Unit Five: Global Issues

Overview

It cannot be assumed that the end of the Cold War will inaugurate a new period of global peace and tranquility. Other global challenges have emerged that require the immediate attention of the citizens of the world.

This unit will examine:

• the desire of populations for greater decision-making powers and direction over their lives and how that development has the potential to contribute to both political and social instability;
• how within specific societies, ethnic, racial, linguistic and gender-based groups exist, who feel that they have had limited access to the decision-making processes that affect their lives;
• how peoples and nations continue to use violence to achieve specific political or social goals;
• how technology has given humans the power to change the world's environment significantly and how the impact of the growing world population, with increasing demands on the environment, is raising many concerns;
• how the nature of the relationship between humans and their environment could define the nature and quality of human life in the future.

While a number of these challenges have the potential to endanger the well-being of human beings, they also have the potential to energize and mobilize the world community towards unified and sustained action to improve the quality of life for this generation and future generations.

Although these challenges are each unique, they do share some common characteristics. They all have the potential to significantly affect the quality of life for human beings; consequentially, they all merit immediate attention and action. They all lend a degree of instability to life in the present and make the future more unpredictable .

The desire of populations for greater decision-making powers and more control over their lives has the potential to contribute to both political and social instability. Within specific societies, there are ethnic, racial, linguistic and gender-based groups who feel that they have had limited access to the decision- making processes that affect their lives and rights. The processes and struggles such groups have

experienced will be investigated.

Emanating from such struggles there has been and continues to be a tendency for people to use violence to achieve specific political or social goals. The implications of that tendency are investigated.

The twentieth century has witnessed a technological revolution that has given humans the capabilities to significantly change the world's environment. This technological revolution has also contributed to an unprecedented global population growth. The effect of this growing population and of new technologies on the environment are issues of increasing concern. The nature of the relationship between humans and their environment could well define the nature and quality of human life in the future.

Unit Five Foundational Objectives

Concept: Global Issues

Knowledge Objectives The student will:

• Know that some challenges or issues are global in nature because they affect the entire earth and will require global involvement to find solutions.
• Know that paradigms that surround a particular challenge or issue will affect the responses to that challenge or issue and the choice of strategies adopted to respond to it.
• Know that human rights are those rights that an individual is entitled to simply because he or she is human.
• Know that the use of force - the military option - remains a viable option, for both governments and nongovernmental groups.
• Know that ethnically-driven nationalism stresses the distinctiveness of a population and promotes measures to secure the well-being and aspirations of that population.
• Know that the emergence/re-emergence of ethnic nationalism has destabilized the existing political status quo in certain regions.
• Know that the mere presence of humans affects the environment.
• Know that the acquisition and utilization of technological and scientific knowledge has given humans the power to change the world's environment significantly.

Skills/Abilities The student will:

• Learn and practise using criteria as a basis for analyzing information.
• Learn and practise selecting and applying the abilities of:
  • problem solving;
  • dialectical thinking;
  • decision making; and,
  • conflict resolution to the issue.
• Practise stating a proposition that is highly probable in light of established facts, or in light of a principle or theory.
• Practise applying the thinking skills of:
  • stating criteria that can be used as a basis for decision making; and,
  • presenting tests such as consideration of consequences that justify the criteria selected.
• Practise using grids as a method of analyzing information.
• Learn and practise the following analytical skills:
  • defining the main parts,
  • describing cause and effect relationships, and,
  • describing how the parts of the whole are related to each other.

Values Issues The student will discuss:

• Whether all persons are entitled to certain rights simply because they are human?
• Whether there should be criteria in determining what constitutes a human right?
• Whether there are acceptable and nonacceptable methods available to individuals and groups seeking to secure their rights?
• Whether humans and societies will continue to demonstrate a willingness to utilize force and violence to achieve goals?
• Whether there is any justification for the use of violence?
• What are the root causes of the present unequal distribution of wealth and resources in the world?
• What criteria should be used to evaluate whether a technological innovation is beneficial to humans?
• What criteria should be utilized to determine how the earth's resources and species should be used?
• Discuss whether the interests of humans and of nature have to be in conflict?

Core Material for Unit 5

Core Content	Core Concepts	Suggested Time Allotment
Post-Cold War Era: Global Challenges and New Realities A Social Revolution: Process of Enfranchisement The Human Rights Debate Challenges in Achieving Social Justice	Global Issues Paradigms Human Rights Civil Obedience Civil Disobedience	4 hours
Recourse to Violence Nuclear Proliferation The Search for National Security: The Options Political Instability: The Rise of Ethnic Nationalism	Nuclear Proliferation Ethnic Nationalism Political Stability	4 hours
Global Inequality: Unequal Shares Poverty in the Developing World Challenges of a Growing Population: Competing Paradigms	Developed Nation Developing Nation Sustainability	4 hours
The Vital Connection: Human Beings and the Environment The Costs of Development: Environmental Challenges The Human Condition and the Environment: Competing Paradigms	Interdependence Resources Renewable Resources Cost Consequences Problem Solving Dialectics Stewardship	4 hours

Time to cover the core material	16 hours
Time available to teach optional concepts, to enrich or reinforce, or to accommodate modifications to the pacing and timing factors through the use of the Adaptive Dimension	4 hours
Total class time	20 hours

Core material appears in bold type on the pages that follow. The remainder of the material in this unit is not core material; teachers may choose to work through all, some, or none of the material. This material should be seen as an opportunity to individualize instruction for students with different levels of intellectual ability and motivation. Teachers may also choose to substitute locally developed material in optional areas where it is appropriate. Such material should reflect community interests and must also meet the skills, values and concept objectives of the course.