lacking in incentives. It coincided in the U.S. with the Vietnam War disaster and the struggle for civil rights. In Europe, it manifested through various revolutionary movements. Its intellectual proponents challenged the established peace and order in all its facets. They were more supportive of a political revolution that ended up being absorbed by the system, although they maintained the idea that an alternative life was possible, different from the bourgeois conventions of the time.
The feminist movement for equal rights developed alongside the events of 1968 and began to take shape in the 1980s.
Concern for environmental protection and natural resources emerged a few years after the acute oil crisis of 1973. This concern was championed by the Green parties.
This reaction against traditional lifestyles, encompassing social customs, attitudes, and the defense of the planet, was accompanied by changes in artistic and philosophical conceptions, becoming known as postmodernism—perhaps a too pragmatic term that lacked an accompanying ideological alternative.
The Balkan Wars
The old ethnic, cultural, and national differences of the Balkan peoples, unified under Tito’s federalism, resurfaced with the collapse of the Soviet bloc. Serbia’s century-old aspiration for greatness reappeared under Slobodan Milošević, and the denial of nationality to other ethnic groups resulted in civil war.
Milošević attacked republics that attempted to gain independence, particularly Bosnia-Herzegovina, where ethnic cleansing of Muslims took place. With military support from NATO and political backing from the UN, Bosnia-Herzegovina was divided between Croatia and Serbia. However, Serbia’s assimilation policies provoked a rebellion in Kosovo, which was supported by the UN and granted the status of an autonomous region under the protection of international forces.
The eventual withdrawal of these troops may reopen wounds that have not yet fully healed.