Chapter 24 Part 1

This section mainly is talking about Globalization. It says that globalization most commonly refers to  to international economic transactions. Globalization has come to seem inevitable to many ever since 1950. Global economic transactions quickened dramatically after WW11. World trade sky rocketed and money became highly mobile globally. International credit cards, short term investments, and foreign direct investment came about. Economic globalization brought about the immense creation of wealth allowing life expectancies to rise and infant mortality to decline, literacy rates increase, and overall a decline in poverty.

Chapter 23.

From this chapter and class discussion, I learned about the 1st and 2nd waves on Colonialism which were from 1850-1900's and Independence not being founded until the 1940's-70's in different countries. The impact of colonial rule came in a variety of different aspects. Some of these included racism, culture, economy, religion, and many more. There are two terms for the global south which are 3rd world countries, and developing countries, or those which have been previously exploited. This chapter talks about some of the different leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi from India, and Nelson Mandela from South Africa. These two countries were being ran by the British but by different nationalist organizations. In India the Indian National Congress and in South Africa, by the African National Congress.

Gandhi & MLKJr.

Gandhi is a legend and is known for his strong religious faith and for following principles of non-violence to achieve great ends. Gandhi will forever be known as a great leader and inspiration for generations to come who want to achieve peace worldwide. Mahatma Gandhi inspired the very famous, Martin Luther King Jr. who shared many of the same ideas and practices as Gandhi. Many of Gandhi's quotes are found to be about peace and love as the following:


"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won."-Gandhi

"Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man."-Gandhi

MLK Jr was very inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's practices and beliefs of love and peace.


“I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems. And I’m going to talk about it everywhere I go.” -MLKJr.


"Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true."-MLKJr.

Living Justice, Thomas Massaro/ Section 7

What I took from this section on Colonialism and Economic Development is that, Catholic/ Christian teachings call their followers to be aware of the large and disturbing gaps between the world's richest and poorest lands. The Church insists that all people have a moral obligation if not to act on it, then to at least  care deeply about world poverty and try to do all they can to address this horrible thing in humanity. The other thing Catholic social teaching calls us to do, is to 'ponder the causes of these problems and to offer suggestions for improvement and ways to make our world a better place, free from the disparages of poverty and inequality. Just as this section says, progress is measured by baby steps and with each and every person taking baby steps to making our world a better place, eventually we will reach that common ground we want have, which is equality and a better life for all people on our earth!

Intro to Part 6 & Chapter 21.

The 20th century marked the beginning of crisis in the modern world! Political crisis through WWI & WWII, and Vietnam and Cold Wars. Economically the world went through what we call the Great Depression and faced mass genocide through the Holocaust. Nuclear threat also came about as a huge deal this new 20th century. The causes of this First world war were things such as system of alliances, presence of empires and new industries. Things began to escalate because of the new developments in technology and weaponry. We talked about what total war is, which is when war includes everyone, even civilians. This is when you know things are going to be bad. World War I faces off between Germany, Austria, and Italy vs. Russia, France, and Britain. Dun dun dun!!!

Ch. 22 Communism in Russia & China (pp. 659-674)

This section introduces the Rise and Fall of world Communism in China and Russia. Communism found its way into 19th century European socialism through the teachings of Karl Marx and spread its roots through the Soviet Union to China and Eastern Europe. Communist movements of the 20th century drew from the earlier French revolution, which suggested that new and better ideas could be constructed by human actions. China and Russia's periods of communism shared similarities but also contrasted immensely from each other. Where Russia's period of Revolution lasted only a single year with massive social upheaval, China, with the help of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) and new leader Mao Zedong, communism had a different presence than it did in Russia. Over all, the spread of communism in China seemed to be a bit more successful than the spread of communism in Russia.

Ch. 20 pp. 589-606

This section basically talked about the different waves of Colonialism. The first wave was in North and South America by Spain and Portugal (Iberia) and England and France. This wave resulted in a major demographic change in the county with increasingly huge numbers of people rapidly multiplying. The intent of this wave of colonialism was to stay in North and South America which is why the travelers brought their families and wives. The second wave was the wave on Colonialism in Africa and Asia. This wave was drastically contrasting to the wave in North and South America. This wave was deliberate, whereas the other wave was accidental. And it was by B=Germany, Belgium, Japan, England, and the US (non-Iberian). The demographic change was very little in this case and the travelers came temporarily to administrate, not to settle.