Cultural identity and nationalism inspired political movements that attempted to unify people into new nation-states and posed challenges to multinational states. Students will investigate the role of cultural identity and nationalism in the unification of Italy and Germany and in the dissolution of the Ottoman and Austrian Empires.
Those who faced being colonized engaged in varying forms of resistance and adaptation to colonial rule with varying degrees of success. Students will investigate one example of resistance in Africa (Zulu, Ethiopia, or Southern Egypt/Sudan) and one in China (Taiping Rebellion or Boxer Rebellion and the role of Empress Dowager CiXi). Students will investigate how Japan reacted to the threat of Western imperialism in Asia.
European industrialized states and Japan sought to play a dominant role in the world and to control natural resources for political, economic, and cultural reasons. Students will explore imperialism from a variety of perspectives such as those of missionaries, indigenous peoples, women, merchants/business people, and government officials. Students will trace how imperial powers politically and economically controlled territories and people, including direct and indirect rule in Africa (South Africa, Congo, and one other territory), India, Indochina, and spheres of influence in China.
Technological developments increased the extent of damage and casualties in both World War I and World War II. Students will compare and contrast the technologies utilized in both World War I and World War II, noting the human and environmental devastation.
The devastation of the world wars and use of total war led people to explore ways to prevent future world wars. Students will examine international efforts to work together to build stability and peace, including Wilson's Fourteen Points, the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations, and the United Nations.
The Cold War was a period of confrontations and attempts at peaceful coexistence. Students will investigate the efforts to expand and contain communism in Cuba, Vietnam, and Afghanistan from multiple perspectives. Students will examine the new military alliances, nuclear proliferation, and the rise of the military-industrial complex. Students will examine the reasons countries such as Egypt and India chose nonalignment. Students will explore the era of détente from both American and Sovietperspectives.
The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the communist bloc in Europe had a global impact. Students will investigate the political reforms of glasnost and economic reforms of perestroika. Students will examine the impacts of those reforms within the Soviet Union, on the Soviet communist bloc, and in the world.
Nationalism in China influenced the removal of the imperial regime, led to numerous conflicts, and resulted in the formation of the communist people's Republic of China. Students will trace the Chinese Civil War, including the role of warlords, nationalists, communists, and the world wars that resulted in the division of China into a communist run people's Republic of China and a nationalist-run Taiwan. Students will investigate political, economic, and social policies under Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping and compare and contrast these policies.
African independence movements gained strength as European states struggled economically after World War II. European efforts to limit African nationalist movements were often unsuccessful. Students will explore at least two of these three African independence movements: Ghana, Algeria, Kenya.
Tensions between agents of modernization and traditional cultures have resulted in ongoing debates within affected societies regarding social norms, gender roles, and the role of authorities and institutions. Students will investigate, compare, and contrast tensions between modernization and traditional culture in Turkey under the rule of Kemal Ataturk and in Iran under the Pahlavis and the Ayatollahs. Students will explore how changes in technology, such as communication and transportation, have affected interactions between people and those in authority (e.g., efforts to affect change in government policy, engage people in the political process including use of social media, control access to information, and use terrorism as a tactic).
Cultures and countries experience and view modernization differently. For some, it is a change from a traditional rural, agrarian condition to a secular, urban, industrial condition. Some see modernization as a potential threat and others as an opportunity to be met. Students will investigate the extent to which urbanization and industrialization have modified the roles of social institutions such as family, religion, education, and government by examining one case study in each of these regions: Africa (e.g., Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone), Latin America (e.g., Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico), and Asia (e.g., China, India, Indonesia, South Korea).
Nationalism in the Middle East was often influenced by factors such as religious beliefs and secularism. Students will investigate Zionism, the mandates created at the end of World War I, and Arab nationalism. Students will examine the creation of the State of Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Population pressures, industrialization, and urbanization have increased demands for limited natural resources and food resources, often straining the environment. Students will examine how the world's population is growing exponentially for numerous reasons and how it is not evenly distributed. Students will explore efforts to increase and intensify food production through industrial agriculture (e.g., Green Revolutions, use of fertilizers and pesticides, irrigation, and genetic modifications). Students will examine strains on the environment, such as threats to wildlife and degradation of the physical environment (i.e., desertification, deforestation and pollution) due to population growth, industrialization, and urbanization.
Globalization is contentious, supported by some and criticized by others. Students will compare and contrast arguments supporting and criticizing globalization by examining concerns including: free market, export-oriented economies vs. localized, sustainable activities development of a mixed economy in China and China's role in the global economy multinational corporations and cartels (e.g., Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) roles of the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and microfinance institutions economic growth and economic downturns (e.g., recession, depression) on a national and a global scale economic development and inequality (e.g., access to water, food, education, health care, energy) migration and labor ethnic diversity vs. homogenization (e.g., shopping malls, fast food franchises, language, popular culture).
Globalization has created new possibilities for international cooperation and for international conflict. Students will examine the roles of the United Nations (UN), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and efforts to build coalitions to promote international cooperation to address conflicts and issues. They will also examine the extent to which these efforts were successful. Students will investigate one organization and one international action that sought to provide solutions to environmental issues, including the Kyoto Protocol. Students will examine threats to global security, such as international trade in weapons (e.g., chemical, biological, and nuclear), nuclear proliferation, cyber war, and terrorism, including a discussion of the events of September 11, 2001.
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