Chapter 21: Globalization, 1970-2000 CE Vocab

Question 1

Nelson Mandela

Answer 1

(1918–2013) Leader of the African National Congress (ANC) who was imprisoned for more than two decades by the apartheid regime in South Africa for his political activities, until worldwide protests led to his release in 1990. In 1994, Mandela won the presidency in South Africa’s first free mass elections.

Question 2

European Union (EU)

Answer 2

Supranational body organized in the 1950s as an attempt at reconciliation between Germany and the rest of Europe. It emerged from the European Coal and Steel Community and initially aimed to forge closer industrial cooperation. By 1993, through various treaties, many European states had relinquished important elements of their sovereignty, and the cooperation became a full-fledged union with a common parliament and a common currency. By 2020, all twenty-seven member states of the EU except Denmark had adopted, or pledged to adopt, the euro as their currency.

Question 3

global climate change

Answer 3

A wide range of phenomena caused by global warming. These changes encompass not only rising temperatures, but also changes in precipitation patterns; ice mass loss on mountain glaciers around the world; shifts in the life cycles and migration patterns of flora and fauna; extreme weather events; and sea level rise.

Question 4

HIV/AIDS

Answer 4

An epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which compromises the ability of the infected person’s immune system to ward off other diseases. First detected in 1981, AIDS killed 12 million people in the two decades that followed.

Question 5

global warming

Answer 5

Upward temperature trends worldwide due to the release of carbon into the air, mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities.

Question 6

supernational organizations

Answer 6

Organizations that transcend national boundaries, such as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These can be distinguished from international organizations, which are intergovernmental projects in which national governments cooperate for common goals—for example, the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and NATO.

Question 7

truth commissions

Answer 7

Commissions established to inquire into human rights abuses by previous regimes. In Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, and South Africa, these commissions were vital for creating a new aura of legitimacy for democracies and for promising to uphold the rights of individuals.

Question 8

Tiananmen Square

Answer 8

Largest public square in the world and site of the pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 that ended with the killing of thousands of protesters by the Chinese army.

Question 9

developing world

Answer 9

Term applied to poor countries of the Third World and the former eastern communist block seeking to develop viable nation-states and prosperous economies. The term has come under sustained criticism for suggesting that there is a single path of economic growth that countries everywhere follow. It has been replaced by equally problematic terms like “advanced economy” and “emerging markets.”

Question 10

Globalization

Answer 10

Development of integrated worldwide cultural and economic structures.