The Role of Internationalism in the World. Social Studies 20-1 Chapter 14

What have we done? Nations and Nation-States try to involve themselves in global issues for different reasons. Sometimes these reasons are for the good of all and sometimes they are for selfish reasons.

Think of the following What are the impacts on global issues of pursing internationalism? How can the pursuit of internationalism help resolve global issues?

Resolving Global Issues Governments have to ask the question “What can we do to make a difference?” More importantly, they should ask themselves “What can be done to minimize the negative unintended outcomes?”

Liberal Internationalism It is the view that the world will be a better place as interactions between the world increases. All our efforts to make the world a better place might be misguided. What we believe to be good intentions may result in outcomes that potentially could be undesirable.

Bikini Islands Located in the South Pacific, it was a close knit society based on a traditional island life. There were only 167 people living on these islands, and the Americans decided to test Nuclear Weapons there after WW2.

Bikini Islands The people of the islands left on the idea that they would return to a better place in the future. They moved to another set of islands, but these were not as prosperous as the Bikini Islands. The USA did a few more tests, and moved these people around a few more times.

Bikini Islands What was the outcome? The Bikinians drew no benefit from being displaced from their islands and their lives were forever changed for the worse. Although the Americans thought that testing nukes would end all world wars, it did little to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and the explosions spread radioactive contamination throughout the Pacific Islands

Colonialism My goodness, you remember this right? The colonies of Africa that were taken advantage of in the early 1900’s and abandoned after WWII. The Legacy that was left behind was one of neglect. The G8 (Group of 8 most powerful economic nations) decided to make Africa and its problems number one on its list of things to fix.

Colonialism That is convenient, as it was most of those countries in the G8 that created the hardships in the first place. There of course were problems to the ideas, in that the Europeans would usually favor one ethnic group over another, causing hostilities – this led to problems in places like Rwanda and the Congo.

War on Terror The Americans are leading the war on terror. A coalition (NATO) was sent to Afghanistan to try to stop terrorism and some joined an American coalition to get rid of Saddam Hussein in Iraq . Since the attacks of 9/11, mainstream news reporting has centered on America’s war on terror and less about other events and problem areas of the world

War on Terror What are possible reasons for the differences in reporting conflicts after September 11, 2001? Do these differences reflect the differences in political and economic power in the world? Do these differences suggest possible differences in the interpretations of internationalism by different nations?

Balance of Power... Adjustments One of the ideas to help those countries that are struggling is to get private industry and foreign investment involved. Critics argue that this kind of aid continues to under develop struggling countries because they gain little through commercial exploitation.

Balance of Power... Adjustments If your nation relied on the legume (bean) crop to feed its people, the World Bank/WTO/IMF would say privatize the land and grow crops for export. That way you will get money to feed the people. That would be a great idea if the government owned the land. What happens is that the land is sold to a transnational company, and they decide what is grown and sold; with no benefit to the country whatsoever.

Resolving Global Issues An example of this would be the stance that the globe took on chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) in the mid 1980’s. It was deduced that CFC’s were hurting the ozone layer (the UV protector of the earth), and there was a global outcry to fix it, and countries of the earth got together to do this.

Resolving Global Issues If you want to make some major cash and are good at environmental science, here is what you need to do. Set-up a company that studies the impact of whatever on the environment.

Resolving Global Issues Finally. . . . To what extent should governments make decisions in the short-term and long-term interests of their citizens? To what extent should governments be focused on international decisions instead of the well- being of their own citizens?