Internationalism and Nationalism Chapter 11 Internationalism and Nationalism

Chapter Issue To what extent do efforts to promote internationalism through world organizations affect nationalism? How have changing world conditions promoted the need for internationalism? How have the UN’s changing international responses affected nationalism? How do responses of various international organizations affect nationalism?

The Global Village With the introduction of the internet and email it has become much easier for people around the world to not only understand what is happening but to communicate with each other about it. It is, however, important to remember that not everyone has access to the internet or would even be able to read if they did.

Voluntary Balkanization The separation of people into isolated and hostile groups. Some people believe that the internet offers the ability to find people with similar values This grouping (online communities) makes it harder for people to trust anyone with values different than their own.

Cont’d Think about your internet experience Do you look at various news sources from around the planet as a global citizen? DO you join online communities that focus on one side of the issue much more so than others? Examples?

Effects of technology on citizenship and democracy An expert, Darin Barney, feels that it is not whether people have access to the technology that matters so much as whether or not it can empower them and contribute to their autonomy.

UN’s changing international responses and their effects on nationalism Not everyone is in agreement over the effectiveness of peacekeeping and peacemaking. Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general in 2003, had to take a serious look at what the UN’s goal is and how to go about this in a world that is constantly changing.

Cont’d A key changes was discussed in a report entitled “A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility” Responsibility to Protect - Relax the rule about staying out of internal affairs  should a countries’ people need protection from it leaders or militant groups the UN has a duty to step in to protect human rights ~

Iran’s Conflict with the UN This new outlook was challenged right off the bat by the a situation that had been developing in Iran. Read pg.258 to understand how this developed and note the statements made by the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad~

Common Human Heritage UNESCO – UN educational, scientific, and cultural organization was developed to promote international cooperation in the fields listed above to create respect for the shared values and dignity of every civilization and culture. This involves preserving the common human heritage such as heritage sites, traditional skills and knowledge (like TEK), and the arts

Identifying common human heritage? How do we decide what has outstanding value to humanity. Creative genius, impacts on architecture, or an association to ideas and beliefs~ Canada has 14 sites identified. Read pg. 261 and answer the last question before the threats to common human heritage section.

Threats to Common Human Heritage Should UNESCO’s declaration of these sites protect them even if it interferes with the sovereign plans of the ruling nation state? Look at Taliban leaders destroying two ancient statue of Buddha in, what they said, the name Islam (p261). Those leaders actually thought they were protecting Islam and their beliefs. Thailand – Cambodian Conflict over world heritage site - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7719167.stm

Video Links http://www.unesco.org/en/nhk-world-heritage-site-videos/ http://whc.unesco.org/en/254/

Rostov Kremlin - Russia Built in the 1660’s Intended to be the “Russian Vatican” Made of several churches linked together Now is a museum

Penang- Malaysia Considered to be the “Pearl of the Orient” The historic city of George Town Shows the evolution of the “historic port city”

Economic Organizations A driving force of many international trade agreements in the past few decades has been the trickle down effect (this is supported by the WTO and the EU) The idea is that as developed nations become richer and more developed, some of this will spill over into developing nations because they are going to buy more from other developing nations.

WTO The world trade organization is an organization that’s main goal is the elimination of trade barriers around the world in order to promote growth and development. Some critics say that this organizations threatens national identity with some of its rulings and has too much power to enforce decisions through economic sanctions.

Cont’d An example of this, discussed by Maude Barlow, is that the WTO views water as a commodity so it could force Canada to export water to the US even if it is not in Canada’s best interest ~

EU The European Union became an official supranational organization in 1991. It is designed to promote peace and security; and to also be one of the largest free trade zones in the world. Developed the Euro as a common currency to help free trade ~

Cont’d While many people believe that the Euro is important, some feel that it is a great loss of sovereignty to give up your currency. Britain and Denmark have refused, yet are still members of the union. Another controversial point is the adoption of a common constitution for the same reason. Countries still want to have the ability to self govern and make their own rules ~

Cultural and Language- based Organizations Many groups who share a common bond of culture or language have extended their groups by combining with others outside of their nations, based upon this commonality. This allows these groups to have a stronger voice than they may otherwise have and this lets them affirm and promote their values.

Cont’d Examples include francophone groups (La Francophonie) and indigenous groups like the Inuit Circumpolar Conference with members in Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia http://www.international.gc.ca/franco/index.aspx

Arctic Council Created in 1996 by an Inuit woman named Mary Simon Includes: Canada, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the U.S.A. Goal to protect the Arctic environment Any country can join as an observer state (ie, the United Kingdom)

Map of Arctic Council

Security Organizations These organizations provide a way for countries to form defensive alliances. An example would be NATO. When we joined with the US after 9/11 it was because we were members of NATO and members had agreed to help defend each other against threats~ http://www.nato.int/

Taking Turns 3 readers for the taking turns on pg. 268 and answer the your turn question in your daily log.

Chapter Review Do the think, participate, research and communicate questions on pages 20 and 271.