1. Modern
Europe

2. What We Will Learn Today:
What challenges do Russia and Germany now face?
How has Europe united economically?
What is European socialism?

3. The New
Russia

4. The New Russia
Since Gorbachev’s reforms Russia has struggled with its transition from communism to democracy and from a command to a market economy. Food shortages and unemployment rose.

5. The New Russia
Commonwealth of Independent States – group of 11 former Soviet republics formed in 1991 to help ease the fall of the USSR and coordinate communication.
Commonwealth of Independent States

6. The New Russia
In 1999 Vladimir Putin was elected president in the first peaceful transfer of power in Russian history. In 2002 Putin agreed to a nuclear arms reduction treaty with President George W Bush.

7. The Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights estimates that corruption… ► Consumes as much as 50 percent of Russia’s GDP (2010 report prepared by Clean Hands, a Russian anticorruption center) ► Transparency International has Russia ranked 133rd out of 174 countries (2012 Corruption Perception Index) ► 28th out of 28 countries (2011 "Bribers" Index by Transparency International)
Russian Corruption includes bribes resulting in corrupt political elections.

8. Reunified
Germany

9. Reunified Germany
Marshall Plan aid to West Germany helped bring a quick recovery called the “economic miracle.” However, communist East Germany did not recover well, making reunification difficult.

10. Reunified Germany
West Germans had to pay higher taxes to help the east rebuild. Unemployment is high in East Germany, and some neo-Nazi extremist groups have attempted to revive Nazi ideology.

11. Economic
Unification

12. Economic Unification
After WWII Western Europeans created the European Coal and Steel Community to cooperate economically. This later became the European Community (EC) or Common Market, which grew in 1992 to become the European Union.
EU Members
EU Candidates

13. Economic Unification
The 27 member European Union introduced the Euro in 1999, created trade rules and abolished barriers, allows free movement of workers, and created standard worker rights and benefits.
EU Parliament

14. U.S. Exaggerated example
European Socialism
Recent European economies have become what’s called mixed economies. Mixed economies combine capitalism with socialism.
U.S. Exaggerated example
European Socialism (mixed market) ● right to own some of your own money
● right of government to redistribute some of your money and limits business freedoms ● social programs (welfare, universal health care, workers compensation, social security, unemployment, free college) ● higher taxes
Pure Capitalism (free market) ● right to own all your money ● no government intervention in how you sell or buy products ● you pay your own way ● no limit on how much you can work or earn ● lower taxes ● the poor get no help

16. European Socialism So what are the benefits to European socialism?
European Socialism - PROS ● Less poverty
● social programs (welfare, universal health care, workers compensation, social security, unemployment, free college – tougher admissions) ● more vacation, less hours of work European Socialism - CONS ● Less incentive (ability) to get rich (less hours of work => less potential money) (less incentive => less innovation/inventions)
● higher taxes
● not as good of health care as U.S. (for those who do have good coverage)

17. What We've Learned Today:
DEFINE
“ECONOMIC
MIRACLE”
ETHNIC
CLEANSING
PUTIN
NEO-NAZIS
EUROPEAN
UNION
EURO