Big Picture Questions

1. In what ways did the Global North/South divide find expression in the past century?
2. What have been the benefits and drawbacks of globalization since 1945?
3. Do the years since 1914 confirm or undermine Enlightenment predictions about the future of humankind?
4. “The most recent century marks the end of the era of Western dominance in world history.” What evidence might support this statement? What evidence might contradict it?
5. To what extent did the various liberation movements of the past century—communism, nationalism, democracy, feminism, internationalism—achieve their goals?
6. Looking Back: To what extent did the processes discussed in this chapter (globalization, feminism, fundamentalism, environmentalism) have roots in the more distant past? In what respects did they represent something new in the past century?