Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first...
-
Upload
sophie-mcgee -
Category
Documents
-
view
212 -
download
0
Transcript of Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first...
![Page 1: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Challenges for the Contemporary West
The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual and on freedom…we have committed crimes, but we have also caused the whole of mankind to take a gigantic step forward and to leave its childhood behind.
- Jacques Ellul The Betrayal of the West 1978
![Page 2: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
I. End of the Cold War
![Page 3: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
A. Détente and divisions
1. “Monolithic” Communism- Mao Zedong
2. Suez Crisis 1956
![Page 4: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
3. Test Ban / Proliferation Treaties
4. Nixon in Moscow / China 1972
Cold War as permanent condition
![Page 5: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
B. Unrest
1. Unruly East- Hungary 1956- “Prague Spring” 1968- Poland & Solidarity 1980s- Afghanistan
2. Economic woes- stagnation, not starvation
![Page 6: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
C. Neo-Conservatism 1980 - 1989
1. Reagan / Thatcher
- military strength
- hostility to “socialist” domestic programs- unabashed patriotism
![Page 7: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
D. Fall of the Soviet “Empire”
1. Mikhail GorbachevGlasnost = opennessPerestroika = economic / administrative reform
2. 1989 – Lifting the Iron Curtain- Hungary elections- “Velvet” Revolution in Czechoslovakia- Fall of the Berlin Wall
![Page 8: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
The end of the Cold War is “the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.”
The End of History and the Last Man
- Francis Fukuyama 1992
![Page 9: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
II. Dominance and Decline
![Page 10: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
A. The Wealth of Nations
1. “We will bury you!” – Kruschev Economic race - GATT
- consumerism- building a middle class- “cradle to grave” support
2. One Europe- European Union 1991
![Page 11: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
B. Postmodern mania
1. Baby boom / baby bust
2. Youth Culture- materialistic- politicization
![Page 12: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
3. Existentialism- fixed truths + pov- morality cannot exist outside of “agents”- feminism / sexual revolution
4. Identity politics
![Page 13: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
C. North-South Divide
1. Population / resources
![Page 14: Challenges for the Contemporary West The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual.](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042822/56649f315503460f94c4cb0b/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
2. New ideological conflict?- Islamic Nationalism
neo-colonialism / Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- “Islamists”
rejection of “secular” values
Gulf (Iraq) Wars