Chapter Five

Chapter Five
Major Contemporary Global Issues

Objectives
 Identify the major global issues and challenges facing humanity in the 21st
century.
 Identify the factors/reasons for the various contemporary global problems of
our world
 Discuss the role global citizens should play in offsetting such global challenges
Survey of Major Contemporary Global Issues
1. Global Security Issues
These include Global Terrorism and nuclear proliferation
Global Terrorism
The first thing about terrorism is its definition. ‘who gets to define terrorism and why?’ often
complicates the task of defining terrorism.
Indeed, the saying ’some one’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter’ is often
presented as a justification for the general acceptance of war as a legitimate instrument.
Terrorism is defined as a global security problem characterized by the use of violence in the
form of hostage taking, bombing, hijacking and other indiscriminate attacks on civilian
targets.
Global communication and transport physical technologies helped the terrorists develop
capacity to attack their targets.
Terrorism continues to pose a major challenge for global security.

There are four different types of terrorist organizations
 left wing terrorists,
 Right wing terrorists,
 ethno-nationalists/separatist terrorists and
 religious terrorists
Factors Conducive to Terrorism
1. socio-economic cause
Eg. Economic and political isolation, feelings of hopelessness, violations of human rights, and
the lack of democracy provides a fertile breeding ground for terrorism);
2. political cause
eg. Legitimate grievances and the failure of governments to adequately address problems,
lack of democracy, and widespread and systematic violations of human rignts often foment
terrorism.
3. psychological cause
Eg. Humiliation
Types of Terrorism
 Domestic terrorism: occurs within the borders of a particular country and is associated
with extremist groups.
 Nationalist terrorism: is closely associated with struggles for political
autonomy and independence.
 Religious terrorism: grows out of extreme fundamentalist
religious groups that believe that God is on their side and that their violence is divinely
inspired and approved.
 State terrorism: is a cold, calculated, efficient, and extremely destructive form of
Terrorism
 Global terrorism: is partly an outgrowth of the forces of globalization, which enable the
different kinds of terrorism to spread worldwide.
Nuclear Weapons and Their Proliferations
Fear of nuclear war dominated security planning during the cold war
In the post-cold war period there is greater concern about nuclear proliferation – that is, the
spread of nuclear weapons themselves and the technology and knowledge required to build
them.
the end of the cold war has not diminished the significance attached to nuclear weapons
i.e., states desire to acquire nuclear weapons have increased.
Reasons for the spread of nuclear weapons
 For nuclear states, nuclear weapons play some positive role in providing security.
 non-nuclear states who have lost the guarantee of extended deterrence or security
protection by nuclear states, demanded to have their own nuclear arsenals.
eg. Japan’s desire to have nuclear weapons should the US stops its nuclear protection.
 the combination of the loss of extended deterrence with regional dynamics

Eg. Pakistan felt vulnerable to attacks from India because the United States has scaled back
its support for.
India, lost the backing of the Soviet Union, in turn feels vulnerable to both Pakistan and
China. In 1998 both India and Pakistan became nuclear states.
 the contrasting experiences of Iraq and North Korea suggest strong incentives to
proliferate fast and establish deterrence.
Global Environmental Issues
problems of environmental degradation are transboundary in nature and therefore need

an international solution.
Global Environmental Issues include climate change and global warming
Climate change poses numerous and harsh challenges for sustainable development and its
effects are felt in all regions of the globe.
Degree of vulnerability varies with developing countries and the poor which have
contributed the least to global warming but are suffering the most
Global Inequality and Poverty
Economic inequality refers between the economic gap between the riches and the poors.
economic disparities remained a serious problem in developing countries,
Various factors contributed for economic inequality in developing countries.
For instance, incompetent leadership, wrong economic policies, mal administration,
corruption, poor state-society relations , law work ethics, conflcit, war or civil war etc.
The forces of globalization created conditions that helped widen the gap between rich and poor
in industrialized societies.
Extreme inequality perpetuates poverty and the concentration of economic and political
power and reduces economic efficiency.
It strengthens inequality-perpetuating institutions in three ways:

 Inequality discourages the political participation of poor people, which, in turn,
diminishes their access to education, health care, and economic growth and development.
 Inequality often prevents the building and proper functioning of impartial institutions
and
observance of the rule of law.
 Inequality enables the wealthy to refuse to compromise politically or economically
which further weakens poor societies .
Inequality among as well as within nations has direct and indirect implications for
globalization. Countries may adopt protectionist policies and disengage, from the global
economy. It also cause terrorism, the environment, and the spread of infectious diseases.
Migration and refugee problems
International migration and refugee have become more prominent on the international agenda
because of their increasing scale and growing impact on international affairs.
Several factors account for global migration and refugee problems

 the number of states increased since the end of the First World War
 a rapid increase in the world’s population which led for over exploitation of regional
resources, leading on occasions to catastrophic famine and population movement.
 the revolution in communications and transportation has made people aware of conditions
and opportunities in other parts of the world.
 the turmoil and uncertainty and unstable world place motivating people to search abroad for
a better life.
Migration and refugee are now seen as central political issues by most governments in the
world.
migrants and refugees to most advanced countries are becoming the target of animosity from
right-wing groups who regard migrants and refugees as causing high level of unemployment
and decline in general living standard.
e.g. anti migrants and refugees movement in Europe.
Global Cultural Issues
Cultural Imperialism
Cultural imperialism is the result of cultural globalization- a process whereby information,
commodities and images that have been produced in one part of the world enter into a global
flow that tends to ‘flatten out’ cultural differences between nations, regions and individuals.
This has sometimes been portrayed as a process of ‘McDonaldization’.

McDonaldization is the process whereby global commodities and commercial and marketing
practices associated with the fast-food industry have come to dominate more and more
economic sectors.
Cultural globalization is fuelled by information revolution, the spread of satellite

communication, telecommunications networks, information technology and internet and
global media corporations.
The popular image of globalization is that it is a top- down process, the establishment of a
single global system that imprints itself on all parts of the world.
Globalization is linked to homogenization as cultural diversity are declining in a world.
Globalization has in some ways fashioned more complex patterns of social and cultural
diversity in both developing and developed states.
In developing states western consumer goods and images have been absorbed into more
traditional cultural practices through a process of indigenization.
Cultural (civilizational) clash and identity conflicts
 Culture and nationalism have generally been closely intertwined.
 Leaders usually draw upon cultural similarities to diminish tensions and, conversely, upon
cultural differences and hatreds to promote conflict.
 all societies, directly or indirectly, promote their values as positive and desirable while,
simultaneously, devaluing those of other societies
 Ethnocentrism (thinking and valuing only your own) as a behavior is likely to develop
(being developing).
 The more culturally distinct the other society is perceived to be, the more inferior it is often
deemed to be and thus suitable for negative treatment.
 In line with this logic, the famous political scientist S.P. Huntington has also developed
what he calls ‘clash-of-civilizations’ which explains contemporary global conflicts in
terms of cultural differences.
 For Huntington, civilizations will be the dividing lines in future global politics and it is the
clash of these civilizations that would primarily define the feature of 21st century global
order.
 Huntington argues that there are eight major civilizations in the world
Western, Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox, Latin American, and
African.
The clash-of-civilizations theory thus stresses that there exists and will continue to exist
conflict instead of cooperation among civilizations.

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Chapter Five

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Chapter Five

Major Contemporary Global Issues

Terrorism continues to pose a major challenge for global security.

 the combination of the loss of extended deterrence with regional dynamics

problems of environmental degradation are transboundary in nature and therefore need

Global Environmental Issues include climate change and global warming

It strengthens inequality-perpetuating institutions in three ways:

Several factors account for global migration and refugee problems

This has sometimes been portrayed as a process of ‘McDonaldization’.

Cultural globalization is fuelled by information revolution, the spread of satellite

Globalization is linked to homogenization as cultural diversity are declining in a world.

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