What Kind of World Do You Want for the 21st Century?

When the world famous liberal thinker Francis Fukuyama in his masterpiece declared that we were witnessing the end of the history, he was greeting the new political structure and also the new international environment, which is peaceful[1]. However, developments that occurred after the collapse of the Soviet Union showed us that the dissolution of the Soviets was unexpected. The international society was not ready for peace and Fukuyama’s optimistic assumptions were far from becoming real. Moreover, the international society currently started to realise that the tension and the potential of mass destructive war during the Cold War era had provided a

There were many situations and events in history that led to wars, freedom of religion, civil unrest, unfair trade, terrorism, and independence. By examining experiences, troubles, and triumphs of

“The future was sunset; the past something to leave behind. And if it didn't stay behind, well, you might have to stomp it out. Slave life; freed life-every day was a test and a trial. Nothing could be counted on in a world where even when you were a solution you were a problem” (302).

We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future- Frederick Douglass.

Edmund Burke once said “Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.” Unfortunately, it seems that many people who have impacted the world have had a bad history teacher, as history continues to repeat itself to this day. One of the most prime examples of this is seen in the Middle East; where the Palestinian people are fighting against the Israelis over territory in which they both believe belongs to them. It has been a dispute which has resulted in loss of homes, loss of life and loss of money. However, this is nothing new. Eugene O’Neill’s statement, “There is no present and no future, only the past happening over and over again, now” applies strongly to the situation of the past 70 years in the

Peace is defined as the cessation of war or violence. During important historical times, Franklin D. Roosevelt shares his “Four Freedoms” speech and John F. Kennedy shares his “Inaugural Address”, one was during the Great Depression, millions of Americans were affected by it. The other speech was during the Cold War, which had influenced the entire world. They are both considered effective political speeches of all time and are particularly remarkable on our American ethnic antiquity. These speeches share many common cultural themes. As these speeches take place during important historical times, they use charged language and rhetorical features to persuade the audience. They both were during two complete different times but both share how we can achieve peace with nations although they have different ideas on how to achieve it.

Throughout time, history has been recorded from the perspective of the victors. It is this bias within the archives that shape the views and motives of the groups involved. As a result of this influence the general way of thinking, and recollection of historical events has been altered to a certain degree to conform to the conqueror’s ideals. Society turns a blind eye to the horrors of the past, preferring to plead ignorance than to face the reality of the cruelty humans are capable of. There are parts in history that conversely cannot be ignored, such as the genocide in Rwanda, 9-11, Terror in Paris and the most historical, the holocaust in World War II, where the true extent of human vindictiveness came to light. In spite

Huntington’s initial article argued that in the post-Cold War era the fundamental source of conflict would not be ideological or economic, but cultural. He continues by arguing that nation states will continue to be the most powerful actors in global affairs, but the conflicts of global politics that are to occur in the future will happen between

With all of the monstrosities that have occurred, one can only hope “that our future may be found in the past's fugitive moments of compassion rather than in its solid centuries of warfare” (Zinn Ch. 1). Because it is seemingly impossible to find peace in the world, many fear that the future will be marred with violence and destruction following the example that has already occurred. Nevertheless, Zinn hopes that the future will be better than the past; he hopes that they, rather than follow genocidal acts that have occurred in the past, will follow the loving and compassionate acts that

history though is that we can learn from our mistakes, and make sure that nothing like this ever

Throughout history, the rise of cultures led to the rise of cultural difference, and those differences both separated people and brought people together. Every culture must choose whether they will allow their differences from other cultures to cause political unrest and war or collaboration and growth. While most people within almost every culture strives for peace, political and religious radicals cry out that deaths of infidels will lead to the greater good. But the sons and daughters of the mothers and fathers, and the brothers of the sisters and the husbands of the wives, taken from them fail to feel justified.

There are moments in our history where the citizens of the world stand up and for their beliefs, their honor, and themselves. They come together to reform the existing government that is holding them back from achieving their desired lifestyle. When this occurs, most likely, war is inevitable to follow. When war comes to a country, death and destruction is destined. Leaders and rules change, but the pride of its citizens prevails and becomes

“One is astonished in the study of history at the recurrence of the idea that evil must be forgotten, distorted, skimmed over. The difficulty, of course, with this philosophy is that history loses its value as an incentive and example; it paints perfect men and noble nations, but it does not tell the truth.”

The 20th century was marked by many wars and rebellious events with the millions of human victims among solders and civilians; nevertheless, political leaders do not change their tactics. The issue of the armaments race is on the agenda in the 21st century, and there are still wars for the territory, strategic natural resources, power, leadership, and domination on the world map with a complete absence of the respect to cultural and territorial borders among neighboring countries, anarchy, and violence inside a country when people want to assert their rights or express the protest to politicians.

There are many changes in the character of war that are taking place with the passage of time and with the amount of education which is being spread all over the world. Along with this, the importance of collaboration has also been learnt by many countries to get a win-win situation for both countries/parties. However, the changes have also come towards more extremism in the way of terrorism which has affected the peace of the entire world greatly and is destructive by all means without having the factors of any positivity