World Changes

After WWII, many changes swept the world, especially Europe, to restore order, the balance of power and prevent other world conquests. Essentially, there were two kinds of changes that came about in modern times: improvement and new dangers and crises.

Many improvements followed WWII because of the need to rebuild and restructure Europe. Immediately following the war, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund organizations were created in December 1945, by the Articles of Agreement. They head an overseas financial system to rebuild Europe after its economy had collapsed during the war. Today, these "sister organizations" are working to eliminate poverty. In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established to prevent the spread of communism. NATO has since been getting involved in world conflicts in effort to solve and prevent wars. Along with these changes, globalization has been a constant effort to get the world communicating. Its purpose is to spread culture, communication and technology around the world and create a freer world market. In doing so, it spreads economic growth and technological advancements and helps to balance the world. The next big improvement was the creation of OPEC in 1960 to coordinate petroleum policies. Recently, OPEC is looking into global warming. The biggest change to Europe came about by the Maastricht Treaty in 1993. It created the European Union which was a community that focused on security, foreign policy and citizens' rights. It also created the Euro, the official currency of the EU, that helped to strengthen the economies of the member states.

On the other side, new dangers and crises developed after the war. A massive population decline had plagued Europe due to a baby bust and changing gender roles, especially for women. Europe as a whole is becoming older. Large scale immigration has also become a problem as immigrants are fleeing their war-torn and terrorized homelands. The largest wars/conflicts of the time were the Korean Conflict and the Chinese Civil War. Both were clashes between democratic and communist citizens each wanting their way of government to be dominant. Terror and genocide are rampant in Europe. In Israel, the Israelis and Palestinians are fighting over control of Israel and the Gaza Strip. In Tibet, the Dalai Lama is head of "Tibet's government in exile" and is not recognized by China; breeding conflict. On September 11, 2001, the United States were attacked by an extremist terrorist group. Also, genocide plagues many countries such as Rwanda, Darfur and the Balkans. Bloody campaigns are being led to exterminate groups of peoples. All of these issues are dangers to global security as well as enviormental dangers such as global warming.

In the wake of the destruction of WWII, changes swept Europe good and bad. Many improvements such as the EU and globalization has improved things around the world. But, dangers and crises threaten global security. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, said that the UN has come full circle in terms of preventing violence, terror, and wars and promoting peace, reform and human rights.