Regional Conflicts in the Modern World
Regional Conflicts in the Modern World
After about 1968 the self confidence and social and economic stability that came to mark the postwar era evaporated. What followed were two decades of upheaval. First in the early 1970s, a combination of factors, including the collapse of the American- dominated world order and a dramatic rise in energy prices, led to a worldwide recession, that was to last well into the 1980s. Spurred on by war in the Middle East and revolution in Iran, oil prices skyrocketed, thereby setting into motion the worst world economic decline since the 1930s. The western European countries were faced with massive unemployment, economic stagflation, and a falling standard of living. All of this was accompanied by a buildup of huge national debts and inflation. By the late 1970s some leaders, like Thatcher and Reagan, perceived a need to eliminate huge deficits and cut spending, while a whole generation of young people became concerned about their job prospects. The student idealism of the 1960s was over. The family and role of women also underwent well- publicized changes. The divorce rate went up while the marriage rate and the birthrate fell. Married women were having fewer children and were even more likely to work outside the home for wages. This trend reflects and encourages a growing spirit of independence among women. Women and the family experienced a truly revolutionary transformation. One of the most significant developments of this era was the West German initiative, under Willy Brandt, to bring about reconciliation between eastern and western Europe, although downplaying the idea of German reunification. This policy of d`etante was furthered with East-West agreements at Helsinki. Meanwhile, the cold war reheated as the United States, in an effort to "roll back communism" carried on a long and unsuccessful war in Vietnam. In 1978 the Soviet Union became involved in a similar quagmire in Afghanistan, where the Russians used force to preserve their influence, and then, more successfully, put down a rebellion in Poland, where a powerful trade union had turned into a civil rights movement. In addition to repression in Poland, the Soviet leaders had earlier (1968) engaged themselves in successfully putting down a revolution in Czechoslovakia, which sought "socialism with a human face," and carried out at home a program of re- Stalinization that aimed at ending internal opposition and reasserting a unified national spirit.
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