EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
The Modern World: Global History since 1760
Prof. Philip Zelikow, University of Virginia
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E 1980s Political Polarization Notes taken on September 12, 2014 by Edward Tanguay |
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1970s: looking for new ideas to get out of the economic malaise
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economic liberalism
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instead of larger government control of the economy, retreat from a government role in the economy
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Milton Friedman, 1975 interview
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he calls himself a liberal as in freedom instead of a conservative as in conserving the current economic practices
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says its a mistake to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results
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says programs that are labeled for the poor and needy almost always have the opposite effects of those for which they were intended
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he borrows from earlier economists
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Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist from 1940s, book "Road to Serfdom"
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issue of human rights
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taken up on left and right wings of American and European politics
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John Paul II (pope from 1978-2005)
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represented the aspirations of liberty for people in Poland
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provided a symbol of the aspirations of liberty around the world
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being held back by Soviet Union
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yearning for public order
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reaction to the violence and the terrorist movements of the 1970s
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America chased out of Vietnam, now on the defensive
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in the shadow of the USSR, looking now like the world's bully
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political turns in the 1970s
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Italy and Spain
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communists come close to gaining power but are turned back at the ballot box
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England
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Thatcher comes to power
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USA
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Reagan comes to power
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France
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Mitterand comes to power
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looks as if France is going to become more deeply socialist
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1981 forms a ruling coalition and partnership with the communist party
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1982 he then decides to align to German partners, even with the British
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firmly anti-communist in political issues
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recoils from communism in economic issues
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does not nationalize the big banks
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he decides France just can't afford the long-term costs of socialism
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but needs to join a European consensus that will reboot capitalism
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Mitterand's conversion in 1982 becomes a big part of an emerging trend
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West Germany
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no country was more important in determining the future of Europe than West Germany
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Helmut Schmidt's SPD
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very pro-NATO and anti-Soviet
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strong on defense issues
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had to govern along with Germany's liberal party, the Free Democrat party
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led by Hans-Dietrich Genscher
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crisis over missles
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the Soviet Union deployed in the 1970s a new set of missiles which could target sites all through Europe
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Western leaders saw this as a way to disable their response strategy to agression where the West could be the first to use nuclear weapons
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therefore Europeans felt they needed missiles from the US which could strike the Soviet Union
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West European leaders like Helmut Schmidt are asking the United States to deploy missiles in their countries
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1979: NATO begins deployment of missles to be ended by 1983
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became an enormous symbol of the Cold War confrontation
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SPD party led by Schmidt moves leftward
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does not want to go along with the missile deployment
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things it will make Europe a nuclear battlefield
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they want agreements against arms
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1980s politics becoming polarized
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pro or against NATO
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end of social-liberal coalition
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demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of people in West Germany
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1982 Kohl and the Tendenzwende
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seizing on the ideological differences between East and West
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explicitly aligning with NATO
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the East/West choice is also felt in Britain, France, Italy, the United States
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1981-1983 intense years of international crisis
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Poland had to declar Martial Law
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Soviet War in Afghanistan grinds on
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debt crisis in the Third World
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1982 Argentina seizes Falklands
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1983 Soviets walk out of talks over missile build up
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books
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The Third World War
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television drama
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The Day After
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films
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Red Dawn - Soviet invasion of the United Stets accompanied by Cuban allies
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War Games - war machines getting out of control
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Reagan
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portray strength with an interest in peace
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vs. Andropov
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Thatcher, Kohl and Reagan get domestic support
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win reelections