GLOBAL HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY II — NYS Regents Exam Study Guide

Unit 10.9: Globalization and a Changing Global Environment

I. Unit Framing: The World Maria Lives In

Unit 10.9 is different from the previous units in one important respect: it covers the world Maria actually lives in. The other units have been historical. This one covers the present and the recent past, from roughly 1991 (the end of the Cold War, where Unit 10.6 left off) to the 2020s. The unit's task is to help Maria recognize that the world she experiences as natural was built by particular historical processes that are still ongoing. Globalization, climate change, the digital revolution, and the resulting backlashes are all stories whose endings have not yet been written.

The concept that organizes this unit is globalization. The word entered widespread use in the 1990s to describe the accelerating economic, technological, cultural, and political integration of the world. The Soviet Union had collapsed. The Cold War's bipolar division had ended. A new global economic and political order, dominated by liberal democratic capitalism and American power, seemed to be establishing itself. Technological developments (the internet, mobile telephones, container shipping, satellite communications) connected previously separated places at unprecedented speed and scale. This was the period sometimes called the "end of history" by overly optimistic commentators who assumed that liberal democracy and free markets had won permanently.

The 2000s and 2010s qualified that optimism substantially. The September 11 attacks, the resulting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 2008 financial crisis, the rise of China as an economic superpower, the Russian return to authoritarian and aggressive politics, the populist backlash in Western democracies, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the accelerating climate crisis have all complicated the simple globalization story. Maria's world is one of intensely connected but increasingly contested globalization.

Strategic insight: Maria should approach this unit by thinking of globalization as a set of processes (economic, technological, cultural, political, environmental) that have produced both benefits and discontents. The Regents tests this unit by asking about specific developments (the rise of the internet, the spread of multinational corporations, the impact of climate change, the role of international organizations) and by asking Maria to evaluate the broader pattern. Strong answers acknowledge that globalization has produced economic growth, technological advances, and cultural exchange while also producing inequality, environmental damage, and political reactions.

Essential question for this unit: How has globalization changed the world since the end of the Cold War, what tensions has it produced, and how is the global environment changing?

The chain of developments

1. Cold War ends; United States emerges as sole superpower
2. Free trade agreements (NAFTA, EU expansion, WTO) accelerate economic integration
3. Information technology (internet, mobile phones) revolutionizes communication and commerce
4. China's economic rise transforms the global economy; many manufacturing jobs shift from rich to poor countries
5. Migration accelerates from poorer to richer countries
6. Climate change becomes recognized as an existential threat
7. September 11, 2001 attacks reshape global politics; war on terror, Iraq War
8. 2008 financial crisis exposes vulnerabilities of integrated financial systems
9. Populist movements emerge in many democracies as backlash against globalization and immigration
10. COVID-19 pandemic (2020) demonstrates global interdependence and its risks
11. Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022) and intensifying U.S.-China rivalry mark return of great-power competition

II. Economic Globalization

Economic globalization is the integration of national economies into a single global economy through trade, investment, migration of labor, and flows of technology and information. It has been the dominant force shaping the world economy since the early 1990s.

Key institutions and agreements

World Trade Organization (WTO)

The WTO was founded in 1995, succeeding the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that had governed international trade since 1948. The WTO administers trade agreements among member states, provides forums for negotiating further liberalization, and resolves trade disputes. It has 164 member states as of the 2020s. Critics argue that the WTO has favored corporate interests and developed countries over developing ones; supporters argue that the rules-based trading system has produced enormous economic growth.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

NAFTA, in effect from 1994, eliminated most trade barriers among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It increased trade among the three countries dramatically. Critics in the U.S. argued that NAFTA accelerated the loss of manufacturing jobs to Mexico; supporters argued that it produced overall economic benefits and lower prices for consumers. NAFTA was replaced by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in 2020, with modifications but the same basic structure.

European Union (EU)

The European Union emerged from a sequence of European integration agreements going back to the European Coal and Steel Community (1951) and the Treaty of Rome (1957). The 1992 Maastricht Treaty created the EU as we know it. The euro currency was introduced in 1999 (notes and coins in 2002) and is used by 20 EU member states. The EU expanded dramatically after the Cold War to include former Soviet bloc states. EU membership grew from 12 in 1990 to 27 in the 2020s (28 before Britain's 2020 departure).

The EU represents the deepest experiment in voluntary regional integration in history. It has produced a single market with free movement of goods, services, capital, and people; a common currency for most members; common policies on agriculture, environment, and many other matters; and a parliament directly elected by Europeans. The EU has also faced significant strains, including the 2010 sovereign debt crisis (especially in Greece) and the British vote in 2016 to leave (Brexit, completed 2020).

Other regional trading blocs

• ASEAN: Association of Southeast Asian Nations, founded 1967, with deeper economic integration since the 1990s
• Mercosur: South American trading bloc including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay
• African Continental Free Trade Area: Launched 2018, aiming to create a single African market

Multinational corporations

Multinational corporations (MNCs), which produce and sell goods across national borders, have become enormously powerful actors in the global economy. The largest MNCs have annual revenues exceeding the GDP of many countries. Apple, Walmart, Saudi Aramco, Amazon, Toyota, and others operate global supply chains involving dozens of countries.

MNCs have brought benefits: investment, employment, technology transfer, and access to global markets for products from many countries. They have also been criticized for poor labor conditions in developing-country factories (the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, which killed over 1,100 garment workers, drew global attention), for tax avoidance, for environmental damage, and for the power they exert over governments.

The rise of China

The single most consequential economic development of the past 35 years has been the rise of China. Maria has already studied Deng Xiaoping's reforms (Units 10.6 and 10.8). The results in raw numbers:

• China's economy grew at roughly 10% annually for three decades, the fastest sustained growth of any major economy in history
• Hundreds of millions of Chinese were lifted out of poverty, the largest reduction in poverty in human history
• China became the world's largest manufacturer, exporting roughly $3.5 trillion of goods annually
• China surpassed Japan as the world's second-largest economy in 2010 and is approaching the United States
• Chinese cities (Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing) became among the world's most modern and dynamic
• Chinese companies (Huawei, Alibaba, Tencent, BYD) became global competitors in technology and manufacturing

China's rise has been the largest single source of changes in global economic geography. Manufacturing has shifted significantly from Western economies to China. Other developing countries have struggled to compete with Chinese productivity. China's demand for raw materials transformed economies in Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere. The U.S.-China economic relationship has become the central axis of the global economy.

Belt and Road Initiative

Launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative is a massive infrastructure investment program connecting China to Europe, Africa, and Latin America through ports, railways, pipelines, and other projects. The initiative has financed hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure in dozens of countries. Critics see it as a Chinese strategy for geopolitical influence and a debt trap for participating countries; supporters see it as filling a real infrastructure need in the developing world.

Growing inequality

Globalization has produced striking patterns of inequality.

• Between countries: Inequality among countries has decreased overall, especially because of growth in China and India. But large gaps remain, and some regions (particularly sub-Saharan Africa) have not seen comparable improvements.
• Within countries: Inequality within most countries has increased. The richest segments have gained enormously while wages for workers in developed countries have stagnated or declined in real terms. The top 1% globally have captured a disproportionate share of growth.
• Specific gainers and losers: Chinese factory workers, Indian IT professionals, and the global top 1% have benefited substantially. Western working-class manufacturing workers and sub-Saharan African populations have benefited least or experienced decline.

Financial globalization and crises

Capital flows across borders have grown enormously since the 1990s. Financial integration has produced benefits (capital flows to where it is most productive) and risks (crises spread rapidly).

• Asian financial crisis (1997-1998): Currency speculations and capital flight caused severe recessions in Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, and other Asian economies
• 2008 global financial crisis: U.S. subprime mortgage collapse triggered the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression. Major banks required government bailouts. Stock markets crashed. The Great Recession followed.
• European sovereign debt crisis (2010-2012): Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, and Italy faced sovereign debt crises that threatened the survival of the euro

III. The Technological Revolution

The technological transformations of the past three decades have been as profound as the original Industrial Revolution. The digital revolution has changed how people communicate, work, learn, shop, and entertain themselves. Maria has lived her entire life within this transformation.

The internet

The internet's roots go back to U.S. military networking research in the 1960s (ARPANET) and academic networks in the 1970s and 1980s. The development of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in 1989-1991 made the internet accessible to general users. Through the 1990s the internet went from a specialist tool to a mass medium. By 2000 there were about 400 million users globally; today there are over 5 billion.

The internet enabled:

• Instant global communication through email, messaging, and video calls
• E-commerce (Amazon was founded 1994, eBay 1995)
• Online media that displaced traditional newspapers, radio, and television in many cases
• Social media (Facebook 2004, Twitter 2006, Instagram 2010, TikTok 2016) that reshaped how people connect and consume information
• Cloud computing that centralized data storage and processing
• Streaming services that transformed entertainment and journalism

Mobile telephony

Mobile phones existed in the 1980s but became mass technology in the 1990s and 2000s. The smartphone revolution began with the iPhone in 2007 and the rapid spread of Android phones thereafter. By the 2020s, over 6 billion people had smartphones. In many developing countries, mobile phones leapfrogged landline infrastructure entirely. Mobile banking (M-Pesa in Kenya from 2007 was an early model) brought financial services to populations the formal banking system had not reached.

Globalization of communication

These technologies dramatically lowered the cost of global communication. Phone calls that cost dollars per minute in 1990 became effectively free over the internet. Information could be transmitted instantaneously across the world. The implications were vast:

• Cross-border family ties became easier to maintain despite migration
• Global supply chains became feasible at unprecedented complexity
• Political movements could organize transnationally
• Culture, news, and ideas spread at unprecedented speed
• Surveillance capabilities expanded dramatically for both governments and corporations

Artificial intelligence

Through the 2010s and 2020s, artificial intelligence has emerged as another transformative technology. Machine learning techniques have produced systems that can recognize images and speech, translate languages, write text, and perform many tasks previously thought to require human intelligence. The introduction of ChatGPT and similar generative AI in 2022-2023 brought these capabilities into mass use. The implications for work, education, security, and many other domains are being intensely debated.

Disinformation and challenges to truth

The technologies that empowered communication have also produced new problems. Social media platforms can spread false information faster than verified information. "Fake news" became a significant political phenomenon in the 2010s. State actors (especially Russia) have used social media to manipulate elections in other countries. Deepfake technology threatens to make video evidence unreliable. Many democracies have struggled with how to maintain shared public truths in environments where any claim can be amplified to millions.

IV. Climate Change and Environmental Challenges

Climate change is the most consequential environmental challenge of our era and likely the most consequential single problem humanity faces in this century. Maria should understand its basic science, its observed effects, and the political responses to it.

The science

Burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Other human activities (deforestation, agriculture, industrial processes) also release greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide. These gases trap heat in the atmosphere, warming the planet. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has risen from about 280 parts per million before the Industrial Revolution to over 420 parts per million today. The global average temperature has risen approximately 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established in 1988 by the United Nations, has documented these changes through reports drawing on thousands of scientific studies.

Observed effects

• Polar ice caps and glaciers are melting; Arctic sea ice has declined dramatically
• Sea levels have risen by about 21-24 centimeters since 1880 and are accelerating
• Extreme weather events (hurricanes, droughts, wildfires, floods) have become more frequent or severe
• Ocean acidification (from absorbed carbon dioxide) threatens marine ecosystems
• Coral reefs are dying
• Some agricultural regions are becoming less productive
• Vector-borne diseases are spreading to new regions as climate zones shift
• Refugees are increasingly fleeing climate-affected regions

International responses

Kyoto Protocol (1997)

The Kyoto Protocol, negotiated under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, set binding emissions reduction targets for developed countries. It came into force in 2005. The United States never ratified the protocol, weakening its effect. Developing countries (including China and India) were exempt from binding limits, a feature that became increasingly problematic as Chinese emissions grew.

Paris Agreement (2015)

The Paris Agreement, signed by nearly every country, established a framework in which each country sets its own emissions reduction targets (Nationally Determined Contributions). The agreement's headline goal is to limit warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, with a more ambitious aim of 1.5°C. Critics note that the targets countries have set are not collectively sufficient to meet these goals and that the targets are not binding. The United States withdrew from the agreement under President Trump in 2017, rejoined under President Biden in 2021. As of the early 2020s, the world is on track for warming substantially above 1.5°C.

Other Environmental Challenges

• Air pollution: Particularly severe in rapidly industrializing countries. Indian and Chinese cities have suffered from extremely poor air quality.
• Plastic pollution: Vast quantities of plastic waste end up in oceans and ecosystems. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has drawn particular attention.
• Deforestation: The Amazon rainforest and tropical forests in Indonesia and Africa have been cleared for agriculture and timber, releasing carbon and destroying biodiversity.
• Biodiversity loss: Species are going extinct at rates 100 to 1,000 times normal background rates. The current period is sometimes called the sixth mass extinction.
• Water scarcity: Many regions face acute water shortages exacerbated by climate change and population growth.

Pandemic Disease

Globalization has made the spread of disease faster. Major pandemics of the recent era include:

• HIV/AIDS: Identified in the early 1980s, became a global pandemic that has killed approximately 40 million people. Treatment with antiretroviral drugs from the late 1990s transformed HIV from a death sentence into a manageable condition in countries that could afford treatment.
• SARS (2003): Coronavirus outbreak originating in southern China that spread to 30 countries and killed about 800 people. Early warning of pandemic potential of coronaviruses.
• H1N1 "swine flu" (2009): Pandemic flu strain that killed several hundred thousand worldwide.
• Ebola epidemic (2014-2016): Severe outbreak in West Africa killed over 11,000 people.
• COVID-19 (2020-): The most consequential pandemic in a century. Killed approximately 7 million people directly and disrupted economies, education, and politics globally. Vaccines developed within a year were a remarkable scientific achievement; rapid spread before vaccines were available exposed gaps in global health infrastructure.

COVID and Maria's Experience

Maria's high school career has been shaped by COVID. She experienced remote schooling, mask requirements, and the disruption of normal social and academic life during her middle school years. The pandemic is testable on the Regents, and Maria has the unusual advantage of being a witness to it. She can speak with personal authority about how globalization made the pandemic possible (rapid international travel enabled spread) and how globalization also made the response possible (international scientific collaboration produced vaccines at unprecedented speed). The pandemic is also a powerful case for the enduring issue of how technology and global connections produce both opportunities and risks.

V. Migration

Migration is one of the most politically charged aspects of globalization. Approximately 280 million people lived outside their country of birth as of the 2020s, roughly 3.6% of the world's population. Migration has produced economic and cultural benefits for both sending and receiving countries, while also producing political reactions and humanitarian crises.

Types of migration

• Economic migration: People moving in search of better economic opportunities. The most common type. Mexican migration to the United States, South Asian migration to the Persian Gulf, and African migration to Europe are major examples.
• Refugees: People fleeing persecution, war, or other serious threats. The 1951 UN Refugee Convention establishes the rights of refugees. As of the 2020s, approximately 30 million people are formally classified as refugees, with millions more internally displaced.
• Climate migration: People moving because of climate-driven changes (drought, sea level rise, extreme weather). Hard to count precisely but expected to grow dramatically.

Major migration corridors

• Latin America to North America: Millions have migrated from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean to the United States and Canada
• South Asia and Southeast Asia to the Persian Gulf: Millions of guest workers in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and other Gulf states
• Sub-Saharan Africa to Europe: Migration across the Mediterranean has become a major political issue in Europe
• Within Asia: Including Chinese internal migration from rural to urban areas (the largest internal migration in human history)

Major refugee crises

• Afghan refugees: Long-running refugee crisis following the Soviet invasion of 1979, the Afghan Civil War, the Taliban takeover in 2021. Many millions displaced.
• Syrian Civil War (2011-): Produced over 6 million refugees, most ending up in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, with significant numbers reaching Europe in 2015-2016
• Rohingya: Approximately 750,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar to Bangladesh in 2017 after Burmese military attacks
• Venezuelan crisis: Over 7 million Venezuelans have fled economic collapse and political repression
• Ukrainian refugees: Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 produced over 6 million refugees

Political reactions

Migration has produced political reactions in many receiving countries. In the United States, immigration politics has been contentious for decades and intensified in the 2010s. In Europe, the 2015 refugee crisis (largely from Syria) reshaped political landscapes. Populist parties opposing immigration have gained ground in many democracies. The political reaction has often been disproportionate to the actual scale of migration but has been politically powerful.

VI. International Organizations and Challenges to the Liberal Order

The post-WWII liberal international order rests on a network of international organizations and norms. This order faces growing challenges in the 2020s.

The United Nations

The UN, founded 1945, remains the principal global governance institution. Its General Assembly includes all 193 member states. Its Security Council (with five permanent veto-wielding members: U.S., UK, France, Russia, China) handles peace and security questions. The UN system includes specialized agencies: the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and many others.

The UN has had successes (peacekeeping operations, humanitarian relief, vaccination campaigns, the elimination of smallpox) and failures (inability to prevent the Rwandan genocide, paralysis on Syria, limited responses to climate change). Like the League of Nations before it, the UN reflects the willingness or unwillingness of its member states to act collectively.

International humanitarian and human rights law

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948, see Unit 10.5) and subsequent treaties (the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and many others) have developed an international human rights framework. The International Criminal Court (founded 2002) prosecutes individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Major powers including the United States, China, and Russia have not joined the ICC, limiting its reach.

Challenges to the liberal order

September 11 and the war on terror

The September 11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon killed nearly 3,000 people. The U.S. responded with the war in Afghanistan (which lasted 20 years, ending in 2021 with Taliban return to power), the Iraq War (2003-2011, justified by claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that proved false), and a broad "war on terror" that reshaped American foreign and domestic policy. The Iraq War in particular weakened American credibility and damaged the post-Cold War international order.

Russian revanchism

Russia under Vladimir Putin (in power since 1999) has pursued increasingly aggressive policies. Major actions include the 2008 war with Georgia, the 2014 annexation of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine, intervention in Syria from 2015, and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia has also interfered in elections in Western democracies and used propaganda to undermine liberal institutions. The Russian challenge has revived NATO's purpose and produced the most significant European war since 1945.

U.S.-China rivalry

The relationship between the world's two largest economies has shifted from economic engagement (which dominated U.S. policy through the 2010s) to growing rivalry. Tensions include trade disputes, technological competition (especially in semiconductors and artificial intelligence), maritime disputes in the South China Sea, the status of Taiwan (which China claims as its territory), and competition for influence globally. The U.S.-China relationship may be the most consequential geopolitical relationship of the twenty-first century.

Populism and democratic backsliding

Many democracies have experienced rising populist movements that challenge liberal democratic norms. Examples include Trump in the United States, Brexit in the United Kingdom, Bolsonaro in Brazil, Orbán in Hungary, the Law and Justice party in Poland, and various movements across continental Europe. The common pattern is opposition to immigration, hostility to international institutions, attacks on independent media and judiciary, and appeals to traditional identities. Whether this represents a temporary backlash or a permanent shift in democratic politics is being intensely debated.

Continuing globalization despite challenges

Despite these challenges, globalization has not ended. Global trade has slowed but not reversed. Global financial flows continue. Cultural exchange has if anything accelerated. The post-2020 period might be better described as "contested globalization" than as deglobalization. Maria should be ready to argue that globalization is being reshaped, not dismantled.

VII. Themes and Takeaways

Theme 1: Interconnectedness Creates Both Opportunity and Vulnerability

Globalization has produced unprecedented connection across borders. The same connections that enable global trade, cultural exchange, and rapid spread of knowledge also enable the spread of disease, financial contagion, and disinformation. Maria should think about each new global development as having both upside and downside dimensions.

Theme 2: Technology Drives Globalization

Without container shipping, jet aircraft, satellites, the internet, and mobile telephony, contemporary globalization would not exist. Technology is not neutral; specific technologies make specific kinds of integration possible. Future technologies (AI, biotechnology, fusion energy if it works) will continue to shape what globalization means.

Theme 3: Globalization Produces Winners and Losers

Globalization has not benefited everyone equally. Chinese factory workers, Indian software engineers, and the global financial elite have benefited disproportionately. Western working-class manufacturing workers have benefited least or experienced decline. The political reactions to globalization in many democracies are partly responses to these uneven gains. Maria should be able to evaluate claims about globalization's benefits and costs with specificity.

Theme 4: Climate Change Is the Defining Long-Term Issue

Most political and economic questions of the next decades will be shaped by climate change. The transitions required (away from fossil fuels, toward sustainable agriculture, adaptation to changes already locked in) will reshape every sector of the global economy. International cooperation on climate has been inadequate so far; whether that changes will significantly affect human prospects.

Theme 5: Old Patterns Return

The optimistic post-Cold War assumption that history had moved permanently toward liberal democracy and integrated markets has not held. Great-power competition has returned (U.S.-China, Russia's war on Ukraine). Religious and ethnic identities have proven durable. Nationalism has revived. Maria should recognize that the historical patterns she has studied in earlier units (great-power rivalry, nationalism, religious mobilization, ideological conflict) continue to shape the present.

Theme 6: The Pandemic Was a Stress Test

COVID-19 was a stress test for globalization, for international institutions, and for democratic governments. The results were mixed. International scientific cooperation produced vaccines remarkably fast. Global supply chains proved fragile in important ways. International institutions (especially the WHO) were criticized but also did important work. Democratic and authoritarian governments alike produced mixed responses. The lessons are still being learned.

Connecting to Enduring Issues

• Impact of technology: The dominant fit for this unit. Digital revolution, mobile phones, AI, biotechnology
• Cultural diffusion: Global culture, migration, media
• Environmental impact: Climate change, pollution, deforestation, biodiversity loss
• Inequality: Within countries and between regions; the central distributional issue of globalization
• Interconnectedness: The signature feature of globalization itself
• Conflict: September 11 and war on terror, Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S.-China rivalry
• Migration: Economic migrants, refugees, climate migrants

VIII. Key Terms and People to Memorize

Concepts and Terms

• Globalization: Process of growing economic, technological, cultural, and political integration across borders
• Multinational corporation (MNC): Business that operates in multiple countries
• Free trade: International trade without significant tariffs or other barriers
• Tariff: Tax on imports; barrier to trade
• World Trade Organization (WTO): International organization governing global trade, founded 1995
• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): 1994 trade agreement between U.S., Canada, Mexico
• USMCA: United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, replaced NAFTA in 2020
• European Union (EU): Political and economic union of European states, founded 1992 by Maastricht Treaty
• Euro: Common European currency, introduced 1999
• Brexit: British departure from the EU, completed 2020
• ASEAN: Association of Southeast Asian Nations
• Belt and Road Initiative: Chinese global infrastructure investment program from 2013
• Outsourcing: Moving business operations to other countries, often for lower labor costs
• Information technology revolution: Transformation of economy and society by digital technologies
• Internet: Global computer network enabling instantaneous communication
• World Wide Web: System of interlinked documents accessible over the internet, developed by Berners-Lee 1989-1991
• Social media: Online platforms enabling user-generated content and social interaction
• Artificial intelligence: Computer systems performing tasks that typically require human intelligence
• Climate change: Long-term change in Earth's climate due to human greenhouse gas emissions
• Greenhouse gases: Atmospheric gases (CO₂, methane, others) that trap heat and cause warming
• Fossil fuels: Coal, oil, and natural gas; principal source of greenhouse gas emissions
• IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, UN scientific body
• Kyoto Protocol (1997): First major international climate treaty
• Paris Agreement (2015): International climate agreement with country-set targets

Key Global Issues

• Deforestation: Large-scale clearing of forests, especially in tropical regions
• Biodiversity loss: Decline in variety of life on Earth
• COVID-19: Coronavirus pandemic beginning 2020
• WHO: World Health Organization, UN specialized agency
• HIV/AIDS: Pandemic disease that has killed approximately 40 million people
• Refugee: Person who has fled their country due to persecution, war, or violence
• Internally displaced person (IDP): Person forced to flee home but remaining in their country
• Asylum: Protection granted to refugees in another country
• September 11, 2001: Al-Qaeda attacks on the U.S.
• War on terror: U.S.-led campaign against terrorism following 9/11
• Afghanistan War (2001-2021): U.S. and allied war following 9/11, ending with Taliban return
• Iraq War (2003-2011): U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq
• Arab Spring (2010-2012): Wave of protests across the Arab world, with mixed outcomes
• Syrian Civil War (2011-): Ongoing conflict producing major refugee crisis
• Annexation of Crimea (2014): Russian seizure of Ukrainian territory
• Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022): Large-scale war beginning February 2022
• Populism: Political style claiming to represent ordinary people against elites

Notable People

• Tim Berners-Lee: Inventor of the World Wide Web
• Steve Jobs: Apple co-founder; smartphone revolution
• Jeff Bezos: Amazon founder; e-commerce revolution
• Xi Jinping: Chinese president from 2013; Belt and Road, increased authoritarianism
• Vladimir Putin: Russian leader from 1999; revanchist foreign policy
• Osama bin Laden: Founder of al-Qaeda, mastermind of 9/11, killed 2011
• George W. Bush: U.S. president 2001-2009; war on terror, Iraq War
• Barack Obama: U.S. president 2009-2017; financial crisis response, Paris Agreement, Iran deal
• Donald Trump: U.S. president 2017-2021 and 2025-; populist movement, China trade war
• Volodymyr Zelensky: Ukrainian president during Russian invasion
• Angela Merkel: German chancellor 2005-2021; led Europe through multiple crises
• Greta Thunberg: Swedish climate activist who emerged in the late 2010s

IX. Typical Regents Questions and Topics

Unit 10.9 typically generates 2-4 MC questions on a Regents exam, often paired with units on contemporary issues. Climate change and the impact of technology are particularly common test subjects.

Question Format 1: Identify Globalization

Questions about the rise of multinational corporations, global supply chains, international trade agreements, or cultural exchange across borders.

Question Format 2: Climate Change and Environmental Issues

Questions about the causes of climate change, observed effects, international responses (Kyoto, Paris), or specific environmental challenges like deforestation.

Question Format 3: Technology and Communications

Questions about the impact of the internet, mobile phones, or social media on global politics, economics, or culture.

Question Format 4: International Organizations

Questions about the UN, WTO, EU, or other international bodies and their roles.

Question Format 5: Migration and Refugees

Questions about the causes of migration, major refugee crises, or political responses.

Question Format 6: Backlash Against Globalization

Questions about populist movements, trade protectionism, or political reactions to immigration.

Likely CRQ topics

12. Cause-and-effect: How has globalization changed the world economy?
13. Compare benefits and costs of globalization
14. Identify a turning point in recent global history (end of Cold War, 9/11, 2008 crisis, COVID, are candidates)
15. Explain how technology has accelerated globalization
16. Identify a major environmental challenge and explain international responses
17. Explain how the COVID-19 pandemic affected globalization

Likely Enduring Issues Essay Material

• Impact of technology: Digital revolution, mobile phones, AI, biotechnology
• Environmental impact: Climate change, pollution, deforestation; the canonical contemporary case
• Cultural diffusion: Global culture, migration, internet-enabled exchange
• Inequality: Globalization's distributional consequences
• Conflict: 9/11 and war on terror, Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S.-China rivalry

X. Need-to-Know Points (Self-Test Checklist)

Economic Globalization

18. Define globalization.
19. Identify the WTO and its function.
20. Identify NAFTA, its members, and its date.
21. Identify the EU and the year it was formally created.
22. Define multinational corporation.
23. Explain the rise of China economically and its global consequences.
24. Identify the 2008 financial crisis and its significance.

Technology

25. Identify the World Wide Web and its inventor.
26. Name three ways the internet has transformed daily life and global commerce.
27. Identify when the smartphone revolution began.
28. Define artificial intelligence and identify one of its impacts.

Climate and Environment

29. Define climate change and its cause.
30. Name three observed effects of climate change.
31. Identify the Kyoto Protocol and its date.
32. Identify the Paris Agreement, its date, and its main goal.
33. Identify the IPCC.
34. Name three environmental challenges beyond climate change.

Pandemics

35. Identify three major pandemic diseases of recent decades.
36. State the approximate global death toll of COVID-19.
37. Explain how globalization affected pandemic spread and response.

Migration and Conflict

38. Distinguish between economic migration and refugee status.
39. Name three major refugee crises of recent decades.
40. Identify September 11, 2001.
41. Identify the war on terror and the two main associated wars (Afghanistan and Iraq).
42. Identify the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its date.
43. Define populism and identify one example.

XI. Smart Assessments: Practice Questions

Multiple Choice Practice (15 questions)

1. Globalization can best be defined as:

• (A) The political domination of the world by one country
• (B) The growing economic, technological, cultural, and political integration of countries
• (C) The decline of international trade
• (D) The end of national boundaries

2. The World Trade Organization (WTO), founded in 1995, primarily:

• (A) Manages global military alliances
• (B) Administers global trade agreements and resolves trade disputes
• (C) Sets environmental standards
• (D) Administers the United Nations

3. Which of the following best describes China's economic transformation since 1978?

• (A) Rapid decline of the Chinese economy
• (B) Three decades of approximately 10% annual growth that made China the world's second-largest economy and lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty
• (C) Return to traditional agriculture
• (D) Complete adoption of Western political institutions

4. The World Wide Web was developed by:

• (A) Bill Gates
• (B) Tim Berners-Lee
• (C) Steve Jobs
• (D) Mark Zuckerberg

5. Climate change is caused primarily by:

• (A) Natural variation in solar activity
• (B) Human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels and other activities
• (C) Volcanic eruptions
• (D) Changes in Earth's orbit

6. The Paris Agreement of 2015:

• (A) Created the World Trade Organization
• (B) Established an international climate framework with country-set emissions reduction targets
• (C) Ended the Cold War
• (D) Established the European Union

7. Which of the following best describes the September 11, 2001 attacks?

• (A) Russian military strikes on Europe
• (B) Coordinated attacks by the al-Qaeda terrorist network on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
• (C) Iranian missile launches against U.S. forces
• (D) A natural disaster

8. The U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 was justified by the Bush administration primarily on the claim that:

• (A) Iraq had attacked the United States
• (B) Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (a claim that proved false)
• (C) Iraq was a NATO member requesting aid
• (D) Iraq had invaded Iran

9. The COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020:

• (A) Killed approximately 7 million people globally and caused major economic and social disruption
• (B) Was contained quickly with no significant global impact
• (C) Affected only developing countries
• (D) Was the first pandemic in modern history

10. Which of the following best describes the European Union?

• (A) A military alliance
• (B) A political and economic union of European states with a single market, common currency for most members, and shared institutions
• (C) A trade dispute resolution body
• (D) An organization that replaced the United Nations

11. Brexit refers to:

• (A) British departure from NATO
• (B) British departure from the European Union, completed in 2020
• (C) British departure from the United Nations
• (D) British departure from the Commonwealth

12. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022:

• (A) Was completed within a few days
• (B) Produced the largest European war since 1945, with millions of refugees and significant global economic effects
• (C) Was supported by NATO members
• (D) Was reversed quickly by international diplomacy

13. Which of the following has been a major consequence of climate change?

• (A) Decreased extreme weather events
• (B) Rising sea levels, more extreme weather, melting ice caps, and ecosystem disruption
• (C) Decline of greenhouse gas concentrations
• (D) Stabilization of global temperatures

14. Populist movements in many democracies in recent years have generally:

• (A) Supported open immigration and international institutions
• (B) Opposed immigration, expressed hostility to international institutions, and appealed to traditional national identities
• (C) Promoted free trade
• (D) Supported expansion of the European Union

15. Globalization has produced which of the following effects on inequality?

• (A) Eliminated inequality entirely
• (B) Decreased inequality between countries on average but increased inequality within most countries
• (C) Affected only developed countries
• (D) Has had no measurable effect on inequality

Answer Key with Explanations

• 1. B. Globalization refers to the integration of economies, technologies, cultures, and politics across borders.
• 2. B. The WTO administers global trade agreements and resolves disputes among its members.
• 3. B. Three decades of approximately 10% annual growth made China the world's second-largest economy and lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty.
• 4. B. Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web at CERN in 1989-1991.
• 5. B. Climate change is caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases, especially from burning fossil fuels.
• 6. B. Paris created a framework in which each country sets its own emissions targets, with the headline goal of limiting warming.
• 7. B. September 11 was the al-Qaeda coordinated attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
• 8. B. The Bush administration's principal claim was Iraqi WMD; the claim proved false after the invasion.
• 9. A. COVID killed approximately 7 million people globally and caused major economic and social disruption.
• 10. B. The EU is a political and economic union with a single market, common currency for most members, and shared institutions.
• 11. B. Brexit was Britain's departure from the EU, voted in 2016 and completed in 2020.
• 12. B. The Russian invasion has produced the largest European war since 1945 with millions of refugees.
• 13. B. Climate change has produced rising sea levels, more extreme weather, melting ice, and ecosystem disruption.
• 14. B. Populist movements have generally opposed immigration, expressed hostility to international institutions, and appealed to traditional identities.
• 15. B. Globalization has decreased inequality between countries on average (because of growth in China and India) but increased inequality within most countries.

Constructed-Response Practice Set

Document A: "Since the end of the Cold War, the world has become more economically integrated than ever before. International trade has grown faster than global output. Multinational corporations operate supply chains spanning dozens of countries. Capital flows across borders in seconds. Cultural products move from one country to another in real time. The internet has connected billions of people who can communicate instantaneously." — Description of globalization, late 1990s

Document B: "By the 2020s, globalization faces serious challenges. The 2008 financial crisis exposed vulnerabilities of integrated financial systems. Populist movements in many democracies have opposed immigration and international institutions. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global supply chains. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the intensifying U.S.-China rivalry have brought great-power competition back to the center of global affairs." — Description of the contemporary world

Question 1: Based on Document A, identify two features of globalization since the end of the Cold War.

Strong sample answer: Document A identifies two features of globalization: rapid growth of international trade that has exceeded the growth of overall global production, and the development of multinational corporations operating supply chains across dozens of countries. The document also notes the role of the internet in connecting billions of people for instantaneous communication.

Question 2: Based on Document B, identify two challenges globalization faces in the 2020s.

Strong sample answer: Document B identifies two challenges to globalization: the rise of populist movements in democracies that oppose immigration and international institutions, and the return of great-power competition through the Russian invasion of Ukraine and intensifying U.S.-China rivalry. The 2008 financial crisis exposed the vulnerabilities of integrated financial systems, and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global supply chains.

Question 3: Using both documents and your knowledge of social studies, explain how globalization has both transformed the world and produced reactions against itself.

Strong sample answer: "Globalization has produced one of the most dramatic transformations of the modern era. As Document A shows, the end of the Cold War accelerated economic, technological, and cultural integration across borders. International trade grew faster than global production, multinational corporations built complex global supply chains, and the internet connected billions of people for instantaneous communication. The rise of China as a manufacturing power lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. The European Union deepened integration on a continent that had fought two world wars in the previous century. Yet, as Document B shows, this transformation has also produced significant reactions. The 2008 financial crisis exposed the dangers of integrated financial markets. Manufacturing job losses in developed countries fueled populist movements that oppose immigration and international institutions, producing Brexit and shifts in American politics. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated both global interdependence (which enabled rapid spread) and global cooperation (which produced vaccines remarkably fast). The Russian invasion of Ukraine and intensifying U.S.-China rivalry have brought great-power competition back to the center of global affairs. Globalization has not ended, but it is being contested and reshaped. Maria's generation will likely see further negotiation about how interconnected the world should be."

Enduring Issues Essay Setup

Suggested issue: Impact of technology

Sample document set: (1) description of the internet's emergence, (2) account of how mobile phones transformed developing economies, (3) climate change description, (4) AI emergence, (5) potential later document on continuing technological change

Thesis template: "The impact of technology is an enduring issue because throughout history new technologies have transformed economies, societies, politics, and the natural environment. The digital revolution of recent decades, including the internet, mobile telephony, and most recently artificial intelligence, has produced changes comparable to the original Industrial Revolution. These technologies have enabled unprecedented connection across borders, lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, but have also produced new forms of inequality, environmental damage, and social disruption."

Extemp parallel: Maria should approach this as a three-minute extemp on "How is globalization changing in the 2020s?" Body points on economic globalization and its discontents, technological transformation and AI, climate change as the long-term challenge. Close with what the next decade might hold.

Second essay setup, alternative issue: Environmental impact

Document set could include scientific consensus on climate change, observed effects, international responses (Kyoto, Paris), debate about adequacy of responses. The thesis would argue that environmental impact has been a recurring enduring issue throughout history but that climate change represents an unprecedented global challenge requiring international cooperation that has so far been inadequate.

Closing Note for This Unit

Unit 10.9 covers the world Maria lives in. This is at once an advantage (she has direct experience of many of these developments) and a difficulty (recent history is harder to evaluate because we do not know yet how the story ends). The unit's task is to give her a framework for thinking about globalization, technology, climate change, and the political reactions to all three.

Three priorities for her study

1. Understand globalization as a set of processes (economic, technological, cultural, political, environmental) rather than as a single thing.
2. Master the basics of climate change, since it is the single most important long-term issue she will face and likely the most commonly tested environmental topic.
3. Be able to discuss how globalization has produced backlash, since the populist reactions of the 2010s and 2020s are not peripheral but central to contemporary politics.

This is the most extemp-friendly unit in the course. Almost every contemporary international affairs extemp question touches the material here. Climate policy, U.S.-China relations, the Russian war in Ukraine, AI regulation, immigration debates, populism, the future of the EU, and many other extemp topics build directly on the foundations of this unit.

If she can complete the Need-to-Know checklist without notes and score 12 out of 15 on the multiple choice practice, she is ready for Unit 10.10: Human Rights Violations. That unit covers the major genocides of the twentieth century (Holocaust, Armenian Genocide, Cambodian Genocide, Rwandan Genocide, Bosnian Genocide), the development of international human rights law, and contemporary human rights debates.