Chapter 37: The End of Empire Chapter 38: A World Without Borders 1. Examine the philosophy and career of Mao Zedong. Was his variety of communism different from that practiced in the Soviet Union? Discuss the significance of the Great Leap Forward and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. How successful was Mao? 2. Examine the transformation of Latin America in the twentieth century. What did the events in Mexico and Argentina say about the changing political, economic, and social worlds of Latin America? 3. Examine the struggle of independent nations in sub-saharan Africa. How did the legacy of colonialism and the cold war influence the development of these states? Discuss the creation and later fall of apartheid in South Africa. 4. Examine the Islamic revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. In what ways did this revolution represent another step away from a bipolar political world? What would be the significance of fundamentalist Islam? In what ways did fundamentalist Islam become part of a growing nationalism? 5. Discuss India's role as a functioning democracy. Why did India remain democratic when so many of its neighbors underwent revolutions or were brought down by military coups? Who were the important leaders? Why would democracy be such a challenge in a country like India? 1
6. Consider the role of Israel in the Arab world. How has Israel survived for the past half century? What steps have been made toward peace? Is Israel the main stabilizing or destabilizing agent in southwest Asia? 7. What steps did the Chinese Communist Party take to transform the economy of China after the revolution? What were the results of these measures? 8. What factors led the Reagan administration to support the Contra rebels of Nicaragua? What was the outcome of this policy? 9. Examine the political and social philosophy of Mikhail Gorbachev. How did he try to bring about changes in the Soviet Union? Did he go too far and too fast? 10. What role has technology and mass communication played in the formation of today's world? How does reporting the news sometimes cause the news to happen? Why are some nations afraid of the communication revolution of today's world? Can it be stopped? Is there a downside to the age of access? 2
11. What are the ecological challenges facing the planet today? How great of a threat is the explosive population growth, especially in the developing world? 12. How have the mass migrations of people shaped the world today? How are these migrations helping to break down boundaries? What are the dangers? 13. Examine concepts such as Americanization and McDonaldization. How influential is the United States in the world today? Why are some countries frightened by this influence? 14. Discuss China's one-child family rule. What would drive the Chinese to take such a drastic step? Have there been any unexpected problems associated with this rule? Compare this rule to actions taken by Indira Gandhi to slow India's population growth. How difficult is population control to enforce? 15. What are some of the characteristics of global corporations? What are the advantages and disadvantages of corporations that can operate without any national regulation? 3
16. The "little tigers" of Asia have been able to escape the cycle of economic colonialism that has haunted so many former colonies. What factors account for this reversal? 17. Why did communism fail to connect with nationalism? How did this failure lead to the collapse of the Soviet empire? 18. What was the significance of the Iran-Iraq War? Was it influenced in any way by legacies of the cold war? Discuss the implications of the Gulf War. 4
Vocabulary List Term Definition/Significance 5
6
7
8