1990 to PRESENT

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

• How did the Cold War end?

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV

• Soviet leader, introduced political and economic reforms in his nation.

FALL OF BERLIN WALL

• Symbol of the end of the Cold War.• Soviet Union no longer exists.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

• What were some conflicts since 1990?

PERSIAN GULF WAR I

• Iraq invades Kuwait.• U.S leads mission to liberate Kuwait.

U.N. PROPOSITION 151

• Israelites and Palestinians continue to fight over control of homeland.

BOSNIAN GENOCIDE

• “Ethnic Cleansing” in Balkan Region.

9/11

• Terrorists attack World Trade Center, Pentagon and fail to hit White House.

GULF WAR II

• U.S invades Iraq, looking for WMD’s.• Saddam Hussein is executed.

PATRIOT ACT

• U.S gov. authorizes phone tapping, searches of business records to help catch terrorists.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

• What about environmental issues?

NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION

• Increasing number of nations with Weapons of Mass Destruction.

• EXAMPLES: North Korea, Iran

GLOBAL WARMING

• Effects of pollution are raising temperatures.• Ice caps melting, habitats affected.

MALTHUS

• British economist, predicts that human population will soon outnumber resources.

GREEN REVOLUTION

• People organize to stop global warming.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

• Building new homes and businesses that do not do further damage to environment.

KYOTO PROTOCOL

• World Wide agreement to limit carbon emissions that cause global warming.

• U.S has refused to sign it.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

• What about cultural issues?

DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

• United Nations proposes all humans are entitled to “life, liberty and security”.

GENDER EQUITY

• Correcting imbalance of education, employment, family rights for women.

WORLD BANK

• Gives loans, advice and other resources to ‘developing’ nations.

OUTSOURCING

• ‘Developed’ nations place factories in nations with no labor unions, few labor laws.

INTERNET

• Computerized information and communications system.

GLOBALIZATION

• Increasing cultural and economic connections in nations throughout the world.