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The European Economic Community was replaced by the European Union (EU) as the primary political and economic institution for cooperating European countries. The Maastricht Treaty proclaimed a social protocol providing for common standards related to worker health and safety and in other areas such as crime prevention, immigration, and asylum policy. Each country largely retained ultimate sovereignty, especially in defense, foreign policy, and law enforcement (Shubert and Goldstein, 2012). The upsurge in immigration helped fill the less attractive, low-wage jobs in construction, hospitality, and domestic service. The EU agreed to create a European Monetary Union (EMU) with a single currency called the Euro. Europe also began to catch up with America in information technology.
During this period, Europe continued to de-industrialize and agriculture continued to decline, while the service revolution progressed. The national birth rate decreased because the European women were more likely to attend college and join the workforce. Disagreements over who the actual victims of the Holocaust were, caused divisions. The increase in immigration from outside of Europe, especially that of Muslims, caused concern that the “European values” were being threatened. So, the Muslims replaced the Jews as the enemy of the Anglos. The Roma also suffered discrimination, to the point that countries had to abolish discriminatory practices and establish special programs for them as a part of their admission process.
This period was also marked by genocide. When Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence from Yugoslavia, it resulted in civil war. Because they were confident that the European community would not take any military action, the Bosnian Serbs committed genocide against Muslims. The Serbs persecuted Muslims in ways reminiscent of how the Nazis persecuted the Jews during World War II, with mass shootings, and concentration camps. Over 200,000 Muslim civilians were murdered.
The collapse of Communism had both positive and negative effects on Europe. It brought a greater freedom of expression, but also the commercialization and sexualization of culture. The local film industry collapsed, leading to the growing dominance of United States movies. There were also inconsistencies in the historical memories of countries affected by the Holocaust, which led to conflicts.
References:
Shubert, A., and Goldstein, R. (2012). Twentieth-century europe. [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/
Genocide in the 20th century. Retrieved from http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/…
flora discussion 2- 150 WORDS
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The EU has been successful, and as the world’s largest trading bloc in Western Europe, has the world’s highest per capita income. Its international trade growth is due to globalization. However, in 2010 and 2011, a sovereign debt crisis due to deficits almost bankrupted three of the smaller “Eurozone” countries, Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, causing them to take out huge loans. The government of the third largest European economy, Italy, actually fell. The fourth largest economy, Spain, almost fell. Social inequality increased when governments, such as Poland, decreased spending on social programs, causing poverty levels to increase.
Globalization encouraged the emergence of many different political parties. By 1990 there were 51 political parties registered in Czechoslovakia, by 1991 there were 67 parties in Poland, and by 1992 there were 74 parties in Romania (Goldstein, 2007; Paxton, 2005).
With social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, terrorists can reach the masses, recruiting certain types of individuals who are susceptible to their message, and spreading fear to those who are not.
The terrorists we are most familiar with all believe violence is necessary to spread their ideology or achieve their goals. Their societies are held together by religious beliefs, cultural practices, and common ethnicities. They share the belief that they should terrorize those who at some point discriminated against or oppressed them.
Terrorists are motivated by feelings of self-defense, commitment to their religious beliefs and a deep conviction that violence is justified. Bruce Hoffman wrote, “All terrorists fundamentally see themselves as altruists: incontestably believing that they are serving a ‘good’ cause designed to achieve a greater good for a wider constituency—whether real or imagined—which the terrorist and his organization or cell purport to represent.”
Because of globalization, opportunities for terrorism have grown and intensified. Groups targeting civilian communities because of their actual or perceived oppression have caused many, including Europeans, to view certain nationalities as “outsiders.” Europeans have engaged in debates about the identity of Muslims as citizens of states, and even as fellow Europeans. As a result, new political parties were created with the sole purpose of preserving the national identity against these “outsiders.”
References:
Buell, John. (2002). Terrorism and Nationalism. Retrieved from http://www.populist.com/02.3.buell.html
Paganini, Pierluigi. (2016). The Role of Technology in Modern Terrorism. Retrieved from http://resources.infosecinstitute.com/the-role-of-…
Shubert, A., and Goldstein, R. (2012). Twentieth-century europe. [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/
Terrorism – Nationalistic Terrorism. Retrieved from http://law.jrank.org/pages/11972/Terrorism-Nationa…