A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY VOL3 - Print

Claudia Bernardi
and Eric Vanhaute
A GLOBAL HISTORY
OF HUMANITY
3
INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS:
FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS
TO GLOBAL CAPITALISM
(from 1870 CE to 21st CENTURY)
We dedicate this book to Immanuel Wallerstein (1930-2019)
1,870 BCE 21ST CENTURY

Claudia Bernardi and Eric Vanhaute
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY
FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS TO GLOBAL CAPITALISM
(FROM 1,870 CE TO 21ST CENTURY)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD: THE HISTORY OF A GLOBAL TEXT

Giordana Francia and Massimiliano Lepratti
INTRODUCTION AND GUIDE TO THE TEXTBOOK

CARTOGRAPHIC AND EDUCATIONAL APPARATUS

Cartography for a global history of humanity, Giulia Tagliente
The educational activities of this textbook, Anna Favalli and Catia Brunelli
INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD VOLUME

CHAPTER 3.1 A WORLD OF NATIONS
Theme 1 HUMANS CHANGE NATURE
Theme 2 HUMANS ON THE MOVE
Theme 3 SOCIAL ORGANISATION AND INEQUALITIES
Theme 4 WORLDVIEWS
References
CHAPTER 3.2 GLOBAL CAPITALISM

Theme 1 HUMANS CHANGE NATURE
Theme 2 HUMANS ON THE MOVE
Theme 3 SOCIAL ORGANISATION AND INEQUALITIES
Theme 4 WORLDVIEWS
References
CHAPTER 3.3 CHANGING THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

References
INDEX OF TERMS
CREDITS
1,870 CE 21 ST CENTURY
3
A global history of humanity
ISBN 978-88-99592-04-2
February 2021
www.getupandgoals.eu
Editorial process
Coordination: CISP*, Massimiliano Lepratti
Scientific advice: Hossein Azadi, John Latham-Sprinkle, Tamara Latham-Sprinkle, Massimiliano Lepratti,
Giorgio Riolo.
Educational apparatus
Educational activities: Catia Brunelli, Anna Favalli
Advice for educational activities: Claudia Bernardi, Eric Vanhaute
Graphical apparatus
Art and Design Director: Giulia Tagliente
Design and production of cartographies, drawings and infographics: Giulia Tagliente
Timeline design: Ilaria Furbetta
Graphic design and layout: Giulia Tagliente
Iconographic research: Ilaria Police
Cartographies, drawings and infographics research: Claudia Bernardi, Catia Brunelli, Anna Favalli,
Massimiliano Lepratti, Giulia Tagliente, Eric Vanhaute
Revision
Linguistic revision of the English version: Hossein Azadi, Tamara Latham-Sprinkle, Linda Weix
Editing: Tamara Latham-Sprinkle
The text was produced in the framework of the European project Get up and goals, Global education
time: an international network of learning and active schools for Sustainable Development Goals.
The project aims to support the implementation of the 17 sustainable development goals established by
the 2030 UN Agenda in schools in 12 European countries. It is coordinated by the NGO CISP * (Rome, Italy)
and funded by the European Union.
* Comitato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo dei Popoli (CISP) - International Committee for the Development
of Peoples is a non-governmental organisation (NGO), founded in 1983 with headquarters in Rome, Italy.
CISP, through its cooperation with many local actors, both governmental and private, has implemented
humanitarian aid, rehabilitation and development projects in over 30 countries in Africa, Latin America,
the Middle East, Asia, and Eastern Europe. In Italy and the member states of the European Union, CISP
fosters initiatives centred on Global Citizenship Education; it fights against educational poverty, for social
inclusion, and an enhancement of the role of diaspora in their country’s development
(www.developmentofpeoples.org)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD: THE HISTORY OF A GLOBAL TEXT page 6

Giordana Francia and Massimiliano Lepratti
INTRODUCTION AND GUIDE TO THE TEXTBOOK page 8

CARTOGRAPHIC AND EDUCATIONAL APPARATUS

Cartography for a global history of humanity, Giulia Tagliente page 17
The educational activities of this textbook, Anna Favalli and Catia Brunelli page 19
INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD VOLUME page 20
CHAPTER 3.1 A WORLD OF NATIONS page 23

Theme 1 HUMANS CHANGE NATURE page 27
Theme 2 HUMANS ON THE MOVE page 54
Theme 3 SOCIAL ORGANISATION AND INEQUALITIES page 88
Theme 4 WORLDVIEWS page 119
References page 136
CHAPTER 3.2 GLOBAL CAPITALISM page 137

Theme 1 HUMANS CHANGE NATURE page 141
Theme 2 HUMANS ON THE MOVE page 158
Theme 3 SOCIAL ORGANISATION AND INEQUALITIES page 171
Theme 4 WORLDVIEWS page 180
References page 191
CHAPTER 3.3 CHANGING THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY page 193

References page 210
INDEX OF TERMS page 211
CREDITS page 217
5
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Foreword: the story of a global text
FOREWORD:
THE STORY OF
A GLOBAL TEXT
“The education of the future should teach an ethics
of planetary understanding”.
Edgar Morin, Seven complex lessons in education for the future
This textbook is the result of a story, made up of different actors and

developed over time and space. The idea of narrating history as the
global tale of humanity through the lenses of the main Agenda 2030
issues originated from several factors, first and foremost the scientific
developments found in world history; then the meetings between
researchers, teachers, educational experts, cultural associations,
thinkers from all over the world, also facilitated by NGOs (Non-
Governmental Organizations); and finally the long series of European
partnerships on projects of Global Citizenship Education during which
the desire took shape to combine the scientific merit and clarity of
the best historical research with a narrative whose subject had to be
the whole of humanity and its millenary interconnections.
These stories had created the preconditions for a new step to happen:
the fusion of the competences of the academic world and the NGO
world in a common project. The two worlds built a common result,
the result not of a simple collaboration, but rather of a joint work,
side by side, to create together the same final product.
Starting from this favourable breeding ground, the project “Get

up and goals,! Global Education Time: an international network of
learning and active schools for SDGs”, co-financed by the European
Commission and coordinated by the Italian NGO CISP (Comitato
Internazionale per lo Sviluppo dei Popoli) made possible the
realization of this textbook and its testing in the secondary schools
of 12 European countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary,
Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and
United Kingdom.
This textbook is intended as one of the instruments of a broader

programme aimed at combining the methods and principles of
Global Citizenship Education with the contents of the UN Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) in school curricula. This textbook and the
Get up and goals! project focus especially on quality education for
all (target 4.7) and on gender and international inequalities, climate
change and global migration. The resulting contents and educational
approach aim at overcoming ethnocentrism and enhance students’
ability to place specific issues in a broader and more global dimension.
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Foreword: the story of a global text
These introductory remarks should clearly show that this textbook is

one of the most important resources of an educational project that
aims to deeply innovate school practices and contents, making them
suitable for a global and open society, attentive to the rights of all
human beings, other living species and the whole ecosystem.
We are confident that this history textbook will be a valuable support

and inspiration tool for all teachers willing to take up the challenge
of exploring new tools and new educational paths with their students
in order to teach and learn about complexity.
Finally, this book is dedicated to Paolo Dieci, beloved friend and

President of CISP, who died prematurely in 2019 in a plane crash.
Paolo’s enthusiasm, commitment, his way of thinking, his reflections
on our way of being human have been a huge source of inspiration
over the years. So it was and always will be.
Giordana Francia and Massimiliano Lepratti – CISP
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A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Introduction to the textbook
INTRODUCTION TO
THE TEXTBOOK
There is no planet B
This book is a complex thing that required a long process of thinking,

production, organisation, networking, and many other actions by
some humans who decided to create this curious object. It is a book
is about our past, our history. It is not crowded with kings’ names,
dates and events we would most likely forget within a few months.
It is not a history of our country, as nations are very young political
formations and their history does not give a full account of our past
as humans on this planet. This book tells another story: a story about
the planet upon which we were born and live. It is a story about planet
Earth and the humans who have inhabited it. Above all, it’s about their
fascinating and often troublesome relationships.
Knowledge is not an individual outcome; it is always a collective

process. We hope that the class will enjoy working on this book
together. This can be seen as the logbook of a long, common adventure
through this year of school.
1. Why is history important?

History is not just a list of events that occurred in some specific place
and time. It is not a collection of old facts from the past. It is not the
story of emperors and kings, their deaths, descendants and reigns. It
is not a chronology of select dates.
History is a narration of our shared past as humans forging a life on
planet Earth. History is also the story of what is now, what we have
become. Knowing our history helps us decide who we want to become
tomorrow, and how to change things on our planet. We like to think
of history as a compass. To sail across the ocean of time, we need a
compass to set the direction for our planetary ship, run by a motley
crew of around 100 billion humans who have lived on our planet in
the past.
This textbook explains the history of an unequal relationship between
rulers and those who are ruled, which includes the decisions of a
small group that have shaped the world as we know it. It also narrates
the actions of the majority of humanity, which created new worlds
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Introduction to the textbook
by accepting, refusing or resisting domination. All these actions and

reactions are part of history, and forge processes of change and
transformation that happened over time and are reconstructed or
remembered centuries or millennia later.
2. Why narrate human history?

This textbook also aims to narrate how humanity, as a single species,
created different modes of living, different economic systems,
cultures, political and social formations, ideas, beliefs and worldviews.
These systems organised humans into common organisations and
around common ideas, but they also highlighted differences between
humans. These differences originated over time; they were created by
humans themselves.
Populations had different understandings of the processes through
which they produce life, goods, and societies (economy); of the ways
in which populations organise themselves and decide about their
lives (politics); of the ways in which individuals or groups represent
and understand themselves (identity); of the ways in which they give
shape and share their knowledge (culture). Beyond these differences,
we share the common condition and responsibility of being human.
In this textbook, we refer to humans as a common condition for
our existence on planet Earth, and we embrace the idea of “staying
human”. We are all humans, despite differences, and the social and
cultural construction that created “peoples”, race, gender or national
belonging. We are all humans: any other hierarchy and distinction is
the outcome of historical processes that also created inequalities.
For this reason, we highlighted the historical times when a group of
humans recognise themselves in a specific way. This will help readers
to ignore some elements of distinction or identity; they are not
natural or necessary.
3. Why study a history of human and non-human nature?

A history of humans is a history of nature. Humans have always been
part of nature, and they still are. Nature is not a given; it is the result
of manipulations and conscious interventions by humans since their
appearance on planet Earth. The idea of uncontaminated and pure
nature is ahistorical. Humans have always shaped, manipulated,
controlled and destroyed nature. It was gradually changed by human
activities. Humans changed nature, and nature changed humans.
Humans created machines that changed their lives; machines changed
humans’ bodies and social organisations.
Humans produce life and nature; they give birth, irrigate grasslands and
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produce clothing. This occurs as an interaction between human beings

and their environment. At the same time, humans have changed their
bodies and brains through their interaction with nature. We can only
grasp the history of humanity through these relationships. We are the
outcome of a complex and still largely unknown transformation of
the system that we call planet Earth. Over time, we humans made
greater distinctions between ourselves and other living creatures. At
the same time, humans developed a defining power over non-human
life, a power that non-humans do not have over humans. An animal
or a plant cannot build a society, a bridge or a space shuttle. This
difference in power does not give humans a license to unlimited
exploitation or destruction of nature, plants or animals. Quite the
contrary, this difference in power implies an enormous responsibility.
We are responsible for our actions and any consequences to the
planet, its creatures and other life forms. Humans are part of nature
and simultaneously responsible for it.
4. Why use the perspective of frontiers?

Humans’ shifting relationships with each other and with other forms
of life create varying zones of contact, or frontiers. Frontiers connect
different spaces of organic and non-organic life. They originate
during interactions between ecological and social systems, each with
their own characteristics. They disappear when the interaction ends
or when one system is taken over by another. Throughout history
frontiers originate, shift, and disappear. They play a primary role
in human social change; they build walls as well as bridges. They
determine exclusion and inclusion. They enforce new rules while
giving space for resistance. Frontiers have not disappeared. They have
been redefined with global networks of money and communication,
as well as with new regional identities, national barriers against
migration and immense zones of poverty. Our world is made up of
connections and interactions, assimilation, conflicts and resistance,
in a large yet unequal space. Frontiers have crossed and connected
worlds, have reshaped and destroyed organic and non-organic life,
have exploited humans to sustain their movement, have made and
continuously remake our world.
5. Why explore a global history of humanity?

Global history is the history of humans making, defining, and
reorganising their worlds. We use worlds in plural because humans
have created many worlds. A human world is not an object: it is the
outcome of the interactions and struggles. Humans made and remade
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many worlds, small and large. They are the outcome of cooperation
and conflict, of connections and networks.
We do not give preference to a specific space, be it a region, a state, a
culture, or a continent. History books are usually the history of Europe
and its relationship with “the rest of the world”. This book takes a
firm non-Eurocentric perspective: its centre is not Europe. This book
considers the history of humanity as the outcome of interactions,
Atlantic centred World Map conflicts and connections at different levels.
This textbook looks at how worlds have been created and imposed
over time by groups, empires, states, or companies. It explains how
networks hold a world together and connect its different parts: T
local transformations were linked and interconnected to broader,
regional, intercontinental and global transformations.
6. Why different time and space scales?

Seeing a global history of humanity as a history of human worlds
Pacific centred World Map means we must reconsider spatial scales and how they are created,
connected, and disconnected. They include scales from small to large,
that go from the body to the planet. Spatial scales are also related to
time. Social processes take place at very different speeds. History is
made up of several time scales. Let’s look at some of them. The scale
of the universe is 13 billion years; the scale of Earth is 4.5 billion years;
the scale of mammals is 70 million years; the scale of hominids is 4
million years; the scale of human history is 200,000 years; the scale
of agrarian and urban civilisations is 5000 years; the scale of ‘national
Upside-down World Map
history’ is a few centuries long; the scale of human life is one hundred
years at the most. This textbook narrates a story of only 70,000 years?
Times and spaces are not considered or thought of in a single way.
They are related to different perceptions of time and space, to the
2020 Common Era different scales they produced at each step. The first step to changing
the idea of time and space is to look at how we express time in writing.
5780 Hebrew Calendar
We do not use Before Christ (BC) and Anno Domini (AD), since these
are Eurocentric notions. . We use the notation system of Before the
1441 Hijri Calendar (Muslim)
Common Era (BCE) and Common Era (CE), to avoid a single religious
1399 Jalali Calendar (Persian) reference and to underline the commonality of time and calendars
actually imposed on a global level.
4718 Chinese Calendar
7. What is the structure of this textbook?
1942 Indian Calendar (Hindu) Imagine you are…
Each chapter starts with “Imagine...”. This section gives the readers a
2564 Buddhist Calendar double view: a view from the sky as if you were a bird flying over
planet Earth and a view from a human living in a specific place and
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time. It is a broad picture of the planet that recounts the immense

transformations that have occurred. It is also a good exercise for
putting yourself in other human’s shoes, as humans lived, and still live
in incredibly different ways.
A chronological and thematic approach

This textbook covers the history of humanity, from homo sapiens
departure from Africa to the twenty-first century. Volume 1 spans the
years 70,000 BCE to 1000 CE; Volume 2 covers 1000 to 1870 CE; Volume
3 spans the years 1870 CE to the twenty-first century. The first volume
focuses on the expansion of frontiers, starting with the agricultural
frontier that created empires and cities. The second volume narrates
the story of the connection of different frontiers and the creation
of the first intercontinental trade system. The third volume looks at
the intensified intervention of complex systems of frontiers on our
planet.
Each volume is divided into three chronological chapters. Each

VOLUME 1 chapter starts with an overview of the chapter, then covers the four
themes by which the book is structured. Instead of reading historical
70,000 BCE 1,000 CE transformations as single topics, we have chosen to organise our
narrative in four themes and to look at the different transformations
CHAPTER 1.1 that have occurred in the world. The four themes are 1) humans change
CHAPTER 1.2
nature, 2) humans on the move, 3) social organisation and inequality,
and 4) worldviews.
CHAPTER 1.3
VOLUME 2 Each chapter, except the very last chapter of Volume 3, is divided
into these four themes. As a result, the reader will go through the
1,000 CE 1,870 CE
same historical period four times, analysing four different sets of
CHAPTER 2.1
themes, issues and problems. We can read this textbook chapter by
chapter following the chronology. Also we can read this textbook
CHAPTER 2.2 theme by theme following single topics. For this reason, we may find
similar incipit to frame the specific theme into the broader historical
CHAPTER 2.3
transformations.
VOLUME 3
1,870 CE 21st CENTURY

Each chapter also includes a timeline. Since this textbook does
not follow a classic chronological approach, the timeline is not a
CHAPTER 3.1 collection of dates and facts that are already in the text. The timeline
is a simple line that allows readers to remember some significant
CHAPTER 3.2
transformations the planet and humanity underwent, such as climate
CHAPTER 3.3 change and global processes. It also shows major political and social
formations that had global ambitions, like empires and colonial
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powers.
We have privileged sources of global historians, in order to avoid as

much as possible a Eurocentric/Western perspective. This narrative
is based on literature and sources duly quoted at the end of each
chapter.
We look at each theme in more detail.
Theme one: Humans change nature
This theme highlights the outcomes produced by human actions

within nature: how nature is used, transformed and exploited, and
how this affected humans and human history. This theme narrates the
many ways that human societies originated, expanded, thrived and
perished through the use and production of extra-human nature. In
various regions of the world and in different ways, humans remade
nature through social formations: they exploited it, transformed
it, reconfigured it, and destroyed it. It is a central human ability to
reinvent, reconstruct, interact, create, change and destroy.
Humans managed to transform extra-human nature into profit.
More than before, humans also destroyed human and extra-human
nature, from the body to a global scale. This includes climate change,
resulting from human intervention, and increasing frontier extraction
and exploitation. Natural elements were turned into resources that
fuelled an expanding global economy: food, nitrate, and oil are just
some of the frontiers that span the world and that we follow in this
story.
Theme two: Humans on the move
The second theme highlights the expansion and abridgment of human

populations. In the first place, it refers to secular population growth
that is regulated by birth control, mortality and life expectancy.
The expansion is also spatial and hence related to human movement.
Migration is one of the most consistent activities in human history.
The history of humanity is a history of an immeasurable number of
migrations.
This movement can be driven by desire, curiosity, search for a different
life, better working conditions or food availability, but also by political
issues, persecution, climate change or enslavement. Thanks to human
1,870 CE 21 ST
CENTYUR
13
traces found by archaeologists, we know that migrations have existed

for hundreds of thousands of years, since the very beginning of the
human species.
Colonisation also triggered the movement of humans over large
distances. Colonialism is the conquest, possession and direct control
of territories that belong to other human groups. These humans are
defined by the condition of being colonised.
Humans also moved and still move in order to establish trading
networks. The exchange of goods requires trust in other humans, or
in a common system of value. Money can have an intrinsic material
value, like shells used as tools, or an immaterial value, like coins.
All these movements narrate the many forms of mobility on our
planet.
Theme three: Social organisation and inequality
This theme focuses on societies and how they have been built,
organised, managed, controlled, and governed. This is the history
of how social hierarchies have been moulded so that a small part
of humanity was able to rule over the majority of humans. These
hierarchies were constructed along the lines of gender (man and
woman, for example), class (elites and the poor, for example), and race
(black and white, for example), but also through inclusion and exclusion
(membership of states, for example). In this theme, we do not assume
these hierarchies and differentiations as a given or a necessity. We
tell the story of how these hierarchies were constructed both socially
and culturally. For example, “woman” is a social construction that has
different meanings in different societies.
This theme also pays attention to the issue of work. Workers
have created societies, infrastructures, transportation, buildings,
commodities, knowledge, and other humans. Work can be performed
under different conditions and w orkers can refuse to work.
This theme also deals with forms of social reproduction, like family
structure and child-rearing. Continuous attention is paid to the role
of women, and how they have been subjugated into family structures
and the reproduction of life. The textbook also focuses on different
working conditions between men and women within single political
formations.
The theme narrates the construction of inequality, how differences in
status, wealth, and living conditions were created. These inequalities
can be internal, like within a city or a state. They also can be between
world regions, kingdoms, empires, or states. Through an analysis of
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social organisation, we will point at regional differences, processes of

integration (failed or successful), and processes of fragmentation and
bordering that produce inequality.
These inequalities were contested in many forms by different social
groups. The theme highlights elements of control over labour and
human activity and resistance to control. It traces the long story of
inequality, its origin, and the struggles that emerged from it, such
as the resistance of indigenous populations to the colonisation
process, the workers’ organisations that spread to many world regions
particularly after the nineteenth century, the feminist practices of
self-help to contemporary movements demanding commons and
climate justice. This theme covers human actions in terms of protests,
conflicts, and revolutions. It includes social movements that envisage
new conditions of existence beyond inequality.
Theme four: Worldviews
Theme four covers acts of imagination, with beliefs, views of the

world, and ideals that humans have created throughout history.
Human groups created religions, followed myths, and experienced
spirits. They shared the same ideas and beliefs, and these ideas and
beliefs brought them to places of worship or drove them to fight and
die for their group, king or nation. Sometimes it inspired them to talk
to plants in order to be cured. They collectively believed in something
and shaped their world around these beliefs. These beliefs were not
given; they were socially constructed.
The theme pays special attention to those ideas and beliefs that have
shaped the world as we know it. This theme also offers representations
of the world from specific points of view to help usunderstand how
some populations in different times and spaces viewed and imagined
their world or the entire world. The authors and others who worked
on this book have chosen maps, cartographies and graphics that
will help you understand historical processes. Humans have created
and continue to create worldviews. We believe that it is important
to reimagine the world we live in, to create imaginary spaces for
legitimation, action, interaction or resistance. Since differences and
diversity are basic components of the human story, a global historical
perspective shows that understanding and handling differences
are important ethical skills. Claims, interpretations and evaluations
cannot be made solely in our own framework, our own small and
familiar world. They must reflect the complexity of human history.
1,870 CE 21 ST
CENTYUR
15
8. Learning from the past to change the present

The educational goal of this textbook is to analyse, criticise, compare,
test and broaden our views on the history of humans and the planet
they inhabit. This knowledge is also fundamental for making the
planet a sustainable, equal, and safe place for all humans, nature and
creatures living on it.
Since knowledge always expands and humans continue to discover
new things when investigating our world, this book can be used as a
compass that orients our reading about human history. We also can
use the text as a logbook or notebook of our travels across times;
we can rewrite and change this logbook at every step. We hope
that our book will contribute to improving human knowledge. More
importantly, we hope that this book will help us improve our life and
the world of humans on this planet.
Planet Earth, August 2020

16
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Cartography for a global history of humanity
CARTOGRAPHY
FOR A GLOBAL
HISTORY OF HUMANITY
“It is not possible to think about the evolution of

space if time does not exist as historical time (...)
humanity transforms itself in time and space. Space
is the result of this bond that is continually renewed
and unraveled, the human being in continuous
migration and space in continuous evolution. (...)”
Milton Santos
We inhabit planet Earth. We inhabit it for a certain period of time,

interacting with other humans.
This text includes several maps.
In the maps, we have tried to spatialize some events and dynamics
that shape historical processes. We want to help you understand the
circumstances, interconnections, and relationships between these
events. The maps show you the physical dimension of some systems
and their evolution through space and time.
When trying to look at spatial representation from other perspectives,
we should point out that the maps do not represent the world as it
is. These maps are a selection from the vast amount of information
that constitutes the space and the events that have taken place on
our planet.
They are two-dimensional projections of a three-dimensional world.
The maps represent choices, both political and strategical. They
are not scientific objects but social products, the product of our
imagination.
The Geographical Projections

In A global history of humanity, you will notice that the way humans
represented the world frequently changed shape, perspective, and
angles. Long ago, humans developed - and are still developing -
different geographical projections and techniques that allow us to
represent a globe on two-dimensional surfaces. It is impossible to
avoid deformation, so we assume that every geographic projection
has its limits and its particular political vision. This vision can reinforce
our way of thinking about differences between regions and reproduce
inequality through physical and geographical spaces.
When choosing the maps, we tried to select the projections that had
the least distorted land dimensions, such as the Mollweide projection
and the Dymaxion map. The geographic projections in this textbook
continue to change depending on the map and what it represents.
17
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Cartography for a global history of humanity
The central axis also changes depending on the map and its contents.
We have taken into account that the centre of the planisphere is a
human choice. Who and what is customarily in the centre of the map?
The Maps
We tried to avoid the well-known topics that are usually represented.
The aim is to connect elements that can convey a message, to
highlight the relationship of human dynamics and space, to capture
a concept in an image, in its space and time dimensions. We selected
information and elements that can help you localise various processes
that occurred in the world during a specific period.
We searched through many accessible sources and made a well-
considered choice.
These choices show you the events, routes, trades, connections and
relationships between different cores and between cores and marginal
areas on a global scale.
The global scale can help in visualising the correlation and the
differences between different regions in terms of social and spatial
organisation, languages, border expansions, etc. In some cases,
we have zoomed in or shifted scales to provide a more detailed
representation.
You will notice how the geographical location of centralities and
events continues to evolve and shift. Even in space, nothing is fixed;
things are shaped and reshaped by the social dynamics that occur, and
by interactions between humans and the environment.
Giulia Tagliente, August 2020
18
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The educational activities of this book
THE EDUCATIONAL
ACTIVITIES
OF THIS BOOK
What types of educational activities are proposed?

The educational activities present written documents, images, graphics
and diagrams taken from sources referring to the present or to the past.
Some activities are focused on analysing a document, from which you
will be able to obtain information to build new knowledge. A second
group of activities aims to make you aware of points of view different
from yours and perhaps deeply dissimilar from the mainstream in
your space and time. You will experience an alienation effect, which
will be very useful for increasing critical thinking and for questioning
stereotypes and prejudices. A last category of activity highlights the
relationships existing between past and present phenomena because
the knowledge of historical processes allows us to better understand
the reality in which we are living. Moreover, you will develop a sense
of responsibility towards planet Earth, which you will want to leave to
your descendants with fewer problems than the present, by avoiding
the wrong behaviors of those who preceded us.
How do these activities form for global citizenship?

The educational activities of this book use some teaching strategies
developed over the last twenty years by various research associations
to promote global citizenship. A presentation of these teaching
strategies is offered, for example, by the UNESCO Global Citizenship
Education, Topics and Learning Objectives, published in 2015 and then
updated several times. The 2016 International Charter on Geographical
Education is also very useful.
An interesting strategy asks to highlight the systemic nature of the
interactions and interconnections between phenomena and to
perform examinations based on the interaction of different temporal
or spatial scales, that is to say, that they proceed from the local level
to the global level and vice versa. This type of analysis will make you
feel part of a world community and involved in historical processes
that got started at different times and spaces.
Another operation training you for global citizenship is the analysis
of processes that will lead you to debunk the idea that the past has
nothing to teach us, and that today’s inventions are certainly better
than yesterday’s.
Finally, you will learn to put yourself in others’ shoes and assume points
of view different from yours: in this way you will overcome selfishness
and self-centeredness, and you will feel a sense of responsibility
towards the environment and towards the other inhabitants of the
world.
Catia Brunelli and Anna Favalli, August 2020
19
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Introduction to the third volume
INTRODUCTION
TO THE THIRD
VOLUME
The third volume of the textbook tells you a story that spans from
1870 CE to the twenty-first century and the world we are living in,
from the constitution of a world made of nations to the imposition of
global capitalism on almost every corner of planet Earth. Compared
to the previous two volumes, this one covers just 150 years of history.
This period has probably been one of the most intense, troublesome,
and violent of our entire history.
During this period, humans created weapons of mass destruction that
could end all human life on the planet. At the same time, humans have
improved their living conditions to unprecedented levels of wealth.
Humans have also built the widest gap between themselves, between
richer and poorer humans.
In the first chapter, we look at the period between 1870 and 1973 CE,
when human lives changed dramatically, and frontiers intensified their
action worldwide. In addition to increases in inequality, humanity
also witnessed the improvement of living conditions and increases in
wealth and life expectancy.
This period was sprinkled with revolutions in many regions, but at
the beginning of the twentieth century, two of them challenged the
capitalist system. The Mexican Revolution promoted the redistribution
and common use of land, while the Soviet Revolution created an
alternative to capitalism through the collective organisation of
workers.
Nations took the stage and defined the world as we know it today; a
world made up of nations. Nation states became the most successful
organisation for controlling territory and were adopted throughout
much of Europe and the Americas. You are probably familiar with the
Olympics or World Championships in which national teams confront
each other: this is a very recent phenomenon. World War I (1914-
1918) shook the imperialist order of the late nineteenth century to
its foundations. The world of nations was consolidated at the end of
the Second World War (1939-1945), which destroyed the old European
colonial empires and the Japanese Empire. The war rise to a world
dominated by two superpowers (i.e the United States and the Soviet
Union). Finally, the world of nations spread - by choice or imposition
- to almost every corner of the planet after decolonisation and the
deployment of international organisations in the early 1970s. Frontiers
20
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Introduction to the third volume
became more intense and pervasive.

Some nation states adopted industrial capitalism - notably Western
Europe, the United States, and Japan. Their industrial power was
employed for imperialist military and economic purposes to colonise
most of Africa and much of Asia. Colonialism and imperialism caused
the deindustrialisation of these regions and then imposed capitalism
as the mode of production through coercion and violence. These
Subaltern refers to the regions then played a subaltern and dependent role for much of the
subordinate position twentieth century. The second half of the twentieth century witnessed
established through
the expansion of the socialist mode of production, which involved
dependent relationships.
more countries on a global level. The Cold War between the United
States and the Soviet Union also embodied a contrast between two
economic systems. Resistances and social movements at the global
level demanded recognition and equality, challenging the capitalist
system.
The second chapter of this volume spans from 1973 to the present. In
this period, the expansion of the United States and the intensification
of frontiers on a global scale put pressure on the remaining non-
capitalist economies. The pervasive and destructive action of frontiers,
together with the repression of various forms of resistances, made
the world fully global under the aegis of capitalist institutions. By the
twenty-first century, a small number of areas and limited populations
resisted the expansion of the capitalist mode of production. Capitalist
frontiers have become more intrusive than ever. They have intensified,
penetrated the human body, and affected human relations and the
planet at various levels.
Human actions have changed the relationship between the planet’s
components, pushing the environment to its limit of survival. Human
impact has dramatically moulded planet Earth through the intense
extraction and unequal appropriation of resources. The machines
that humans invented also changed the human body itself. Global
capitalism turned humans into consumers and resources. A small
portion of humanity – an elite – benefits enormously from the work
of most of humanity. Inequality increased to unprecedented levels.
Migration increased significantly worldwide due to the capitalist
need to move cheap workers and humans’ need to escape living
conditions in the country of origin. Climate refugees also increased in
numbers, together with temporary workers moving from one nation
to another. At the same time, while the world was becoming more
connected, borders and divisions multiplied to divide, control and
manage humanity. Resistance to this world order under capitalist
21
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Introduction to the third volume
action spread, but the system is still at play.
The third chapter of this volume explores the conditions in which we

find ourselves today and what we are facing in the coming years. It ties
the long history of humanity to today’s central questions. Organic and
non-organic lives on planet Earth are experiencing an irreversible shift
that we should all be aware of. This chapter looks at the condition
that our world is in due to global capitalism, which was instigated
by a small elite. The human world was re-created and re-imagined in
the past, through active resistance and new social organisations, and
it will be once again in the future. You will write the end of the third
chapter since you will choose what is to be done.
This story begins by imagining that you live in a Mexican field…
22
3.1 A WORLD OF NATIONS
MAP OF UN MEMBER STATES BY THEIR DATES OF ADMISSION.

Source: Wikimedia Commons (adapted)
1945
(ORIGINAL MEMBERS)
1946–1959
1960–1989
1990–TODAY
NON-MEMBER OBSERVER STATES
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
23
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY A world of nations
IMAGINE Imagine that you are a bird flying over planet Earth at the
beginning of the twentieth century. You can catch sight of
nearly two billion humans, and you have a hard time flying over
some cities, like Manchester and London, where high plumes
of dense black smoke impair your vision and sharp aromas
prevent you from breathing. You were a bright white stork, and
now you look like a crow.
You see humans walking out of these huge boxes that emit
smoke, and you wonder how they can live in such conditions.
You keep flying, and you see trains cutting across vast
plains and around mountains. Ships are bigger and faster,
and massive human cargos are moving from Europe to the
Americas. Uprisings dot South Asia, and after flying over
the Pacific Ocean, you see thousands of humans and horses
running in North America.
Imagine you are a fifteen-year-old girl, living in the central

region of Mexico with your large family that works the land of
a wealthy landowner. You have five siblings, and you watched
another two die. Your family, together with others, has been
working the land of this rich man for decades. A small elite
called científicos owns most of your country together with
foreign capitalists, mostly from the United States.
One day, one of your cousins arrives with a guy with a large
hat. They come to your house and talk to your family about
the revolution that is coming and will get rid of the elite, the
dictator, and will enable you to take back what is yours. He
often repeats the words “land” and “freedom” and asks your
father to join them in taking back the land for your family, for
all Mexican peasants and for the indigenous peoples of Oaxaca,
the state where you live. Your father joins the army of tens of
thousands under Emiliano Zapata’s leadership. After a few
days, government troops come to your house searching for
rebels and attempt to rape your little sister. She was brave and
shot the soldier to defend herself. You are young and have had
enough of it all.
24
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Imagine
Your name is Angela, but you change it to Ángel to avoid

sexual assault and discrimination. The general of your troop
knows you are a woman, and adamant. You become a soldier,
a flag bearer, an explosives expert, and a spy. You assist the
revolution, which has started to give the land back to peasants
and indigenous peoples in your country and became an
inspiration for many poor peasants around the world.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
25
TIMELINE
1,850 CE 1,855 1,860 1,865 1,870 1,875 1,880 1,885 1,890 1,895 1,900 1,905 1,910
India comes under direct rule of the British crown
First era of global mass migration
Rise of multinational corporations
First global crisis
El Niño famines
Scramble for Africa
1,915 1,920 1,925 1,930 1,935 1,940 1,945 1,950 1,955 1,960 1,965 1,970 CE
India comes under direct rule of the British crown
World War I World War II
The Great Depression
‘Glorious Thirty’
The Cold War
Decolonization of Asia and Africa
United States hegemony
Green Revolution
26
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Deforestation changed the climate
AN
OVERVIEW
This chapter tells a story that spans from 1870 to 1970 CE. In this
period, planet Earth and human communities experienced one of the
most radical changes of all time. Life could not be more different
at the beginning and the end of these one hundred years. New and
faster machines were invented, and technology completely changed
the relationship between humans and non-humans. The last empires
dissolved and were broken up into smaller nation states, while British
imperialism gave way to United States imperialism. More aggressive
frontiers remoulded the planet and extracted resources, turning them
into surpluses.
Industrial capitalism expanded in many world regions that were
connected through bloodier wars and more global trade. Humans
became able to potentially destroy all humanity on planet Earth. At
the same time, revolutions, rebellions and strikes improved the lives
of many as states answered with the distribution of welfare.
This period is probably the most turbulent, innovative, and
revolutionary for the living conditions of humans in all our history.
As this chapter of history is dense and articulated, we begin with the
essential element that is still fundamental for us and gives us oxygen
and hence life.
HUMANS
CHANGE NATURE
During this period of time, planet Earth suffered extensive
Deforestation changed the
deforestation. As we saw in Volumes 1 and 2, humans cleared forests
climate
and used trees as fuel and building materials, and expanded agricultural
fields because of population growth. In some parts of Asia and Latin
America, forests were cleared long before the population began
to grow. An example of this occurred in India, where rulers cleared
forests to deny their enemies cover. This policy is called “ecological
warfare” and was promoted by Indian rulers and by British colonisers.
Moreover, dislocated peasant farmers cleared land contributing to
the extensive deforestation of India.
In Latin America, colonial powers cut down forests to extract raw
materials and transform land into sugar or coffee plantations. Coffee
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
27
is a tree native to Ethiopia that can be replanted on the same land

given adequate soil fertility. Despite this, Brazilian landowners
continued to deplete the soil and cleared new patches of virgin forest.
On Caribbean islands, colonisers removed so much forestland for
expanding plantations that the climate became drier on the islands.
By the end of the nineteenth century, large parts of Asia and Latin
America had been environmentally damaged by deforestation and
the depletion of soil fertility.
The most well-known deforestation occurred after 1950. The earth’s
largest rain forest is in the Amazon Basin, which houses a huge variety
of plants and animals and thousands of different kinds of trees. Only
2.7 billion acres of the original 4 billion acres of worldwide forest
remain, and hundreds of thousands of square miles are lost every year.
Deforestation has many adverse effects on the earth. In the first
place, forests provide a source of food for the poor. The majority
of the more than 1 billion humans who live in severe poverty rely
on trees for their fundamental needs and livelihood. Cutting trees
destroys forms of life: tropical rainforests contain over half of the
world’s known animal species and plants. Trees and plants remove and
store greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, ozone and methane from
the air. When forests disappear, the greenhouse gases increase global
warming. Woodlands also help protect watersheds and prevent soil
erosion, floods and landslides.
Frontiers expanded on an unprecedented scale in this period. Crop

The scale and timing
and pasture lands tripled at the expense of forests and other natural
of frontier expansion
landscapes. Some frontiers were protagonists of the period 1870 to
the 1940s, as territories were expanded and actions were intensified
in these areas. While some regions were introducing machines and
sources of energy during the first half of the nineteenth century,
others were experimenting with machines and sources of energy at
the very end of the nineteenth century or beginning of the twentieth
century. In other words, not all states adopted large-scale agriculture
and industrial capitalism at the same time, nor it was introduced at
the same degree throughout the entire national territory. Frontier
expansion mainly involved regions that were connected worldwide.
Among the most effective frontiers, we are going to look in-depth at
cereal and energy.
Although capitalism is often associated with coal- and oil- fuelled

The frontier of cereal industrial revolutions, transformations in the food system came first.
Without food surpluses, there would be no work outside agriculture.
28
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The frontier of cereal
Great Britain was the undisputed leader amongst industrial nations.

Six of every seven English workers were employed outside agriculture
by 1870, and these workers had to be fed. They were not food
producers, and there was not enough food available in the country.
Great Britain had to import most of its cereals and meat from other
countries. The British created a combined trade from colonies and
former colonies that exported cereals (particularly wheat) and meat.
In the last decades of the nineteenth century, Germany, Belgium,
France, Italy and other European countries also imported significant
quantities of cereal. Agricultural production, particularly of cereals,
expanded significantly from the 1860s when global cereal exports
grew from around 2 million tons to 20 million tons at the turn of the
century. This level remained roughly stable until World War I. Wheat
accounted for 40 to 50% of global cereal exports.
Initially, the main region supplying cereals was Russia. Farmers
ploughed the fertile grasslands of the eastern steppes of Russia,
and from the mid-1860s onwards farmers tackled the vast North
American Great Plains. Non-European farmers fed industrialising
Europe. Cereals often came from European settler colonies. Laws in
the United States and Canada encouraged white settlers from the East
and new immigrants from Europe to occupy and cultivate previously
unsettled grassland ecosystems in the Midwest.
From the 1870s, North America increased cereal exports and eventually
became the dominating force. Between 1870 and 1930, large swaths of
the prairie were converted into cropland and planted with corn in
the more humid eastern part and wheat in the dryer western part of
the North American continent. In the course of this process, native
populations were violently displaced and nearly extinguished, and
the grassland environment was fundamentally transformed. Large-
scale farm mechanisation changed agriculture in the United States
and allowed for increases in grain production and grain exportation
to England. This expansion was not due to an increase in the labour
force, but largely to investments in machines. New machines were
invented, bought, and employed in the fields. Entrepreneurs needed
money to purchase these machines that increased production. They
required fewer peasants because they were frequently replaced by
machines. Agricultural production expanded and grain exports surged.
An increase in exports caused grain prices to collapse: they fell by half
between 1882 and 1896. As a result, grain and bread became cheaper.
Industrial agriculture and expanding production made food cheap.
Food became less expensive because less labour was required in the
production of grain, but this labour produced more grain than before.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
29
Inexpensive food resulted in a growing urban-industrial labour force,

initially in England but in time also in other European countries.
This was a significant change that allowed capitalists to increase their
profits even more. The industrialisation of agriculture provided food
surpluses, and the price of food declined in relation to wages: workers
could buy more food with their daily wages.
Simultaneously, this method of producing food enhanced the
dominating role of some nations in the world economy. North America
and Russia accounted for 80% of global exports in the 1870s. Their
share slowly dropped to around 50% at the outbreak of World War I,
as exports from South America and other regions gained significance.
Russia completely vanished as a cereal exporter after the Russian
Revolution and World War I. From the mid-nineteenth century until
World War I, both global cereal exports and fossil energy consumption
grew. The expansion of agricultural land into grassland ecosystems in
North America and Russia was intrinsically linked to the emergence
of the fossil fuel-based energy system that facilitated the growth of
urban industrial centres.
Coal largely changed the relationship between humans and nature in

The frontier of energy the eighteenth century. Its use was primarily concentrated in some
European countries and then expanded to North America, Japan, and
Russia in the late nineteenth century. This expansion took time, and so
did the other sources of energy that began to be employed in the late
nineteenth century, opening up another phase of industrialisation.
The first source of energy was a striking innovation that changed
the relationship between nature and humans, and between human
communities: electrical power. The use of electricity fundamentally
changed the way we work and live. Electricity is a secondary energy
source: we get it from the conversion of other sources of energy,
like coal, natural gas, and oil, which are primary energy sources. This
source of energy was first applied to communication at the beginning
of the nineteenth century to increase the telegraph’s speed. In the
1870s the electrical generator was applied to the lightbulb: Newcastle
upon Tyne in Great Britain had the first street lit by electric lighting
on planet Earth. In 1881 London was the first city to have a power
station. Electricity served the expansion of the telegraph and its
speed and radically changed humans’ daily lives. In the beginning, it
was a luxury. Before the introduction of public electricity, candles
and gas lamps were used to light inside buildings homes, and most
activities were carried out in the daytime. Electricity was brighter so
eyesight improved, it was cheaper and cleaner than oil gas, and it was
30
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Innovations remade the planet
used to create appliances that save time when performing daily tasks.
Examples include domestic appliances like the electric oven and
flatiron. Since the 1870s, electricity has been a key source of energy; it
has supported the social organisation of human life and has produced
cleaner energy. As from 1910, it was possible to power a residential
area from one single power station.
Another source of energy was known for centuries and used
specifically in Asia: oil. The existence and use of oil were not new, but
the oil frontier expanded massively in the late nineteenth century.
More efficient steam engines drilled for oil and a better refinement
process was applied. Large companies funded its production, and
richer oil fields were discovered, particularly in the Americas. This new
assemblage of machines, capital and oil fields started a new energy
frontier that quickly pervaded Western Europe and North America.
New products replaced old ones. For example, steel began to replace
Innovations remade the iron. It was used for construction products, railroads, and buildings.
planet
Steel was utilised for construction projects, industrial machines,
railroads, ships and many other items. As steel production was
cheaper transportation spread further.
The invention of the electric lightbulb allowed the expansion
of electricity and empowered humans and their lives so did the
invention of numerous antibiotics like penicillin, which help humans
fight infections. Humans discovered antibacterial plants long ago,
but antibacterial chemicals allowed for the production of antibiotics
even if the plants were not available. Antibacterial chemicals were
distributed widely after World War II and often resulted in better
treatment.
Two innovations increased connections and transformed how humans
share information and culture. First, the radio became a social bonding
tool as shared knowledge produced a common culture. The radio was
a source of information about changes and facts, an education tool,
and it quickly offered information through emergency broadcasts.
From the 1920s onwards, the radio became a companion in shops,
public places and homes. It provided an entirely new way for humans
to communicate and interact. It was an innovation that initially had
limited use as few could afford one. The prominent role of individual
communication was the telephone. The first regular telephone
line was constructed in the 1870s between Boston and Somerville,
Massachusetts in the United States. It took another 20 years to
connect London and Paris. The radio and the telephone connected
humans in different parts of the world without moving. The invention
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
31
of the aeroplane sped up transfers and increased death tolls during

wars. A considerable number of aeroplanes were used during World
War I. At the same time, cars reduced transfer times in crowded cities
and started polluting our planet.
Many elements, like deforestation and technological innovations, have

El Niño in late nineteenth reshaped our planet and climate since the late nineteenth century.
century
The climate changed due to a climatic phenomenon known as El
Niño. Its causes are still being studied, but it consists of winds and sea
surface temperature variations that affect the climate in the tropics
and subtropics. Climate oscillations cause extreme weather in many
regions of the world, particularly those bordering the Pacific Ocean,
provoking floods and droughts.
In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, droughts resulting
from El Niño afflicted vast areas of Asia, parts of northern and
western Africa, and northeast Brazil. El Niño also caused flooding in
Argentina and excessive rainfall in the wheat belt of North America.
This climate change affected Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North
America, aggravated by a globalizing economy that benefited from
industrialisation in Europe and North America and by aggressive
colonialism in Asia and Africa. Both climate change and European-
dominated economic politics resulted in famine and death for
millions of humans.
In Asia, governments were not willing or were unable to act to alleviate
disasters. The British colonial rulers of India prioritized colonial
revenues and did little to prevent famine and death due to starvation
or disease. Indians died while wheat was transferred for consumption
elsewhere. The colonial authorities sized down famine relief in the
belief that promoted idleness. In China, resources were transferred to
the coast areas, where foreign pressure was the greatest. At the same
time, China failed to move grain to the remote inland province of
Shanxi, where drought and famine were very severe. Likewise, drought
contributed to famines in Angola, Egypt, Algeria, Korea, Vietnam,
Ethiopia, Sudan, and Brazil. This further weakened those societies
and their governments, opening them up for new waves of imperialist
expansion. Climate change contributed to a growing gap between
countries and the impoverishment of vast swaths of the world.
In the last three decades of the nineteenth century, connections

The geography between different regions improved and were boosted. Planet
of industrialisation
Earth increasingly became a place where resources were extracted
with more sophisticated and efficient machines. Resources were
32
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Italy’s internal division
extracted and produced, moved to factories using railways, and then

transformed into manufactured goods. This exchange of commodities
and their production occurred across different regions and nations.
This exchange, fostered and improved by industrial capitalism, created
inequality between these regions.
Some countries experienced booming productivity. Industrial output
came from select regions, not entire countries, located in Western
Europe and North America. These included parts of New England in
the United States, Manchester and other parts of northern England,
the Rhineland in Germany, and northwestern regions of Italy.
Industrialising and increasingly rich countries continued to have less-
industrialised or non-industrialised regions.
By 1900, 80% of world industrial output came from Europe and the
United States. Japan contributed another 10%, China 7% and India
2% - totalling 99% of all industrial production. Industrialisation
changed relationships between world regions and favoured Western
Europe, the United States and Japan. The speedy modernisation of
military strength magnified differences between the West - Western
Europe and the United States - and other regions even more. These
regions mainly produced food (grains and meat) and supplied new
raw materials like palm oil and rubber. China and India continued
to decline relative to Western Europe and North America. Japan
industrialised very quickly: this was a sign that industrial production
was not the monopoly of Western Europe and its former colonies,
Protectionism is an but also a pattern for Asian vitality.
economic policy aimed Let’s look at some cases that will help us better understand how
at protecting domestic industrialisation remoulded relationships between nations and the
industries against foreign balance of power. The unification of Italy is a pivotal example of how
competition. This protection industrialisation was used to create relations of dependence. The
occurred through the
cases of Japan and Germany show how centralised states enacted the
imposition of tariffs on
imported goods. It makes
industrialisation process. We will also look at some regions in Africa,
foreign goods more Asia and Latin America to understand how industrial capitalism
expensive than national relegated these regions to a specific economic role while connecting
goods. the world.
Nation states are not homogeneous political formations. Italy is a good

Italy’s internal division example for explaining different scales of industrialisation and the
way that industrialisation was promoted. Before the creation of Italy,
many independent states coexisted on the peninsula. The Kingdom of
the Two Sicilies was one of the richest, with a robust and profitable
process of ongoing industrialisation. The military unification of the
country was coupled with economic protectionism in the north and
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
33
the consequent dismantling of factories in the south. This process

led to the deep impoverishment of southern regions and the massive
migration of workers to the Americas. Before the unification, migrants
from the Italian peninsula mainly moved from the north. The Italian
case shows how the states directed the process of industrialisation,
changing the balance of power and relations between internal regions
in the same nation state. The southern regions were deindustrialised
and served as labour exporting regions for the new industries in the
north.
A strong, centralised state progressively dismantled the Japanese

Industrialisation in Japan economic system in the 1870s. It took up the task of industrialising the
country since private capital had failed to achieve this. Property rights
confirmed the ownership of land by peasants, and land tax was owed
to the national government. This provided the state with most of its
income in the 1870s. The state created a national market by abolishing
the tariffs, and by building a railway network and telegraph systems.
The leading industries were tea, silk, and cotton. The production of
silk and cotton were mechanised and became more standardised
in order to sell these products on the world market. Japanese silk
competed with Chinese and French silk. The exportation of silk was
needed to acquire foreign exchange reserves. With this money, Japan
could purchase industrial raw materials - coal and iron ore - for its
industries.
To compete in world textile markets, workers’ wages were kept very
low in Japan. Factories employed large numbers of women, including
young ones, and prohibited the formation of labour unions. Wages
remained especially very low in agriculture and small-scale industry.
Workers enabled Japan’s industrialisation. Firms re-engineered
Western technology to suit Japanese conditions and needs, although
in some economic sectors the use hand technology or simple
machines continued. There was a symbiosis between these sectors:
large production processes that could be performed less expensively
by handicraft methods, were subcontracted to a small firm. Industrial
growth accelerated between 1905 and 1940, when metallurgical,
engineering, and chemical industries were established. By the 1920s,
the banking system started to finance industrial development.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, the national market

State power industrialised
was enlarged, and the Zollverein or German Customs Union was
Germany
established. It managed internal tariffs set up an external tariff system
34
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Palm oil in Africa
to keep out British manufactured goods. The economic union formed

the basis of Germany, which was created in 1871. The construction
of railways reinforced the integration of markets. Investment banks,
which played no role in British industrialisation, became prominent on
the continent. All the big German banks, like Commerzbank, Dresdner
Bank and Deutsche Bank were founded by 1872. They gathered capital
from many depositors, and they financed the expansion of German
industry in the decades before the First World War. They forged
lasting relationships with industrial clients, providing them with long-
term loans at low interest rates. Often these loans were secured with
mortgages on industrial property, and bank representatives served as
directors at the industrial firms.
The level of industrialisation in Germany in 1860 was only 15% of the
British level, but it increased to 85% within 50 years, on the eve of
World War I.
In the nineteenth century, the African continent was a major exporter

Palm oil in Africa of raw materials like palm oil, cocoa, and minerals. The global demand
for palm oil increased as a lubricant for machinery and railway
equipment; it was also used to make soap and candles. The commercial
possibilities were further enlarged when it was discovered that the
kernel of the palm fruit yielded an oil to produce margarine. The
same commercial networks that had previously been used for slaves,
now served the transportation of oil to the coast. Nigeria and more
broadly West Africa was the largest exporter. West Africans produced
palm oil and bought European goods such as cloth, cutlery, utensils,
cosmetics, ornaments, and meat. In the nineteenth century, palm oil
was mainly harvested by individual peasants.
Colonial economies became were fully integrated into the world
market through railway expansion. Transport costs in land and water
declined, and overland transport costs fell. The production and export
of commodities like palm oil and ground nuts shot up.
The production of palm oil expanded to larger areas of Africa, beyond
the consolidated regions of West Africa. Large oil palms plantations
were established in Sumatra and Malaysia in the early twentieth
century, and the plants grew better than in West Africa. After the
Second World War, Malaysian and Indonesian production became
dominant in the world market, forcing further down prices.
The African colonial production of palm oil no longer generated high
incomes, and the massive introduction of plantations resulted in
cleared forests, exhausted soils, and encouraged pests at breakneck
speeds. The advent of the petroleum industry in the late nineteenth
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
35
century resulted in better and cheaper lubricants than palm oil.
The invention of electricity dramatically changed the geography of

Latin America’s raw materials production worldwide. Cables and wires are made with copper, so
too are telephone wires and bullets. Copper is the basis of electrical
power. Latin America has many copper deposits, like those in Sonora,
Mexico, and they were the protagonist of massive strikes at the
beginning of the twentieth century.
Copper and other raw materials were at the basis of Latin American
exporting economies: coffee from Brazil and Colombia, copper and
nitrates from Chile, tin from Bolivia, meat and grains from Argentina,
and fruit and coffee from Central America. After the 1870s, efficient
and refrigerated steamships made it profitable to export wheat and
meat from Argentina and Uruguay. Steamships also enabled the
exportation of copper from the Pacific coast of the continent. The
boom in exports boomed attracted settlers and capital from Europe.
By 1900, Latin America was one of the wealthiest regions in the world,
and Mexico and Argentina became upcoming industrial powers.
Since the economies of most nations in the region were based on
exporting raw materials, the sudden and severe contraction of demand
from the United States and Europe influenced and constrained the
Latin American economy.
For example, the demand for copper, tin, and oil bolstered the export
economies of Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Mexico during wartime.
Demand fell as soon as the war was over. A relationship of dependence
kept Latin American countries in a subaltern position; they continued
to export primary products and import manufactures.
During the nineteenth century, British imperialism led to the

Asian deindustrialisation deindustrialisation of most of Asia and to economic changes dictated
by British intervention. These changes were evident in the last decades
of the nineteenth century.
Chinese peasants began cultivating poppies and manufacturing opium
by the 1870s. In many places this replaced the voluntary growing of
cotton. The cultivation of poppies expanded at the expense of other
crops. This gave peasant farmers more cash income but increased the
risk of failing food supplies. At the same time, the decline of the Qing
Dynasty led to the concentration of land in few hands, and increased
inequality between peasants and elites.
Several large irrigation projects were carried out in India to protect
against famines after the 1880s. Agriculture was commercialised, but
there was hardly any institutional arrangement for agricultural credit.
36
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The consolidation of economic dependency
VALUE OF EXPORTED GOODS AS SHARE OF GDP, 1884

(adapted from Our World in Data website)
no data 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Needy peasants had to turn to moneylenders, who exploited them

by charging exorbitant interest rates on loans. The terrifying shortage
of basic foodstuffs caused by agricultural stagnation led to a series of
famines at the end of the nineteenth century. Between 1881 and 1941
the population of British India rose with 50% to almost 400 million,
while the per capita availability of food grains declined to a mere
150 kilograms a year. China and India continued to decline. Former
industrial and commercial sites in Asia were forced to sacrifice their
export industries. Asia ended up producing primary commodities.
From the 1870s to the 1940s, the relationship between means of

The consolidation
production and humans changed radically as new technologies and
of economic dependency
innovations reduced production times and methods. Some world
regions were forced to specialise in specific sectors (Latin America
produced raw materials). Some regions were deindustrialised in
order to be integrated into a subaltern position in a new nation (the
southern regions of Italy). Other regions were deindustrialised due to
British imperialist intervention (Asia). Some states specialised in raw
materials that were exported to industrialised countries, like Western
Europe and the United States, which exported manufactures and had
the capital to innovate technology.
The Second World War consolidated these relationships and
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
37
intensified some frontiers.
Some commodities, like steel to make guns, industrialised the

The frontier of nitrate:
machinery of death, and wars became more violent with higher death
war and agriculture
tolls and shorter times for defeating the “enemy”. Asians, Africans,
and the indigenous populations of the Americas lost their lives and
experienced the destructive effects of the industrialisation of war.
Steam, guns and electrical power were produced with machines, in
less time than before, allowing humans to escape some limitations.
But in the second phase of industrialisation, the imperialist powers
could not manufacture nitrates, an important mineral in agriculture
and the element that makes gunpowder explode. This crucial element
depended upon a prolonged natural process. Nitrates consist of
nitrogen, and although European scientists had figured that out,
they had difficulty discovering how to take nitrogen from the air and
“fix” it as a solid, usable substance. The gunpowder that they used to
dominate the rest of the world was based on nature.
Nitrates were also fundamental in agriculture; they are an important
element for fertilisers. Saltpetre has nitrates and, until the early
twentieth century, this inorganic fertiliser was mainly mined in South
America. Guano was an important source of ammonia until the early
twentieth century and was mined prodigiously. Then it was replaced
by Peruvian saltpetre from the Atacama Desert. This “white gold”
was vital for the production of gunpowder and soil fertility, and the
British controlled its trade.
In Europe, tensions related to managing food supply inputs helped
to precipitate the First World War. In fact, the Allies oversaw the
blockade of Chilean saltpetre mines in order to cripple German and
Austro-Hungarian food supplies.
The war spurred the commercial development of technologies to
produce nitrate. Chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch followed the
path of Alfred Nobel, who had made his fortune in explosives, to
commercialise a new reaction: hydrogen reacted with atmospheric
nitrogen and produced an ammonia that is the most effective fertiliser
and explosive for gunpowder. Their actions transformed planet
Earth in the 1940s. Their knowledge decoupled the manufacture of
gunpowder from the extraction of resources from specific sites and
enabled the production of weapons using nothing but energy and
air. More than 100 million deaths in armed conflict can be linked
to the widespread availability of ammonia produced by the Haber-
Bosch process. At the same time, the use of this fertiliser enabled the
growth and harvesting of vast quantities of cereal that were used as
38
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The frontier of oil
animal feed after the end of the Second World War. Two-thirds of the
resulting cereal boom in the United States and Europe were employed
for livestock. Agrochemical fertilisers changed agriculture radically.
In transmuting air and fossil fuel into fertiliser, the Haber-Bosch
process reduced the costs of food and work. Cheap inorganic
fertilisers resulted in higher yields for landowning farmers, who sent
masses of food to cities. But fewer workers were needed, so farmers
lowered wages and peasants were displaced and migrated to cities.
The frontier of nitrate changed the relationship between humans and
nature, and it moved the frontier of labour from the field to the city.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, a peculiar frontier expanded

The frontier of oil quickly, the petroleum frontier. Petroleum is the basic product for
transportation fuels, fuel oils for heating and electricity generation,
asphalt and road oil, and a broad range of chemicals, plastics, and
synthetic materials. Plastic and synthetic materials were invented in
the early twentieth century but became widely used in the 1960s.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Russia was a prominent
producer. After a brief oil-shortage scare following the First World
War, oil reserves outstripped demand in the United States as new fields
were open up in California and Oklahoma. Discovery of the East Texas
Oil Field in 1930, meant that overproduction rather than scarcity was
the main issue facing the United States oil industry. Between 1928 and
1934, United States companies acquired oil concessions in the Dutch
East Indies, present-day Venezuela, Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and
Kuwait. By the end of the 1930s, Venezuela had become the world’s
third-largest oil producer behind the United States and the Soviet
Union, as well as the leading exporter.
United States and British companies lost control of Mexican oil in 1938
when most of the foreign companies in Mexico were nationalised.
The government set up a national oil company to run the industry.
A multinational corporation At the same time, it was clear that multinational corporations were
is a business enterprise considered harmful to the economic development of the country.
that has offices, production Oil played an important role in the Second World War. Key weapons
facilities and other assets
systems were oil-powered: warships, submarines, aeroplanes, tanks,
operating in several
and a large portion of sea and land transport. Oil continued to play an
countries, but is managed
from one home country. important role in the manufacture of munitions and the development
of petroleum-based synthetic rubber. The United States entered the
war with a surplus production of oil. Germany and Japan were unable
to gain secure access to oil and this was an important factor in their
defeat.
The discovery of oil in some regions in the United States - such as
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
39
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Ationsrldfaw
GLOBAL FOSSIL FUEL CONSUMPTION 1800-2016,

MEASURED IN TERAWATT HOURS (TWH)
120,000 TWh
NATURAL
100,000 TWh GAS
80,000 TWh
60,000 TWh CRUDE

OIL
40,000 TWh
20,000 TWh
COAL
0 TWh
1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2016
Pennsylvania, Texas and California – meant that the U.S. quickly

took the lead and strengthened its position as the world’s leading oil
producer. By 1945, two of every three barrels of oil were produced in
the United States. This leadership role lasted for three decades. Global
oil production grew prodigiously after World War II, outstripping the
era’s extraordinary economic growth by almost 60%. Only in the 1970s
did the Soviet Union and then Saudi Arabia displace the United States
as the world’s leading producers.
The industrialisation of agriculture started in the United States in the

The frontier of food late nineteenth century and then conquered Europe. Until the 1940s,
increases in global wheat production were based on the expansion
of areas planted with wheat. Such expansion came to an abrupt halt
after World War II. The only way to achieve increases in production
was to raise yields per hectare. To accomplish this goal, the United
States integrated agricultural production into a fossil fuel-based
energy system: new, high-yielding crop varieties were combined with
energy-intensive technologies.
These energy-intensive technologies included: mechanisation and
the substitution of human and animal work with machinery that used
internal combustion or electrical engines, water pumps, the use of
electricity to heat stables or dry crops, and the use of agrochemical
fertilisers. All these technologies increased the output of food and
provided more meat and products like alcoholic beverages, fruits and
vegetables. But these achievements had high ecological costs and
40
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The frontier of food
drove global environmental change, first in Europe and the United

States and, since the 1960s, also in certain parts of Latin America, Asia,
and Africa.
The United States, which became the centre of the world economy
after the Second World War, continued to dominate the agricultural
market. The shift was supported by the nation state, which gained
significance as a regulatory institution. Food exports and food aid were
used as an economic weapon against some countries to enhance U.S.
imperialist power and to fight rival ideologies like communism during
the Cold War. The central regulation by nation states was the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that came into effect in 1947.
This regulation granted member states measures to protect their
agricultural sectors. The GATT also privileged U.S. farm programmes
that exported subsidised food surpluses to Europe or other countries
in the poorest regions of the world. This food was shipped as food
aid under the “Food for Peace Program”. Actually, this programme
was designed to secure loyalty to markets dominated by the United
States and to contain the influence of rival powers. Food became part
of a global strategy to expand the United States’ influence and power
over territories without conquering them militarily.
After the Second World War, a fundamental shift occurred in
agriculture. The production of food was increasingly linked to
chemicals and technologies: agro-technological processes became
of cardinal importance. More capital was needed to accomplish this
process. Small farmers began to be displaced, as they could not afford
such expensive improvements. Large estates and growers benefited
from these displacements because more land became available, and
there were fewer competitors on the market.
The “Green Revolution” started in the 1950s at the global level,
and its climax was in the 1970s. The term green is misleading. The
“Green Revolution” used agriculture, new crop varieties, fertilisers,
pesticides, irrigation, landholding mechanisms, seed technology,
marketing approaches, and state power to maintain cheap labour and
raw materials. Fertilisers were produced chemically, and pesticides
are chemicals.
The Green Revolution required national governments to subsidise
farmers, through agricultural marketing boards, to help them grow
more of those crops. Peasants’ political dissent and demands for
comprehensive agrarian reforms in favour of small peasantries were
suppressed. The Green Revolution was accompanied by a package of
reforms designed to prevent peasant and landless worker’s movements.
The Green Revolution was often an authoritarian programme in its
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
41
implementation.
During the Second World War, the invention of nuclear energy

Innovations since
allowed humans to produce energy from nuclear reactions in power
the Second World War
plants. Nuclear power is a mineral-based energy source based on the
extraction and processing of uranium.
It was also used to create weapons. The United States could potentially
destroy all humans and erase humanity from planet Earth with these
bombs. When the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on the
cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945, the war ended, but power
and control over humanity now relied on warfare technology.
After the Second World War, another major step was taken: the so-
called “Western consumption revolution”. Some inventions became
popular, and consumption increased enormously. The increased
wealth of some countries - Western Europe, the United States, Japan
and Australia - relied on the production of goods that became part
of daily life. The radio and the car, and later the television, were the
most desired objects that promoted a strong and untarnished sense of
Can desires be experienced
as needs? Reflect on what you
belonging to the nation. Households were industrialised in the second
think you need. half of the twentieth century thanks to the spread of electricity,
Are those objects really vital? radios, cars, televisions, and machines that reduced the time spent
Or are they simply desires that on domestic work, like the washing machine and dishwasher. For
everyone experiences in your your grandmother, these two inventions were probably the greatest
social environment? in human history. If you can’t imagine that, try washing five or six
Imagine that you live in a
blankets outdoors in a tub in the middle of winter.
different place and society:
would you have the same
The number of inventions, their impact on human life and the
desires? planet, and their rapid dissemination to various regions and amongst
different social classes had a huge impact. The subsequent waves of
technological innovation were faster and became apparent in the
form of increasing environmental problems.
The term soviet literally means council, assembly. It refers to the

The Soviet model
of production first workers’ council formed during the Russian Revolution of 1905,
which was followed by the October Revolution led by V.I. Lenin in
1917, establishing the Soviet as a council of workmen’s deputies to
govern the country. “All power to the Soviets” was the main motto
that was translated into an economic policy for the country in the
following years. For the first time, a state refused capitalism as its
mode of production and started a process of radical transformation
of its economic structure based on the centrality of the proletariat,
which was the class of wage workers in industries.
Agriculture contributed to the economic development of the Soviet
42
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The Chinese Maoist economy
Union through collective agricultural organisations in which member-

owners engaged in joint farming activities. Private farmland was
expropriated and assigned to a group of peasants: this process was
called collectivisation. The collective farms included cooperatives
managed by peasants, kolkhozes, or state-run organisations, the
sovkhoz. The goal of collective farms was the maximisation of
agricultural output by increasing the output per peasant, distributing
surpluses, and feeding the rapidly expanding labour force. Some crops
like cotton and sugar beets expanded to replace their importation and
to make the country independent from foreign goods. The collective
production managed by the state - the socialist model - was opposed
to the capitalist model. The collective farm became the first symbol
of the Soviet model of production that took steps to cut itself off
from the capitalist world. The human cost of forced collectivisation
was high. Millions of farmers and peasants died because they lost their
livelihoods, were deported, were forced to deliver grains, or because
they were not able to produce enough, or died from hunger.
The Soviet Union industrialised starting in the 1920s, increasing the
output of coal, petroleum, cement, and pig iron. While the rest of the
world was plunged into the Great Depression (1929), the Soviet Union
was experiencing rapid economic growth and a rapid increase in the
output of consumer goods. Free-market operations that allocated
supplies and determined prices were replaced with state planning:
state-run five-year plans managed to advance rapid industrialisation.
This growth had high human costs during Stalinism. By 1975, the
Soviet Union produced more than 100 million tons of pig iron and
had surpassed the United States.
After the Second World War, China witnessed a radical change with
The Chinese Maoist
the introduction of a state-socialist model with collective farms,
economy
state-controled industry, and central planning following the Soviet
model. The revolution led by Mao Zedong in the 1950s took its first
steps toward helping the large peasantry that was weakened by
famines and ineffective agricultural politics. As part of his efforts
to free China from famine, Mao declared war on the animals that
ate Chinese grain in 1958. Humans were required to kill four major
scourges: fleas, flies, rats, and sparrows. Without sparrows feeding
on them, the invertebrate population grew rapidly. Insects ate grain
unchecked, contributing to the 1959-61 Great Chinese Famine. In the
late 1950s and early 1960s, China suffered a prolonged and terrible
famine, with a human toll of 20 to 30 million people. This is higher
than any other famine in modern times and, in all likelihood, higher
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
43
than any previous famine in human history. The famine was largely
man-made due to a nation-wide collapse of agriculture, and the lack
of an efficient famine relief system.
The Maoist model stimulated heavy machinery industry and the
growth of an urban, industrial society. Investments multiplied, and
industrial output proliferated, together with steel production.
Policies combined capital-intensive, advanced technology with
labour-intensive manufacturing.
The spread of industrialisation and the displacements of peasants

Urbanisation and megacities to cities in a growing number of countries changed the landscape
of planet Earth. Cities expanded, both in spatial dimension and
population density. Before 1850, less than one in ten humans lived
in cities. In 1900 this was one in six, and in 1950 it was one in three.
Now less than half of the world’s population lives outside cities. Only
Beijing and London had more than one million inhabitants in 1800. One
century later, 17 cities had more than one million inhabitants, almost
all of them in Europe and the United States. By 1950 this number had
risen to 86, and 47 of them were outside Europe and North America.
New York and Tokyo were the only megacities - cities with more than
10 million inhabitants.
Railways, trains, paved streets, higher buildings and skyscrapers, and
vast expanses of houses, from luxury buildings to barracks, dotted
more and more areas of our planet. Cities were a profitable field as
they required labour and investments.
All the activities linked to cities’ development became sources of
accumulation and profit. In every region where industrial capitalism
was at play, different policy initiatives were mobilised by national,
state, and provincial governments to create capital investment and
urban development across vast zones. In these territories, where cities
flourished, governments and entrepreneurs transmitted raw materials,
energy, commodities, labour, and capital. Large infrastructures were
built during this period, and cities became an important axis of
economic activity and capitalist expansion.
Cities radically transformed the environment and directly contributed
to far-reaching transformations of the atmosphere, biotic habitats,
and land surfaces that had long-term implications for life forms on
our planet.
Industrial capitalism, urbanisation and agro-technologies drastically

Poisoning and obliterating
changed the relationship between humans and nature. Humans have
nature
constantly modified nature since the first hominids on our planet,
44
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Urban population in 1900
URBAN POPULATION IN 1900
6,480,000
inhabitants
1,439,000 1,497,000
inhabitants inhabitants
500,000 481,000
inhabitants inhabitants
MEXICO ST.
LONDON TOKYO SYDNEY
CITY PETERSBURG
NEW YORK CHICAGO PARIS BERLIN DELHI
400,000
inhabitants
4,242,000 1,717,000 3,330,000 2,707,000

inhabitants inhabitants inhabitants inhabitants
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
45
and humans have been modified by their relationship with the non-
human world. From 1870 to 1970, the appropriation and exploitation
of nature by a small portion of humanity had increased and altered
the environment more than ever before.
Ever since industrial capitalism was forged and disseminated, forests
have been shrinking worldwide. In Russia, for example, 67,000 square
kilometres of forests were cleared between the end of the seventeenth
century and the beginning of the twentieth century. During the
colonisation of North America, European settlers cut approximately
460,000 square kilometres of forests by 1850, and nearly 780 million
square kilometres by 1910.
The period between 1870 and 1970 witnessed a new relationship
between humans and nature as the process of industrialisation spread
and was imposed on many other regions. Frontiers also became more
intense and pervasive. Planet Earth was seen as a source of materials
to be transformed through industries to strengthen the capitalist
empire.
46
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Humans change planet Earth
1/2 HUMANS CHANGE PLANET EARTH

Read the text below, which has We are living in an era in which the environment is strongly conditioned by
1 been extracted from A History the effects of human action on several scales.
of the World in Seven Cheap
Scientists and scholars have given different names to this era: most of
Things, and observe the graph,
then complete the activities. them call it “Anthropocene” (which means “the age of man”), others use
the name “Capitalocene” (which means “the age of capitalism”). When
A The authors of the text say that: this era started is questionable. We can put the very beginning back in the
capitalism involves a predatory 15th century, when the capitalistic mode of production was born and began
use of planet Earth reshaping the planet. The Industrial Revolution in the 18th century gave
capitalism has accelerated way to industrial capitalism, which is still ongoing. From that point on,
a process that was already the burning of fossil sources of energy, such as coal, oil and natural gas,
destroying planet Earth resulted in an exponential increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in
if humans make capitalism less the atmosphere. That concentration also grew due to the expanding human
greedy, all living beings will population and the capitalistic model, which makes humans put nature at
survive in harmony their service as cheaply as possible. Increased levels of carbon dioxide in the
since the 1800s, humans have atmosphere is one of the major factors of climate change and that has bad
decided not to adopt a capitalist effects on the environment.
economy
B The graph symbolically “Hunting large mammals to extinction is one thing, but the speed and scale
represents the trends of the of destruction today can’t be extrapolated from the activities of our knuckle-
Earth system from 1750 (that dragging forebears. Today’s human activity isn’t exterminating mammoths
is, from the beginning of the through centuries of overhunting. Some humans are currently killing
industrialisation process) to the everything, from megafauna to microbiota, at speeds one hundred times
present. Tick the sentences that
higher than the background rate. We argue that what changed is capitalism,
seem correct to you.
that modern history has, since the 1400s, unfolded in what is better termed
The graph represents a the Capitalocene. Using this name means taking capitalism seriously,
situation:
understanding it not just as an economic system but as a way of organizing
of economic development the relations between humans and the rest of nature.
of environmental crisis [We need to find] a way to think about the complex relationships between
of economic development, but humans and the web of life that helps make sense of the world we’re in and
also of environmental crisis suggests what it might become.”
of an environmental crisis
Source: R. Patel and J.W. Moore, A History of the World in Seven Cheap
caused by a certain type of
economic development Things, 2018.
C The trends represented in the

12
graph are: TERRESTRIAL BIOSPHERE
DEGRADATION
natural, due to human life DOMESTICATED
on Earth and environmental 10 LAND
TROPICAL FOREST
evolution LOSS
COSTAL
determined by human activity 8 NITROGEN
SHRIMP
related to capitalist economic AQUACULTURE
MARINE FISH
development 6 CAPTURE
OCEAN
a predictable consequence ACIDIFICATION
TEMPERATURE
of any form of economic 4 ANOMALY
development OZONE
D Write down at least five METHANE

NITROUS
consequences that you can OXIDE
image will follow the situation CARBON
DIOXIDE
represented by the graph. 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2010
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
47
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Chapter 3.1 A world of nations
2/2 HUMANS CHANGE PLANET EARTH

Can you try to reverse the current trend?
2
Compare the two graphs below: the first one represents an increase in
CO2 levels in the atmosphere and the threshold we cannot cross if we
want to survive; the second one shows ways the situation could change if
governments were to take measures to contain the release of CO2 into the
atmosphere. What could you do to reverse the current trend of human activity
destroying the planet? Write your proposal in a short text.
Source: NOAA Earth System

Research Laboratory.
414.7 parts per million: the level of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere in
May 2019
450 parts per million: this is considered the threshold above which climate
effects are uncontrollable.
Source:
Climateactiontracker.org.
Many researchers are currently devising new sustainable economic models,

3
such as the “doughnut economics” proposed by Kate Raworth. Search the
internet for this or other interesting ideas on how to change our economic
system and save the planet. Choose one model, collect information and
create a digital presentation that you will present to your classmates.
48
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Traditional and intensive agriculture:
TO GLOBAL CAPITALISM effects on biodiversity
1/2 TRADITIONAL AND INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE:

EFFECTS ON BIODIVERSITY
Read the following text about “The concept of agricultural biodiversity (or agro-biodiversity) may seem
1
the traditional and family contradictory since agriculture, by its very nature, may be considered
agricultural practices of some responsible for biodiversity depletion. This contradiction vanishes when
Sub-Saharan groups. Then considering smallholder farmers who manage landscapes that include a
answer the questions. range of plant and animal species, adopting various practices and skills.
Traditional agriculture fulfills a relevant role in conserving biodiversity.
Traditional mixed farming systems, in contrast to modern monoculture
farming, are characterized by high agricultural diversity. Agricultural
biodiversity is thus defined as the variety and variability of plants, animals
and micro-organisms at genetic and ecosystem level, also encompassing
indigenous knowledge, skills and management.
Many small farmers continue to practice agrodiversity. Agrodiversity
has considerable potential for conservation of biodiversity, protection of
important land-use systems and prevention of land degradation as well as
enhancement of food security and rural livelihood.”
Source: S. Bocchi, S. Costa, G.M. Crovetto, Family farming in Africa,
University of Milan, 2013 (adapted).
A What is biodiversity?
Atypical forms of life on Earth The variety of life on Earth
Big animals that became extinct Some species of plants and grasses
B What is an ecosystem?
Search for the meaning in a dictionary or online dictionary and copy the
definition here (if necessary, rephrase or shorten it).
C What is agricultural biodiversity, or agro-biodiversity? Underline the answer

in the text and draw a circle around three keywords.
D Complete the following description of “ecosystem services” taken and
adapted from the online Encyclopaedia Britannica. Use the words listed on
the left.
riparian buffers Ecosystem services: processes of natural systems that directly or indirectly
benefit _____________ or enhance social welfare. Ecosystem services can
food production
benefit people in many ways, either directly or as inputs into the production
humans of other goods and services. For example, the ______________ of crops
provided by bees contributes to ____________ and is thus considered an
pollination
ecosystem service. Another example is the _____________ of flooding in
attenuation residential areas provided by ____________ and wetlands.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
49
2/2 TRADITIONAL AND INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE:

EFFECTS ON BIODIVERSITY
Now look at the drawings
2
and the tables next to each
drawing.
A Write a caption under the three
drawings by copying the one
you think is correct.
Transition from polyculture to
monoculture farming
Modern monoculture farming
Traditional mixed farming

systems
B What do the three tables on the

right represent?
C What conclusions can you

draw? Debate the topic with
your classmates.
50
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS A day without electric power
1/2 A DAY WITHOUT ELECTRIC POWER

Many of the things you do during the day require electricity. What if you don’t
have any? How could you do the things you usually do thanks to electricity?
The following table lists some activities that many teenagers do.
We have added some empty lines for you to complete with other activities
that you usually do.
Complete the table and discuss the alternatives for electricity with your
classmates.
DOES IT REQUIRE HOW COULD YOU DO THE

ELECTRICITY? SAME ACTIVITY WITHOUT
TIME ACTIVITY ELECTRICITY?
(USE ANOTHER SOURCE
YES NO
OF ENERGY)
Have breakfast: drink some hot milk or

7.00 eat hot toast
Have breakfast: drink a cold beverage (like

7.00 juice) or eat fruits or biscuits
7.30 Take a hot shower before going to school
8.00 Go to school by tram / by bus / by car
8.00 Go to school by bicycle / on foot
Follow a lesson by listening to the teacher,

9.00 discussing, reading the blackboard
Follow a lesson with a technological

9.00
instrument (projector, PC, etc.)
Stay cool / warm at school with air

10.00
conditioning / heating turned on
Talk to your classmates face to face during

11.00
your break
Use a mobile phone to talk to classmates /

11.00
play games during your break
13.00 Return home by tram / by bus
13.00 Return home by bicycle / on foot
Watch your favourite film or cartoon on TV

14.00
before doing your homework
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
51
2/2 A DAY WITHOUT ELECTRIC POWER
DOES IT REQUIRE HOW COULD YOU DO THE

ELECTRICITY? SAME ACTIVITY WITHOUT
TIME ACTIVITY ELECTRICITY?
(USE ANOTHER SOURCE
YES NO
OF ENERGY)
Do your homework with the lights on /

15.00
using a computer
17.00 Have a cup of hot tea or hot coffee
18.00 Go to the gym by tram / by bus
18.00 Go to the gym by bicycle / on foot
20.00 Return home by tram / by bus
20.00 Return home by bicycle / on foot
Have dinner in a room with the heating or

21.00
air conditioning turned on
Read a book with the lights on / read an

23.00
e-book
24.00 Charge your mobile phone
52
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS From coal to petroleum
FROM COAL TO PETROLEUM

The first text describes changes in the landscape around Manchester,
England that were caused by the textile industry between the 17th and 18th
centuries. The second text describes changes in the landscape in Rouseville,
Pennsylvania due to the development of the petroleum industry about 100
years later.
Read the two texts and make a “Industrial capitalism, which emerged in the seventeenth century,
list of the main changes in the dramatically changed the urban-rural relationship. Early industrialisation,
which was associated with mining and the manufacture of textiles, actually
landscape of the countryside in
began in the countryside, although such early stages depended on city-based
these two situations. communication and co-ordination. The first mills in the Manchester area
Do you think that humans have appeared in the countryside, which also experienced the construction of
learned to relate to nature in a large factories and smoke chimneys as new components in the landscape in
the early stages of industrialisation. Later, towards the end of the eighteenth
more respectful manner over century, the industrial city developed polluting factories, densely populated
time? working-class neighbourhoods, open sewer systems and miserable
Discuss this with your conditions in general. People [from the country] moved into the city in
great numbers, pushed by increasing rural population combined with land
classmates.
reforms, which resulted in many peasants losing their land. These peasants
were attracted by new job opportunities in urban industry throughout
Europe.”
Source: T. Pinto-Correia, J. Primdahl, B. Pedroli, G. Bas M. Pedroli, European

Landscapes in Transition, Cambridge Studies in Landscape Ecology, 2018.
Changes in the countryside and

in landscape:
“Little do I remember of the increased comforts of life or moving into the

new home on the hillside above the town by this time known as Rouseville.
But the change in the outlook on the world about me, I do remember. We had
lived on the edge of an active oil farm and oil town. No industry of man in
its early days has ever been more destructive of beauty, order and decency
than the production of petroleum. All about us rose derricks, squatted
enginehouse and tanks; the earth out them was streaked and damp with
the dumpings of the pumps, which brought up regularly the sand and clay
and rock through which the drill had made its way. If oil was found, if it well
flowed, every tree, every shrub, every bit of grass in the vicinity was coated
with black grease and left to die. Tar and oil stained everything. If the well
was dry a rickety derrick, piles of debris, oily holes were left, for nobody ever
cleaned up in those days.”
Source: B. Black, Petrolia: The Landscape of America’s First Oil Boom, John
Hopkins University press, 2000.
Changes in the countryside and

in landscape:
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
53
HUMANS
ON THE MOVE
From 1870 to 1970 CE, planet Earth witnessed an incredible population

Population growth growth. The population was around 1.4 billion in 1870, 2 billion in
1918, 3 billion in 1960, and 4 billion in 1973. This growth was a result
of the industrialisation process after 1800, the improvement of
living conditions in large areas of the world, and most importantly,
a ‘sanitary revolution’ that occurred after several severe cholera
epidemics. Humans accumulated knowledge and understood that
cholera and other diseases were transmitted in dirty water or food.
The provision of safe drinking water, the sanitary disposal of human
and animal waste, and hygienic food handling resulted in a decline of
diarrheal diseases, first of all among infants and young children. Public
responses and actions in Western Europe and North America started
a sanitary revolution.
During this period, accelerated population growth was combined with
a massive loss of life. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century,
El Niño caused the death of an estimated 30 to 50 million humans
who died in famines that spread across Asia, and parts of Africa and
Latin America. In India, 12 to 20 million humans died, and in China 20
to 30 million. The Spanish flu caused 20 to 40 million casualties in
1918–1919: the flu was a worldwide pandemic, but most of the victims
died in Russia and India. The Belgian Congo lost an estimated two to
four million inhabitants, mainly due to starvation while being forced
to harvest rubber.
The twentieth century was the most violent century without any
precedent in human history: nearly 200 million humans were killed in
wars, revolutions, genocides, and other mass deaths caused by humans.
The list was headed by China where three to six million died in 1927,
five million in 1943, and 15 to 30 million between 1958 and 1962. Russia
lost nine million lives between 1921 and 1922, and Ukraine lost two to
eight million lives between 1932 and 1934. Present-day Bengal, which
was part of India in 1943, lost two to three million. World wars were
massive events that caused the death of tens of millions of humans
in many regions of the world. In the First World War (1914-1918), also
called the Great War, around 37 million died. The Second World War
(1939-1945) was the most extensive and deadliest war in all human
history: estimated deaths range from 55 to 85 million. Genocides, the
intentional destruction of a group of people due to their cultural,
racial, ethnic or religious identity, multiplied and caused tens of
millions of deaths. The Holocaust killed around six million Jews,
54
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS A global wave of migrations
reducing its European population by two-thirds, and the Armenian

genocide resulted in the death of between 1 and 1.8 million people.
Despite famines, diseases, wars, genocides and climate change,
the world population continued to accelerate. The expansion
and affordability of agricultural production played a key role and
significantly improved living conditions in some parts of the world.
Mortality, particularly infant mortality, decreased sharply as a
result of improved hygiene and better nutrition. Clean water and
safe food, personal hygiene and public education about hygienic
practices, organised solid waste disposal, water supplies and sewer
systems drastically diminished diseases and mortality declined as a
consequence.
By the end of the nineteenth century, enormous investments had been
made to reduce deaths, and medical insights enabled nations to limit
Life expectancy at birth refers mortality in a scientifically-substantiated manner. The government
to the average number of provided better social protection that increased life expectancy.
years a newborn is expected A substantial increase in life expectancy only occurred in the West
to live; it includes infant and in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Other parts of the
child mortality. Life expectancy
in each region of the world
world followed in the twentieth century. In India, the mortality rate
remained fairly stable for most decreased from 50 deaths per year per 1000 residents in 1900 to 27
of history until the onset of deaths per year per 1000 residents in the middle of the twentieth
the “sanitary revolution”. The century and 15 deaths per year per 1000 residents in 1970. In the long
data show that the rise in life
term, average life expectancy at birth increased to 50 years in the
expectancy began at different
times in different regions. western world at the beginning of the twentieth century. From the
Oceania started to see increases 1950s, a broad administering of vaccines for diseases like typhus,
in life expectancy around 1870, poliomyelitis and smallpox contributed to a reduced number of
while Africa didn’t start to see
humans suffering from diseases.
increases until around 1920.
The percentage of humans living in cities increased during the
Search the internet for a map of twentieth century at different rates. In England by 1850, about half
life expectancy in the world and
of the population lived in cities. In Germany, that point was reached
locate your country. Identify the
countries at the bottom of the
by 1900, in the United States by 1920, and in Japan by 1930. In the
scale and those at the top. Why 1950s and 1960s, the percentage of humans living in cities increased
is there such a difference, in dramatically all over the world, reshaping the relationship between
your opinion? rural and urban spaces. The latter began to be more crowded and
densely populated.
The years between 1850 and 1930 are characterised as the period
A global wave of migrations with the most intensive migratory flows so far. The size and speed of
these migratory movements were unprecedented and modified the
distribution of the world’s population. The resulting changes were
demographic, political, and cultural.
The leading causes of this growth in worldwide, long-distance mobility
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
55
EUROPEAN TRANSOCEANIC MIGRATION BETWEEN 1846 AND 1932

1846 1932
flood of emigration transoceanic migration
CANADA
5,2 million SWEDEN & NORWAY
2,1 million
UNITED STATES
GREAT BRITAIN POLAND & RUSSIA
& IRELAND
GERMANY 2,9 million
34,2 million 18 million
4,9 million
SPAIN AUSTRIA‐HUNGARY
CUBA & PORTUGAL
0,9 million ITALY 5,2 million
6,5 million
11,1 million
BRAZIL
4,4 million
AUSTRALIA &
NEW ZELAND
ARGENTINA
& URUGUAY
3,5 million
7,1 million
are the transportation and communication revolutions, the expansion

of colonial empires, capitalist transformations that displaced workers
and peasants, and the search for better opportunities and a better
life. As a result, capital and labour were mobilised on an unmatched
scale, and three massive global waves of migrations took place in this
period. From 55 to 58 million Europeans crossed the Atlantic Ocean
to settle in North and South America. From 46 to 51 million migrants
from China and Russia moved to Eastern Siberia, Manchuria’s mines,
and Japan. A similar number of Indians and Southern Chinese found
work in Southeast Asia in Burmese rubber plantations, Indonesia,
and Malaysia. These three waves created three regional systems of
migration. The regions receiving migrants - North America, Northern
Asia and Southeast Asia - needed a labour force to sustain agricultural
expansion and industrialisation. Between 1850 and 1930, migration
was largely unlimited when compared to today, but some regulations
were introduced to select the flow of migrants by origin and skills.
For example, in the United States, the “Chinese Exclusion Act” of 1882
prohibited Chinese labour migration. Consequently, Chinese migrants
56
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The first global crisis
moved largely to Mexico; they also wanted to avoid the hostility

and racism that Chinese migrants experienced in the United States.
Humans, more than any other time in human history, moved away
from their place of origin.
The displacement of peasants expelled humans from their lands and

Labour migrations:
favoured long-distance migration. The construction of railways and
the Chinese “coolies”
factories, and the building sectors that needed workers in various
industrialising regions of the world had the same effect. Labour
migration boomed and new routes were opened, often employing
consolidated practices to capture labourers. A well-known example
is the Chinese “coolie” trade.
In the Mandarin language, coolie means to exert one’s abilities and
heavy labour work. It came to define hired labourers, mostly Chinese
and Indian, that were employed as indentured workers from the late
nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century. These
workers were moved in a lucrative trade that resembled the “triangular
trade” in the Atlantic. If the migrants survived the exhausiting
voyage, they were consigned to a brutal and humiliating indenture
on plantations in Cuba and Peru that were originally worked by slave
labour.
The “coolie” trade maintained some elements of slavery and contract
labour. The recruitment process is telling: workers were forcefully
recruited or blatantly kidnapped. Although the decision to become
a migrant may have been voluntary, the process was coercive and
violent. Agents used dubious methods of recruitment. The condition
on ships was very similar to conditions on slave ships. The death rate
on the ships, and the use of slave shackles and chains for immobilising
“coolies” below deck makes the “coolie” trade comparable to the
transatlantic slave trade.
When they arrived on plantations in Cuba and Peru, working conditions
were extremely hard and personally alienating. Chinese “coolies”
often found relief from physical and emotional pain in opium. The
Chinese “coolie” in Peru, drug severely addicted workers and became an effective labour
1881. management tool.
In the nineteenth century, the industrial world became more and

The first global crisis more regulated by booms and busts. As more and more factories
produced the same commodity, global supply regularly outstripped
demand, leading to and this led to falling prices. Competitors slashed
prices by slashing wages, further reducing demand consumer goods.
This crisis is known as a “recession” if it lasts for a very short period or
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
57
Chapter 3.1 A world of nations
a “depression” if the crisis is more prolonged and harsher.

An economic crisis known as the Long Depression began in 1873 and
lasted until 1896. This depression is considered the first global crisis
and it spread to many countries, from Europe to North America.
During the Long Depression, prices in Britain fell by 40%.
Until the 1870s, most industrialising countries had joined Britain in
The economic crisis of 1873 led fostering international free trade. All had benefited in one way or
to a social crisis. Governments another. But after the crisis of 1873 Germany and Italy raised tariffs
facing those issues often
to protect their textile industries. They were followed by France, the
decided to weaken potential
turmoils and social requests United States and Russia. As a result of the new tariffs, British exports
by diverting the focus of to the United States and the industrialising parts of Europe dropped.
popular concerns towards The whole economic system did not collapse just because Britain
(real or imagined) external had substantial trade surpluses with Asia, India, and China due to the
threats, thereby boosting new
imperialism. Since 1873, other
opium trade. These huge trade surpluses settled Britain’s debts to the
global economic crises have United States and Germany and kept capitalism alive. British opium
occurred in the world (examples traffic was capitalism’s life preserver, and one of the factors that got
include 1929, 1973 and 2008). the capitalist system through the Long Depression of 1873-1896. This
Search the web to find out economic crisis sharpened tension between elites in industrialising
whether those economic crises countries who competed to grab and exploit large parts of the world.
had consequences similar to or Renovated imperialism opened a new phase of accumulation to solve
different from those of the 1873
the crisis: expansion in Asia and Africa served this purpose. At the
crisis.
same time, this appropriation of resources occurred through the
Discuss this with your
classmates. imposition of industrial capitalism, and the rise of imports of raw
materials and food.
A precondition for the expansion of agriculture and the circulation of

Faster and more efficient
goods was the establishment of a railroad network to move workers
transportation
and products. The first transcontinental line that opened in Utah
in the United States in 1869 facilitated the long-distance overland
transport of bulk commodities and workers. It also connected two
parts of the country and two oceans.
A considerable proportion of the investments went into the
expansion of the railway network, whose length increased fivefold
in North America between 1870 and 1913 (from 90,000 to 450,000
kilometres), attracting legions of migrant workers. In Latin America,
the few thousand kilometres of railway in 1870 grew to 100,000 in
1913. Almost 90,000 kilometres of railway was installed in Argentina,
Brazil, Mexico, and Chile.
Trains and steamboats opened large parts of the world for European
interests after 1870. Colonialism entered Sub-Saharan Africa through
war and railways. Private investment financed 35,000 kilometres of
railway. The intention was to facilitate the export of primary products
58
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The expansion of industrial capitalism
EARLY 20th CENTURY RAIL NETWORK

SOUTH AFRICA
EUROPE
BRAZIL
EASTERN COAST
OF USA ARGENTINA
INDIA
EASTERN COAST
OF AUSTRALIA
1850 1870 1930

25.000 km 170.000 km more than 1 mil km
(more than half in US)
by linking the African interior to ports.

The production of railways was industrialised, and more steel was
produced to foster this expansion. As more steel was required, more
industries sprung up in industrialised regions, and more railways
were required to move the commodities they produced. Industrial
capitalism expanded faster than any other frontier ever had.
Industrial capitalism emerged in the late eighteenth and early

The expansion of industrial nineteenth centuries in some regions in Western Europe. Then, it
capitalism
spread to North America and, in the last decades of the nineteenth
century, to Japan and Russia. At the same time, it spread to other
world regions, following colonialism and imperialism. Beyond the
site of its implementation, industrialisation also had a substantial
effect on virtually every other region in the world. Scarcely or non-
industrialised parts of the world focused on the production of raw
materials for sale to the industrial powers. The economic connections
between Western Europe, the United States and other world regions
such as Latin America and Africa, increased and quickened.
Russia played a role in this period as its economic relations with
Western Europe were based on a sort of dependency. Russia was the
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
59
A world of nations
granary of Europe until the 1880s and met its demand for finished
goods with imports from abroad. It was profitable for Western
Europe to offer its manufactured products in exchange for raw
materials and food. Despite this economic relationship, Russia was a
vast and rich land, independent and having strong political power. To
avoid a wholly dependent relationship with Western Europe, Russia
developed a speedy industrialisation program. In the 1880s, a massive
railroad-building programme commenced: Russia had less than 1,100
kilometers of railroads in 1860, 34,000 by 1894 and 58,000 by 1900. The
longest stretches of the railroad system reached Siberia and tied that
vast frontier and its resources closer to the needs of industrialising
areas in Russia. Expansion of the railroad system was required to move
commodities from the new, heavy industry programme based on coal,
iron and steel, and oil.
Government actions played a major role in the startup of Russia’s
industrialisation, just as in Belgium, Germany and France. States
created banks, hired foreign engineers, and erected high tariff barriers
to protect its new industries from foreign competition.
Innovations like steam and electric power led to an intensification

The intensification of trade of trade as they became cheaper and quicker. Railway lines and sea
routes multiplied and connected world regions into a complicated
network of connections and exchange.
Let’s look at some maps that show this intensification and the
expansion that involved ever more numerous regions.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, international trade was
mainly concentrated in the transatlantic area, between Europe and
North and Central America.
Towards 1850, there was an intensification of trade flows, which can be
explained by declining transport costs and increased communication
possibilities. Europe and North America still played a pivotal role, yet
the worldwide expansion of trade contacts was a reality. The networks
we were used to in the nineteenth century gave way to a plethora
of connections. More African and Arab countries were involved in
international trade. However, trade was still concentrated between
the South and the North, stressing the pivotal role of European and
North American countries in trade relations.
While trade and migrations - forced or autonomous - connected

A barbwire world the world, the expansion of frontiers and increased connections
coexisted simultaneously with the imposition of borders. At first
glance, this may seem like a contradiction and a paradox. It is not; it’s
60
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS World international trade 1880 and 1950
WORLD INTERNATIONAL TRADE 1880
WORLD INTERNATIONAL TRADE 1950
Source: Ronsse, Stijn, Benjamin Vandermarliere, and Samuel Standaert. 2016. “Groeipolen En Macht : Het
Internationale Handelsnetwerk in De Lange 20ste Eeuw.” In De Hermaakbare Wereld? Essays over Globalisering,
ed. Julie Carlier, Eric Vanhaute, and Christopher Parker, 41–56. Academia press.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
61
A world of nations
a very peculiar characteristic of the capitalist system. An example can

clarify this mode of operation.
The most well-known frontier in the world is the one in North
America: European, mainly British, colonisers from the east coast
of the continent displaced native Americans, occupied the land,
and imposed private property. This expansion was called “frontier
expansion” at the end of the nineteenth century, when the process of
colonisation was considered a wave, moving from the East Coast to
the West Coast in present-day California. Colonisation involved the
enclosure of open fields with barbed wire. Joseph F. Glidden invented
barbed wire in 1874, and it is still used today to separate, exclude and
appropriate. It is cheap, flexible, resists high temperature, movable,
light, easy to fix, and it discourages animals and intruders. It keeps
animals and humans away from properties; it controls and imposes
domination over a territory.
The expansion of the frontier in North America was possible because
indigenous populations were erased, and territorial limits were
imposed by barbed wire. Houses, agricultural fields, borders, jails
and military areas are still delimited by barbed wire. Yet barbed wire
can’t completely stop human mobility: humans keep crossing these
boundaries.
Europeans and North American powers controlled - directly or

Imperialism indirectly - most of the world by 1900. They invaded and annexed vast
territories in Asia, Africa, and other parts of the world and changed
the political map of the planet. Almost the whole world was under
the direct authority of a limited number of European countries. The
only exception was Asia - from Japan, Korea, and China across Persia
to present-day Turkey. However, the expansion of frontiers and the
imposition of capitalism through wars allowed European states to
assert strong influence in this area. The creation of a world economy
deepened enormously between 1870 and 1914.
The British were extremely successful in improving their imperial
power. They controlled some regions, like present-day India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zanzibar, through a
system of “indirect rule”. Indirect rule was a form of government to
control regions through the existing local political elites that were
influenceable and loyal to the British Empire. The expansion of British
imperialism occurred by co-opting elites and local princes into their
power structure. In addition to controlling regions, British imperialism
built a strong military that defeated China in 1894-1895, and then
Russia a decade later. Recognising Japan’s military might, the British
62
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Making nations through wars
concluded a military pact with Japan in 1902. Japan had the industrial
capacity and technology to produce the world’s largest warship, the
Satsuma, by 1910.
British imperialism was one of the main drivers for imposing political
and territorial domination in some regions; these regions became
peripheral to the core region of Western Europe, where Great Britain
was the strongest state. The peak of its hegemony was in the last quarter
of the nineteenth century. Imperialism perpetuated a relationship of
dependence and remoulded the connections between world regions.
More importantly, it integrated these regions into the world capitalist
production model. Imperial control imposed a specific role in these
peripheral regions: the delivery of labour and raw materials.
There were many wars at the end of the nineteenth century; this led
Making nations to a redrawing of national boundaries. In many cases – like in Europe
through wars
and the Americas – these boundaries still exist today.
Economic competition within a world capitalist economy was a major
cause for these wars, coupled with nationalism and social tensions
arising from displacements and growing inequality. In Western Europe,
the nationalist unifications of Italy and Germany contributed to four
more major wars that culminated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-
1871. After this war, Western Europe lived in relative peace until the
outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The United States continued its
territorial expansion and annexed other territories in North America
and the Caribbean in the mid-nineteenth century. The United States
annexed one-third of Mexican territory in 1848, and Hawaii in 1893.
The Spanish-American War in 1898 resulted in long-lasting hostility
between former Spanish colonies - like Cuba - and the United States
due to rising U.S. power and its role in the hemisphere. By the end of
the war, the United States had acquired a colonial presence in Puerto
Rico and the Philippines, thus expanding its influence in Asia. The
United States articulated an “open door” policy that prevented the
colonisation of China. Since Britain also needed “open trade” to keep
its global empire working, China became equally exploited by all the
powers.
European colonial powers kept fighting in Asia and Africa, thereby
ensuring their imperialist expansion, directing their military power
against China, Southeast Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa.
War moved from the European theatre to these regions, which were
affected politically, culturally, and economically, and damaged by
ongoing wars, intrusions, and impingements. Wars in colonised regions
expanded European power and defined and consolidated European
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
63
A world of nations
nations.
As we saw in Volume 2, the expansion of European power in Africa

The colonisation chiefly occurred through triangular trade and involved the Western
of Sub-Saharan Africa
coasts of the continent. For centuries, Europeans found it extremely
difficult to gain a foothold in Africa. Various diseases, especially
malaria, were endemic to the tropical parts of the continent and killed
many colonisers despite their war technology. Malaria is a mosquito-
borne infectious disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite. Its cause
was only discovered in 1897, but in the middle of the nineteenth
century, a process of trial and error led to the discovery that quinine
prevented malaria. As soon as colonisers started using quinine, the
European “scramble for Africa” was possible.
Steamships and guns were also used to take over Africa. Steamships
enabled colonisers to access the interior of Africa via rivers, and
more powerful guns killed Africans rapidly and accurately. These
new war technologies mattered. Africans fought valiantly, but their
technology was no match for the Maxim gun as occurred in the
Battle of Omdurman in 1898 when British troops confronted the
Sudanese Dervish army. After five hours, the British lost about 50
soldiers, but no less than 10,000 Sudanese were killed. With such a
technological advantage, most of Africa was divided up by 1900; a
handful of European powers, including Britain, France, Germany, and
Belgium, held most of Africa. Portugal held Angola, which had been
a colony since the seventeenth century. Italy was the only country
whose colonial ambitions terminated at the very end of the nineteen
century, when Ethiopia, under the strong leadership of King Menelik
II, defeated the invader and maintained its independence.
By the First World War, European powers have built 35,000 kilometres
of railway in Sub-Saharan Africa. This was mostly financed by private
investment to facilitate the export of primary products from the
interior to ports. The landscape of Africa changed rapidly and was
modelled on the colonisers’ demand for raw and luxury materials.
The production and export of products like palm oil and ground nuts
expanded rapidly while the production of cotton textiles declined.
Africa was forcefully integrated into the world economy as a region
that specialised in the production of primary products.
The Great War, which was later renamed the First World War, was the
The First World War first conflict that involved the entire planet but was mostly fought on
European soil.
Other wars started by European powers had been fought in the
64
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Workers’ struggles and councils
colonies, but this war was different. First, it was an industrialised war;
During World War I, the winning the war became a matter of technological advancement, and
Ottoman administration began the military-industrial complex produced solid profits. Secondly, it
to treat Armenians as a threat
involved most of Europe’s colonies from the very beginning. British
to the empire’s security. They
were removed from their homes forces conducted the first attack against the German colony of
and deported to southern areas present-day Togo. The African continent was involved in the war on
of the empire. In the course of a large scale: about two million Africans served in the war as soldiers
this expulsion, their relocations
or workers. Workers carried food and munitions during the campaign.
suddenly and repeatedly turned
into mass killings. This is known
They were often coerced and endured terrible conditions and high
as the Armenian Genocide. death rates. The British and the French were responsible for many
forceful recruitments.
However, not all governments
recognise the mass killing of Each front involved in the war disrupted the normal life and economies
Armenians as a “genocide”. of the surrounding hinterland: whole agricultural economies were
Look up the definition of this ruined, and civilians starved or fled. The number of refugees was epic,
word in a dictionary and inquire and migrations spread from war fronts across various regions.
as to the reasons why some The imperial ambitions of some countries, particularly Germany, made
countries deny using this word
it a global war. This ideology was the trigger for the more impressive
to define the massacre of
Second World War. The First World War was the result of a global
Armenians since 1915.
order, and it had global effects that dismantled entire empires and set
the stage for future conflicts.
By the time the war was over in 1919, with the Treaty of Versailles,
more than 16 million humans - soldiers and civilians - were dead.
Its chaos and destruction broke most of the empires. The Austro-
Hungarian Empire dissolved in Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia,
Romania, Poland. China, Germany, and Russia became republics. The
Ottoman Empire was defeated and lost the majority of its controlled
areas. ‘Young Turks’ followed the same path as Western European
states and developed a state in the Asian heartland. This included a
Secularisation is the process of secularisation, as Turkey became the first secular Muslim
distinction between and state, and of nationalism with the denial of rights for non-Turkish
separation of religious population groups. Britain and France split up the former Ottoman
beliefs and values.
Empire territories. Britain established monarchies in Jordan and Iraq,
Secularisation increased
while France ruled Syria and Lebanon directly.
in many world regions
throughout the 20th The British installed their authority over Palestine, where Jewish
century. settlers had been arriving from Russia and Western Europe for
decades, and they encouraged the settlement of Eastern European
Jews in Palestine. The British intervention set the stage for a new
conflict between Jewish settlers and Palestinian populations that
grew in ferocity every decade until today.
Workers’ struggles and The end of the war was not due only to military superiority. Some
councils processes and conflicts blossomed in various countries around the
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
65
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Chapter 3.1 A orldw of tionsa
WWI - MAIN FORMATIONS AND FRONTS
Entente Although
Allies
countries and
Central districts belonging
Powers
to different
Neutral continents were
Countries involved, WW1
Front was fought mainly
Lines in Europe and
Entente Germany was the
Front Lines area around which
EASTERN Main the main war
FRONT Fronts
events occurred.
RUSSIA
1914
1918
1914 1917
EASTERN
GREAT
FRONT
BRITAIN 1918
1914-18 GERMAN REICH
BELGIUM
1914 LUXEMBURG
WESTERN 1914
FRONT
FRANCE 1915-17 AUSTRIA- 1916

HUNGARY
ITALY 1918 BALKAN WARS
ALPS ROMANIA
SERBIA
MONTENEGRO BULGARIA
1915-18
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
GREECE
GALLIPOLI
world, and this led to the war’s end.

The most relevant is the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, which pushed
Russia out of the war. This disrupting event also reinforced human
organisation and protests in many countries. For nearly two years,
66
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The Great Depression: a crisis of capitalism
mutinies and mass strikes spread to stop the war in Germany,

Italy, Hungary, Argentina, Canada, Spain, Japan, Austria, and France.
Workers’ committees multiplied all over the world, from Brazil to
Japan, and in many German cities. A general strike in Buenos Aires was
fiercely repressed, and 3000 workers were killed. In Seattle, workers
formed a troop to defend themselves from the government’s military
intervention to repress the strike. In Johannesburg, workers formed
a soviet, but racial division prevented the unification of workers.
Troops even occupied cities against strikers in peaceful Switzerland.
The city of Glasgow was occupied by the military to stop a workers’
strike. In Barcelona, hundreds of thousands of workers went on strike.
Thousands of workers took to the streets of Vienna. A Soviet republic
was declared in Hungary. In January 1918, during the first international
mass strike in history, tens of cities in Central Europe went on strike
at the same time to end the war.
This widespread and robust wave of workers’ power and mobilisation
led to the Communist International of 1919. This was an international
organisation that attempted to spread the Soviet revolution, the
socialist mode of production, and the workers’ council as a form of
organisation all over the world.
The end of the war resulted in the dismantling of empires and the
The League of Nations emergence of nation states as the primary political formation in most
regions of the world.
After the war, nation states created an intergovernmental organisation
that aimed to prevent wars through collective security and
disarmament and to settle international disputes through negotiation
and arbitration. The League of Nations was founded in 1920 by 32
states, and by the colonies of the British Empire. It is considered the
first attempt to coordinate nations. The League of Nations failed as it
was not able to create an effective space for conflict solving, nor to
enact binding rules. For example, when Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935
using chemical weapons, the League of Nations refused to intervene
despite requests by the Ethiopian leader Haile Selassie.
After the First World War, many elites reacted fiercely to the influence
The Great Depression:
and power of the soviets in their countries. The organisation of
a crisis of capitalism
workers was feared, so too were the socialist and communist ideals.
These ideals spoke to all the “workers of the world” and were not built
upon a strictly national dimension or a specific people, at least not
in this period. The elites’ reaction in some countries was to support
nationalist political formations that could limit and repress workers’
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
67
demands and the risk of socialist or communist ideals. Besides the

emergence of an alternative to the capitalist mode of production,
another great crisis emerged around the globe.
The Great Depression was a severe, worldwide economic depression
that started in the United States in October 1929. The U.S. was the
core of the emerging world order and world economy and the origin
Fascism is an authoritarian of the market crash. Half the banks in the country closed, industrial
nationalist regime. It originates
production declined, prices fell, mass unemployment skyrocketed,
from the idea of rebirth: as
society has reached moral decay the banking system panicked, and poverty and homelessness
and has lost its greatness, it increased sharply. The crisis started in one country and was due
must be cleansed. It is based on to internal factors, but it became a global crisis. The role of the
racist and xenophobic ideals in United States’ economic system, the banking credit system, and the
which the national population is
superior, with regard to status,
interconnectedness of economies around the world highlighted
nature and/or religious belief, how deeply the world was connected and how much single regions
to others that are considered depended on each other.
threatening to the country. In At the same time, the rhetoric of an ever-expanding capitalist system
fascism, human relations and
was undermined. The imperialistic ambitions of some countries
political life are regulated by
violent means and subjugation. coincided with the crisis and the elites’ reaction to the expanding
The government is headed by demands and organisation of workers and the lower social strata.
a plenipotential leader, and Protectionism replaced free market economic politics. The closure of
often a one-party system.
national borders limited migration, and deportations became a daily
Militarisation dominates society,
and political and social life are experience for migrant communities.
strictly controlled. The expulsion of migrants and the control of national borders resulted
in reactionary forces.
A variety of reactionary governments were formed before and

The expansion
after the Great Depression. These included Italy, Germany, Japan,
of reactionary forces
Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Yugoslavia.
These reactionary forces differed in their characteristics and local
specificities but can be labelled fascist. Other countries also looked at
some of these regimes with fascination and interest. Several, mostly
short-lived, fascist governments and prominent fascist movements
were also formed in South America during this period. Let’s look
at three examples of reactionary governments: Italy, Germany, and
Japan.
Fascism aimed to expand Italian territory to create its own “place

Fascist Italy in the sun”. In the colony of Libya, occupied since 1911, Fascist Italy
repressed a revolt and claimed that Italians were a superior “race” and
therefore had the right to colonise “inferior” African races.
This resulted in an aggressive military campaign under the label of
“the Pacification of Libya” that included mass killings, the use of
68
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The “Voyage of the Damned”
concentration camps, ethnic cleansing and the forced starvation

of thousands of Libyans. The coastal areas of Libya were called the
“fourth shore” of its territory and were made part of Fascist “Greater
Italia”. This imperial expansion was considered a demographic and
economic necessity to make Italy the equivalent in power to that of
the Roman Empire. In the Balkans, Italian intervention made Albania
a de facto protectorate, and after a bloody war, Italy merged Eritrea,
Somalia and Ethiopia - a member of the League of Nations - into
Italian East Africa.
In Germany, fascist politics took the form of Nazism. Germany rebuilt

Nazi Germany its military and reoriented the economy to enable rearmament.
Germany deemed this necessary for the invasion of the countries
to the east, especially Poland and Russia. Nazism believed territorial
expansion was necessary for the survival of the “Aryan race” to get the
Lebensraum, the “living space”, it needed. German troops marched
into Austria unopposed and increased their influence in the Balkans.
Then German troops entered Czechoslovakia, where they gained
valuable resources like coal and the huge Skoda armaments factory.
Nazi expansion aimed to create a Third Reich, which means realm or
empire, and it proceeded uncontested until 1939 when the Second
World War began. During the war, Nazi Germany invaded most
European countries.
Similar to Italy and Germany, nationalism and aggressive expansionism

Imperialist Japan began to take hold in Japan after the First World War. Throughout
the 1920s, various nationalistic and xenophobic ideologies emerged
amongst right-wing intellectuals. Japanese expansion began in the early
1930s in East Asia, with the invasion of Manchuria, and continued with
a brutal attack on China. The disciplined and highly trained Japanese
military forces defeated American, British, Australian and Dutch
troops as well as their local allies. The expansion of Japanese territory
was immense. International criticism resulted in Japan withdrawing
from the League of Nations, which brought the country into further
political isolation and redoubled its ultranationalist and expansionist
tendencies. Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy
in 1940, thus entering the military alliance known as the “Axis” that
fought in the Second World War.
The “Voyage of the The xenophobic and racist ideologies of these fascist political
Damned” formations, together with other nationalist sentiments within many
countries, contributed to a climate of intolerance and widespread
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
69
Chapter 3.1 A world of nations
discrimination.
Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass”, was a pogrom or violent
riot against Jews in November 1938 that accelerated the pace of
forced Jewish emigration. In May 1939, the German transatlantic liner
St. Louis sailed from Hamburg to Havana with 937 Jewish passengers
Stateless is a human that is fleeing from Nazism. A few of them were officially “stateless”.
not recognised or does not Both the Cuban government and the United States did not allow
recognise himself/herself the passengers to disembark so the ship turned back to Europe. A
as a citizen of a state.
few European countries - Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and the
United Kingdom - accepted a number of refugees, but most of them
were later caught in Nazi roundups in occupied countries, and 254
passengers were killed in the Holocaust.
The Second World War was the most destructive event in human
The Second World War history. It was a “total war”. The number of dead and injured soldiers
was enormous, and civilian deaths were high because they became
targets as well. The war was so destructive because it was fought in
many world regions and involved extremely deadly war technologies.
The dramatic events of World War II were due to the improved
industrialisation of death. The Japanese conducted “three all”
campaigns against Chinese villagers: kill all, burn all, destroy all. The
United States organised concentration camps for Japanese migrants
in the U.S. The firebombing of Dresden in Germany and Warsaw in
Poland destroyed these two cities. The United States firebombed
Tokyo and 63 other cities before dropping the first atomic bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The Nazis killed more than six
million humans in concentration camps: Jews, roma, gays, communists
and any humans that were considered outcasts, enemies or poisonous
to the “white race”. It was a “Holocaust” of humanity. The war was
total and filled with carnage . The numbers are staggering. The Soviet
Union had the highest death toll; an estimated 26 million Soviet
citizens died during the Second World War, including as many as 11
million soldiers. Germans suffered three-quarters of their wartime
losses fighting Russia’s Red Army. China experienced 10 million deaths.
The Allies (the United States and Great Britain with many other allied
countries) fought against the Axis (Germany, Italy and Japan).
This war involved many battlefields around the world, and many
countries fuelled the Allies’ war machine. For example, Latin
American soldiers were sent to the European continent to prove their
government’s commitment to the cause of democracy. The critical
resources needed to win the war - rubber, henequen, quartz, copper
and petroleum - were exported from Latin American and made it
70
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS WWII - 1941
WWII - 1941
Axis power
or dependecies
Allied power
State not allied with Axis

or Allies
Territoty occupied by
Axis power
Territory occupied by
Allied power
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
71
possible for the Allies to win. The Axis powers were defeated on the
Eastern Front of Stalingrad in Russia, with an incredible loss of human
life. The resistances and strikes in various cities and regions were
fundamental to ending fascist and Nazi regimes. In Japan, the atomic
bombs brought massive destruction and the country surrendered.
The end of the Second World War resulted in radical changes all
The post-war world order over the world. Populations on almost every continent were involved
in the war and suffered incredible losses and destruction. The
reconstruction of cities and political structures took different paths
and consolidated alliances.
The war sanctioned the rise of the imperial power of the United
States and the Soviet Union. This division was evident in the division
of Germany into a western part, under the influence of the United
States, Britain and France, and an eastern part, under the influence
of the Soviet Union. The Berlin Wall represented a division of these
two powers and was the expression of two worldviews, two different
ways of managing and controlling social organisations, two different
and expanding economic systems, and two antagonistic powers that
divided the world for many decades.
The United States and Western European countries created a series
of institutions to manage international conflicts, expand the welfare
state system to European countries, and consolidate the United
States’ power against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was formally
organised into a federation of countries that were subordinated to
the Russian centre. As imperial power shifted from Europe to North
America, the old colonial system crumbled due to revolutions and
THE NIGHT WITCHES

The Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment was an all-woman military
aviators regiment. It was the most highly decorated woman unit in the Soviet
Air Force, and it completed more than 30,000 successful bombing raids
against the Nazis.
They had no radar, machine guns, radios, or parachutes on board; they only
had a map, a compass, rulers, stopwatches, flashlights, and pencils. Since
they were given small aeroplanes, they did not have the heavy items that
their male colleagues enjoyed.
The Nazis called them “witches” because they were women and due to
the whooshing sound that their wooden planes made, which resembled a
sweeping broom. The aeroplanes were too small to show up on radar, so
they were almost invisible.
They were a key Soviet asset for winning the war.
72
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The International Monetary Found (IMF)
anti-colonial struggles that reverberated around the world.

Let’s look at these institutions and decolonisation in Africa and Asia.
The United States supported the reconstruction of Europe through a

The European Economic
financial plan called the “Marshall Plan”, and it favoured the creation
Community
of a European political entity. The European Economic Community
(EEC) aimed to lay the foundations of an ever-closer union of the
peoples of Europe. Adherent states affirmed the political objective
of progressive political integration. The EEC established a common
market based on the free circulation of goods, while the movement
of people, capital and services continued to be subject to numerous
limitations. The member countries agreed to dismantle all tariff
barriers.
NATO is a military alliance between North American and European

The North Atlantic Treaty countries. It is a system of collective defence: all member states agree
Organisation (NATO)
to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.
Members have committed to reach or maintain defence spending
of at least 2% of their GDP until 2024, so the treaty fosters the
militarisation of adhering countries. It currently has 30 members, and
another 36 countries are involved as partners or participants of other
programs aimed at expanding its influence.
The representatives of 26 nations pledged to continue fighting

The United Nations together against the Axis powers in 1942. These “United Nations”
attempted to create a space for negotiations between nation states
in order to shape a new world order based on the United States as
a leading power. The United Nations (U.N.) provides a forum for its
193 member states to express their views, to take action to prevent
conflict, and to address major social and environmental crises. The
organisation has instigated military interventions in many corners of
the globe for the sake of peacekeeping and peacebuilding.
IMF was created in 1945 to secure financial stability, to facilitate

The International Monetary
international trade, to ensure the stability of the international
Fund (IMF)
monetary system, and to promote economic growth. It is currently
governed by and accountable to 190 countries. The IMF allocated
loans to many countries in Africa and Latin America. Above all, it
regulated the financial dimension of an increasingly global capitalist
system, and regulated relations and balances of power following the
United States’ interests.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
73
A world of nations
The Soviet Union enacted a policy of state construction immediately

The Soviet Federation after its formation. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
was established in 1922. Initially, this union was made up of countries
that ideally would have been merged and assimilated into one nation.
The creation of the USSR was characterised by two movements that
became central to Soviet politics. First, the expulsion of unwanted
ethnic or other groups, such as the expulsion of Volga Germans to
Central Asia in the 1941. Secondly, the assimilation of populations
and the consequent intensification of Soviet power in its so-called
“satellites”.
This assimilation displayed both top-down and bottom-up processes
simultaneously: it was “double assimilation”. The Soviet government
delineated national borders and published an official list of
nationalities, but local elites were also involved in decision-making
and had to fight for resources, land, and power. The Soviet system
was also based on state-run and cooperative-run variants that were
employed in the Federation as well as in China and Vietnam.
The USSR also faced strong internal opposition. A student protest in
Hungary in 1956, which was harshly repressed, turned into a revolution.
The government collapsed. After weeks of armed confrontation, the
Soviet army invaded Budapest and restored a government loyal to
the USSR. The brutal repression killed about 2500 Hungarians and
alienated many communist parties around the world. The expansion
of the USSR based on ideals came to a halt.
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was founded after
the Second World War as a socialist state made up of six socialist
republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro,
Serbia, and Slovenia with Belgrade as its capital. It also included two
autonomous provinces within Serbia: Kosovo and Vojvodina. The
communist government sided with the Eastern Bloc until 1948, when
Yugoslavia pursued a policy of neutrality under the leadership of J.B.
Tito. It became one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned
Movement and transitioned from a planned economy to market
socialism.
There was not a unique or singular process of decolonisation. It

Decolonisation:
was achieved with little violence in some areas, but in many others,
an ongoing process
independence was achieved only after a lengthy struggles by
movements for independence. Some newly independent countries
were able to establish stable governments; others were ruled by
dictators or military juntas for decades or endured long civil wars.
Most of them, especially in Africa, are still struggling and suffering
74
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The decolonisation of Africa
from instability due to colonisation and the way that colonisers left
the country. European governments accepted a few processes, while
others violently contested decolonisation and used military force.
Since many outcomes and effects of colonisation are still at play
today, decolonisation is considered an ongoing process.
The lasting effects of colonisation and decolonisation were
visible through the movement of refugees. Decolonial struggles
resulted in refugees from Sudan, East Timor in Indonesia, and from
Kurdish territories. Perhaps the most massive refugee movement
accompanied the decolonisation of India and Pakistan, where millions
left their homes in 1947 to move across a new national border created
according to religious criteria: Hindu in India and Muslims in Pakistan.
Environmental crises contributed to a worsening of the migration
crisis, as droughts swept the continent from the late 1960s to the mid-
1980s. Refugee movements followed; sometimes populations were
assisted by international organisations, sometimes mass killings and
refugee movements triggered no international response.
In general, migrations from decolonised countries to the former
coloniser characterised the decades after the Second World War.
Large parts of the population moved from the periphery, the former
colonies, to the centre, particularly to metropolises.
In large areas of the world under colonial rule, the era after the Second
The decolonisation World War brought more pressing demands for self-governance.
of Africa
Revolutions and guerrilla movements spread in various world regions,
encouraged by the Soviet victory during the war and a desire for a
better life and more wealth, as was visible in Western countries. The
struggle to create national identities brought new levels of national
solidarity, as well as international solidarity as liberation movements
evoked a general idea of connection and common commitment to
the cause of freedom, empowerment, and self-determination.
Since violent and sometimes genocidal regimes maintained colonial
order, the overthrow of the colonisers often involved a violent
response by the colonised populations. Wars of national liberation
A guerrilla is a small group dotted Saharan Africa from the early 1950s when guerrilla movements
of armed forces that uses defeated colonising armies. These guerrilla groups played a different
hit-and-runtactics, such role beyond a military role. For example, the revolutionary Amílcar
as surprising raids and
Cabral, who was a protagonist of the liberation of Guinea-Bissau, was
sabotaging the enemy’s
also an engineer and agronomist. He taught his troops better farming
communication and supply
lines, and fight against the techniques, and these were passed on to local farmers so that they
institutional army within a could increase productivity and be able to feed their families and
nation state’s territory. tribes. Cabral also set up a bazaar system that made staple goods
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
75
A world of nations
available at prices lower than that of colonial store owners. The

military campaign of guerrilla groups combined with a campaign for
better farming techniques and decolonised sites for trade.
The independence of the African colonies did not result in economic
independence from the former colonising countries. The local elites
were based on a chiefdom system that was imposed by colonial
governments but was also deeply rooted in the political and economic
system. In many cases, the decolonisation process led to political
turmoil, civil wars and conflicts that spurred further migrations from
the decolonised African countries to colonial European countries.
These postcolonial migrations moved from the African peripheries to
European metropolises.
Numerous independence movements spread across the Asian

The decolonisation of Asia continent from the mid-nineteenth century in the attempt to expel
European colonisers. In the aftermath of the Second World War, these
independence movements were finally successful.
In India, several different kinds of resistance proliferated: revolts,
protests, armed revolutionary groups, and non-cooperation
movements animated the anti-colonial struggle for more than a century
until 1947, when the British left Southeast Asia, which was partitioned
into different nation states. Within a decade, Burma, Ceylon, and
British Malaya also became independent. Indonesia underwent years
of military and diplomatic dispute with the Netherlands before the
Dutch government recognised the independence of present-day
Indonesia in 1949.
After the Japanese surrendered during the Second World War,
nationalist movements in former Asian colonies campaigned for
independence rather than a return to European colonial rule. In
many cases, as in Indonesia and French Indochina, these nationalists
had been guerrillas fighting the Japanese after European surrenders.
In Indochina, the Viet Minh under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh
declared independence from France. France responded militarily; the
conflict ended after eight years of war with the victory of the Viet
Minh (League for Independence of Vietnam). Laos and Cambodia also
gained independence.
Wars of independence brought destruction to local populations.
In some cases, massive killings took place after independence was
gained as new states were imposed upon different ethnic populations.
In other cases, the local elites were fragmented and competed to
rule the country. In Indonesia, for example, the military regime of
General Suharto responded to an attempted coup, led by Chinese
76
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Alternatives to the two blocs
and Communists, with massive killing. The Suharto regime ruled the
country for three decades and was backed by the United States.
In fact, the process of decolonisation coincided with the new Cold
War between the Soviet Union and the United States.
As we have seen in previous chapters, the competition between two

The Cold War economic systems and worldviews led to the creation of two blocs of
power. These blocs never had a direct, large-scale fight but each side
supported major regional conflicts in various world regions in order
to expand their power and enlarge their sphere of influence. Since
this war was not directly fought between the two rivals, it is known
as the “Cold War”.
The Cold War divided the world, particularly Europe, into two spheres
of influence that were divided by the Iron Curtain: a non-physical
boundary that separated these two areas from the end of the Second
World War until 1991.
Decolonisation in Asia and Africa was often affected by superpower
competition and had a definite impact on this competition.
Meanwhile, the United States and the Soviet Union looked for allies
in Latin America and backed some governments and regimes through
different means. The United States used aid packages and technical
assistance to encourage newly independent nations to adopt
governments that aligned with the Western Bloc. It frequently used
military intervention to impose regimes, as occurred in many Latin
American countries for decades. The Soviet Union encouraged new
nations to join the Eastern Bloc by promising economic and military
aid.
Many of the new nations resisted being drawn into the Cold War and
met at the Bandung Conference in 1955. Asian and African countries
organised the conference; it aimed to support newly emerging nations
and their internal development in order to oppose colonialism by any
nation.
The global scale of the Second World War and the possibility of a
Alternatives to the two non-capitalistic mode of production created the conditions for
blocs
revolutions. Most of them were led by communists, who were often
supported by the Soviet Union. Asia, Africa and the Caribbean were
the main theatres of these revolutions that took different forms and
had different outcomes. Let’s look at the examples of Chile, Cuba, and
Vietnam.
A broad alliance of parties – the Unidad Popular - proposed a socialist
path to democracy in Chile and won the elections in 1970. It was a huge
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
77
DIVIDED WORLD TWO POWERS
1948-49, 1961
East Germany
1945-51
China Civil War
1950-53
Korean War
1962
Cuba Missile Crisis
1960-96 1959-75
Guatemala Vietnam War
1979-92
El Salvador
1981-90 1961
Nicaragua Congo 1979-89
Afghanistan
1973 1975-91
Chile Angola 1974. 1991
Ethiopia
Non
Western Bloc Eastern Bloc
Aligned
Regional
Wars
& other conflicts
political challenge and pivotal example in the context of political

mobilisation and strong demands for participation. It was a time of
political enthusiasm, of excitement for the deep changes that had
occurred. The government nationalised copper mines with the vote
of all parties, established extensive agrarian reform, gained control of
numerous industries, nationalised the financial system, supported the
demands of workers regarding increased wages, and used public funds
and credit to bolster the economy. A military coup supported by the
United States ended this brief socialist experiment in 1973 when the
dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet was established.
In Cuba, a guerrilla movement spread across the country; it aimed
to dismantle the long-standing regime of Fulgencio Batista. The
revolution was solid enough to hold off a military coup supported
by the United States, and it consolidated under the leadership of
Fidel Castro. Another leader of the Cuban Revolution, Ernesto “Che”
Guevara brought military and political guerrilla tactics to various
78
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The Great Leap Forward and the Cultural
TO GLOBAL CAPITALISM Revolution in China
regions in Latin American and Africa. The aim was to make countries
independent from colonial rule or regimes. Cuban revolutionaries are
still in power today.
In Vietnam, which had been divided since 1955 into a northern
and a southern part after the war against France, the United Sates
intervention in support of the regime of south involved the American
country in a long conflict. In 1975, after a decade of war, the Vietcong
of the north won the war and reunited the country under a communist
leader.
After the Bandung Conference, another attempt was made to escape

The non-aligned movement imperial ambitions of the Eastern and Western Blocs and to gain
economic and political independence. The Non-Aligned Movement
aimed to ensure national independence, sovereignty, territorial
integrity and security. Tens of countries from Latin America, part of
Asia, and Africa participated. The member states represent nearly two-
thirds of the United Nations’ members. The goal of the movement
was to resist imperialism, colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign
aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as
well as great powers and bloc politics.
The ‘Great Leap Forward’ In China, the Communist Party delivered on rent and interest reduction
and the Cultural Revolution promises and then targeted the landlords whose exploitation of the
in China peasantry deepened rural misery. The party grew in supporters and
strength until the Second World War when, during Japan’s invasion of
China, the communists organised guerrilla warfare and expanded their
territory. The final victory was led by Mao Zedong, and the People’s
Republic of China was established in 1949.
The economy was based on “people’s communes” - fully socialist
collectives that incorporated agricultural cooperatives into
multipurpose organisations. Each commune was organised into
progressively larger units: production teams, production brigades,
and the commune itself. Each unit had different economic tasks. The
communes governed and managed all economic and social activity. At
the end of the 1950s, this system was extremely successful from the
peasants’ point of view but in a deep crisis from the government’s point
of view. This was because people’s communes granted independence
to peasants, so the state lost control. The collectivisation of land and
industrialisation was part of a social and economic process known as
the “Great Leap Forward” during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The Cultural Revolution, formally the Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution, lasted from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. It was
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
79
A world of nations
launched by Mao Zedong and aimed to encourage the youngest

generations “to get rid of the old four”: old streams of thought, old
culture, old customs, and old traditions. The Cultural Revolution
aimed to avoid the authoritarian and revisionist turn that took
place in the USSR, as promoted by some Chinese Communist Party
representatives. The “Little Red Book” with quotations from Mao’s
speeches was distributed during this campaign, and it became the
symbol of revolutionary spirit against the authoritarian turn of the
socialist states.
After World War II, states increased their capacity to control

Control and management of
migration by influencing the volume, direction and selectiveness of
humans’ mobility
migrants. The ability of the twentieth-century state to control human
mobility is a new phenomenon. States increased their power through
legislation and military enforcement to determine whether migrants
were allowed on their territory and under what conditions.
In the Soviet Union, the control of rural out-migration and management
of the population’s mobility were finalised with the creation of the
Federation. The establishment of Soviet power resulted in the forced
emigration of humans who opposed it, as they refused collectivisation
and the progressive dismantling of private property. In the Central
Asian republics, the former upper class was marginalised and driven
from urban to rural areas. The formation of socialist collective farms
caused thousands of better-off peasants to flee from the Soviet
regime into exile. In the 1930s, the kulaks – the wealthiest peasants
and agricultural entrepreneurs - were subject to state scrutiny. The
upper rural class was repressed, nearly two millions died in gulag labor
camps, and a vast number moved to Afghanistan, Iran, China, Turkey,
Saudi Arabia, and Western European countries. At the same time,
nomads were perceived by the Soviet administration as difficult to
control so in some regions, like Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan,
and Kazakhstan, collectivisation was used as a tool to bring about a
sedentary lifestyle for nomadic populations.
Nation states increasingly developed tools for managing, controlling
and regulating migration flows. Laws, temporary admissions,
deportations and displacements had been employed to define
national borders, to obstruct migrant’s arrival, or to regulate migrant
workers movements.
Refugees and migrants from postcolonial countries entered Europe,

Labour migrations:
while states played a more efficient role in managing and governing
guest worker programmes
migration flows. Many countries, such as the United States, West
80
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The United States expansion in
TO GLOBAL CAPITALISM Latin America
Germany, Belgium, and South Africa signed treaties with other

countries to import workers. So-called guest workers were employed
in agriculture, mining, industries, and railway construction. Millions
of workers moved from Mexico to the United States, from Italy to
West Germany, from Yugoslavia to East Germany, from Botswana
to South Africa, et cetera. The condition was that workers would
be repatriated when the contract expired. This restrictive measure
related to the recruitment of foreign workers was aimed at the
employment of cheap workers whose reproduction would not be
supported by the nation of arrival. Unlike domestic workers, they had
no social assistance, no benefits, and no welfare. This management
of migrant flows also imposed new filters and selection criteria on
workers; these were based on nationality, class, skill, and age.
These programmes regulated the flow of migrants in agreement
with private enterprises, and with the support of national agencies,
immigration and local officials. Working conditions varied from case
to case. For example, millions of Mexican workers moved to the United
States over 20 years through a long process of recruitment in order
to obtain a contract. Even though agreements regulated the process,
poor working conditions, abuses, low wages, and discrimination
characterised this labour programme that kept Mexicans in a subaltern
position within the United States.
Latin America in the 1950s and 1960s had few democratic governments,
The United States’
several military regimes, and some dictatorships. To prevent the
expansion in Latin America
rise of communist regimes, the United States frequently intervened
in Latin America. The socialist revolution in Cuba led the United
States to promote social reform and economic development on the
continent in order to forestall and anticipate similar revolutions in
other countries. From 1961 to 1970, the United States introduced a
programme of aid and reform in Latin America called the Alliance
for Progress. The programme included agrarian and fiscal reforms,
increased industry, public spending on health and education, and a
reduction of income inequality. The goal was 2.5% of annual growth
for the entire 1960s. The essential instrument was the fuelling and
channelling of private and public capital to elected governments.
The programme ultimately failed and gave way to covert operations,
coups backed by the United States, and financial interventions based
on indebtedness, which has characterised the relationship between
the United States and Latin America since the 1970s.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
81
Liberia
Ivory Gold
French
Coast Coast territories
Gabon Ottoman
territories
Indian
Luba Ocean British
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Chapter 3.1 Atlantic
Ocean A world of nations
territories
Lunda
Angola
Portuguese
Kololo
rotse territories
empire
Mozambique Ottoman
territories
Bantu
territories
Transvaal
Independent
territories
THE “FRANCAFRIQUE” Cape
Colony
Natal
No central
government
“We do not touch Françafrique. Spanish

Morocco
[...] Since the independence Morocco
Tunisia
of its former colonies in 1960, Spanish

Sahara Algeria
Libia
Paris has never ceased to Rio de Ouro
Egypt
impose its guardianship and Cape

Verde
French West Africa 1914
do everything to preserve its
(portuguese)
Eritrea
Gambia French Sudan
Portuguese Equatorial
economic and political interests Sierra
Guinea
Togo Nigeria Africa British
Somaliland
French
territories
in Africa (Nigerian uranium, Leone
Liberia Gold Cameroon
Ethiopia
British
Italian
Coast territories
Gabonese oil, Ivorian cocoa, Uganda
Somaliland
French British Portuguese

etc.).” Equatorial
Africa Belgian
Congo
East
Africa territories
German
East Independent
Source: P. Pesnot, Les dessous Africa
territories
de la Françafrique, 2008, freely Angola
Northen
Nyasaland German
Rhodesia territories
translated from French. German
Southern Belgian
Rhodesia
Southwest
Africa Mozambique
Madagascar territories
Bechuanaland
Italian
South
territories
Africa
Spanish
Have you ever heard about territories
the “Francafrique”? It is
an example of the indirect
political, economic and cultural Map showing French colonies in Africa in 1930. Along with former Belgian
interference of an European colonies, these areas today make up the bulk of francophone Africa.
former colonial country into its
former colonies.
Search the internet for similar
stories about former colonies of
different EU countries.
82
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The voyage of damned
THE VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED

Read this text about the journey of the German ocean liner St. Louis in 1939
and search the internet for some photos regarding this misadventure.
Then complete the activities.
“The MS St. Louis set sail from Hamburg to Cuba on May 13, 1939 with 937
German Jewish refugees on board, fleeing Nazi persecution. They had an
exit visa, granted for propaganda reasons, to silence the accusations of the
international community regarding the Nazi slaughter during Kristallnacht
or “Crystal Night”.
Weeks later it arrived in Cuba, but the government did not grant the
passengers of the ship permission to enter the country either as tourists
or as refugees seeking political asylum. Only 22 passengers managed to
disembark in Havana. The MS St. Louis was also rejected by the United
States in Miami, and Canada also refused the refugees.
The captain of the transatlantic liner, German Gustav Schröder, had to return
to Europe. He did everything he could to protect the refugees. He persuaded
U.S. officials to work with European governments to find a solution.
The ship reached Antwerp on June 17, 1939. The United Kingdom agreed to
accept 288 passengers, while the remaining 619 ended up in France (224),
Belgium (214) and the Netherlands (181). Of these 619, only 365 survived the
war; most of the others lost their lives in Nazi extermination camps.”
Source: “Internazionale” website, 13 May 2014 (freely translated and

adapted).
Imagine that you are one of the
1
refugees on the MS St. Louis
ocean liner who survived the
voyage and the war. Draw your
journey on the map on the side
and rewrite the text as if you
were registering a travel diary.
Mention your feelings in every
port where the cruise liner
docked.
Do you think that something

2
similar is happening today?
Discuss this topic with your
classmates.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
83
1/2 HOW HAS THE EUROPEAN UNION CHANGED OVER

TIME?
Read the text on the side, which In the 1950s, the European Coal and Steel Community united six European
1
was adapted from the European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the
Union website (“About” section) Netherlands) economically and politically in order to secure lasting peace
then underline the sentences after the end of the Second World War.
that contain information about In 1957 the Treaty of Rome created the European Economic Community (EEC)
the process of enlargement of or Common Market.
the European Union, as shown
on the map. The 1960s were a good period for the economy: European countries traded
with each other without custom duties and had joint control over food
production to ensure there was enough food for everyone.
In the 1970s, the fight against pollution intensified: laws to protect the
environment were adopted.
In 1973 Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the EEC. Their
regional policy transferred huge sums of money to create jobs and
infrastructure in poorer areas.
In 1979 all citizens of the European Economic Community were able to elect
their members directly.
In 1981 Greece became the tenth member of the European Union.
In 1986 Spain and Portugal joined the EEC and the Single European Act was
signed that same year. This treaty provides the basis for a vast, six-year
programme aimed at sorting out problems with the free flow of goods across
European borders.
In 1987 the European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University
Students (ERASMUS) was instituted. Millions of young students can study in
other countries with EU support.
The 1990s saw the signing of two treaties: the Maastricht Treaty, officially the
Treaty on European Union, and the Treaty of Amsterdam. Europeans were
concerned about protecting the environment and how they could act together
when it comes to security and defence matters.
In 1992 the European Economic Community changed its name into the
European Union.
In 1995 Austria, Finland and Sweden became new members of the European
Union. The Schengen Agreement allows Europeans to travel without having
their passports checked at the border.
In 2002 the euro became the new currency for many European countries. In
this period, they began to work more closely together in fighting crime and
supporting social and cultural integration.
In 2004 10 new countries joined the EU, followed by Bulgaria and Romania in
2007.
In 2008 the global economic crisis hit Europe hard. The EU helped several
84
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS How has the European Union changed
TO GLOBAL CAPITALISM over time?
2/2 HOW HAS THE EUROPEAN UNION CHANGED OVER

TIME?
countries confront their difficulties and established the ‘Banking Union’ to
ensure safer and more reliable banks.
In 2009 the Treaty of Lisbon was ratified by all EU countries. It provides the
EU with modern institutions and more efficient working methods.
In 2012 the European Union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 2013 Croatia became the 28th member of the EU. Climate change was still
high on the agenda and leaders agreed to reduce harmful emissions.
1957 1973 1981 1986
1995 2004 2007 ?
Work in pairs and write a list of the aims of the European Union. Then discuss
2
this with your classmates. Do you think that the aims of the European Union
have become more numerous over time? If so, why?
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
85
A MAJOR PROXY WAR DURING THE COLD WAR

In 1964, social and political scientist Karl Deutsch called proxy wars “an
international conflict between two foreign powers, fought out on the soil of
a third country; disguised as a conflict over an internal issue of that country;
and using some of that country’s manpower, resources and territory as a
means for achieving preponderantly foreign goals and foreign strategies”
(K.W. Deutsch, External Involvement in Internal Wars, in Harry Eckstein (ed.),
Internal War: Problems and Approaches, 1964).
One of the most devastating Cold War proxy wars was the Soviet-Afghan War,
which started in December 1979 when the army of the USSR crossed the
Afghan border. The war lasted more than nine years; the Soviets withdrew
in February 1989. Almost 2 million Afghan civilians were killed, around
3 million were severely injured, 5 million Afghans became refugees in
neighbouring countries, and almost all infrastructure was destroyed.
Read the excerpts from an Brzezinski: “According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the
1
interview with Zbigniew Mujahidin began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded
Brzezinski, who was President Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. But the reality, closely guarded until now,
Jimmy Carter’s National is completely otherwise. Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter
Security Advisor from 1977 signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet
to 1981. The interview was regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which
published in the French I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet
military intervention.”
newspaper “Le Nouvel
Observateur” in 1998. Work Question: “When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that
in pairs and underline the they intended to fight against secret US involvement in Afghanistan, nobody
most striking sentences. List believed them. However, there was an element of truth in this. You don’t
two or three characteristics regret any of this today?”
of a proxy war found in the Brzezinski: “Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It
interview, then comment on had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me
these characteristics with a few to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to
sentences. President Carter, essentially: “We now have the opportunity of giving to the
USSR its Vietnam War.” Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on
Now search the internet for at a war that was unsustainable for the regime, a conflict that bought about the
2
least one proxy war that has demoralisation and finally the breakup of the Soviet Empire.”
been fought in recent years and
Question: “And neither do you regret having supported Islamic
answer the following questions: fundamentalism, which has given arms and advice to future terrorists?”
What countries/powers were
involved in the proxy war(s)? Brzezinski: “What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the
Who were the victims of collapse of the Soviet Empire? Some agitated Muslims or the liberation of
Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?”
the war(s)? What could the
international community have Source: D.N. Gibbs, “International Politics”, Kluwer Law International, June
done to prevent the war(s)? 2000. Text translated from the French by W. Blum and D.N. Gibbs.
86
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The stages of genocide
THE STAGES OF GENOCIDE

The document “The Ten Stages STAGE 1. CLASSIFICATION
of Genocide” was developed All cultures have categories to distinguish people into “us and them”
by Dr. Gregory H. Stanton, an by ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality. If societies are too segregated
American university professor, (divided) they are most likely to experience genocide.
in 1996 after studying many
Current facts presenting some similarities with this process:
twentieth-century genocides
and state-driven massacres.
The first stages described Actions to be taken to prevent this:
by Stanton are particularly
alarming; they highlight some
“natural” tendencies that we
should be aware of.
STAGE 2. SYMBOLISATION
We give names or other symbols to the classifications of ethnicity, race,
Read the first four stages of
1 religion, or nationality. Classification and symbolisation are universally
genocides on the side and add
human and do not necessarily result in genocide unless they lead to the
an example of a similar process
stage of dehumanisation.
that you have witnessed in your
lifetime (and in your society). Current facts presenting some similarities with this process:
Then write what you think Actions to be taken to prevent this:

2
humans should do to prevent
each of them.
Finally, search for the Stanton

3
document on the internet and STAGE 3. DISCRIMINATION
read the preventive measures A dominant group uses law, custom, and political power to deny rights to
he suggests should be adopted other groups. The powerless group may not be given full civil rights or even
in order to stop the process. citizenship.
Are your proposals similar to Current facts presenting some similarities with this process:
his or not?
If not, do you agree with him or
do you have a different view? Actions to be taken to prevent this:
Explain your opinion.
STAGE 4. DEHUMANISATION
Members of a persecuted group may be compared with animals, parasites,
insects or diseases. When a group of humans is thought of as “less than
human” it is easier for the group in control to murder them. At this stage,
hate propaganda is used to make the victims seem like villains.
Current facts presenting some similarities with this process:
Source: The Genocide Actions to be taken to prevent this:

Education Project website
(adapted).
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
87
SOCIAL
ORGANISATION AND
INEQUALITY
The period between 1870 and 1970 witnessed an increase in regional

inequality and dramatic changes in forms of social organisations
worldwide. The expansion of frontiers became more violent, and
humanity suffered incredible destruction and loss of life, as well as
increased life expectancy in some world regions. Living conditions
varied between regions and within countries, yet industrial capitalism
largely standardised working conditions in factories, and industrial
workers’ lives in general.
Industrial capitalism increased differences within the same population,

Divergences and inequality between regions of the same state, between states, and between
world regions. It was a violent yet sophisticated driver of change.
Industrial capitalism enhanced similarities while simultaneously
creating hierarchies.
At the end of the nineteenth century, displaced workers crowding
into cities, making more labour available and, consequently, making
it easier for factory owners to cut pay and press for higher output.
As more surpluses could be extracted from factories in less time,
the elite devoted to industrial capitalism became more affluent, and
the displaced peasants and workers became poorer in many regions.
Industrial capitalism increasingly produced wealth and power for
some elites who owned factories. Differences and inequality increased
within societies. Industrial capitalism affected workers in vast areas
of the world.
The economic domination of industrialised countries meant the
impoverishment of large populations throughout the world. The
wealth and technological edge of industrial powers determined
economic and labour conditions also of non-industrialised countries.
This process was evident especially noticeable at the end of the
nineteenth century, when Western Europe, the United States, Japan,
and Russia competed for colonies and spheres of influence, imposing
new technologies.
The imbalances and gaps between regions were also due to a lack
of material preconditions. For different reasons, a large group of
states found themselves in a subaltern position. Most Latin American
countries had an export-oriented economy based on raw materials,
which increased inequality within those countries as the elites were
the only class to benefit from the revenues. These elites were wealthy,
88
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Divergences and inequality
Cover of the 1911 edition of Industrial Worker, a periodical by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW),
an international labour union founded in Chicago in 1905 and active in various countries.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
89
but most of the population did not benefit from the revenues.
Other states like China were becoming enfeebled and suffered from
imperial intrusions and wars. States that had been colonised like India,
much of Southeast Asia and Africa had been weakened by imperialist
aggression. They found themselves in a subaltern position as exporters
of raw materials or food producers for more industrialised countries.
Other groups lived within empires but wanted independence: they
were stateless individuals aiming to create their own state yet
subordinate to imperial and colonial powers.
This inequality led to an ever-widening gap between world regions,

Widening regional
where life expectancies and opportunities were very different. This
inequality
gap was, and still is, a matter of life and death. Inequalities became
increasingly regional; the difference in wealth in some regions of the
world is astonishing. Consequently, the West became spectacularly
wealthy - wealthier than many other world regions.
CHILD MORTALITY Inequality and the unbalanced use of wealth produced immense growth
In 1800, the health conditions of in some countries. Nation states became the political formation in
our ancestors were such that most world regions. Despite their power and extension, all states
43% of the world’s newborns
attempted - successfully or not - to establish a solid administrative,
died before their fifth birthday.
Child mortality was still 18.5% military and fiscal structure. Under the pressure of social conflicts,
in 1960. Almost one in five some states created an internal system of welfare: a social state
children born in that year died in effort that promoted the basic physical and material well-being of
childhood. Child mortality was
citizens through healthcare, unemployment benefit, school systems,
down to 4.3% in 2015 – 10 times
lower than two centuries ago. etc. This system diminished internal inequalities within nations and
redistributed wealth amongst large sectors of the population.
Search online for a world map
Life on planet Earth changed between 1870 and 1970. The broad
showing the child mortality rate
today. Which countries have the picture tells us that wealth and life expectancy increased, and child
highest rate? Inquire about the mortality decreased worldwide. Let’s look at the main historical
reasons for such an appalling processes through which these improvements within some states,
reality by looking at more and increased inequality between world regions, occurred. We first
economic and social indicators. look at changes in social organisation between 1870 and the Second
World War.
After the 1850s, the pace of land reclamation increased due to

Ottomans and
Britain’s growing need for wheat imports. New legislation made land
commercial agriculture
transferable and consequently brought an enormous amount of land
into regular cultivation. This boosted population settlements and
market relations in Anatolia that were opposed through peasant
rebellions. Two-thirds of the villages and nine-tenth of the cultivated
parts of inner Anatolia date back to the second half of the nineteenth
century and smallholdings survived into the twentieth century.
90
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Labour and land in sub-Saharian Africa
In Egypt, the state increasingly identified with the interests of the

landed classes and applied the law of private property. By doing so,
it undermined its legitimacy in the eyes of the peasantry. Peasants
rebelled and were forcibly dispossessed. The formation of large-scale,
commercial agriculture accelerated under French and British colonial
rule.
This large-scale commercial agriculture flourished on colonial lands,
until the emergence of temperate regions as the new granaries of the
world economy.
Colonialism damaged economic development in Africa more than

Labour and land
in other parts of the world. By the late nineteenth century, the
in sub-Saharan Africa
introduction of indirect rule aimed at making foreign occupation
palatable to indigenous populations. This was achieved by offering
power and wealth to cooperative leaders in exchange for supporting
the colonisers. Local chiefs were delegated to control of the
indigenous populations, referring to the customs of their ‘tribe’.
These terms - chief and tribe - were legal constructions imposed by
colonisers with little necessary connection to the pre-colonial reality.
Chiefs were created in places, where they had never ruled before.
Colonisers decided who was a chief, and custom was redefined to suit
colonial purposes.
Before colonialism, Africans had the right to leave oppressive
regimes as polities were fluid entities and inhabitants had a check
on oppressive rulers. This right ceased when Africans were assigned
to tribes they could no longer leave. Their identity and belonging
were decided, and so was their chief. The new chiefs were given more
authority than any rulers before colonialism. They were the middle
men of empires, especially for collecting taxes and compelling labour.
They used their power to accumulate personal fortunes. Colonialism
created a system of small despots that ruled the colonies.
The German, Belgian, and French colonies in West Africa set up land
and labour policies that were detrimental to native interests. Colonial
governments expropriated land and gave it to European investors
for plantations, like oil palm plantations in the Belgian Congo and
mining development. Dispossessing the local peoples from the land
was a policy to appropriate both their labour as their land. Land
seizures made it impossible for colonised populations to subsist on
the produce of agriculture and livestock. They were compelled to
become domestic servants and offer their labour to colonisers.
Communal land rights were oppressed, and peasants had to become
members of a tribe to acquire farmland. They became subservient to
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
91
the chief who was appointed by the occupying power.

Slavery was formally eliminated but customs like a chief’s right to
demand unpaid labour were retained. New forms of forced labour
became a common feature in Sub-Saharan African colonies. Coerced
labour was used on plantations and to build railways.
A new system was introduced to control workers and gain control of
land and resources: apartheid. Africans were forced to live in limited
areas and were considered guest workers when they moved out of
these areas. A strict spatial division was imposed that was also a
hierarchy between the coloniser and the colonised, between white
and black humans.
Farms, work, cities, and time were transformed with the advent of
Faster machines
industrial production. Although the way that these changes were
standardised work
manifested varied from place to place, there were broad similarities.
As we saw in Volume 2, industrial capitalism was born on the slave ship
and on plantations, where discipline and repetitive tasks forged a new
way of working and organising humans’ time. In the early nineteenth
century, the industrialisation of farms and agriculture enabled the
development of new technologies employed by food-processing
industries. By the late nineteenth century, the machines were bigger
and faster. Machines dictated the pace of work, supervisors set rules
for eating, and the supervision was more intense. Owners set wage
rates as low as possible to ensure high profits. Factories imposed a
new concept of work.
Time became more important; using steam-powered machinery also
had vast implications on how work was performed. Machines drove
up speed, and were more powerful, and more efficient than humans
or animals. The new machinery could work day and night, regardless
of the season. Human beings had to adapt to the rhythm of the
machines. Starting in factories in the United States, industrial engineers
figured out how to run the machines without breaks, and to prevent
workers from wasting motions. Work became organised around the
requirements of the machines, and these frequently changed because
of improvements and a demand for faster production.
Aroud 1900, more than ever, the rhythm and speed of machines
Working in factories dictated workers lifes. Industrialisation caused greater misery for
workers in the factories, and workers lamented their fate, as did a
British operative who complained: “We are driven like dumb cattle in
our folly, until the flesh is off our bones, and the marrow out of them.
It seems to me that we are living to work, not working to live”. All
92
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Displaced workers
activities regarded as non-productive, such as taking naps, wandering

around, singing, and chatting were banned.
The use of machines implied that labour became more specialised:
each worker had a specific task to be performed quickly and efficiently,
then had to pass the product on to the next worker for the next
task. Growing specialisation meant that most workers did not see a
finished product. Workers had to perform simple and repetitive tasks
all day long; they performed the same movements every day. Most
workers’ skill levels declined, as they had to do just one task. The
typical factory worker was semi-skilled. They required a few months
of training, but could be replaced relatively easily. Workers became
an individualised part of the machine.
At the end of the nineteenth century, some of the benefits of
increasing profits in the industrialised sectors started to improve
the workers’ living standards - though not necessarily in their basic
working conditions.
At the beginning of the industrialisation process, workers were

Displaced workers displaced by technologies that reduced the need for their labour.
Then, supervisors and owners increasingly managed workers, their
time and performance. Different practices emerged to manage
workers. Capitalists always wanted to keep work cheap, and if
THE ASSEMBLY LINE
Assembly line of Model T

automobiles in a Ford Plant in
Michingan, USA.
Automaker Henry Ford

optimized the assembly
line. An assembly line is a
manufacturing process in which
single components - usually
interchangeable - are added.
The single components are
added in sequence until the
final assembly is produced. This
innovation reduced the time of
production: for example a car
was built in two hours and half,
while before was more than 12
hours. Workers had to repeat
the same single movement as Search the internet for the first videos about the assembly line, watch them
they were part of the assembly with a classmate and image you were workers in that situation: what would it
line. be your greatest ailments and annoyances?
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
93
Prisoners forced to plough

a new ground at a farm
in Port Arthur, a convict
settlement on the Tasman
Peninsula, Australia.
workers demanded too many concessions, were systematically

displaced on both sides of the Atlantic. Demands for higher wages,
fewer working hours, the recognition of unions, better conditions, or
being considered troublesome were sufficient motivation to remove
workers. Some migrants were sent back to their country of origin;
The penal colony is a other workers were kicked out of the workplace or sent to penal
distant, usually overseas colonies.
settlement to which Sometimes new trade routes resulted in cheaper commodities,
humans are exiled: they
like cotton. This could save time, money, and land for other, more
are placed in a remote and
isolated location as a form
profitable uses. Workers were displaced and had to find another job.
of punishment. Typically, Some commodities were replaced with others, for example cotton
humans were exiled and replaced wool, and this threatened the negotiating power of workers.
forced to work. Another form of management was the use of strike-breakers: when
workers went on strike, factory owners used to recruit day workers to
break the strike and to employ cheaper and more disciplined labour.
Owners also used strike-breaking private police. Union power was
smashed directly.
Between the end of the nineteenth century and the first two decades
of the twentieth century, conflicts between factory owners and
workers were extremely hard and recurrent. It was a war between the
exploitation of workers and the demand for workers’ rights. States
played a key role in this conflict and enacted legislation that aimed to
keep restive workers in their place.
Between the end of the nineteenth century and the first decades of
Labour strikes
the twentieth century, factories became a key site of organisation
and organisations
for improving workers’ conditions. Workers joined labour unions that
dotted industrialised regions. Unions were organisations that united
94
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Workers hierarchies
workers and advocated for workers’ rights, including better working

conditions, higher pay, and shorter hours. The different ideals that
moved some workers to create unions reflected different views of
work and workers’ rights. This will be analysed at the end of this
chapter in theme four.
Migrants were the protagonists in these types of organisations. For
example, Mexicans created “mutualistas” in the United States at the
end of the nineteenth century. These provided a connection between
migrants and their motherland and created a social space of mutual
help and support. They also organised cultural activities and basic
education, a common health care system and offered insurance
coverage. Workers were supported by legal protection and advocacy
when confronted with the police and immigration authorities.
Unions and strikers did not try to make work more interesting or
to slow down technological innovation. The main focus of protests
was to ask for better pay and shorter hours. Work was primarily
considered an instrument for a better life when not on the job. Other
views considered workers the productive core of the nation, and they
needed to have the same rights and wealth as factory owners and
the elites. Besides unions, new political parties addressed workers’
rights. Repression of these movements was frequent and violent, and
many died during strikes, killed by national armies or private troops
recruited by companies. Nevertheless, workers gained some benefits,
if only because the government wanted to block more radical
movements. They were afraid of the workers’ revolutionary potential.
The organisation of workers and strikes ultimately led to restrictions
regarding child labour and the introduction of the eight-hour workday.
In places where the shortening of the workweek did not occur
because of unions or pressure by political parties, labour shortages
resulting from the First World War gave labour unions new strength.
They were able to force employers to give their members eight-hour
workweeks. Workers’ struggles and a heightened sensitivity to their
needs by some political parties provided for some redistribution of
the vast wealth accumulated by societies.
The organisation of workers became increasingly difficult as

Worker hierarchies specialisation and nationalist politics fragmented workers’ unions.
The rapid growth of the service sector in the early twentieth century
led to the creation of white-collar workers in every industrialised
country, such as bank employees, salesmen, and the administrative
staff of new corporations. They worked in offices rather than in
factories or the field. They were called white-collar workers as they
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
95
usually dressed a button-down shirt, while factory workers dressed

in blue overalls. White-collar work was less physically demanding
and dangerous. They tried to distinguish themselves from manual
labourers, but there were many similarities. Both groups were tied
to specific workday schedules; they both worked outside the home
and were closely supervised by management. Migrants were often
excluded from unions since they were not citizens and therefore not
entitled to rights that were considered linked to national belonging.
This distinction fragmented even more workers.
Since governments were unable to crush unions entirely, they opted
for managerial reorganisation. We saw this in Japan after the Second
World War. Instead of a single, vulnerable factory, they created a
cascading series of subcontractors to produce and assemble all the
components of a car. The production of a car was assigned to different
contractors that were responsible for assembling part of the car. As
a result, fragmentation was further improved, and labour militancy
could be defused. Concessions could be more easily squeezed from
workers in competition with one another.
Patriarchy has been the norm in almost every agricultural and industrial
Women’s rights society. It has weathered political upheavals, social revolutions
and economic transformations. Since the creation of the nation
state included a cultural apparatus and attitudes, women were also
attributed a specific preconceptions: docile, fragile, sentimental, and
irrational. This concept was not new, but with the creation of nation
states it became more institutionalised. Women, because of their
intrinsic nature, were not able to rule or participate in public life; they
were incapable. As we saw in Volume 2, their work was considered
natural, less productive, and outside the labour sphere. Therefore,
they received lower pay than other employees. This condition of
subalternity and incapability was sanctioned institutionally.
When nation states surrendered to a populations’ demand for political
leadership, different degrees of participation were introduced.
Women were not given the right to vote for their rulers due to their
supposed incapability. In New Zealand, women obtained the right to
vote in 1893, and very slowly this right was also gained in many other
countries where the movement spread.
For example, some British women founded national unions for
women’s suffrage, in other words the right to vote, in 1897. These
groups became known as the suffragette movement; they claimed the
same rights as men, such as voting, education, and sitting on school
boards. Part of this movement was more devoted to campaigns, while
96
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The Soviet Revolution
another used direct action to achieve their goals. British women

obtained the right to vote in 1918. Today, the only state where women
cannot vote is Vatican City.
The Mexican Revolution was a series of revolutions that started in

The long Mexican 1910 and spread to various regions of the country. It involved different
Revolution
political groups. Although it began with opposition to a long-lasting
regime and demands for elections, peasants in the central regions of
the country joined and proposed a revolutionary plan that included
extensive agrarian reforms, the redistribution of land to peasants as
well as indigenous communities. This revolution resulted in the death
of one million Mexicans. The two most radical leaders, Pancho Villa
and Emiliano Zapata, were killed by rival and more reformist political
groups. Revolts, strikes and armed conflicts dotted Mexico for two
decades.
Just before the Second World War, between 1934 and 1940, president
Lázaro Cárdenas called for a compromise between workers, capitalists,
and the state. He instituted wide-ranging land reform, redistributing
47% of all cultivatable land. He began to nationalise the assets of the oil
industry, including the refineries of the Standard Oil Company, which
was owned by the Rockefeller family. The nationalisation of natural
resources was a first step against foreign political and economic power
in the country, towards the appropriation of national resources and
political independence from the imperial role of the United States.
The Soviet Revolution in 1917 was a disruptive event that had global
The Soviet Revolution and long-lasting effects. Its social organisation ideals and economic
model created an alternative to the capitalist system. It was a viable
alternative for many countries until the twenty-first century. At the
beginning of the twentieth century, it was a scary nightmare for
capitalists who sought ways to manage and accommodate restive
workers rather than run the risk of falling under their hammers and
sickles. In fact, the Soviet Union was initially based on the communist
ideals of redistribution, equality and workers’ power.
The revolution was led by the Bolsheviks - one of their most prominent
leaders was V.I. Lenin - who conceded the peasants’ demands for
land ownership and the equal division of land amongst the farming
population, before a compulsory collectivisation of rural areas was
set up.
The economic model of growth was based on a Five-Year Plan that
rested on four pillars: heavy industry and machinery production
was priviliged, businesses got acces to bank credit, agriculture was
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
97
collectivised, schooling was made universal and compulsory. Because

of these measures, the economy started to grow rapidly. This came
at a high human cost, especially due to forced collectivisation of
agriculture causing mass famine and starvation in Ukraine and some
other parts of the USSR. By 1940, thousands of factories, dams, and
power plants had been built, and the heavy industry boomed. Soviet
iron production was twice what Britain produced, and electric power
generation was brought to the whole country. The Soviet Union
quickly became a solid power with expansionary ambitions that
increasingly moved away from the ideals of equality and used ever
more repressive methods to impose domination upon its satellites.
Industrial capitalism widened the gap between the social classes and
Class conflicts and
increased inequality within societies, between regions of the same
the welfare state
state, between states, and between world regions. Conflicts between
classes increased, and so did the demands and needs of workers,
peasants and the lower social strata at large. This conflict is usually
known as the ‘social question’. After the First World War and until
the end of the 1920s, strikes and protests marked most industrialised
countries.
Industrialised states began raising tariffs on imported goods to
protect their manufactures on the market; this resulted in reduced
international trade in industrial goods. This reduction led bankers in
the United States to call in loans given to European countries. This
demand for repayment of loans resulted in a panic amongst investors
and the stock market in the United States crashed in October 1929.
The Great Depression caused wealth to vanish overnight, banks to
fail, and the savings of millions to evaporate. The world economy
entered a vicious, downward spiral and factories laid off workers. The
unemployment rate increased dramatically. In the United States, the
unemployment rate reached 27%, and 44% of workers in Germany
lost their jobs. Under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the
United States enacted a plan called the “New Deal”; it was economic,
political and cultural at the same time. It was a deal between the
state, capitalism, and citizens.
The state multiplied its redistributive, protecting and caring functions,
but citizens had to contribute more to the state’s financing, receiving
more assistance in exchange. To avoid revolutionary changes in
societies, states became active mediators in economic and social
affairs. The state generally withdrew and redistributed no more
than 10% of GDP in the first half of the twentieth century, but that
increased to 50% in the second half of the twentieth century.
98
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The political system of democracy
GOVERNMENT SPENDING (% GDP), INCLUDING INTEREST GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES, AS

SHARE OF NATIONAL GDP
70%
60%
50%
UK
GERMANY
USA
40% JAPAN
30%
20%
10%
0%
1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2011
The state’s role in managing care dramatically increased after the

Second World War, and there was a call for the creation of a welfare
state. The welfare state, especially in Western Europe, provided
meaningful gains for the working classes in health care, education,
and pensions.
The aftermath of the Great Depression and the spread of socialism

The political system
of democracy put pressure on the political system in European countries and the
United States in the 1930s. The nation state and the political system,
which was a democracy, increasingly limited the actions of capitalism
in these countries. Democracy is a system of government that allows
citizens to express their political preferences through the right to
vote. It is articulated in institutions that guarantee civil liberties.
Parliamentary democracy is a system of democratic governance with
constraints on the power of the executive branch. Executive power is
limited in its action by the legislative branch, typically a parliament.
All of society is regulated by the judicial branch, which enforces the
laws. The articulation of these three powers within a state aims to
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
99
NUMBER OF COUNTRIES
WITH PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM
1914 1925 1945 1960 1980 2000

7 countries 25 countries 12 countries 29 countries 40 countries 87 countries
avoid a restriction of liberties and the exercise of power by a limited

number of humans over the majority.
This system is not universal, nor necessary, and was employed in many
countries only recently.
As we have seen in the previous chapter, reactionary political

Corporate states formations spread to many countries. Some of these formations
institutionalised into parties and governed some countries for decades.
Their social organisation was largely based on corporatism - that is
the organisation of a society into professional corporations serving
as organs of political representation. The main characteristics of
these states were authoritarianism, nationalism, national Catholicism,
militarism, racism, conservatism, and anti-communism. Let’s look at
two examples: Fascist Italy and Francoist Spain.
The National Fascist Party, under the leadership of Benito Mussolini,

Fascism in Italy ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943. Italian fascism promoted a corporatist
economy in which the employers and employees were brought
together in associations to represent and strengthen the collective
national economy. Organised collaboration between the classes had
to make an end to class conflict. The whole of society was mobilised
under a totalitarian one-party state, led by a dictator. This was seen
as a necessary condition to prepare the nation for armed conflict and
to respond effectively to economic difficulties.
Similar to Germany and Italy, fascism became the major political force
From revolution from the 1930s through World War II. General Francisco Franco and
to Francoist Spain
other military leaders staged a failed coup that led to the outbreak of
the Spanish Revolution. The spread of socialist and communist ideals
took root in Spain, where the revolution transformed the country’s
social organisation from 1936 to 1939. Much of Spain’s economy was
placed under the control of workers and was organised through
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Populism in Latin America
committees that resembled Soviet committees. Factories, hotels,

barbershops, and restaurants were collectivised and managed by their
workers, and run as libertarian socialist communes. A large amount
of state land was collectivised. The counterrevolution, led by Franco,
resulted in a civil war. Spanish communists and anarchists were also
supported by other anarchist and socialist groups from the Soviet
Union and Mexico, and citizens from many other countries joined the
resistance as part of the International Brigades.
After his victory, Franco established a one-party military dictatorship.
He named himself the leader as El Caudillo, a term similar to Il Duce
(Italian) for Benito Mussolini and Der Führer (German) for Adolf Hitler.
He created a corporatist parliament, the Cortes, which was established
as an instrument to dissolve contrasting opinions within the regime.
This was Franco’s idea of an organic state, a state in which dissension
and plurality became impossible. Trade unions and political parties
other than Franco’s party were forbidden and strongly repressed.
His regime committed violent human rights crimes against the Spanish
people. Concentration camps and the use of forced labour and
executions were directed against political and ideological enemies,
and caused 200,000 to 400,000 deaths.
From the 1930s to the 1960s, a specific ideology called “populism”

Populism in Latin America emerged in some Latin American countries. Populism was an alliance
between different social classes that was based on charismatic
political leadership. All these classes were rhetorically merged into
“the people”, and a charismatic leader represented the people. Hence
the leader embodied the people’s desires and needs. The leader
opposed the traditional oligarchies of landowners, who stole national
resources from the people. Political participation was characterised
by mass demonstrations in which the leader was acclaimed. Gathering
in public squares to listen to the leaders’ speech was perceived as
more important than the rights of citizens and respect for liberal
democratic procedures.
Populism was strongly nationalistic and rejected any foreign
intervention, claiming the national resources from foreign capitalists.
It advocated the breakup of vast landed estates as well as the
nationalisation of mining and petroleum companies. The ongoing
claim was of national sovereignty and independence. At the same
time, it promoted nepotistic networks that guaranteed access to
state resources. It also fostered a national culture based on spiritual
values that were imposed as the only authentic values. Dissent was
silenced by accusing opponents of being unpatriotic.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
101
Populism is ambiguous. Some populists looked at Italian fascism

with fascination, such as the populist leader Getúlio Vargas in Brazil.
Others, like General Juan Perón and Eva Perón in Argentina, shaped a
peculiar form of populism to the extent that it is known as Peronism,
and is still part of Argentinian political life.
In Latin America, populist governments tried to find an independent
path from the imperialistic intervention of the United States, from the
dreaded revolution of the socialist state, and from defeated fascism.
Populism was an original form of political and social organisation that
still influences the political life of the Americas and, more recently,
of Western Europe.
Most housing and factories in the USSR were destroyed during the
Economic planning
Second World War. 15% of the Soviet population died as did 4 out
in the Soviet bloc
of 10 men aged 20-49. The labour force was severely reduced, and
investments in modern technology were required. Central planning
once again became the solution, and the Five-Year Plan was its
symbol. It was different from capitalism as it was based on a market
supported by the state. Soviet businesses were state-owned, and they
became controlled by central planning - instead of markets. For some
time, the Soviet model seemed to become a success and it inspired
planned development in many other countries that embarked on a
socialist project.
The three decades following the Second World War were the
The “boom economy”
wealthiest in the history of many Western countries. Some historians
in the Western bloc
refer to this period as the “Glorious Thirty” as it was an unprecedented
period of growth.
This boom was supported by expanding industries, particularly in the
production of consumer goods like cars, appliances, and domestic
technology. The construction industry was another key sector for
capitalist expansion. The service sector expanded significantly, the
population was more educated, and it demanded rights and wealth.
Migrant labour was used in many sectors of the economy; it provided
cheap labour both in terms of wages and the zero cost of reproduction.
In addition to the Allies that sided with the United States in World War
Japan II, Japan also embraced the same path. In the 1950s, Japan’s industry
was restructured using more capital to expand the size of its industries
and to introduce innovative technology. The high production of steel
was allocated to domestic shipbuilding, automobiles, machinery,
and construction. Japan focused on low-cost production, and it was
102
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The household economy
US advertisings for
processed food and home
cleaning products in the
1950s.
Joyful women (the wives
of successful men is the
implicit story) are the sole
protagonists of the scene
and show their happiness
and full accomplishment in
being the “queens” of the
home.
able to ensure an expansion of consumer demand. It created a very

efficient industry that could keep commodity prices low and still pay
high wages. A substantial increase in wages, coupled with company
unions, seniority wages, and lifetime employment allowed workers to
improve their living conditions.
In most industrialised countries, unmarried women increasingly took

The household economy part in the labour market. Paid woman labour was limited to specific
sectors, particularly the service sector, and to more informal labour
circuits like domestic circuits. At the end of the nineteenth century,
new forms of birth control limited the number of children. Children
became less a source of income as child labour was prohibited; they
became more of an investment through schooling and training.
In the context of smaller and more sustainable families in the West,
the breadwinner/housewife model was supported by the legislative
and financial politics of national governments. The nuclear family
became the basic economic unit, and it experienced its peak in the
first half of the twentieth century. After the Second World War, social
movements, particularly feminist movements, contested this model as
patriarchal and unequal for women. Still, nation states used different
means to promote marriage and reproductive work for women; the
aim was to support the household economic model. This model also
became a source of investment for capitalism with the invention of
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
103
Aerial view of Levittown,

Pennsylvania, 1959
new machines that saved working time, but also reaffirmed the image
of the woman as a wife and mother that worked at home without
wages.
In the West, suburban areas are residential areas on the outskirts of

Suburban cities the city within commuting distance. Shopping malls are interspersed
with houses, which all look the same and are inhabited by a single
family. Typically, the father is a worker employed in the service sector.
Suburbs are agglomerations that promote and organise the nuclear
family; they are separate from the activities of the city but they
participate in its productive activities.
Suburbs started to dot the city surroundings in the early nineteenth
century, but they expanded together with private homeownership.
They became common during the boom-economy years with the
increase and redistribution of wealth. Suburbs also qualified as
segregated areas.
One topical example can better clarify this. Levittown was a suburb
of New York City built in 1951. Production was modelled on assembly
lines in 27 steps. Construction workers were trained to perform
one single step. This enabled quick and economical production of
identical homes. A house could be built in one day and also included
modern appliances. During the first three hours of selling, 1400 homes
were purchased. The lenders embraced a racist policy only allowing
residents of “the Caucasian race”: this racist exclusion was part of the
104
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Social movements in the United States
contract stipulated in housing rental and sales agreements.

Suburbs have increasingly represented the widening gap between
more affluent populations and poorer ones.
The late nineteenth century witnessed the crystallisation of some
Global movements streams of thoughts into political formations: parties, unions,
cooperatives, communes, and clubs. Ideologies were embedded into
nation states, like liberalism and imperialism and, more extensively
after the Soviet Revolution, communism and socialism. Unions,
parties and nations translated these ideologies into institutions that
became components of the Cold War after the 1950s.
At the same time, societies in many world regions, especially cities,
witnessed the growth and expansion of civic and social movements.
These movements were sometimes interlinked with unions and
parties, and sometimes were completely independent from any other
political organisation.
Once workers were the main political subject, but many other
subjects have taken the stage since 1968. The year 1968 represented
a watershed moment for politics on a global level. An uncountable
number of groups all over the world demanded that radical changes
be made to economic and political systems. Young people created
a social and cultural revolution that shook the foundations of many
societies. Movements spread through many cities in Argentina, Brazil,
Colombia, France, Jamaica, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Senegal, Spain,
Sweden, Yugoslavia, West Germany, and the United States.
A new political identity was forged. Racialised and discriminated
groups, like blacks and women, took to the streets demanding equality,
social and civic rights, and recognition of their identity. Students
occupied universities and demanded open access to education for
everybody. This was the beginning of public education systems in many
countries. Feminist movements demanded free and legal abortions,
equal wages, access to education, and a wage for reproductive work.
These movements had their specificities, rooted in local and national
contexts, but also conveyed broad political demands related to the
whole system. Commonality, sisterhood/brotherhood, equality, and
peace were the ideals that characterised all these movements.
The society of the United States is very distinctive due to its history.
Social movements
Indigenous populations, slavery, and migrations from many world
in the United States
regions created a “multicultural” society. Many cultures coexisted,
but this great diversity also gave rise to social hierarchies and a high
level of inequality.
New forms of political organisation and new movements spread all
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
105
A world of nations
over the country. For example, the Black Panther Party was created
by some groups of African Americans. It was founded in 1966 in
Oakland, California, in an effort to prevent brutality against and the
killing of blacks. It created free healthcare clinics, aimed for fairness
in the courts, and promoted housing for black communities. Most
of the Black Panther Party’s members and leadership were women.
United States citizens of Mexican origin created groups that merged
into the Chicano movement, which demanded equal wages, rights for
farmworkers, and public education. A broad movement demanded an
end to the Vietnam War.
In 1969, the Stonewall riots demanded equal rights and recognition
for queers, gays and lesbians, paving the way for LGBTQIA+ social
movements.
106
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Apartheid
1/2 APARTHEID
Read the following text about Apartheid.
“Apartheid (Afrikaans: ‘apartness’) was a policy that governed relations

between South Africa’s white minority and non-white majority and
sanctioned racial segregation and political and economic discrimination
against non-whites. The implementation of apartheid, often called ‘separate
development’ since the 1960s, was made possible through the Population
Registration Act of 1950, which classified all South Africans as either Bantu
(all black Africans), Coloured (those of mixed race), or White. A fourth
category - Asian (Indian and Pakistani) - was added later.
[...] A new constitution that enfranchised blacks and other racial groups was
adopted in 1993 and took effect in 1994. All-race national elections, also in
1994, produced a coalition government with a black majority led by anti-
apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, the country’s first black president. These
developments marked the end of legislated apartheid, though not of its
entrenched social and economic effects.”
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica online (adapted).
Look at the graph and pictures related to apartheid in South Africa, then tick
1
the sentences you agree with.
Apartheid...
INCOME RELATIVE TO WHITE LEVELS (%)
... has social, economic and
100% WHITE
geopolitical effects that are
probably interconnected.
80%
… no longer has any effect
today.
60% ASIAN
... had bad effects that continue Apartheid

to the present day. 40%
... removed non-white South

20% COLOURED
Africans from their homes and
forced them into segregated BLACK
neighbourhoods. 0%
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020
... restricted the Black
population to “tribal
homelands”, also known as Source: Borvan53@WikimediaCommons.
Bantustans.
Annual per capita personal income by apartheid classification of racial
... is based on a codified system
groups in South Africa. In order to show the effects of apartheid over the
of racial stratification: in this
years following the official end of this regime, the diagram keeps the racial
hierarchy, the language and
grouping as it was at that time, even if it is false.
culture of the black population
were at the bottom.
... is a way to live together in

peace.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
107
2/2 APARTHEID
... is based on social injustice

and inequality. Diversity is not
recognised as a resource; it is
the pretext of prevarication.
... is not a choice for the natives;

it is imposed upon them by non-
natives who want to overwhelm
other humans and trample on
their rights.
Imagine you are a teacher who Sign in Durban (South Africa) that
2
wants to explain apartheid to states the beach is for whites only
your students: use the ticked under section 37 of the Durban
sentences to write down a short beach by-laws. The languages are
text for your lesson. English, Afrikaans and Zulu.
3 Now play the following game.
Work in groups of four or five

students.
Each group selects one criterion
to identify a “category” of
classmates; for example, those
who wear glasses, those who
have curly hair, those who come
from the same neighbourhood,
etc.
The criterion is not revealed to
the other classmates.
One by one, each group
discloses the category they have
selected and announces that
all classmates in that category
must leave the classroom.
Each excluded classmate writes
down his or her feelings on
paper.
Each member of the group that
selected the criterion writes
down his or her feelings on
paper.
Papers from both groups are
read aloud in class and the Source: Htonl@WikimediaCommons.
feelings are shared with other Map of Bantustans in South Africa at the end of the apartheid period, before
classmates. those areas were reincorporated into South Africa state-owned territory.
108
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Land grabbing: where and why?
1/4 LAND GRABBING: WHERE AND WHY?

The expression “land grabbing” (or “land grab”) usually defines the
controversial acquisition of vast expanses of land by large national and
international corporations or state-powers. Customary and legal rights are
often disregarded, violated or bent with the complicity of the governments’
economic lobbies, and access to land is thereafter denied to local
populations.
Read the following text, then do the activities.
TEXT 1
Gold prices hit historic highs following the 2008 financial crisis, catalysing an
international gold rush. Along Ghana’s Offin River, recent mining activities
have irreversibly transformed the landscape and lives of local people. Cocoa
farms, subsistence crops, forest, and other land uses have been cleared, with
significant implications for livelihoods and food security. Rivers and streams
were rerouted into mining sites to wash sediment, impacting hydrology,
including water quality.
Source: H. Hausermann, R. Amankwah, E. Effah, D. Ferring, G. Mentz, B.
Atosona, A. Chang, C. Mansell, G. Yeboah Asuamah, N. Sastri, Land-grabbing,
land-use transformation and social differentiation: Deconstructing ‘‘small-
scale” in Ghana’s recent gold rush, World Development, 2018.
TEXT 2
Since the mid 2000s, rich industrialised countries, including their investors
from North America, Europe, China, India, the Middle East, Brazil and South
Africa, embarked on the purchase and/or lease of millions of hectares of
arable land in Madagascar, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and
Ghana, and also in countries emerging from conflict like the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sudan.
Source: S.P.J. Batterbury and F. Ndi, Land grabbing in Africa, in J.A. Binns,
K. Lynch and E. Nel (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of African Development,
2018 (adapted).
TEXT 3
BRASILIA - Right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro issued a new decree on
Wednesday, putting decisions on indigenous land claims in the hands of the
Ministry of Agriculture. The temporary decree once again removes decisions
on the demarcation of reservation lands from the National Indigenous
Affairs agency FUNAI and restores them to a ministry that is run by farming
interests.
Source: Reuters, 20 Jun 2019 (adapted).
TEXT 4
A large-scale tourism project by a Chinese corporation in Koh Kong
Province (Cambodia) forced hundreds of families from coastal land they had
occupied for many decades. Families were given no choice and only meagre
compensation; resisting groups have faced violence by private security
guards and the Cambodian military. Families were resettled into the interior
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
109

of the Botum Sakor National Park, where illegal logging remains one of few
options to sustain their livelihoods
Source: A. Neef, Tourism, Land Grabs and Displacement, Tourism Watch,
2019 (adapted).
TEXT 6
The expansion of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries for safari tourism
and trophy hunting has forced thousands of pastoralist Maasai from their
customary lands [in Tanzania]. The military and the police have used brute
force for evictions; no compensation and no alternative settlement areas
have been provided, and there are no institutionalised grievance mechanisms
in place.
2019 (adapted).
TEXT 7
On Boracay Island (Western Visayas region of the Philippines) and in
Hacienda Looc (Batangas Province), the delineation of tourism economic
zones and the expansion of large-scale resort complexes have pushed
indigenous and non-indigenous communities to the fringes and rendered
coastal areas and fishing grounds inaccessible to subsistence farmers and
fisherfolk.
2019 (adapted).
TEXT 8
Argentina has experienced a significant expansion in the size of agricultural
and livestock farms, and there are well-known cases of land purchases by
large foreign companies. Regarding the cases of “land grabbing”, several
negotiations have been detected involving Argentinian provinces and foreign
states (Saudi Arabia, South Korea, China and Qatar).
Source: S. Gómez (ed), The land market in Latin America and the Caribbean:
concentration and foreignization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations: Santiago, 2014 (adapted).
TEXT 9
Bolivia has a high concentration and foreignization of land ownership,
basically grouped into three categories: soybean and other oil seeds with
rotation crops such as wheat, maize, and rice; livestock production; and
forestry.
110
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Land grabbing: where and why?

TEXT 10
In Colombia, what stands out are the processes of concentration and
foreignization of land for the production of raw materials for biofuels.
TEXT 11
In the case of Paraguay, land concentration and foreignization processes
exist in the soybean, maize and wheat sectors, with a strong presence of
companies from Argentina and Brazil in the areas close to the borders with
these two countries.
TEXT 12
In Nicaragua, the highest concentration can be found in the forestry sector
where the biggest farm has 10,000 hectares, and in livestock production with
13,000 hectares. Land concentration and foreignization occur with capital
investment from the region, mainly from Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and
Guatemala, but also with Canadian and Norwegian interests.
TEXT 13
Due to rapid economic growth, Russian oligarchs began to search for new
frontiers for their capital, and the 2002 land code allowed land sales, so land
began to attract investment. Land grabbing expands at a rapid pace and,
in some cases, it results in dispossession and little or no compensation.
Wealthy landowners easily escape the implementation of new laws regarding
the control of underutilised land, while there is a danger that these laws
enable the eviction of rural dwellers.
Source: O. Visser, N. Mamonova, M. Spoor, Oligarchs, megafarms and
land reserves: understanding land grabbing in Russia, “Journal of Peasant
Studies”, 2012 (adapted).
1 Fill in the table. POSSIBLE WAYS TO PREVENT

ECONOMIC AIMS OF THOSE WHO LAND GRABBING FOR EACH OF THE
CARRY OUT LAND GRABBING ECONOMIC AIMS LISTED IN THE
(MENTIONED IN THE TEXTS ABOVE) FIRST COLUMN
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
111
Pinpoint the countries where

2
the land grabbing processes
mentioned in the texts are
occurring.
THE HISTORY OF MAY 1ST

At its national convention in Chicago, held in 1884, the Federation of
Organized Trades and Labor Unions launched a campaign for the eight-hour
working day that would have commenced on May 1st, 1886. This proclamation
was reiterated by many unions and organisations for the next two years,
stating that it would be supported by strikes and demonstrations.
More than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States
walked off their jobs on May 1st, 1886. The strike continued and participation
increased for three days when, on May 3rd, violence broke out and strikers
were harassed, arrested, and killed in Haymarket Square.
In 1889, the International Socialist Conference declared that, in
commemoration of the “Haymarket Massacre”, May 1st would be an
international holiday for labour, now known in many places as International
Workers’ Day.
Search the web to find out:

How May 1st is currently celebrated in your country?
What kind of events usually take place on that day?
What issues are highlighted on that day?
112
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Banners from 1960s world movements
1/4 BANNERS FROM THE 1960s WORLD MOVEMENTS

Look at the photos and read the
demonstrators’ banners and 1
billboards.
Then complete the activities. Anti-war demonstration in
Chicago, 1968, with banners
stating: ... FOR THE VIETCONG,
FIGHT US IMPERIALISM, FREE
ANTI-WAR ... , EVERYWHERE ...
REVOLUTIONARY ... CONTINGENT.
Strikers in Southern France, 1968.

Their sign says USINE OCCUPÉE
PAR LES OUVRIERS or “Factory
occupied by the workers”. The
billboard behind them says that ...
DES HOMMES DE LA DIRECTION
... FASCISTES ... ONT EFFECTUÉ
UN COUP DE FORCE CONTRE NOS
CAMARADES QUI OCCUPATIENT ..
LES CHOSES NE RESTERONT PAS
LÀ! ELLES SE RETOURNERONT
CONTRE LEURS AUTEURS! CE
MATIN .... MANIFESTATION ...
TRAVAILLEURS ... meaning “...
members of the management...
fascists... have made a power
grab against our comrades who
occupied... Things will not stay
like this! They will turn against
their authors! ... This morning ...
demonstration... workers...”
Rally against the Vietnam War in

Vienna (Austria), 1968. The banner
reads: OSTERMARSCH 68 FÜR
FRIEDEN UND ABRÜSTUNG. In
English: “Easter March ‘68 for
peace and disarmament”. The
billboard on the right says: Gegen
den Krieg der USA in Vietnam
- Gegen Volkermord, meaning:
“Against the Vietnam War by the
USA. Against mass murder”
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
113
Demonstration for the right

to divorce in Italy, 1962. The
billboards read: IN AMORE
VOGLIAMO GLI STESSI DIRITTI
DEGLI UOMINI. VOGLIAMO IL
PICCOLO DIVORZIO. LE ITALIANE
E L’AMORE. English translation:
“In love, we want the same rights
as men”, “We want the piccolo
divorce”, “Italian women and
love”. (The “piccolo divorzio” was
a bill regarding the woman’s right
to divorce a man who disappeared
without leaving a trace or who
attempted to kill his wife).
March in Helsinki against

the Soviet-led invasion of
Czechoslovakia in August 1968.
The billboards read: VIVA
DUBCEK! SOSIALISMIN
PUOLESTA PAKKOA VASTAAN. In
English: “Hurrah for Dubcek!” “For
socialism against coercion”.
Banners on a building of the TU

Berlin protesting the passing of
the Emergency Laws, which the
Allies requested of the Federal
Republic of Germany, 1968. The
banner reads: STREIKT GEGEN
DIE NS-GESETZE, meaning
“Strikes against the NS -laws”.
ARBEITER SOLIDARISIERT
STREIK GEGEN NOTSTAND,
meaning “Workers show
your solidarity. Strike against
emergency”.
114
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Banners from 1960s world movements
Banner from the demonstration

supporting the Prague Spring on
the Red Square in Moscow, 25
August 1968. It reads: За вашу
и нашу свободу, “ZA VASHU I
NASHU SVOBODU” in the Cyrillic
alphabet, meaning “For our
freedom and yours”.
Civil rights march on

Washington, D.C. in August
1963. The Billboards read: END
SEGREGATED RULES IN PUBLIC
SCHOOLS. WE DEMAND VOTING
RIGHTS NOW! JOBS FOR ALL
NOW!
Demonstration of the science

students of the student
movement in Mexico City, 1968.
The billboard on the right says:
LAS DEMANDAS CUANDO SON
JUSTAS SE DEBEN DEFENDER
HASTA LA VICTORIA TOTAL,
meaning: “Requests, when they
are fair, must be defended until
total victory”.
10
March in Italy for public schools,
1968. Banners read: LA SCUOLA
AL SERVIZIO DELLE MASSE
POPOLARI, NO ALLA POLIZIA
NELLA SCUOLA, CULTURA
POPOLARE NELLA SCUOLA,
meaning “The school should be
for the popular masses”, “No to
the police in schools”, “Popular
culture at school”.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
115
Pinpoint the countries where

1
these photos were taken. Then
inquire about other countries
where social protests took place
in 1968 and mark them on the
same map. What conclusion can
you draw from their diffusion
around the planet?
Demonstrators in the photos

2
above are protesting against
specific national or international
historical facts related to some
aspect of human life. List these
aspects and then choose one
or more of them and do some
research to find out if they are
still at the centre of protests
around the world.
116
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Women’s vote in the world
1/2 WOMEN’S VOTE IN THE WORLD

Watch the video by the Encyclopaedia Britannica entitled “Timeline of
Women’s Suffrage Worldwide” (you can find it online). Then complete the
activities.
Map published in the Harper’s Magazine’s issue of 25 April 1908 showing

the situation of women’s suffrage in the world at that time. In Canada, were
municipal suffrage was regulated by each province, women’s suffrage was
limited in many cases to widows and unmarried women.
Source: Wikimedia.
Stop the video at the moment
1
showing which country was the YEAR WHEN WOMEN GOT THE RIGHT
COUNTRY
first and last where females TO VOTE
could vote.
Then keep watching until
you notice some pieces of
information you did not expect.
Take note of the main steps of
the long way that led women to
acquire the right to vote.
Are you surprised by some of

the dates? Explain what made
you surprised and why.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
117
2/2 WOMEN’S VOTE IN THE WORLD
In many countries around the

2
world, women had to fight
hard to be entitled to vote.
Imagine you are a woman who
is fighting for this right; write
down at least 10 reasons why
women’s voices must be heard.
THE WELFARE STATE

The welfare state is a “concept of government in which the state or a
well-established network of social institutions plays a key role in the
protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of citizens”
(Encyclopaedia Britannica online).
Complete the table below, then collect information about the welfare state
1
in the world and verify whether your answers/ideas are consistent with the
facts.
WHAT SOCIAL SERVICES ARE ECONOMIC MEANS (HOW CAN THE

UNDERLAYING PRINCIPLES
PROVIDED? STATE PROVIDE THESE SERVICES?)
118
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The view from the moon
WORLD
VIEWS
The end of the nineteenth century witnessed the invention of

Cinema narrates the world the cinema. This invention reshaped the world of representation,
imagination and narrative. It transmitted new content, ideas, and
information about places humans had never seen or heard of. It
promoted an individual understanding of the world that could be
conveyed through stories and spread easily. Movies could build
new narratives, invent histories, give information, and create artistic
products. The first movies recorded trains, factories, and a trip to the
moon: a story that some humans would experience a few decades
later.
Screenshot from Le Voyage

dans la Lune (A Trip to the
Moon), a 1902 French film
directed by Georges Méliès.
The film tells the story of a
group of astronomers who
travel to the Moon and meet
some lunar inhabitants.
Two elements completely changed the view of planet Earth. The first
The view from the moon was electricity, which lit up the sky, and illuminated city streets and
houses. The map of the planet could be traced through lights, rather
than only by political entities or geographical elements.
The second was the view of planet Earth from the galaxy. The Soviet
satellite Sputnik 1 was launched into space and orbited the Earth for
the first time in 1957. The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the
first human to travel into space in 1961. He became an international
celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles. He also became
a “Hero of the Soviet Union”, the highest Soviet honour. Valentina
Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963. These scientific
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
119
A world of nations
achievements were also seen as accomplishments during the Cold

War.
The first human landed on the moon in 1969. Newspapers, journals, and
history books have glorified that moment, and the image was shared
all over the world. Despite this, Neil Armstrong, the U.S. astronaut
who landed on the moon, reminded others that the most exciting
thing for an astronaut is not walking but flying and orbiting. Orbiting
in space gave humans a broad view of the planet; from outer space
you don’t see any borders on planet Earth. Humanity also started
to understand that it is part of an immense galaxy that is probably
inhabited by other life forms.
As we saw in Volume 2, the category of woman was forged and defined

The judicial category
in Western Europe over time. The state developed a keen interest in
of woman
enforcing the categories of “man” and “woman”. It was not a smooth
process and women strenuously opposed it, especially between the
fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. This process is still at play today;
not all women identify themselves in the category of woman, nor do
they give the same meaning to the term “woman” that Western states
have reinforced, by different means, over time.
The colonisation of Africa was another driver for the expansion of
European culture. Since such categories didn’t exist in Sub-Saharan
Africa, they had to be invented. Humans whose bodies didn’t
correspond were surgically altered to fit one category or the other.
During the British colonisation of Nigeria, for example, a domestic
sphere was created and the legal category of woman was invented.
There were no women in Yoruba society. There were obinrin, which are
anatomical females. Their anatomy, just like that of unrin (anatomical
males), did not privilege them to any social positions, nor did it
jeopardise their access to community life. Colonial governments did
not recognise females leaders among the Yoruba, so the creation of
the category of “woman” was one of the very first accomplishments of
the colonial state. The transformation of state power to male-gender
power was accomplished at one level by excluding females from state
structures. This was in sharp contrast to Yoruba organisation, in which
power was not gender-determined.
When you were a small child, you may have listened to stories about
The female body the life and birth of humans. Humans were only able to explain how a
and reproduction
human is conceived in 1875. Before then, there were many hypotheses
concerning human reproduction. These theories usually assigned the
active part of creating life to men; women were simply recipients.
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Nationalism of states
Women were always a female body that is inclined to reproduce

human life and an object of study.
Anatomy was used in Western Europe to study the human body
and its functioning. In the nineteenth century, coinciding with
industrialisation and scientific racism, physicians and doctors
perfected some surgical techniques by operating on enslaved black
women without anaesthesia or conducting experiments on female
bodies without permission. In the West, the female body was an object
to be manipulated, used and analysed; women had almost no rights
over their bodies. Contraception and abortion were illegal until the
twentieth century when the Soviet Union legalised abortion for the
first time in 1922. This legalisation opened a new path of recognition
for women’s rights relating to their bodies and their lives.
In many countries all over the world, feminist movements demanded
the right to have abortions and suitable public hospital facilities in the
1950s and 1960s. This right is recognised in very few states, as many
states still consider female bodies as the property of the nation.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, European states

Nationalism of states and the United States invented and improved nationalist traditions
that could give humans living in the same territory a common
identity. Citizens shared a homogenised culture and shared ideas
related to their life and their relationship with the world. Populations
were increasingly disciplined in their workplaces and in their lives as
citizens of a nation. In a nation state, the political space coincides
with a cultural, linguistic and, sometimes, uniform ethnic space. This
implies the ‘invention’ of a state’s own idiom, its “national” history,
and a collective self-understanding to demarcate the boundaries of
national purity.
Nationalism of an exclusive, ethnic, and cultural nature began to take
shape in Europe in the late nineteenth century. It contributed to the
way that Europeans related to the rest of the world. Nation states
instilled nationalist traditions and ideals onto their populations. The
superiority of one national group - “my people” - was opposed to
the others due to supposed natural differences. Living in a particular
nation defined humans intrinsically.
In the twentieth century, first printing presses, then the radio, cinema
and television (after World War II) changed the way that information
and knowledge was circulated, and how communities were created.
Schools and sports - particularly football after the 1960s - played a
key role in spreading the idea of belonging to a nation and its people.
Like many other authoritarian regimes, fascism invented traditions
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
121
A world of nations
assumed as natural and rooted in ancient times. For example, Francoism

promoted a unitary national identity by repressing cultural diversity.
Bullfighting and flamenco were promoted as national traditions.
Other traditions not considered Spanish, and related to regional or
local identities, were suppressed. The invention of Spanish tradition
was largely artificial and became a national feature.
In Latin America, nationalism played a different role as it embodied
the idea of independence from an external power. In this nation-
making process, all members of society could recognise the new
nation as their own. In some countries, like Mexico, indigenous culture
was incorporated into the national culture. This apparently positive
and purposeful programme of recognition of each part of society in
the newly born structure of the state was merely symbolic. In fact,
indigenous people and those in lower social strata rarely saw their
living conditions improve despite the incorporation of their culture
into the national culture.
Schools were a key instrument to socialise and teach citizens the idiom
Education in industrialised and history of their nation. Education had once been a luxury for the
countries
elites, but after the end of the nineteenth century, basic education
was provided to forge a national identity and to transmit the ideals
of discipline and labour. It also prepared children to become good
workers through a system of precise time periods for classes, just like
on the factory floor. Education also became useful for reducing the
amount of on-the-job training in factories. Hence capitalists’ costs
were borne by the state.
At the same time, education became a powerful tool in the hands of
those who were entitled to this right. Education gave them knowledge
and an awareness of many aspects of life. Nevertheless, primary
education was a privilege given to some classes in industrialised
countries: basic education only became a right in the 1950s.
Work was performed for survival and reproduction - even if it was

The booming ideology painful and hard. But under capitalism, work increasingly became a
of labour
means of exploitation. As we discussed in Volume 2, slavery and various
forms of coerced labour were the most exploitative, profitable and
dehumanising types of work. Indigenous populations were labelled
part of nature due to their supposed laziness or because they were
not productive enough, and they fell outside the capitalist economy.
Different kinds of workers, all over the world, worked under a
variety of conditions and legal statuses: slaves, wage and indentured
workers. All these workers were subject to constant adaptations, in
122
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Being poor and backward
response to rebellions and to make the workers work harder. Humans

in industrialised regions were filled with labour ideology, and daily
life was structured and organised around the factory’s operating
hours. Working was no longer an activity for reproduction and self-
subsistence, nor a creative activity. It was always more a means for
social recognition and a way to contribute to national development
and state success.
As new networks of railways, steamships, and telegraph

The global regulation communications connected distant places, the discrepancies in local
of time
time-telling became a global problem. The arrival and departure of
goods and humans had to be coordinated, so too did many other
elements of political and economic life. This concrete necessity to
legislate time was difficult as it has very personal, social, cultural, and
symbolic meanings. Debates and disagreements on the varieties of
time attracted a wide array of observers: German government officials,
British social reformers, colonial administrators, Indian nationalists,
Arab reformers, and Muslim scholars. Timekeeping in Japan divided a
day in different intervals, the length of an each hour varied over the
course of the year. When the first Japanese railway was completed in
1873, the time table was standardised by introducing the Western 24-
hour clock.
In general, the standardisation of clock times remained incomplete
until the 1940s. The creation of a uniform time was a long, messy
process that was frequently seen as imperialistic. France hotly
contested the fact that the standardised international time zones
start in Greenwich.
The homogenisation of time in places like Beirut or Beijing meant that
they were at risk of falling victim to European imperial aspirations.
In the late nineteenth century, ideas about evolution of societies were

Being poor and backward used to explain why some populations were rich and others poor.
Affluent societies were considered to have virtue, while poor societies
were characterised by sloth; wealthy societies were “advanced” and
poor societies were considered “backwards”.
White populations in the United States and Europe increasingly
defined their identity in terms of superiority: they organised humanity
into a hierarchy that became a hierarchy of nations and world regions.
Europeans presented a so-called scientific explanation for the rise
of the West and the “backwardness” of Asians, Africans, and Latin
Americans. Many Europeans and North Americans embraced the idea
that evolution could be applied to human society and the relationship
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
123
A world of nations
between different races. The gap between the wealthiest and most
impoverished parts of the world was then considered as part of the
natural order of things. Ideology about evolution became comforting
and reassuring; the inherent difference between the “West” and
the “rest” of the world was gratifying. The elites also adopted this
distinction in world regions that were considered backwards. In Latin
America, for example, light-skinned descendants of Europeans ruled
countries like Mexico and Brazil, where indigenous, dark-skinned
populations were labelled backwards and underdeveloped. These
characteristics were supposed to be the cause of their poverty.
Other racist theories nurtured ideals of the superiority of the “white
man”. Eugenics was applied to improve humans through genetic
manipulation, by increasing valuable human characteristics associated
with Northern Europeans and by eliminating negative traits associated
with the poor and non-whites. For example, the Mexican and Brazilian
governments started a programme to encourage the migration of
light-skinned Europeans to their countries so that their populations
could be “whitened”. Eugenics contributed to racist ideas about
the supposed superiority of whites and the inferiority of southern
and eastern Europeans, in addition to Asians, Africans, indigenous
populations and Native Americans.
One of the long-term outcomes of these racist theories was a
Eurocentric perspective of the world, whereby Europe was always
dominant or destined to be dominant. Racist ideas about the
superiority of white, Christian, “civilising” missionaries in the Atlantic
were linked with the Japanese racist notion of superiority in the Pacific.
These ideas contributed to European and Japanese colonisation and
imperial programmes, and a belief that the world had to be ordered
with them on the top.
The spread of reactionary social formations also revealed racist

The ideologies of white
ideologies in the 1920s. These ideologies were conveyed and imposed
supremacy
through laws, through forms of imprisonment and forced labour,
and through mass killings. The racial laws enacted by Italian fascists
and German Nazis aimed to isolate, deport and expel a specific
type of individuals. Concentration camps were a feature of many
governments, even of non-fascist governments like the United States,
which organised concentration camps for people of Japanese ancestry
during the Second World War.
Nazi concentration camps were the deadliest; they pursued the
elimination of “non-Aryan races”. In this ideology, the Aryan race was
superior to all others. This racial grouping was invented in the late
124
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Human rights and international organisation
nineteenth century to identify people of European heritage. The

white, Christian, heterosexual male was assumed to be the superior
model of humanity. Nazi concentration camps killed around six
million humans. The Holocaust mainly murdered European Jews in
gas chambers at extermination camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau and
Treblinka.
In the Ravensbrück concentration camp, between 30,000 and 90,000
lesbians, pro-abortion activists, roma, sex workers, communists and
socialists (known as “political prisoners”) were killed through torture,
gas chambers, heavy labour, starvation, and medical experiments on
their bodies. The Nazi motto “Arbeit macht frei”, meaning work sets
you free, was placed at the entrance of concentration camps. Forced
work until death was the aim of all the camps.
After the defeat of the Axis powers, fascist groups - armed and
unarmed – continued to multiply in many European and American
countries and to promote the ideology of the superiority of white,
Christian, heterosexual males.
Global waves of migration changed the pattern of world languages as

Colonisation of culture migrants took their languages to new lands. The spread of languages
demonstrated the impact of empire and migration. Millions of migrants
moved from Britain to places outside of the empire, making English
the language of government for a quarter of the world’s population.
French became the official language in large parts of Africa, Southeast
Asia, Syria, Lebanon, and several Pacific islands. Russian became the
official language in newly conquered areas of Central Asia. In the
same era, Chinese, Arabic, Gujarati, and Tagalog languages spread to
new areas. Migration and encounters with other cultures remoulded
European languages. They had an aggressive or even destructive
function since European colonial languages were used and imposed
as a form of cultural hegemony.
The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal

Human rights and
Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. This declaration consists of 30
international organisation
articles affirming an individual’s rights. Although the articles are not
legally binding, they have been elaborated in subsequent international
treaties and laws. Human rights are defined as moral principles or
norms that describe certain standards of human behaviour. They are
commonly understood as fundamental rights to which a person is
inherently entitled regardless of his or her nation, language, religion,
ethnic origin or status. In principle, they are applicable everywhere
and at all times, and they apply to everyone in the same way.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
125
A world of nations
The modern concept of universal human rights is rooted in the idea

of ‘natural rights’ that became prominent during the Enlightenment in
Europe, and that featured prominently in the political discourse of the
American and French Revolutions. Debates over modern human rights
were triggered as a reaction to slavery, torture, genocide, famines and
war crimes.
The idea of universal human rights has been criticised from different
standpoints. Some debate the notion of universal since some individual
rights conflict with some cultures and threaten their survival. Others
have criticised universalism as an expression of cultural, economic
or political imperialism. In particular, the concept of human rights is
often claimed to be rooted in a Western liberal world-view that is not
necessarily taken as the standard elsewhere. Furthermore, states all
over the world have placed national loyalties above universal values
and have violated human rights for all kinds of ‘national security’
reasons.
The invention of The world was divided into two blocs after the Second World War.
the Third World and The context of the Cold War created a new world order. The United
underdevelopment
States and its European allies were considered the First World. The
Soviet Union and its satellites were the Second World. “Developing”
nations like India, Egypt, Indonesia, and large parts of Latin America
came to be known as the Third World. These regions were the poorest
yet rich in resources; they were underdeveloped but not aligned with
either bloc. By the 1970s, the most impoverished areas of the world,
particularly Africa, were regarded as the Fourth World. All these
terms reflect the divisions of wealth and power that have come to
define the world. The idea of a Third World is a form of imperialism
by the First World.
The Third World was portrayed as underdeveloped and non-
industrialised; they were seen as traditional societies that lacked
technology and were inhabited by lagging peoples. The distinction
between nature and society, which had been promoted by European
colonisers since the sixteenth century, gave way to the distinction
between underdeveloped and developed countries. Some peoples
and nations were now part of society but regarded as less developed
and inferior to others. The West or the First World promoted a
particular form of inclusion of Third World countries: they could
be included but in a subaltern position. They could become part of
the First World, but under a progressive and slow development that
should be guided by the West.
As we have seen in this Volume, the dominant position of the United
126
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Binary gender roles: the breadwinner
TO GLOBAL CAPITALISM and the housewife
GALL-PETERS The Gall-Peters projection distorts the shape of landmasses so that they have
PROJECTION the correct size relative to each other. It was at the centre of a major debate
when it was proposed as a replacement for the Mercator projection, which is
(Source:
considered Eurocentric since it enlarges the actual areas of Europe, the United
Wikimedia Commons) States and Russia. On the Mercator projection, regions along the equator
appear smaller than they actually are.
Arno Peters believed that this justified the fact that regions crossed by the
equator were considered more impoverished and underdeveloped, and he
proposed a more accurate projection.
States and Western European countries was forged to a large extent

on an unequal and unbalanced relationship with other world regions.
In fact, these regions were forced into the role of producers of raw
materials and exporters of cheap labour. Despite the many economic
policies enacted by Third World countries, the system is unbalanced
and unequal.
The label of underdeveloped was also employed within nations. For
example, after the nation state was formed in Italy, the southern
part of the country was deindustrialised and included in a subaltern
position. It was considered underdeveloped in comparison with the
North.
Hierarchies have increasingly shaped the world: humans, political
formations and cultures have become more connected through
efficient transportation and frequent contacts and exchanges. At
the same time, this connection was organised into hierarchies; some
countries were more relevant and developed than others, and men
were more productive and capable than women.
Binary gender roles: the After the Second World War, profound changes also occurred in
breadwinner and the
housewife family structures. In addition to the invention of specific traditions
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
127
and cultures, nation states also conveyed an idea of the traditional

family: a father, a mother, children (preferably a boy and a girl). The
nuclear family was and still is sanctioned as “natural”. The nuclear
family is independent and provides subsistence to its members; it
does not rely on other members.
The men, the fathers of the family, ensured the family’s survival
through a job, usually in a factory. This model relied on the man’s so-
called family wage; this kept female labour in the realm of the home
and reserved the public domain for men. Married women performed
reproductive work at home. While men were trained for working,
women were less educated as reproductive work at home was not
considered to require specific skills. Men were the “breadwinner”,
while women were “mothers” and “housewives”. This role was the only
acceptable role for a woman: to be a woman, wife, mother, housewife.
Social movements in the 1950s and 1960s opposed this construction,
which trapped human relationships into the nuclear family and sexual
differences into established gender roles.
LOOKING
AHEAD
At the beginning of the 1970s, the world was more connected and
interdependent than it had ever been. At the same time, it was
divided by the Cold War and by distinctions between the First and
Third Worlds. Expanding social and civic movements that demanded
equality and rights also challenged many nations. Nation states
primarily responded to social conflicts and political pressure by
granting more rights and opening political participation to once
excluded groups.
128
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Is fascism a permanent tendency?
IS FASCISM A PERMANENT TENDENCY?

The Italian author Umberto Eco wrote a short essay on fascism as a
permanent tendency in 1995.
Read the following sentences from his essay and highlight the keywords
1
related to the “features of fascism” mentioned by the author.
I think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would
like to call Ur-Fascism or Eternal Fascism.
“[...] The first feature of Ur-Fascism is the cult of tradition.

[Another feature is] the cult of action for action’s sake. Action, being beautiful
in itself, must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking
is a form of emasculation. Therefore, culture is suspect insofar as it is
identified with critical attitudes. Distrust of the intellectual world has always
been a symptom of Ur-Fascism.”
“[...] Ur-Fascism grows and seeks consensus by exploiting and exacerbating

the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely
fascist movement is an appeal against intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist
by definition.”
“[...] Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration. That is why

one of the most typical features of historical fascism was the appeal to a
frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings
of political humiliation and frightened by the pressure of lower social
groups.”
“[...] To people who feel deprived of a clear social identity, Ur-Fascism says
that their only privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same
country. This is the origin of nationalism. Besides, the only people who
can provide an identity to the nation are its enemies. Thus, the obsession
with a plot, possibly an international one, is at the root of the Ur-Fascist
psychology.”
“[...] For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for
struggle. Thus pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. It is bad because life is
permanent warfare.”
“[...] Since both permanent war and heroism are difficult games to play,
the Ur-Fascist transfers his will to power to sexual matters. This is the
origin of machismo (which implies both disdain for women and intolerance
and condemnation of non-standard sexual habits, from chastity to
homosexuality).”
“[...] Ur-Fascism [makes] use of an impoverished vocabulary and an

elementary syntax in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical
reasoning.”
Source: U. Eco, Ur-Fascism, The New York Review of Books, 1995 (adapted).
2 Can you see any of the described features of fascism in the world today?
Search online and write a report of your findings.
3 Finally, debate this topic in class. Your teacher will be the moderator.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
129
A MAGAZINE FOR THE RACISM

Look at the covers of three The first issue of the magazine entitled La difesa della razza (“The Defence
1
issues of the magazine and of Race” in Italian) was published in Italy on 5 August 1938; this was the
complete the activities. same year that racial laws were enacted by the fascist regime. The magazine
advocated “biological” racism, conveying a hierarchical vision of humanity
divided into groups based on “a naturalistic criterion”. Politicians and
A. scholars wrote for the magazine. For example, Guido Landra, who was an
Find the member of the race anthropology assistant at the University of Rome, published an article in
that “creates a great civilization the first issue affirming that “the man who belongs to a race that creates a
great civilization, has in its plasma and in its seed immense treasures. These
and that has immense
treasures are missing and will always be missing for men of another race,
treasures” in each cover and even if for contingent reasons they spoke the same language, professed
those that are missing and the same religion and had the same nationality” (G. Landra, Le razze e le
will always be missing the differenze razziali, “La difesa della razza”, No. 1, 5 Aug 1938).
immense treasures.
B.
Draw a triangle that represents
the hierarchical vision of
humanity that emerges from
the three covers: which of them
is at the top? And in the middle?
Which of them is at the bottom
of the triangle?
C.
Under each cover, write the
message that it wants to
communicate. Use an online
translator to understand the
meaning of the words written
under the word “RAZZA” on
the magazine, then answer the
question: What should be the
aims of the first two disciplines
mentioned?
D.
Are these messages completely
outdated, or can you find
phrases and viewpoints similar
to those in “The Defence of
Race” in newspapers today?
Do some research.
130
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS More than one declaration for human rights
1/4 MORE THAN ONE DECLARATION

FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
The United Nations General Assembly in Paris adopted the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948. This document is
very important because it entitles every single person to the rights to be free,
safe, equal, respected, etc.
Read these articles taken from 1. WE ARE ALL BORN FREE AND EQUAL. We are all born free. We all have
a simplified version of the our own thoughts and ideas. We should all be treated in the same way.
30 Articles of the Universal 2. DON’T DISCRIMINATE. These rights belong to everybody, whatever our
Declaration of Human Rights differences.
created especially for young 3. THE RIGHT TO LIFE. We all have the right to life, and to live in freedom
people in 2012 and safety.
(Source: What are Human 4. NO SLAVERY. Nobody has any right to make us a slave. We cannot make
Rights?, Youth for Human anyone our slave.
Rights online). 5. NO TORTURE. Nobody has any right to hurt us or to torture us.
Tick all the articles about rights 6. YOU HAVE RIGHTS NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO. I am a person just like
1 you!
that are obvious to you; in other
words, the rights that you have 7. WE’RE ALL EQUAL BEFORE THE LAW. The law is the same for everyone.
always assumed everybody has It must treat us all fairly.
and that you don’t think require 8. YOUR HUMAN RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED BY LAW. We can all ask for the
a statement enforcing them. law to help us when we are not treated fairly.
9. NO UNFAIR DETAINMENT. Nobody has the right to put us in prison
without good reason and keep us there, or to send us away from our
country.
10. THE RIGHT TO TRIAL. If we are put on trial, this should be in public. The
people who try us should not let anyone tell them what to do.
11. WE’RE ALWAYS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. Nobody should be
blamed for doing something until it is proven. When people say we did a
bad thing, we have the right to show it is not true.
12. THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY. Nobody should try to harm our good name.
Nobody has the right to come into our home, open our letters, or bother us
or our family without a good reason.
13. FREEDOM TO MOVE. We all have the right to go where we want in our
own country and to travel as we wish.
14. THE RIGHT TO SEEK A SAFE PLACE TO LIVE. If we are frightened of
being badly treated in our own country, we all have the right to run away to
another country to be safe.
15. RIGHT TO A NATIONALITY. We all have the right to belong to a country.
16. MARRIAGE AND FAMILY. Every grown-up has the right to marry and
have a family if they want to. Men and women have the same rights when
they are married, and when they are separated.
17. THE RIGHT TO YOUR OWN THINGS. Everyone has the right to own things
or share them. Nobody should take our things from us without a good
reason.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
131

FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
18. FREEDOM OF THOUGHT. We all have the right to believe in what we
want to believe, to have a religion, or to change it if we want.
19. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. We all have the right to make up our own
minds, to think what we like, to say what we think, and to share our ideas
with other people.
20. THE RIGHT TO PUBLIC ASSEMBLY. We all have the right to meet our
friends and to work together in peace to defend our rights. Nobody can
make us join a group if we don’t want to.
21. THE RIGHT TO DEMOCRACY. We all have the right to take part in the
government of our country. Every grown-up should be allowed to choose
their own leaders.
22. SOCIAL SECURITY. We all have the right to affordable housing, medicine,
education, and childcare, enough money to live on and medical help if we
are ill or old.
23. WORKERS’ RIGHTS. Every grown-up has the right to do a job, to a fair
wage for their work, and to join a trade union.
24. THE RIGHT TO PLAY. We all have the right to rest from work and to
relax.
25. FOOD AND SHELTER FOR ALL. We all have the right to a good life.
Mothers and children, people who are old, unemployed or disabled, and all
people have the right to be cared for.
26. THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION. Education is a right. Primary school should
be free. We should learn about the United Nations and how to get on with
others. Our parents can choose what we learn.
27. COPYRIGHT. Copyright is a special law that protects one’s own artistic
creations and writings; others cannot make copies without permission. We
all have the right to our own way of life and to enjoy the good things that
art, science and learning bring.
28. A FAIR AND FREE WORLD. There must be proper order so we can all
enjoy rights and freedoms in our own country and all over the world.
29. RESPONSIBILITY. We have a duty to other people, and we should protect
their rights and freedoms.
30. NO ONE CAN TAKE AWAY YOUR HUMAN RIGHTS.
Human rights advocates agree that “sixty years after its issue, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights is still more a dream than reality. Violations
exist in every part of the world” (Human Rights Violations, United for Human
Rights online).
Read the following examples A.

2
of violations of the Universal “More civilians were killed in the War in Afghanistan in 2018 than during any
Declaration of Human Rights other year on record. Civilian deaths increased by 11% from 2017 with 3804
(UDHR), then write the articles people killed, including 927 children, and another 7189 people wounded,
of the Universal Declaration that according to UN figures, as suicide attacks and bombings wreaked havoc on
have been ignored. the war-torn country.”
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS More than one declaration for human rights

FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Source: “Al Jazeera” online, Afghanistan civilian deaths hit record high in
2018, News / United Nation, 24 February 2019.
UDHR articles that were violated:
B.
“At any given time in 2016, an estimated 40.3 million people are in modern
slavery, including 24.9 million in forced labour and 15.4 million in forced
marriage. One in four victims of modern slavery are children.
Women and girls are disproportionately affected by forced labour, accounting
for 99% of victims in the commercial sex industry, and 58% in other sectors.”
Source: Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced
Marriage, Geneva, September 2017, in the ILO website.
C.
“Recent bombardments by the Syrian government and Russian forces in
Northwest Syria have killed dozens of civilians and pushed 300,000 people
towards Turkey’s border, said Syrian NGOs at a press conference in Istanbul.
More than two-thirds of those displaced are living without shelter, with
border camps already running at double capacity, they said.”
Source: Syrian NGOs warn of mass displacement in last rebel-held area, Al
Jazeera online, 01 June 2019.
D.
“More than 150 Christians in Atrauli, a city in Aligarh District, Uttar Pradesh,
watched powerlessly as the initial work on their church was torn down. [...]
Two years ago, Rev Raju Abraham obtained the permits needed to build a
church on about 165 square metres of private land.”
Source: Church under construction demolished by bulldozers in Uttar
Pradesh, AsiaNews.it, 11 Apr 2019.
3 In 2007, the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of UDHR articles that were violated:
Indigenous Peoples integrated
the Universal Declaration of E.
Human Rights. “Girls of every school-age group are more likely to be excluded from
education than boys across sub-Saharan Africa. For every 100 boys of
Why do you think this primary school age out of school there are 123 girls denied the right to
integration was necessary? education.”
Read the text of the Declaration Source: One in Five Children, Adolescents and Youth is Out of School,
online and find similarities UNESCO 2018.
and differences with the rights
granted in the UDHR.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
133
1/2 WOMEN WORKING FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Women have always played an important role in orienting the human

activities towards sustainability in the past, and they still carry out this
crucial task in the present.
Read the stories of some

1 WANGARI MUTA MAATHAI CONTINENT
women activists who gave their (1940-2011)
contribution to the wellbeing of
their community, while respecting
the environment and promoting
ethical business practices. Kenyan biologist, political activist and environmentalist,
Nobel Peace Prize 2004. In 1977 she founded the Green
Belt Movement, that launched a big awareness raising
Identify the continent they belong
2 ENVIRONMENT campaign on respect for natural environment and
to, and put an X to the different ECONOMICS deforestation during the Nineteenths. Thanks to her activity,
areas of sustainability they are CULTURE more than 51 million trees have been planted in Kenya to
working for. AND SOCIETY fight the soil erosion.
VANDANA SHIVA CONTINENT

(1952)
Indian political activist, who works to transform business
procedures into more sustainable practices, particularly in
agriculture and food production. She is the founder and the
director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology
and Natural Resource Policy.
She leads campaigns against the monoculture, the
desertification of arable land, the destruction of biodiversity
ENVIRONMENT
caused by exclusively income-oriented farming policies,
ECONOMICS the use of GMOs in farming, the debt of small farmers in
CULTURE Low Income Countries towards multinational corporations
AND SOCIETY trading seeds.
MALALA YOUSAFZAI CONTINENT

(1997)
Pakistan young woman, Nobel Peace Prize 2014. She has
been fighting for civil rights and the rights to education in
Muslim countries since she was 12. In 2012 she was shot
to the head by a Taliban, while she was coming back home
from school. She was well known for her commitment to
the cause of education for girls and democracy since 2009,
when she wrote an article denouncing the political chaos in
ENVIRONMENT the city she was living in, and the fire set to the schools for
ECONOMICS girls by the Taliban. Her article had been published on the
CULTURE BBC website, and had circulated all over Pakistan.
AND SOCIETY
134
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Women working for sustainablity
2/2 WOMEN WORKING FOR SUSTAINABILITY
JANE ADDAMS CONTINENT

(1860-1935)
American pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize 1931.

She is a female thinker who took a stance against the use
of violence and its political and philosophical legitimation
for social control. She firmly believed in the need for new
means to build a peaceful society founded on respect for
diversity. She founded the Women’s International League
ENVIRONMENT for Peace and Freedom (Wilpf), whose members actively
ECONOMICS engaged in asking all European state leaders to stop the
CULTURE First World War in 1915, not by armistice negotiations but
AND SOCIETY by tacit approval.
Write a text to claim the

3
importance of women in building
a world characterized by long-
lasting peace, dialogue between
human and nature, and respect
and regard for all peoples.
1,870 CE 1,970 CE
135
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY References
REFERENCES
Abdullatif Ahmida A.., The making of modern Libya: state formation, colonization,
and resistance, 1830–1922, University of New York Press, New York, 1994.
Adams P.V. et. al., Experiencing World History, New York University Press, New York
and London, 2000.
Allen R. C., Global Economic History. A very short Introduction, Oxford University
Press, Oxford, 2011.
Beckert S., Empire of cotton. A global history, Alfred. A. Knopf, New York, 2014.
Bernardi C., Una storia di confine. Frontiere e lavoratori migranti tra Messico e Stati
Uniti (1836-1964), Carocci, Roma, 2018.
Brandt L. et al. (eds), China’s Great Transformation, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 2008.
Brenner N., Schmid C., «The ‘urban age’ in question», in International Journal of
Urban and Regional Research, 38, 3, 2014, pp. 731-755.
Guha R., India after Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy,
HarperCollins, New York, 2007.
Komlosy A., Work. The Last 1,000 Years, Verso, London, 2017.
Livi-Bacci M., A concise history of world population, Blackwell, 2001.
Lucassen L., «Connecting the world: migration and globalisation in the second
millennium», in Antunes C., Fatah-Black K. (eds), Explorations in History and
Globalisation, Routledge, London and New York, 2016, pp. 19-46.
Manning P., Migration in World History, Routledge, New York and London, 2005.
Marks R.B., The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Environmental Narrative
from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Century, Rowman and Littlefield, 2019 (4th
edition).
Mohanty B.B., Agrarian transformation in India. Economic gains and social costs,
Routledge, London and New York, 2019.
Moore J.W., Patel R., A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to
Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet, University of California Press,
Berkeley, 2017.
Ogle V., The Global Transformation of Time: 1870–1950, Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, 2015.
Oyewùmí O., The Invention of Women. Making an African Sense of Western Gender
Discourse, University of Minnesota Press, 1997.
Painter D.S., «Oil and the American Century», in Journal of American History, 99, 1,
2012, pp. 24–39.
Patel R., «The Long Green Revolution», in The Journal of Peasant Studies, 40, 1, 2013,
pp. 1-63.
Rahmonova-Schwarz D., «Migrations during the Soviet Period and in the Early Years
of USSR’s Dissolution: A Focus on Central Asia», in Revue Européenne des Migrations
Internationales, 26, 3, 2010, pp. 9-30.
Rodotà S., I beni comuni. L’inaspettata rinascita degli usi collettivi, La Scuola di
Pitagora, Napoli, 2018.
Vanhaute E., Peasants in World History, Routledge, New York and London,
forthcoming.
Vanhaute E., World History. An Introduction, Routledge, New York and London,
2013.
136
PROOF VERSION
3.2 GLOBAL CAPITALISM
MAP OF TRANSMISSION NETWORK. ENERGY PIPELINES WORLDWIDE.

OIL, GAS AND INTERNET
Submarine Optic fiber cables Oil pipelines

data source: TeleGeography, 2019 data source: multiple, 2019
Natural gas pipelines

data source: multiple, 2019
1,973 CE 2,0 CE
137
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Global capitalism
IMAGINE Imagine that you are a bird flying over planet Earth in 1986 CE.
You can see around five billion humans and a couple of them
are inside a space shuttle that you see leaving planet Earth
and heading out into the galaxy. You are very impressed; after
so many flights over planet Earth, from 70,000 BCE until now,
this is the first time you have seen a human leave the planet.
You are also scared; besides aeroplanes and toxic towers of
smoke, you must also take care not to crash into shuttles while
observing the planet.
Since your last flight, the planet has changed so much that you
barely recognise it. You see a catastrophic explosion in Eastern
Europe, with a tall column of fire, industries cover many
regions of the planet, railways run over continents connecting
one side with the other, giant mining holes looks like craters
on earth, hundreds of chickens are squeezed into cages, ships
cut through ice in the Arctic, long, barbed-wire walls cross
some areas. Cities you became familiar with on your last flight
are now larger, dotted with tall buildings of shiny glass, and
crowded with millions of humans walking hurriedly and driving
cars. You see a human getting into a hole in the street, and a
few minutes later she resurfaces on a train running on rails
over the city. You wonder if humans have created underground
cities.
Imagine that you are a seventeen-year-old girl living in South

Africa. Your family was forced to leave their land because
your skin is darker than others, and labeled as black. By law,
more than 92% of your country’s land must be owned by white
humans. Your family moved to Johannesburg into a segregated
area for blacks as you are not allowed to live near whites, not
to marry a white. You do not have full political rights. You were
born under apartheid, but you don’t want to die under it.
You help your parents in their shop, which supports the
African National Congress, the anti-apartheid party, and you
actively boycott shops owned by white and black collaborators.
Resistance has been ongoing since the establishment of
138
apartheid at the beginning of the century, but riots have

spread across the country over the last two years and made
it ungovernable. That was the aim of the African National
Congress. Tens of thousands of humans died, an uncountable
number of blacks were detained and abused, and many white
properties were destroyed. The ceaseless and robust struggle
against apartheid paid off, and you won at the beginning of the
1990s.
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
139
TIMELINE
1,970 CE 1,975 1,980 1,985 1,990 1,995 2,000 2,005 2,010 2,015 2,020 CE
First energy crisis (oil crisis)
Earth is warming at rate of roughly 0.15° - 0.20° per decade
Ending of the blocs, USSR disappears
Start of the Internet (WWW)
Majority of humans lives in cities
Global financial crisis
140
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Frontier expansion accelerates
AN
OVERVIEW
This chapter spans from 1973 CE to today, almost five decades

in which time and space have been compressed. The overall
transformations that occurred on our planet affected all of humanity
more than before, and human’s impact on the planet intensified to
such an extent that changes started to become irreversible. These
changes were enacted and decided by an ever-smaller number of
humans. This chapter looks at these changes and how a narrow elite
is extracting surpluses through the capitalist system and its multiple
frontiers. In this period, capitalist frontiers became more intrusive
and violent; they also intensified and penetrated the human body,
human’s relationships and the planet at various scales.
HUMANS
CHANGE NATURE
Human knowledge about the body and organic life on the planet
Humans changed
increased enormously. This knowledge has allowed humans to make
the Earth’s organic life
genetic modifications. Genetic modification is a special set of gene
technology that alters the genetic fabric of living organisms like
animals, plants or microorganisms. In 1996, Dolly the sheep was the
first animal to have its nuclear cells cloned. The manipulation of
life has improved scientific knowledge and the treatment of human
diseases, such as blood disorders, but has also had a severe and
damaging impact on our bodies and planet.
The end of the twentieth century witnessed an intensification of

Frontier expansion
accelerates human intervention in and exploitation of the planet. These actions
have changed the entire ecological system.
Progressive attacks on forest areas brought more land under
cultivation. As a result, forest acreage shrank annually, particularly
in tropical regions like Brazil and Africa, and local ecological variety
was reduced. The Amazon rainforest, often called the “Lungs of the
World”, was the most devastated region. Its indigenous populations
have lost their environment, resources for surviving, and their homes.
The effects of deforestation were also global as they affected the
climate on a world scale. A few companies were responsible for this
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
141
devastation; they attempted to meet the global demand for wood

and energy, and to profit from this trade.
Mineral resources were also extracted on a grand scale in many world
regions due to an increased demand for minerals used in technology:
batteries, computers, mobile phones, televisions, home appliances, et
cetera. In addition to iron ore, copper, gold and silver, other minerals
like manganese, cobalt, lithium, copper, tungsten, zinc and platinum
have been extracted worldwide to produce technology.
These technologies require minerals to function, especially for
the storage of energy in the form of batteries. They are high-
end consumption devices, and their use became massive and
individualised. After the 1970s, the use of technology became a mass
phenomenon and was no longer limited to industry. It involved other
economic fields like the service sector, communication, education
and housework. A single human consumes many of these devices in
their lifetime, creating massive amounts of waste.
Fracking, a drilling technology in which rock is fractured by a
pressurised liquid, also intensified. This technology is used to extract
oil, natural gas, geothermal energy, or water from deep underground.
It uses vast amounts of water, which must be transported to the
GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS

A large variety of crops are currently Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
Science has not yet come to a definite conclusion about the impact of GMOs
on the environment and human life. Opinions are sharply opposed: on the
one hand, agribusiness corporations and agro-technology experts maintain
that GMOs are the only solution to the Earth’s decreasing capacity to cope
with growing world populations. On the other hand, scientists, researchers,
physicians and environmentalists affirm that GMOs pose a threat both to
human health and ecosystems.
Search the internet for information about the following aspects of GMOs use,
1
and organise your information on a poster.
SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS AROUND GMO SAFETY

HERBICIDE AND GMOs
BENEFITS / DISADVANTAGES FOR FARMERS
GMO CONSEQUENCES ON BIODIVERSITY
Then look at the labels of all the packaged food you have at home: do you find
2
any mention of the presence or absence of GMO components?
Do you think manufacturers should be required to provide consumers with
this information? Write your thoughts in a 10-sentence text.
142
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Frontier expansion accelerates
A MAP OF BIODIVERSITY LOSS IN ECOLOGICAL HOTSPOTS AROUND THE WORLD.

(MAP ADAPTED FROM NEWBOLD ET. AL./SCIENCE)
limited
exceeded
approaching
to exceed
safe
site at a high environmental cost. Chemicals can also escape during

Biodiversity hotspots, first
drilling and contaminate the groundwater around the fracking site.
defined by Norman Meyer in
These chemicals are potentially carcinogenic and could spread into
1988, are areas of the planet with
the greatest biodiversity (unique water, hence, into nature and our bodies.
flora and fauna, and endemic Human impact also became more intense and damaging to water.
plants) that are deeply threatened Population growth resulted in an increased consumption of water
by destructive activities. for domestic use. The pollution of water is related to domestic
According to a study published in sewage, but most water pollution is due to the use of chemicals in
the journal Science (Newbold et
agriculture and industry. Wastewater is discharged (legally or illegally)
al./Science), which quantified the
by industries, oil refineries, and treatment facilities, and chemical
loss of biodiversity on a global
scale, 58% of biodiversity hotspots and oil spills contaminate groundwater. Water pollution also derives
have already exceeded the safe from agricultural or stormwater runoff, and debris that is blown into
threshold and are collapsing. waterways from land. Most human activities require water, and water
is becoming more polluted.
Cities are the primary sources of noise and light pollution. The
proliferation of industries, the expansion of cities, the heating
of buildings, and car emissions have increased the amount of air
pollution and harmful substances released into the atmosphere. The
most significant causes of air pollution are fossil fuel production,
imports and industrial processing outputs. Air pollution has a range
of negative impacts; it damages ecosystems, food crops and the
environment and it is now considered the greatest environmental risk
to the planet and human health.
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
143
Water and air pollution, deforestation, fracking, mineral extraction

Global warming and fossil fuel production and consumption have produced what is
known as climate change. The burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil
has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).
The process of burning coal or oil combines carbon with oxygen in the
air to make carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide in our atmosphere
acts like the fabric of a greenhouse and prevents solar heat from
dissipating. Consequently, the planet’s temperature is increasing
dramatically. Climate change has resulted in global warming: warming
oceans, shrinking ice sheets, glacial retreat, decreased snow cover,
and a consequent rise in sea levels. Global warming is also responsible
for droughts and a drastic decrease in the amount of drinkable water.
It is destroying fundamental ecosystems on our planet: the Arctic, the
Amazon rainforest and the barrier reefs.
Climate change has had devastating effects on the planet and its
inhabitants - plants, animals and humans. Those effects are harsher
in some regions of the world and affect the most impoverished
populations more harshly. We looked at the loss of biodiversity in
the previous paragraph, and we will look at the effects on humanity
in the next theme. Now let’s consider the sustainability or rather
unsustainability of humans’ impact on the planet.
You have undoubtedly heard the expression that economic growth

The human footprint is the answer to world poverty. In actuality, economic growth has
enormous environmental costs that have a disproportional effect on
the poorest regions of the world. Approximately 80% of the total
environmental impact is caused by the wealthiest 25% of the world’s
population. Growth usually benefits the richest regions and wealthiest
humans. This means that economic growth is not equally distributed
and is not sustainable for the planet.
Let’s look at one model that calculates some indicators to understand
the level of sustainability: the ecological footprint. It helps us
understand humans’ impact on the planet. The indicators of this
model are actual economic affluence, ecological sustainability, human
wealth and subjective well-being.
The ecological footprint measures humankind’s use of natural
resources. It is expressed in global hectares. A global hectare
measures the biologically productive area - cultivated land, forests,
fishing grounds and fuels – that people use for their consumption.
Humanity’s ecological footprint almost doubled between 1961 and
2015. The carbon footprint currently accounts for 60% of humanity’s
overall ecological footprint; it is the most rapidly growing component.
144
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Machines changed humans
Humanity’s carbon footprint has increased elevenfold since 1961. The

total footprint consumed half of the planet in 1961. In the early 1970s,
this surpassed 100%. The current impact of cultivation, exploitation,
production and consumption exceeds the earth’s capacity almost two
times.
Moreover, the ecological footprint is distributed very unequally across
the world. If we take into account the current world population and
available reserves, then 1.7 global hectares are available per person.
The average total use is currently 2.8 hectares per person. While an
average inhabitant of India uses 1.2 global hectares, 70% of the available
space, residents of the United States use 8 hectares. Inhabitants of
the European Union use 4.5 global hectares on average, two and half
times more than what is available on a world scale. If inhabitants of
the non-Western world had the same consumption pattern as the
inhabitants of the rich North, then we would need five extra planets.
Since humans haven’t found another planet like Earth, it is hard to
believe we will find four more.
Humans have created machines that have changed their bodies and
Machines changed humans lives. Many technological innovations from the 1970s have changed
us. The rate of innovation has also increased enormously compared
to previous eras, and one human generation now experiences a
continuous redevelopment and implementation of technology.
As we saw in the previous chapter, some of this technology was aimed
at diminishing the need for a labour force. Mechanisation served
this purpose, and so did household appliances. In the late twentieth
century, technological innovations radically changed the relationship
THE HUMAN FOOTPRINT

Between 1961 and 2014, the Earth’s biocapacity grew by 20% while the human
ecological footprint increased by 200%. That is ten times the Earth’s capacity
to support our needs. We have been in ecological debt since 1971, and this
debt has grown at an exponential pace over the last 40 years.
Eighty-six per cent of the world’s population lives in a country with an
ecological deficit. A country runs an ecological deficit when its residents
demand more from nature than the country’s ecosystems can regenerate.
Seventy per cent of humanity lives in a country with an ecological deficit and
below-average income and is therefore unlikely to be able to buy itself out of
the resource crunch.
Go to the Global Footprint Network website and look for this year’s global
overshoot day. What actions can you take to reduce your country’s footprint?
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
145
between humans and technology itself; machines became part of

the human body in many ways. Nanotechnology, robots, personal
computers (PCs), mobile phones, the internet, and wireless networking
have eroded the distinction between machines and humans. Machines
are part of our heart: a pacemaker is an implantable device that
helps the heart beat in a regular rhythm. Machines are part of our
skeleton and brain: a mind-controlled robotic arm is a prosthetic that
is controlled by neural activity in the brain and used to restore motor
functions. Machines influence the way that we establish relationships
and keep in touch with other humans. Satellites, transmitting towers,
cables, antennas, electric signals - we are continuously in contact with
these machines and forces. Humans have become reminiscent of the
cyborgs in science fiction, and the long-term effects of this use of
technology are still largely unknown.
The daily use of technology is still limited to some regions of the
world and part of the population. It is not equally distributed, and not
all social groups have access to this kind of technology. The poorest
regions have become specialised in assembling and producing these
technologies, or in extracting the minerals needed to produce them.
Before the 1960s, a single factory could transform raw materials into
Maquiladoras machines, that is into a finished product. This process has been divided
into two parts. Some factories import components produced abroad
and then assemble them into a finished product. This kind of process
started in Mexico, along the border with the United States, and
these factories are called maquiladoras. They became a major form
of production in the region starting in the mid-1960s. Maquiladoras
import and assemble components for export. It is very convenient
for two reasons. First, the owners of maquiladoras only pay duties
on the “added value”; in other words, they only pay duties on the
value of the finished product minus the total cost of the imported
components. Second, they take advantage of low-cost labour, almost
exclusively woman.
Maquiladoras export the finished products because the local or
national market can’t absorb such products. Workers are not paid
enough to afford these products. Maquiladoras have reinforced,
or even worsened, the subaltern position of Mexico. Assembling
components also has made the production of a single good more
global.
After the 1970s, the production of a single commodity involved more

Global chain of production
and more sites. Nowadays, it is difficult to understand where a product
146
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS China moves toward capitalism
THE GLOBAL SCALE OF PRODUCING A COMMODITY: NUTELLA

data from: Ferrero, Sourcemap and various on-line resources
GERMANY
RUSSIA
CANADA
POLAND
TURKEY
/hazelnut
FRANCE
CHINA
/vanillin
NIGERIA
/cocoa MALAYSIA
/palm oil
BRAZIL
/sugar
BRAZIL
AUSTRALIA ARGENTINA
FERRERO GROUP (Alba, Italy) Main international suppliers
Factories Main sales offices
comes from. You know the legal address of the brand that produces it,
but not the place of production of every single component. By way of
example, let’s look at a product that you undoubtedly know or have
heard of: Nutella. The manufacturer, Ferrero, is Italian, but what about
the ingredients?
This map shows how global a commodity’s production is. A single
commodity involves many sites and workers, many transportation
networks, and laws that regulate this long chain of production. Each
step of the chain is interdependent and linked to other steps; the chain
is global in its extent and is a global commodity chain of production.
Most firms that produce a global commodity chain are characterised
by aggressive marketing and by corporate organisation. Law firms
have become the new legislators instead of nation states, which
progressively and inexorably lost power. Private corporations started
to defend their own business and increased their power to avoid
the state’s control. Low taxes, low labour costs, and cheap materials
characterise global firms.
Following Mao’s death in 1976, the leader of the People’s Republic of

China moves
China and head of the government, Deng Xiaoping, began a process
towards capitalism
of economic change in 1978. The economic planning characteristic
of socialist states was partially dismantled, and a market economy
was introduced: we call this a socialist market economy. This
change was enacted by gradually modifying and supplementing
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
147
Chinese institutions. The first reforms were in agriculture, where

decollectivisation was implemented, and the land of the communes
was divided into private plots. These plots were leased to families,
who were obliged to deliver their share of the commune’s obligations.
At the same time, they could keep the income resulting from the sale
of commodities that exceeded the quotas.
This quota system was also applied to industries. State-owned
industries were allowed to sell any production above the plan quota,
and commodities were sold at both plan and market prices. There was
a dual price system: one part exchanged through the socialist system,
and the other part exchanged through a capitalist system. Agricultural
outputs and growth surged.
Together with a demand for food, the frontier of food expanded

The frontier of food dramatically and became ever more linked to the frontier of pesticides
and fertilisers.
For example, India’s pesticide consumption increased seventeen-fold
from 1955 to 2005, with a large share of that directed at the state of
Punjab. The Green Revolution spread to many regions of the world,
especially the poorest one. Together with pesticides and fertilisers,
cancer also invaded these regions. The communities in which this kind
of agriculture was practised most intensively have become cancer
clusters, with some areas officially declared “cancer-stricken villages”.
Fertilisers have also damaged the environment. The incredible amount
of fertiliser used by humans for intensive agriculture, particularly
nitrogen, flows into rivers and multiplies the production of algae and
other marine life. Excessive nutrients resulting from human activities,
and the consequent marine life pollution, deplete the oxygen in the
water. The result is a “dead zone” in which there is no oxygen. The
largest dead zones on planet Earth are located in the Gulf of Mexico
and the Baltic Sea.
The use of fertilisers also promoted food monoculture, and that
had devastating effects on peasant communities and small-scale
cultivation. The industrial-scale monoculture of soy, wheat and
corn spread. Mountains of cereals were produced using fertilisers,
pesticides and machines.
These cereals fed humans at low prices and fed the livestock that
humans in the Global North consumed. Soon that livestock will be
consumed all over the world. Two-thirds of the resulting cereal boom
in the United States and Europe was used as animal feed. Meat was
increasingly marketed as an essential component of the best and
most energetic meals and the demand for meat soared. The raising
of livestock causes 14.5% of all human greenhouse gas emissions. In
148
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Aquatic Dead Zone
AQUATIC DEAD ZONE
Open Ocean Low Oxigen Zone [2 mg/L of O2 or less]

data source: NOAA World Ocean Data (WOA) 2013
Costal Low Oxigen Zone
data source: World Resource Institute (WRI)
Global Eutrophic and Hypoxic Coastal System 2013
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
149
Rio de Janeiro, 2019.

On the slope of the Dois
Irmãos’ mountain the favela
of Vidigal, on the coast the
wealthy neighborhoods of
Leblon and Ipanema.
addition, more land was cleared to grow soy for livestock, adding
another 2% of the greenhouse gases.
The human impact on planet Earth also had major consequences for
The frontier of waste waste. The mass production of commodities, the spread of home
appliances, a higher individual rate of consumption, and population
growth are the leading causes of increased amounts of waste at the
global level. Most of this waste is made up of wholly or scarcely non-
degradable objects.
This enormous amount of waste has invaded the planet at all levels:
ground and underground, water and air. Waste is legally or illegally
burned and buried underground. Consequently, there are some areas
You can have a stunning view on
in which toxic waste has been buried under agricultural fields, causing
the Earth at night by going to the health problems and many cases of cancer. Waste disposal has created
Cities at Night website. a valuable market; private companies and groups acting illegally have
improved their profits.
From the 1970s, the spatial expansion of the city combined with an
The city: slums
intensification of its productivity. The city became a site of production.
and gentrification
More and more cities dotted the planet, in most regions of the world.
Light allows us to distinguish a city. As night-time lights illustrate,
urbanisation has shattered the boundary of cities, metropolises,
regions and territories; they have assumed a planetary scale. It’s more
than the growth of a few urban centres; this is a change in the pattern
of human populations. Cities drained the countryside, and inflated
150
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The frontier of knowledge
the suburbs. By the end of the twentieth century, every region had a
Look at the map at page 45, metropolis. The most populous cities, ranging from 10 to 20 million
then compare the size of the inhabitants, are Bombay, Mexico City, São Paulo, Jakarta, Istanbul,
largest cities in 1900 with the
Shanghai, and Moscow, plus New York, Tokyo, and London. Mexico
largest cities in 2000.
City, São Paulo and Moscow are inland cities, while the others are
seaports.
The centres of cities were planned, but improvisation prevails in the
rapidly growing fringes. The poorest members of the population
move to metropolises, inhabiting slums at the edges of the cities. In
some cases, like Rio de Janeiro, the poor live in “favelas” right next to
wealthy areas but divided by high walls, which have come to represent
the inequality between the two areas.
Connecting and dividing elements crisscross many cities. Transportation
corridors, large-scale infrastructure, telecommunication and energy
networks surround gated communities for wealthy elites and
expensive areas that are inaccessible to the poorest populations.
Services and entertainment structures have renewed many cities.
Some cities in the United States and Western Europe have undergone
a process of gentrification. This is the renovation of and investment
in neighbourhoods that suffered from prolonged disinvestment.
Gentrification results in rising rents, which force out low-income
residents; new higher-income residents, usually white citizens, move
into these neighbourhoods.
The expansion of education in the 1970s was the result of social

The frontier of knowledge movements that spread worldwide, especially after 1968. Higher
education in many countries created a solid market. The high costs
of fees to gain access to education and the high costs of publications
and journals have transformed knowledge into a source of profit.
Communication also has created some of the most profitable
industries since the 1990s. The World Wide Web has radically changed
production, relationships, sharing of world views and of information,
and also our bodies. Relationships between humans are now
maintained through social networks managed by companies that use
data to improve profits. Data are extracted from these networks and
analysed: companies like Facebook and most of the website you use
daily are collecting data from your clicks, which generate marketing
information that eventually influences your demand. Knowledge,
relationships, and connections have created capitalist profits and
transformed the production process.
Production is not restricted to the factory. All of society becomes
productive through its relationships, communication and knowledge.
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
151
A OBALG HISORYT OF HUMANITY Chapter 3.2 Global capitalism
1/3 THE CHINESE THREE GORGES DAM

The Three Gorges Dam is an example of how humans started exploiting
nature intensively at the end of the 20th century, changing entire ecosystems
forever. The Dam was built between 1994 and 2009 in the province of Hubei.
It is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world and a symbol of Chinese
power.
Read the text on the side “The Chinese Government has four goals for the Three Gorges Dam project:
1
about the aim of the Chinese 1. Flood Control: The history of the Yangtze River includes many devastating
government in building the floods over the centuries, killing thousands of people and causing millions of
dam then draw a four-column dollars in damages. The dam will reduce the impacts of flooding since it will
table on a paper and enter the have a flood control capacity of 22.15 billion cubic meters.
information from the text.
2. Power Generation: The use of hydroelectric turbine generators will reduce
China’s dependency on coal, a hydrocarbon that produces greenhouse gases.
The Three Gorges Dam will produce about 84.6 billion kilowatt hours of clean
energy annually.
3. Navigation: The presence of the dam, the reservoir, and the ship locks
will allow large ships to travel up- and downstream for the first time. Ships
from Chongquing will be able to transport goods all the way to the sea at
Shanghai.
4. Tourism: Since the Three Gorges Dam Project is the largest hydroelectric
dam in the world, it is expected to be popular among tourists visiting China.”
Source: The Three Gorges Dam Project website, Mount Holyoke College, USA
Answer the questions on the

2
side of the map and of the 0 Km 500 Km
photos. Nanjing
Shanghai
THREE GORGES DAM
A. Wuhan
How long (approximately) is
the river from the Three Gorges
Dam to its outlet in the sea? Chongqing
B.
Which cities are downstream of
the Three Gorges Dam? Look
online for their population size.
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The chinese Three Gorges Dam

C.
Which satellite image was taken
in 1987 and which was taken in
2006? Why?
The Three Gorges Dam produces clean energy thanks to the power of
water, but it also has harmful ecological consequences, some of which are
almost irreversible. The dam and its reservoirs have negative impacts both
upstream and downstream.
A study developed in 2005 by researchers at Mount Holyoke College in the
3
US predicted some undesirable consequences of the Three Gorges Dam.
Unfortunately, most of them have occurred. Read the short description of
those negative impacts in the left column, then connect them to the long
description on the right.
SHORT DESCRIPTION LONG DESCRIPTION

(Source: The Three Gorges Dam Project website, Mount Holyoke College, USA)
There are 300 species of fish in the Yangtze River. The dam will create a
BAD WATER QUALITY, barrier in the river that these species will not be able to cross. Fish will
AND POLLUTION not be able to travel upstream to spawn, so the populations of the species
will decrease. Other affected species include the Chinese River Dolphin,
Chinese Sturgeon, Chinese Tiger, Chinese Alligator, Siberian Crane, and the
Giant Panda.
ENDANGERED ANIMAL
SPECIES IN THE AREA Towns and forests located in areas that will be inundated will have to be
demolished and removed in order to increase navigability on the river. The
loss of forests and agricultural lands will lead to erosion and the build-up of
sediment at the base of the river and reservoir. This could lead to increased
LOSS OF SOIL NUTRIENT flooding upstream. Sediments and silt contain valuable nutrients necessary
AND EROSION to agricultural production. The blocking of sediments behind the dam
means that these nutrients may not reach fertile farmland downstream of
the dam. This could reduce the fertility of the land.
LIKELIHOOD OF
EARTHQUAKES AND The destruction of the villages also leads to problems of pollution. The
Yangtze River is already polluted from the shipping of coal, acid rain, and
MUDSLIDES IN THE its central location in Chinese industrial activity. Pollutants from towns and
SURROUNDING AREA waste dumps that will be inundated will add to this pollution. [...] Water
moves slower in the reservoir and some are concerned that the pollution
BAD CONDITIONS OF will sit and worsen water quality of the river.
LIFE FOR THE EVACUEES,
AND LOSS OF CULTURAL Estimates state that about 1000 villages, and 100,000 acres of fertile
HERITAGE farmland [...] will be inundated by the reservoir. [...] A number of cultural
and archaeological sites will be lost when the reservoir reaches its full
depth. These sites are valuable because they are a way to document the
nation’s past. Some sites also hold religious significance.
The creation of the dam and associated reservoir has impacts both
upstream from the dam and downstream. It affects [...] water quality and
may increase the likelihood of earthquakes and mudslides in the area.
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
153
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Global capitlsm

Search online for more
4
information about the negative
and positive effects of the
Three Gorges Dam. Then draw
a diagram similar to the one
on the side, connecting all
the environmental and social
effects you found. Since they
are interdependent elements
in a system, link the effects
together.
Finally, write a short paper THE THREE
GORGES DAM
describing what the relationship
between humans and nature
should be like, in your opinion.
154
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The overshoot day
THE OVERSHOOT DAY

A country’s overshoot day is the date on which the Earth Overshoot Day
would fall if all humanity consumed like the humans in this country.
Not all countries have an overshoot day. A country will only have an
overshoot day if the Ecological Footprint per person is greater than global
biocapacity (1.63 global hectares). Countries whose Ecological Footprint per
person are less than the global biocapacity (1.63 global hectares) do not have
an overshoot day, so they are not included in the graph below.
Look at the graph then complete the activities.
1 Find the date of your country’s Overshoot Day.
Find the country whose Overshoot Day is the earliest in the year, and the
2
country whose Overshoot Day lands on the latest date. Search online for the
economic and political reasons that could explain both cases.
Compare your own lifestyle with that of the inhabitants of the country in
3
which the Overshoot Day lands nearest to December 31. How could you
change your lifestyle so that your country’s Overshoot Day would land after
the currently estimated date?
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
155
THE GLOBAL COMMODITY CHAIN

How many things do you touch in a day?
Draw a table similar to the following one on a piece of paper and complete
1
it. For each thing you pick up, touch or use, check the country where it was
made.
Then draw an arrow on the map below from your country (where you bought
the product) to the country where it was made. Finally, imagine and write
down the modes of transport used to bring the items to the destination store,
and the pollution they probably produced.
HOUR PRODUCT COUNTRY WHERE MODES OF TRANSPORT

OF THE DAY (COMMODITY) IT WAS MADE AND POLLUTION
Now discuss the following issues with your classmates.

2
A. The products you touched came from how many countries? Write the
number here:
B. How much do the products cost to the environment? Is this price high or
not?
C. Do you still think it was necessary to buy these products, now that you
know their environmental costs? Is it possible to buy something similar, but
with a lower environmental impact?
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Fighting the plastic soup
FIGHTING THE PLASTIC SOUP

More than 8 billion kilograms of plastic waste is dispersed in our oceans
every year. All pieces of plastic floating in the oceans undergo a double
process over time: they break up into tiny particles and they gather into
large masses, which resemble the consistency of soup. Eventually, they can
consolidate into huge plastic islands. The so-called “plastic soup” and the
islands of plastic are a serious threat to ecosystems and life on planet Earth.
Search for the video entitled “The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary”.
1
It is in English, but you can find versions with subtitles in different
languages.
Watch the video in groups of three, then answer the questions together with
your classmates (take notes on paper).
A. Which film genre is evoked in the video and why, in your opinion?
B. Who is the main character of the film?
C. What “personal qualities” does the film have?
D. Where does the protagonist’s journey start?
E. Does the protagonist decide where to go? If not, who or what decides the
journey?
F. Where does the protagonist end up?
G. What words appear at the end of the video and why, in your opinion?
Look at this map drawn from
2
the perspective of a sea animal
that can swim all oceans as
a single body of water. What
do the blue and red lines
represent? How is this related
to the story of our “majestic
plastic bag”?
Write the scenic design of a
3
sequel for the film you saw.
Where will the plastic particles
from the big islands end up?
Try to live a whole day without
4
plastic. Describe your feelings
and your struggles at the end of
the day.
In groups of three, navigate
5
the “Plastic Soup Foundation”
website. Collect information
about this issue, then draw up
a poster explaining different
aspects of the plastic soup
issue. Get inspired by the ideas
you can find on the website,
develop a project to reduce
plastic use and waste, and take
action!
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
157
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Chapter 3.2 Global capitalism
HUMANS
ON THE MOVE
Between 1900 and 2000, the world population almost quadrupled,

Population growth from 1.6 billion to 6.2 billion humans. Growth rates declined in the
early twenty-first century, but the world population is expected to
reach 8 billion in 2020 and almost 10 billion in 2050. Rates of infant
mortality have declined so much that humans can expect their children
to survive and live longer in most regions of the planet. Despite acute
health problems in many societies, death was pushed back almost
everywhere. The fraction of elderly people in the population has
grown dramatically. The population on planet Earth is larger and older
than ever before.
Every region participated in this growth, but there were important
distinctions. African populations grew more than six-fold in the
last century. By 2020, one in four humans is living on the African
continent. The European population, in contrast, rose less than
90%. These differences in demographic growth changed the balance
HIV DATA between major regions. While Europeans outnumbered both Africans
WORLD LEVEL and Americans in 1900, they were noticeably overmatched by the end
37.9 million people of the century.
with HIV/AIDS in 2018
Famines had less impact after the 1970s, while malnourishment and
36.2 million were adults the use of undrinkable water, together with HIV, became major causes
1.7 million were children (less
of death. HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus; it attacks a
than 15 years old)
Source: HIV.gov Website
specific type of immune system cell in the body. This makes it harder
for the body to fight off infections and malignancies.
The scale of migration became global in the 1970s. This was mainly
Migrations due to improvements in transportation that made mobility faster
and distances shorter. The expansion of railways and cheaper
intercontinental flights made connections more affordable. Individual
travel has become a recurrent experience for much of the world’s
population, and thousands of aeroplanes cross the planet daily.
However, a large part of the world’s population does not have access
to this kind of mobility, and travel for pleasure is only enjoyed by
some humans.
Short-term labour mobility increased, and seasonal work became more
common, especially from the Global South to the Global North. The
most industrialised, competitive and highly-productive agricultural
sectors in Western countries had a significant number of migrants
working as farmworkers. These migrants were paid low salaries and
suffered poor working conditions, thereby maintaining the receiving
158
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Population density in 2015
POPULATION DENSITY PER SQUARE KILOMETRE IN 2015
0 25,400
Population density per square kilometre in 2015
Dataset source: Gridded population of the World (GPW), NASA-SEDAC (Socioeconomic Data and Application Center), 2000
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
159
ALTERATION OF NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AND AREAS MOST EXPOSED TO CLIMATE

MIGRATIONS, 2005 (ADAPTED FROM UN)
Arctic areas vulnerable

to ice and permafrost melting
Areas exposed to desertification Areas exposed to
and drought hurricanes
countries’ agricultural profitability. The countries where migrants play

a crucial role in the composition of the agricultural workforce include
the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Israel, South
Korea, and New Zealand. Labour mobility is increasingly regulated
by companies, and by immigration laws through specific permits
for entrance. Under these permits, migrants cannot settle in the
destination country where their presence is solely due to production
needs, a states want to avoid the social costs of their integration.
Global warming and climate change also changed the pattern of global
migrations. Climate refugees are migrants who are forced to flee due
to sudden or gradual alterations in the natural environment related
to at least one of the following impacts of climate change: rising sea
levels, extreme weather events, and drought or water scarcity. Because
climate change is intrinsically global, climate refugees are expected
to increase annually if drastic actions are not taken.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an

The 1973 oil crisis international organisation consisting of the primary oil-exporting
countries. These countries account for almost half of the global oil
160
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The Unites States’ global expansion
production and more than 80% of the world’s oil reserves. In 1973,
OPEC announced a 70% rise in the oil production tax. This measure
led to a dramatic increase in oil prices worldwide, and rising oil costs
caused other prices to increase. This inflationary shock illustrated the
vulnerability of global dependency on fossil fuels.
The OPEC countries experienced a dramatic rise in incomes; reserves
of what became known as “petrodollars”. The OPEC countries cycled
these reserves back to oil-importing countries via low-interest loans.
The interest rates tripled over the next decade. To avoid default,
indebted countries - predominantly those located in the Global
South - turned to the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank. These two institutions were created at the end of the Second
World War to administer austerity programmes and state loans. The
1973 oil shock led to the expansion of surpluses in some countries and
increased indebtedness in the poorest countries. Debt became a tool
to expand the dependency of poorer countries in the world economy.
The expansion of capitalism also occurred at the hands of U.S.

The United States’ military expansion. Its strategy was diversification in world regions:
global expansion
military intervention resulted in wars in some areas, in other areas
the U.S. intervened through covert operations. Looking at the global
distribution of the United States’ military bases and military power
gives us an overview of the size and number of areas it controls, and
the amount it spends on military expenditures compared to other
countries.
Covert operations were aimed at supporting state coups, sustaining
economic boycotts of socialist governments, and training the troops
of fascist and right-wing Latin American governments. Latin America
You can get an idea about the suffered the majority of such interventions. For example, Operation
massive deployment of US Condor was a campaign of political repression aimed at torturing and
military force worldwide by killing opponents to dictatorships in South America. It worked from
searching online for a “list of
the early 1970s until the late 1980s, and it was planned by the United
United States military bases”
and looking at the map on the States, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. It also
next page. Does your country, functioned as a network between these governments and United
or one of your neighbouring States intelligence agencies as they coordinated to capture political
countries, have US permanent refugees in both American continents and secure their deaths. Since
troops? How could this impact the operation was clandestine and backed by the United States
your government’s policies?
intelligence agencies, the precise number of deaths is unknown, but
Then search the internet for
a recent map of “US military
at least 60,000 were killed.
installations overseas”. Where United States intervention was aimed both at securing allied
are they concentrated, and why? governments to expand the capitalist economy and at erasing any
support for or institution of socialist or communist inspiration. United
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
161
U.S. MILITARY BASES WORLDWIDE

adapted from David Vine’s cartography of US military bases
unconfirmed
Cooperative Security Location Cooperative Security Location Bases
of U.S. worldwide military facilities of U.S. worldwide military facilities
100 50 10 1 Bases
States expansion intensified intensified in the 1990s and early 2000s

in Middle East and Saharan Africa.
United States expansion and the intensification of global capitalist

The end of the blocs frontiers put pressure on non-capitalist economies as from the 1970s.
The Soviet Union’s socialist economy was increasingly destabilised by
the capitalist economy, which encouraged production surpluses to be
sent to wealthier regions. The rigid economic planning, the political
system, and the social control enacted by the USSR received more
and more internal opposition. In fact, demonstrations, popular fronts,
and exodus put an end to the Union. The USSR crumbled between
162
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The North America Free Trade Agreement
1989 and 1991 when the superpower was replaced with politically
independent nation states. Russia kept its role as a great political
and economic power but within the mould of a capitalist mode of
production.
The intensification of connections was coupled with the

Borders, archipelagos
implementation of divisions and borders. Borders took different
and camps
forms and were aimed at separating populations and expelling some
humans from national territories. Let’s look at three examples.
The first is the so-called “tortilla curtain” that has divided Mexico from
the United States. Even though the border between these two states
existed from the mid-nineteenth century, it increasingly became more
fortified and militarised. Starting in the late 1970s, the United States
applied military tactics that it had developed during the Vietnam War
to the Mexican border. The border became a barbed wire wall, and
then fences, surveillance cameras, helicopters and patrols along most
parts of it created a strictly controlled area aimed to prevent migrant
crossings. Today, a series of internment camps along the border, also
known as concentration camps, are used to detain Latin American
migrants who attempt to cross the border.
The second example is the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Since 1967, Israel started to expand its territory, backed by the United
States, and it expelled Arab Palestinians from their land. The result
was the creation of a fragmented Palestinian state that resembles an
archipelago in which borders and controlled gates limit the mobility
of the Palestinian population.
Since the early 2000s, Europe has been called Fortress Europe due
to law enforcement aimed at preventing migrants from entering and
crossing European Union territory. ‘Hotspots’ have to detain refugees
and migrants at the edge of the Union, like in Greece, and razor-wire
barriers in Hungary try to stop the advance of migrants into Europe.
All these types of borders are aimed at controlling human movement
and detaining migrants for an unlimited time. While human mobility
became increasingly controlled, regional trade networks were
established that facilitated the circulation of commodities.
One example can clarify the functioning of regional trade networks.

The North American Free
NAFTA created a common market between Mexico, the United
Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
States and Canada in 1994. It is one of the largest free trade zones
in the world. This agreement eliminates or reduces barriers to trade
and investment and established preferential treatment for the three
countries. “Free” stands for the fact that companies are exempt from
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
163
paying tariffs.
NAFTA had detrimental consequences on Mexican peasants, workers
and the environment. It caused a dramatic increase in prices for basic
goods in Mexico and a dependency on imports from the United
States: corn imports increased from 8% to 30%, while wheat, cotton
and rice increased by more than 70%.
NAFTA was detrimental to the Mexican environment. Genetically
modified seeds entered the Mexican market and replaced local seeds,
creating even more dependency on the United States, which sold the
seeds. Mexico’s agricultural economy collapsed and protests spread
throughout the country. Peasants were displaced and enlarged the
pool of Mexican migrants heading north. The agreement favoured the
U.S. economy and made the Mexican economy more subaltern and
dependent.
As we mentioned previously, the capitalist world economy expanded

The frontier of debt through the repayment of state debts at high interest starting in the
in Argentina
1970s. Lending money became systemic for extracting more surplus
from the economies of the Global South. When you borrow money,
you must repay the loan plus interest. In the end, you pay back much
more than the loan itself. The IMF and the World Bank played the role
of creditors for many countries that were financed to expand their
industrial production and technology.
These loans came with high interest rates and made the borrowing
countries more dependent. One example is Argentina, whose economy
crashed in 2001. Mounting foreign debt caused major investors to
withdraw their deposits from Argentinian banks and the government
Logistics is the to restrict cash withdrawals by regular citizens.
synchronisation and Social unrest broke out all over the country. Strikes and riots took
management of the flow
place, and protestors took to the streets with the motto “Que se
of entities (commodities,
humans, information)
vayan todos!” (All of them must go!). The Argentinian elite and the
between the point of government were responsible for money laundering, corruption, and
origin and the point of Argentina’s agreements with the IMF increased indebtedness and
consumption. inequality in the country.
Logistics is related to the mobility of commodities and humans. It

The frontier of logistics has a long history rooted in the mobility of troops across territories
during wars, and the supplies they needed: armaments, tents, food,
lodging materials, etc. In the late twentieth century, logistics became
a key component in the expansion of supply-chain capitalism. Let’s
look at two examples.
Some well-known companies manage the delivery of commodities
164
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The financial crisis of 2008
through a digital platform that buys products from other companies

to sell them to individual consumers. They store commodities in
storage factories, where workers classify, gather, and ship them to
individual customers.
Other companies provide delivery services for restaurants to
individual consumers, using digital platforms. They hire runners at
low wages and without any rights, to provide the delivery service.
These companies manage workers and move them through the digital
platform.
This frontier allows companies to profit exclusively from the mobility
and management of commodities that they do not produce.
The early 2000s witnessed an intensification of debt as a means for

The financial crisis of 2008 making a profit. Humans bought commodities of any kind through debt:
cars, televisions, and houses were the most required commodities.
In the United States, banks gave credit to individuals to buy their own
house at very low interest rates. The demand for homes was turned
into a source of profit. Profits came not only from the interest that
was charged but from the mortgage itself. Banks sold these mortgages
to other investors. Since this market was very profitable, investors
demanded even more mortgages. The poorest strata of the population
- particularly black and Latino communities - obtained “subprime”
mortgages from banks. All these investments were guaranteed by
“rating agencies” like Standard & Poor’s; these agencies decide which
investments are safe and profitable and which are not. The housing
market grew, and so did house prices.
Subprime mortgages had very low interest rates in the beginning, but
they increased progressively until they became unsustainable for the
Speculation is the poorest debtors. If they could not pay back their loan, they went into
purchase of an asset default. The banks took possession of the houses of homeowners
(a commodity, goods,
who could not repay their debts.
or real estate) in the hope
that it will become more
However, the banks could not sell these houses because prices had
valuable in the near future. skyrocketed due to the low interest rates. Big investors like Lehman
In finance, it refers to the Brothers declared bankruptcy and asked the state to save them.
act of conducting a financial Given the advent of 24-hour and computerised trading, this major
transaction that has a financial crisis in the capitalist centre of the United States and the
substantial risk of losing United Kingdom was rapidly transmitted across global markets and
value but also holds the
banking systems. The crisis immediately became global.
expectation of a significant
gain or other major value.
The subprime mortgage crisis endorsed the privileges of the financial
The motive is to take sector and its elite at the global level. States repaid the financial
maximum advantage of operations of banks and their market speculations. This ushered in
fluctuations in the market. austerity programmes that curtailed the welfare state and increased
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
165
taxes for citizens in order to bail out banks identified as crucial to

allowing capitalism to survive.
In the mid-1970s, global capitalism accelerated another profound

Capitalism alters the planet restructuring of the world. The whole planet and its inhabitants became
a marketplace. This was the capitalist answer to the expansion of the
welfare state and rights obtained by civic and social movements in the
1960s. In the 1980s, states shifted power to global institutions like the
IMF and the World Bank, and to international organisations such as
the Group of Seven or G7. If the state was entitled to be the mediator
between capitalism and society, this role was weakened when it was
shifted to these global institutions. The role of these institutions is
to restructure the economy, to open more fields of production and
accumulation, and to regulate capitalist expansion lawfully.
At the same time, an intense process of privatisation and the
dismantling of state-managed institutions and organisations strongly
modified the economies and human lives in most countries around
the world. The commons - nature, welfare, education – increasingly
came under attack. The frontiers of capitalism multiplied and
intensified. They affected every aspect of the web of life: the welfare
state, self-managed and state-managed sites, human knowledge and
relationships, and organic and non-organic life. Every existence and
activity became a source of accumulation to be consumed.
At the same time, inequality increased at unprecedented rates and the
gap between the richest and the poorest grew more significant than
ever. Social organisations and opposition to this violent restructuring
were repressed and stigmatised.
GDP per capita, 1960 - 2017 (2010 USD)

(adapted from World Bank)
$40,000
$35,000 GLOBAL NORTH
$30,000
$25,000
$20,000
$15,000
$10,000
$5,000
GLOBAL SOUTH
$0
8
5
2
4
6
9
0
0
3
4
8
7
5
2
7
1
1
200
200
200
198
198
198
196
196
196
196
199
199
199
199
197
197
197
201
201
201
166
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Trasmission network.
TO GLOBAL CAPITALISM Energy pipelines zoom.
TRANSMISSION NETWORK. ENERGY PIPELINES ZOOM.

POWER, OIL, GAS AND INTERNET
Submarine Optic fiber cables

data source: TeleGeography, 2019
Natural gas pipelines

Oil pipelines
Night time light

(data average 2011)
data source:
NOAA DMSP-OLS
Nighttime Lights Time Series
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
167
1/2 A CASE STUDY: THE TRANSMIGRASI IN INDONESIA

Of the many types of forced migration, one is migration directed by the
central government. A famous and controversial case of forced migration
that was enforced and organised by the government is the Indonesian
Transmigration Program, also called transmigrasi.
Read the texts and observe the “In order to mitigate its population redistribution and poverty problems, the
1
imges and table. Indonesian government started a transmigration program (transmigrasi )
Then work in pairs and play in 1905 to move landless people (mostly farmers) [...] from the overcrowded
different roles: one student is islands of Java, Madura, Bali, and the Lombok Islands to settlement areas
the governor who promotes the in the outer Islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), Sulawesi
transmigrasi and the second (formerly the Celebes), and Irian Jaya (Indonesian New Guinea). [...]”
student is a migrant who is Source: A.S. Nugroho, Evaluation of Transmigration (transmigrasi)
moving from Java to Sumatra. in Indonesia: Changes in socioeconomic status, community health
Reconstruct the case study and environmental qualities of two specific migrant populations, PhD
from your point of view and Dissertation, Kagoshima University, 2013
then debate the topic with your
classmate. South China
Sea
North Pacific
Ocean
MALUKU
KALIMANTAN
SUMATERA
SULAWESI
IRIAN JAYA
Indian JAWA
Ocean
The government provided transportation to the settlement site, as well

as infrastructure, a house, and a living allowance intended to support
the people until the first harvest. [...] Each transmigrant family received
transportation and accommodation, as well as a house, food for 1-1.5 years
and land area 0.5 ha.
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS A case study: the Transmigrasi in Indonesia
2/2 A CASE STUDY: THE TRANSMIGRASI IN INDONESIA

“[...] environmental issues such as deforestation and deterioration of the
environment became serious in the migration areas. Deforestation must
be done because the government had to clear land for settlement and
agriculture workers. [...] After migration, environmental problems such
as water stagnation and deforestation became prominent because more
mangrove trees were destroyed due to natural exhaustion and humans
cutting them down for firewood and fishing gear/anchors. The loss of the
mangrove trees was fatal because the transmigration area was close to the
coast, and seawater could easily enter into the residential areas.”
DEFORESTATION RATE YEAR

SOURCE
(MILLION HECTARES /YR) INTERVAL
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 1990. Situation and
1.2 1980s outlook of forestry in Indonesia. FAO and Directorate General of Forest Utilization,
Ministry of Forestry, Jakarta, Indonesia.
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 1993. Forest resources
1.212 1981-1990 assessment 1990: Tropical countries, FAO Forestry Paper 112. FAO, Rome, Italy
Source: P.M. Fearnside, Transmigration in Indonesia: Lessons from Its

Environmental and Social Impacts, “Environmental Management”, Vol. 21,
No. 4, 1997.
“[...] The number of migrants throwing their household garbage in the canal,
yards and public places increased, since there was no garbage disposal
system and they did not care about the garbage. It is clear that household
garbage can lead to a decline in water quality.”
[...] Due to population increases in the migration area and/or catastrophes

such as natural disasters or civil wars, [some] migrants have been moved
back to Java, but not to the original place (this is called as the secondary
migration).
[...] The transmigration program’s second migration, after a catastrophe, was

very different from its first. Migrants had to adapt again in a second location
and the adaptation process greatly affected success in raising their standard
of living. When they relocated, they only received a home garden of 0.01 ha,
with no areas for food crop production. This relative lack of agricultural land
made it difficult for them to make a living.
[...] Migrants need continuous support and guidance from the government
especially in terms of preparing farming land areas for farmers and
subsidies like insurance and capital for fishermen in order to upgrade their
living conditions and quality of life.
Source: A.S. Nugroho, Evaluation of Transmigration (transmigrasi)

in Indonesia: Changes in socioeconomic status, community health
and environmental qualities of two specific migrant populations, PhD
Dissertation, Kagoshima University, 2013.
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
169
BORDER WALLS IN THE WORLD

The Berlin Wall was just one of many border walls that were built around the
world, and many are still in place today.
Look at the map representing

1
the border walls and fences
around the world in 2015.
Search the internet for
information about the
governments of those countries
that are building walls.
Now choose one country with

2
fences completed or under
construction, and another
country with planned barriers.
Use the internet to answer the
following questions.
A. has not built barriers completed or under
construction
Which countries are divided by
the wall? has built barriers planned
B.
How long and how high is the
wall?
C.
Why has the wall been built?
Read the text on the side. Scholar M. Livi Bacci writes that “today we live a great contradiction: on the
3
What do you think about Livi one hand, we are wrapped in the increasingly fluid, intense and enveloping
Bacci’s argument? virtual network of the unstoppable globalisation of all that is immaterial. On
the other hand, there is the growing separation of States in terms of human
Are border walls really exchanges, by a means that is thousands of years old: the wall”
effective? Do they achieve their (M. Livi Bacci, La politica dei muri, in “Neodemos” website. Freely translated
aim? from Italian).
Imagine that you are the Prime Minister of a country that has a fenced wall.
4
How else could you solve the problems/concerns that were at the basis of the
fence being built? Write out a 10-line proposal.
170
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Wage labour and labour rights
SOCIAL
ORGANISATION AND
INEQUALITY
Humanity witnessed an unprecedented increase in wealth and

Increasing growth
inequality starting in the 1970s. A small global elite became wealthier,
and inequality
and large parts of the population stayed behind. Looking at data gives
us a better idea of the level of inequality in the late twentieth century
and the first decades of the twenty-first century.
This small elite entered the state structure or grabbed power and
radically transformed the state’s role. The common tools that states
employ for redistributing resources, like the tax system, were changed
in favour of the elite. Financial speculation also increased the wealth
of the elite.
Casual, temporary, indirect, The failure of the banking system became a huge burden for states.
and zero-hour contracts The privatisation of public areas and infrastructures benefited
are all terms that describe this small elite on a global level. The dismantling of the system of
precarious work. social protections made the living conditions of most humans
This type of work is more precarious. Political opposition to this violent restructuring
increasingly being used to
of capitalism on a global level was removed by force of arms or
replace direct, permanent
assassinations, as occurred in many Latin American countries in the
jobs, allowing employers
to reduce or even abandon 1970s and 1980s. A reduction in the power of unions and attacks on
their responsibility to workers’ organisations allowed for an increase in labour exploitation
workers. and the fragmentation of workers.
As we saw in the previous chapter, the welfare state offered more

Wage labour
guarantees to a portion of the population in some regions of the
and labour rights
world. The distribution of wealth and labour rights resulted in
improved living conditions. The restructuring of capitalism in the
1970s progressively dismantled these rights - including job security
and pensions - and the protective mission of the welfare state.
From the 1980s, wage labour was severely undermined as the most
privileged form of labour. Because the whole society became
productive, capitalists differentiated labour forms to adjust workers
to their needs, making their services more flexible and adjustable.
Labour contracts used to last for a worker’s lifetime, but they
progressively became short-term contracts linked to the service given
by the worker.
Labour laws were increasingly deregulated. The workplace was not
only a factory, so the performance was not necessarily linked to a
site: a wide variety of labour forms took the stage. Different forms of
labour coexisted in the same workplace and made the organisation of
1,973 CE 2,0 CE
171
PROOF VERSION PROOF VERSION PROOF VERSION
Global capitalism
workers more difficult.

Productivity increased sharply, but wages did not; workers created
more value but were not paid accordingly. Labour became cheaper
for investors. Flexibility became the key to the capitalist extraction
of surpluses from human activities. Workers were required to move
from one job to another, from one workplace to another, and to
acquire more skills. Several skills were employed simultaneously since
multitasking became typical. This ability was not new to workers,
especially woman workers that had been required to be flexible and
cheap for centuries.
Capitalism continued to take “care work” for granted. At the same

The work of reproduction
time, it required the skills developed through this work to be available
and care
for sale in the world of commodity production.
Women, supposed to have a natural talent for taking care of children,
the elderly, neuro-atypical or disabled individuals became cheap
workers in nursing care industries. Their supportive countenance made
them suitable workers for the service sector. Their physical qualities,
like nimble fingers, made them the best workers for maquiladoras
and sweatshops. Gendered ideas led to women being sought - and
cheapened - for their attitudes and countenances. As they had been
trained through a lifetime of cheap care, they were expected to have
certain skills and to employ these skills in other workplaces beyond
the home. These gendered expectations of skills were transferred
from care work to other sectors of the labour market.
Women are considered to be available at all times; women have
to be mothers, and mothers are always ready to meet their child’s
needs. Permanent availability has long been a hallmark of care work
and flexibility. Since care work is not considered work, women (and
mothers) must be flexible and shift from one task to another. Most care
work continued to be unpaid, necessary, gendered and unrecognised.
Mobility, flexibility, and permanent availability were fundamental
characteristics of care work that were adopted by other labour
forms during the expansion and restructuring of capitalism. These
characteristics spread across the entire working world.
The restructuring of capitalism in the 1970s and increased inequality

Global waves of social
were met with resistance on a global scale. Social movements and
movements
organisations, unions and activist groups generated a global wave of
uprisings, protests, and strikes. These movements were located in
different places and world regions, but all demanded equality, wealth
and rights; they identified global capitalism and non-democratic
172
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Global waves of social movements
governments as the cause of inequality and discriminations. These

movements also created new political practices and forms of conflict.
Some of these movements affected regimes. Student protests in 1973
were determinant in putting an end to the fascist regime in Greece. In
1974, the Malari incident caused riots in Indonesia against the corrupt
regime of Suharto; students were behind these protests. In 1989,
student-led demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in Beijing demanded
political and economic reforms but were violently repressed by the
government and thousands died. In mainland China, this is commonly
known as the June Fourth Incident.
Feminist movements spread to various world regions and addressed
many issues related to work, gender roles, sexuality, and reproduction.
Pro-choice movements kept affirming the right to a safe and legal
abortion since this is not guaranteed in many countries. Sex workers’
rights movements started demanding recognition of their work, and
rules to ensure their safety and job security. Lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender (LGBT) social movements demanded full recognition
of social and civic rights and an end to discrimination. Some feminist
movements demand housework wages in an attempt to recognise
care work as work. Violence against women takes different forms:
harassment, femicide, stalking, rape, psychological abuse, infibulation,
and child marriage. Feminist movements took to the streets in various
world regions, organised self-help spaces with legal and psychological
services, and homes for woman victims of domestic violence. The
feminist movement Ni una menos “Not one [woman] less” has spread
to many Latin American countries. Founded in Argentina, it connects
the feminist movement at the global level.
Social movements against institutionalised racism multiplied. Black
schools in Soweto, a township of Johannesburg, started protesting
apartheid in 1976 and this led to a countrywide uprising. In the United
States, protests and riots against racism and police violence against
black communities have a long history. The 1992 Los Angeles riots
were a series of riots and protests that resulted in the destruction
of 1000 buildings. The unrest began after the acquittal of four white
police officers who had beaten a motorist simply for being black.
Since police brutality against black communities continues to be
a daily occurrence, several movements have sprung up: Black Lives
Matters is one of the most widespread and strong that has already
accomplished the defunding of police in various U.S. cities.
Work issues also generated a wide range of protests and movements
all over the world. Let’s look at three examples that correspond to
three different forms of labour. The first is related to bonded child
1,973 CE 2,0 CE
173
THE LEGAL STATUS OF ABORTION WORLDWIDE, 2018 (adapted from Statista)
to save the woman’s life /

prohibited entirely
to preserve health
socioeconomic grounds
without restriction
as to reason
labour, which is common in many countries. Iqbal Masih, a Pakistani

boy, escaped bonded labour when he was just 10, after six years of
work. He got in contact with the Bonded Labour Liberation Front and
then helped over 3000 Pakistani children to escape bonded labour.
Iqbal was killed when he was 12 years old, probably by someone in
the carpet industry that abusively employs children. The second
example is related to wage workers. A series of general strikes were
organised all over France in 1995 to oppose economic reforms that
aimed to reduce the welfare state and women’s rights. The strikes
were initially launched by public sector workers and became massive:
they paralysed the country and received strong support from many
How can we know if the levels of society. The third is related to those who work for an
product we are buying was American multinational transportation network company that offers
made by bonded labourers peer-to-peer ridesharing. The company uses a digital platform to
working in unsafe and unfair
offer inexpensive taxi services. The drivers have no recognition as
working conditions? Very often
employees of the company, nor rights or benefits. Wages are low, and
we cannot tell. The fair trade
movement was born to counter the working conditions are precarious. Workers often go on strike,
the trend of international like the 24-hour strike in London in 2018 and are trying to unionise
trade towards unfair forms of against the company.
labour. It connects producers, Indigenous movements flourished and after a long time took the
businesses, and consumers in form of organised resistance. For example, much of the indigenous
a global system of sustainable,
population of Chiapas supports a rebel group (the Zapatista Army of
ethical trade. Learn more by
National Liberation or EZLN) that initiated a brief military action in
going to your country’s fair trade
network website. 1994 that was followed by a long political struggle against Mexico’s
central government. They demanded recognition within the larger
174
PROF VERSION PROF VERSION PROF VERSION
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Global cities
nation, speaking as citizens of Mexico, and as participants in the broad

movement of indigenous peoples at a global level. They organised
self-managed communities - with schools, clinics, education centres
and libraries - in which democracy is practised “from below”, that is a
form of horizontal democracy in which “the community decides, and
the government obeys”.
The defence of natural resources and land also became a widespread
form of resistance. Let’s look at two examples. In 1995, the Ogoni
population in the Niger Delta established a non-violent campaign
against environmental degradation of the land and water in the
region after decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping
by multinational oil companies. This campaign resulted in a violent
Neoliberal states are repression by the dictatorship ruling Nigeria. A movement for the
those states that were
defence of the Gualcarque River in Honduras opposed a joint venture
reorganised around
project between a Chinese company, the World Bank’s International
principles associated
with the marketplace Finance Corporation, and a Honduran company to construct a series
since the 1970s. The of four hydroelectric dams that would have compromised their access
neoliberal state privileges to water, resources and local plants used as medicines.
markets, and privatises Since the late 1990s, social movements have become global in
public infrastructures and magnitude, more connected, and they envision global relations and
services. More importantly,
connections with their specific issues. Examples include the social
neoliberal states involve
movements that spread from the protests in Seattle against the World
relentless efforts to remake
social and political life Trade Organisation conference in 1999 and against the G8 conference
around an ideal plucked in Genoa in 2001, the World Social Forum that aims to propose an
from the market. alternative way of living and producing on our planet, and the climate
movement known as Fridays for Future.
Cities are home to banks, multinational corporations, and companies;

Global cities they are the centres through which global capitalism is organised.
Cities are connected into a network of exchange, trade, flows of
money, and the mobility of workers. A network of global cities has
transformed the space of production and social organisation.
Cities have become a locus of socio-political mobilisation and play
the same role as the factory as a place where industrial workers can
organise. They are the territorial basis for collective action under
conditions of global capitalism and neoliberal states.
‘The right to the city’ has become a rallying cry for social movements
and coalitions demanding open and free access to city spaces that
should be managed as common goods.
1,973 CE 2,0 CE
175
COMMON GOODS
Common goods are those goods that are functional for exercising
fundamental rights and for the free development of one’s personality. They
must be safeguarded and removed from the destructive logic of short-
term gains. We must project their protection to the farthest reaches of
the world, the one inhabited by future generations. Common goods have
“diffuse ownership”; they belong to everyone and no one. Everyone should
have access to them and nobody should demand exclusive dominion over
them. They need to be administered according to the principle of solidarity.
Unavailable to the market, common goods thus appear as essential tools
that ensure that the rights of citizens can be exercised.
Think about common goods that you need daily, and make a list. Then share
your list with your classmates and debate on this topic with them.
176
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS A feminist grass-roots movement:
TO GLOBAL CAPITALISM RAWA
1/2 A FEMINIST GRASS-ROOTS MOVEMENT: RAWA

Several feminist movements arose all over the world in the 1970s. Each
one had its own peculiar features related to its historical context, but all of
them shared one vision, which was that women should take their lives in
their hands, and not expect others (men) to improve their condition. Some
of those movements have had a long life, and have broadened their aims
by coping with new threats to women’s rights and human rights. Some are
still active and play a crucial role in fighting for freedom and justice in their
country and beyond.
Read the text on the side, which “One of the first meetings [was] early in 1977. [Meena and her old math and
comes from the biography science teacher, Madame Sadaf,] went together to the home of a friend, as
of Meena, the founder of the they were making a social visit. There were three other women there. [...]
Revolutionary Association of the [...] Meena did not invent the idea of structuring an organisation in small
clandestine groups. People all over the world - regardless of their ideological
Women of Afghanistan.
aims - know this is one way to resist and have chance to survive under
Then complete the activities a repressive regime. But in Afghanistan, it was unusual for a group of
below. unrelated women to come together for any purpose. The extended family
normally met all needs of Afghan women, who did not have or seek out any
other social contacts. Meena pulled her friends beyond their families and
into a group with much a wider perspective. This was revolutionary in itself.
[...] After their first meetings, they decided on a name for their group. They
knew they wanted it to include the word zan - women. Meena was adamant,
and the others agreed, that they would open the group to women only.
[...] Meena talked about the political groups she had observed in which
women were expected to defer their needs to the “revolution”, after which,
presumably, women’s issues would be addressed. As far as Meena was
concerned, that might be never.
[...] So zan it would be.
They also decided to use the word inkalab, Farsi for revolutionary,
because any attempt to change the lives of Afghan women would be truly
revolutionary.
But what kind of group would it be? [...] Meena thought their women’s
organization should be open to ordinary women, mothers, and students, who
could contribute whatever time and resources they were able to give. Their
name would be jamiat, an association.
And so the name was chosen: Jamiat-e Inqalabi Zanan-e Afghanistan. The
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan.”
Source: M.E. Chavis, Meena, Heroine of Afghanistan, 2004 (adapted).
1 Answer these questions. A. Who was Meena?

a housewife a student a young woman an old woman
B. What country does Meena live in, and when?
C. Why is the regime of Meena’s country called “repressive”? Search for
information in reference books and/or on the internet.
D. To whom was Meena’s association open? Would you have made different
decisions, and why?
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2/2 A FEMINIST GRASS-ROOTS MOVEMENT: RAWA

E. Compare the information you can infer from the text about the founding of
RAWA and the logo. What do you think about the way RAWA is dealing with
history?
F. What are RAWA activists fighting against, according to their logo?
Surf to the RAWA website and look for information about their story and their
2
current political aims. What strikes you the most? Why?
Debate this topic in class.
Do you know any women’s associations in your countries that help other
3
women? If so, interview one of the members of the group. Ask about their
aims, their projects and the role that they play in society.
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS The World social forum
THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM

Read these excerpts from the World Social Forum Charter of Principles (you
1
can easily find the Charter online) and complete the activities.
Focus on the underlined terms and tick the words in the left column that
correspond to the features of the World Social Forum.
interconnection
1. The World Social Forum is an open meeting space for reflective thinking,
political network
democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of
dialogue
experiences and interlinking for effective action, by groups and movements
bottom-up social action of civil society that are opposed to neoliberalism and to domination of the
anti-capitalist world by capital and any form of imperialism […].
inactivity
research other 2. The World Social Forum […] becomes a permanent process of seeking and
possibilities building alternatives […].
temporary
nationalistic view 3. The World Social Forum is a world process […]; it has an international
world view dimension.
fight to get human rights 4. The alternatives proposed […] are designed to ensure that globalisation
respected in solidarity will prevail […]. This will respect universal human rights […]
an alternative globalisation
and the environment and will rest on democratic international systems and
harmonising society with
nature institutions at the service of social justice, equality and the sovereignty of
rising corporate profits peoples.
freedom of opinion 7. […]The World Social Forum undertakes to circulate such decisions widely
circular decision-making by the means at its disposal, without directing, hierarchising, censuring or
communication restricting them[…].
hierarchy 8. The World Social Forum is a plural, diversified […] context that, in a
glocal (global-local) decentralised fashion, interrelates [..] movements engaged in concrete
homogeneous action at levels from the local to the international […]
warfare movement 9. […] diversity of genders, ethnicities, cultures, generations and physical
different admitted and given capacities, providing they abide by this Charter of Principles. Neither party
value representations nor military organisations shall participate in the Forum.
peace for the world
changes 14. The World Social Forum is a process that encourages […] planetary
different options are possible citizenship and […] introduces the change-inducing practices that they are
citizens of a new world experimenting in building a new world in solidarity.
Now imagine you are a member of the World Social Forum in charge of
2
making a 5-minute film to publicise the movement amongst young people.
Use the ticked words to write the screenplay for your movie. Then make the
video and present it to your classmates.
1,973 CE 2,0 CE
179
WORLD
VIEWS
The intensification of frontier expansion and the restructuring of

Global consumers capitalism imposed a worldview at a global level. Global capitalism
altered local and national views and cultures were challenged. Global
capitalism and changing identities started reinforcing one another. For
example, Coca-Cola - the famous global beverage company - became
tied to the identities of its consumers everywhere, so it is not seen as
a foreign product.
The most pervasive view promoted and dictated by global capitalism
was undoubtedly the idea of the individual consumer. Humans were
pushed to consider themselves as consumers more than producers.
The production of goods was pushed to the background since work
was an obligation, while the consumption of goods became a matter
of choice.
Humans became consumers of items that increasingly defined their
identities: shoes, clothes, cars, TVs and mobile phones became signs
of belonging and status. This occurred mainly after the 1970s when
private property and commodification of human activity redefined
human societies even outside of the cores of the United States and
Western Europe. Commercial brands - for example in the fashion
industry - were progressively identified as status symbols.
Human activity - relationships, communication, language, knowledge
– also became a commodity on the world market. Different forms
of living, communication and knowledge were valued and qualified
Search online for commercial differently.
advertisements of the same
At the same time, humans were put into competition with one to
brand in different regions. Then
discuss what you have seen
another to obtain the most valuable commodities. Humans were both
with your friends. redefined as consumers on the market, and as competitors influencing
market activity.
Humanity has witnessed a shift in the representation of power and

Dominant views of the the world since the 1970s. The contention between the Eastern and
world
Western Blocs was a conflict between systems of production and
worldviews. Other countries tried to find a “third way” aside from the
capitalist option of the United States and Western Europe, and the
socialist option of the USSR. Yugoslavia, China, and many African and
Latin American countries joined the Non-Aligned Movement, meaning
they wanted to remain independent from the “two superpowers”, and
attempted to create a more equal system of production and social
organisation.
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Urban Space
During the Cold War, the proliferation of worldviews related to nation

states gave way to more pervasive views that incorporated national
identities into broader ideals.
The capitalist option of the United States and Western Europe
embodied “democracy”. The United States was the self-proclaimed
leader and defender of the democratic values that were opposed to
the “evil empire” of the Soviet Union. This opposition between “a good
entity”, embodied by the United States, and an “evil” one became the
framework of the dominant worldview that was consolidated in the
1990s after the collapse of the USSR.
In the late 1990s, when the United States became the only hegemon,
its political power clearly depended on a small global elite of
capitalists. This limited group owned companies, industries and banks;
they represented the dominant worldview of a global empire. Within
this comprehensive understanding of the world, of humanity and our
activities and relationships, many cultures inhabit the planet and even
the same city.
The idea of nation was still at play and effective, but it merged and
was challenged by the proliferation of cultures in the same territory,
and by more global views of our world. At the same time, the renewed
strength of political actors like China and Russia in the early 2000s
reduced the view of the United States as the dominant superpower.
Clashes between worldviews have assumed different and violent
forms, including religious terrorism.
The urban space has become more crowded by humans and their
Urban space diverse views of the world. Migrations, within the same nation and
from other places, have transformed cities into spaces in which
different identities and cultures meet and coexist. Cities have
expanded in size and intensified their activities; the depiction of
cultures and worldviews has also increased.
This process has not integrated views of the world on an equal basis.
Increased wealth inequality is evident in the differentiation of services
and infrastructures within the same city; examples include hospitals,
schools, sewage systems, electricity, radio frequencies and cable
connections. Connections and transport have been facilitated for
wealthier residents, while poor areas are increasingly disconnected
from the historical or financial centres. In some areas, poor informal
settlements dot the city like in Rio de Janeiro where “favelas” create a
space of autonomous local government and organisation independent
from the institutional government.
Expulsion has become a common practice; the removal of “historical”
1,973 CE 2,0 CE
181
CULTURE AND URBAN SPACE: The racial dot map code was created by Dustin
THE RACIAL DOT MAP Cable, a former demographic researcher at
University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center
for Public Service, in 2013. Mr Cable was
inspired by Brandon Martin-Anderson
(MIT Media Lab) and Eric Fischer, mapmaker
and programmer.
The map provides an accessible visualisation of
geographic distribution, population density, and
racial diversity in every neighbourhood around
the world that has open census data.
In this case, each of the more than 190 million
dots on the side map represents a Brazilian
citizen.
The location and colour of the dots are based
on the 2010 Brazilian Census, and each colour
on the map represents one of the possible race
options that Brazilians can use to describe
themselves: white, black, brown, Asiatic and
Rio de Janeiro indigenous.
The map does a better job than any chart,
graph, or verbal description at showing which
ethnicities live in which neighbourhoods. This
reflects differences in accessibility to services
and opportunities, segregation, but also
different cultural productions.
white brown black Asiatic indigenous
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PROFVESIN PROFVESIN PROFVESIN
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Pop culture
residents to make room for wealthier residents, highly skilled migrants,

and entrepreneurs is known as gentrification. At the same time,
shopping malls dot the periphery of cities. Malls play a double role.
On the one hand, they expand the trade activities of multinationals
and reduce the trade of small, local shopkeepers; on the other hand,
they promote the identification of humans as consumers who spend
their time choosing branded commodities that reflect their status
and identity.
Western countries have increasingly promoted the suburbanisation of
the world in other regions, especially in the outskirts of global cities,
since the 1970s.
Cities have become essential for culture and identity-making

Underground cultures processes. Art and music increasingly narrate the living conditions in
cities as experienced by the poorest and less affluent populations. For
the first time in history, the lower social strata can portray their own
views and lives; they are not a minor group, nor do they represent a
few cases – it is a massive speak-out. Music - like punk, funk, rap and
hip-hop - became the voice of the poorest and most discriminated
humans. In the periphery of cities, music groups multiplied all over
the world. For example, the posse were music groups that dealt
with social and political issues in their songs and raised the issue
of inequality. You could listen to songs to better understand living
conditions in Rio de Janeiro favelas, the suburbs of Naples, or in a
Parisian banlieue.
At the same time, these music groups - especially in genres like rap
or hip-hop - are well-connected at a global level and express local
experiences related to global issues that allow them to create broader
connections and conversations.
The transformation of humans into consumers, as promoted by

Pop culture global capitalism, also developed through the appropriation of local
symbols, identities and culture. Let’s look at one example.
Frida Kahlo, a Mexican painter, had a bright but short career as an
artist, working at an international level from the late 1930s until the
early 1950s when she died. Kahlo was a woman, a communist, and
strongly attached to her indigenous roots and Mexican identity. Even
though many famous artists worked with her and promoted her
work, she remained relatively unknown until the 1980s when social
movements - above all feminist movements in the United States –
started considering her as a symbol of feminine power and strength.
You undoubtedly know her, probably not because of her role
1,973 CE 2,0 CE
183
Global capitalism
in feminist movements or her work as a painter, but for the many

mugs and posters that you find in shopping malls and boutiques.
Frida is fashionable. The image of Kahlo has been commodified and
consumed but deprived of the political and social relevance her work
and life had. You can search for Frida Kahlo’s life as an activist. You can
also search for the origin of Vogueing/Posing that you are probably
familiar with thanks to the song by Madonna, the “Queen of pop”. It is
actually related to transgenders’ struggle for recognition and equality.
Global capitalism appropriates local identities and transforms them
into commodities to be sold and become popular in the world, pop.
184
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS What is terrorism
1/4 WHAT IS TERRORISM

Over the last decades, the word “terrorism” has been used several times.
Politicians, economists, religious leaders, and ordinary people use this word
primarily to condemn mass murder - or attempted murder – that targets
civilians. Nevertheless, there is no universal consensus about the definition
of “terrorism”. Culture, political and ideological world views, religion,
social role, and the communication context alter the meaning of this word
significantly.
Read the following definitions A. Terrorism is the use of violence, especially murder and bombing, in order
1
and descriptions of “terrorism” to achieve political aims or to force a government to do something.
taken from the internet, Source: Collins Dictionary.
then look up the definition B. Terrorism is premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated
of terrorism in one of your against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.
national dictionaries and write it Source: Title 22 Chapter 38 U.S. Code § 2656f.
in the space provided.
C. Terrorism can be broadly understood as a method of coercion that utilises
or threatens to utilise violence in order to spread fear and thereby attain
political or ideological goals. [...] The attack spreads fear as the violence is
directed, unexpectedly, against innocent victims, which in turn puts pressure
on third parties such as governments to change their policy or position. [...]
Contemporary terrorists utilise many forms of violence, and indiscriminately
target civilians, military facilities and State officials among others.
Source: UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME - Education for
Justice University Module Series, Module 1, 2018.
D. Terrorism is the use of illegitimate violence, aimed at instilling terror
in the members of an organised community and destabilising or restoring
order, through actions such as attacks, kidnappings, hijackings of aircraft
and similar. It can be used by groups and movements of various kinds
(but also isolated individuals) that want to achieve radical changes to
the political-institutional framework or government apparatuses - both
institutional and deviant - that are interested in suppressing internal dissent
and preventing certain political developments.
Source: Vocabolario Treccani, freely translated from Italian.
E. Types of terrorism:
- State-sponsored terrorism, which consists of terrorist acts on a state or
government by a state or government.
- Dissent terrorism, which are terrorist groups which have rebelled against
their government.
- Terrorists and the Left and Right, which are groups rooted in political
ideology.
- Religious terrorism, which are terrorist groups which are extremely
religiously motivated
- Criminal Terrorism, which are terrorist acts used to aid in crime and
criminal profit.
Source: Eastern Kentucky University Online Degree Programs.
1,973 CE 2,0 CE
185

Try to classify the mournful events listed below, on the ground of the
2
definitions of terrorism you have read above. If you don’t know what event is
reported, search online for information.
ATTACKS,
TIME MASS KILLINGS, WAS IT TERRORISM? WHY YES/WHY NOT?
VIOLENCE
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and

1945 Nagasaki by U.S. military force with
the consent of the United Kingdom
1955- National Organisation of Cypriot

1958 Fighters attacks – EOKA
1956-
“Che” Guevara Cuban Revolution
1959
Rev Martin Luther King civil rights

1960
marches and protests
Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque

1968-
Homeland and Freedom – ETA)
2010
attacks
1969-
Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacks
1994
1970-
Italian Red Brigades terror attacks
1980s
1971- Kach movement attacks by Rabbi

1994 Meir Kahane
US-led Condor Operation

1975
in South America
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS What is terrorism
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

1980s
attacks
Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê

1984-
(Kurdistan Workers’ Party - PKK)
today
attacks
1990s-
Al Qaeda attacks worldwide
today
Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy

1995
McVeigh
Attack on the Tokyo metro by Aum

1995
Shinrikyo
Atlanta Olympic Park bombing by

1996
Eric Rudolph
1999 Columbine High School massacre
Al-Qaeda attacks to the Twin Towers

2001
and the Pentagon
2001- Islamist suicide attacks in

today Afghanistan and in Iraq
2000s-
Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel
today
2000s- Israeli bombing on Gaza and the

today Palestinian Territories
2014- Attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq

today and the Levant (ISIL)
1,973 CE 2,020 CE
187
Attacks on Utøya island and in Oslo,

2011
Norway
2013 Boston Marathon bombing
White supremacist mass shooting

2019
in Christchurch, New Zealand
Turkish military attack on Kurdish

2019
civilians in Northern Syria
Now write a short comment, stressing how terrorism is widespread in space

3
and time. Write a set of actions that could be taken to counter terrorism.
188
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Urbanization trends and new visions
1/4 URBANIZATION TRENDS AND NEW VISIONS

Even if urban settings are a relatively new phenomenon in human history,
nowadays more than half of the world population lives in urban areas.
Look at the map on the side

1
and answer the questions.
A.
Are the countries with majority
of urban population in white or
in grey?
B.
Name the countries that do
do not have majority of urban
population (use a World Atlas).
Do you think they will keep less
urbanized compared to the rest
of the world, in the next years?
Which ones will, and which
ones won’t? Why? (If you want,
go the internet and watch the
animated map “Do more people
live in urban or rural areas?” in
the Our World In Data website)
2 Collect information about living in a highly urbanized area: interview people

you know who are living / have lived in big cities, search on the internet, read
articles and look carefully at the images you find.
You will have a better view on the whole issue by using both positive and
negative key-words in your internet search: for example, “Benefits of cities”,
“Disadvantages of living in overcrowded cities” etc.). Then, in pairs, answer
this question: Could we imagine a flow of people leaving the cities toward the
rural areas in the next future, opposite to the urbanization flows that have
characterized the last centuries? How could we name the “refugees” coming
from the cities to the countryside?
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189
2/2 URBANIZATION TRENDS AND NEW VISIONS

The urban growth presents both challenges and opportunities related with the
3
sustainable development. Read the excerpt and do the activities.
Among the many alternatives to urban sprawl, nearly all can be placed
under the umbrella of “smart growth” or “New Urbanism.” Smart growth
is a management strategy designed to direct the growth of urban areas,
whereas New Urbanism focuses on the physical design of communities
to create liveable and walkable neighbourhoods. In their own ways, both
strategies promote economic growth in cities and towns without many of the
typical environmental, economic, and community costs associated with urban
sprawl.
Source: Enciclopaedia Britannica online.
Imagine that you are the governor of a city that has to elaborate strategies
to increase the quality of life in the urban area. Which of the following ones
would you propose?
Tick the ones you choose and write on a “city charter” which environmental,
economic, and community costs associated with urban sprawl each of them
could avoid.
Creation of pedestrian-friendly communities
Increase of cars in the street
Increase of the price of public transport
Encouragement of citizen participation in the community decision-making
process
Development of communities that are distinctive and unique
Encouragement of carsharing
Creation of opportunities that are favourable to the private sector, since
private-sector involvement is essential to smart growth
Integration of a variety of land-use types into the community
Preservation of open space, agricultural areas, historic structures and sites,
and environmental resources that provide critical services to the area
Increase in transportation choices
Support of urban development that includes, rather than excludes, existing
neighbourhoods
Erection of compact homes and commercial buildings that use energy
efficiently
other:
190
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS References
REFERENCES
and London, 2000.
Cambridge, 2008.
edition).
Berkeley, 2017.
Cambridge, 2015.
2012, pp. 24–39.
pp. 1-63.
forthcoming.
2013.
1,973 CE 2,0 CE
191
Global capitalism
192
3.3 CHANGING
THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
#FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE EVENT MAP (October 2019)
Source: Fridaysforfuture.org Website
2,0 CE
193
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Changing the twenty-rst century
IMAGINE Imagine that you are not in your classroom, not behind your
desk. You are outside, flying like a bird over planet Earth. You
have witnessed its changes, from a planet where humans
were a small, endangered species, gathered in small groups
over immense areas. They were hardly noticeable, only fires
and plumes of smoke indicated where humans were hiding.
Now, 70,000 years later, you see humans everywhere, in cities
and the countryside, on the sea and in the air, in space and
underground. Almost 8 billion humans inhabit the planet
now, and you wonder if these increasing crowds will ever stop
growing. The world has never been so busy, so crowded, so
connected, and so full of new things and techniques. There is
movement all around you; you see millions of humans on the
move.
You are also chased by billions of cars, millions of trains, tens

of thousands of ships and aircraft, and thousands of satellites
orbiting the earth. At this moment there are 10,000 aeroplanes
in the air, almost 100,000 per day, and 9000 airports dot the
planet. Radio frequencies make you crazy; they connect
computers, phones, machines and humans. The planet that
you cherish so much is heating up. Increased movement,
energy use, radiation, and heat are having adverse effects.
Open spaces are filling up, forests are shrinking, the seas are
polluted, ice caps are melting, the air is polluted, and food is
contaminated. Now you are really concerned; where and when
will this end? How will it happen? Who is going to do it?
Imagine being…. yourself. And imagine the world you will live
in as an adult. Imagine new generations and yourself as part
of them. You and your classmates are in charge of this future
world. You must get to know it, evaluate problems, decide on
solutions and organise change. Where should you go? How
should you travel there? You have learned that the story of all
humans on planet Earth throughout the ages is also your story.
You have learned that it is a grand story, but also one that can
be changed. You know that humans have made choices and
194
will continue to do so. You have learned that organised human

actions have changed this world. These choices and actions
matter, maybe now more than ever. You and your friends will go
out in your world and make new choices and organise actions
that change the world. Imagine…
2,0 CE
195
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Changing the twenty-first century
CHANGING THE
TWENTY-FIRST
CENTURY
Populations
The world you will live in will add another two billion humans to
this already populous planet, bringing the population to about ten
billion in 2050. Half of all infants, around one billion, will grow up in
Sub-Saharan Africa. Another 25% of the global population growth will
be concentrated in Central and Southern Asia. In 2050, one in four
humans will live in Africa. In Eastern and Southeastern Asia, in Europe,
in the United States and Canada, there will be almost no population
increase. The rates of population increase will further decline in the
twenty-first century, but growth will remain exceptionally high in
regions that are called ‘the Global South’. These include the populous
countries of India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Egypt. In the world to come, the
fastest-growing group of working people is in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In the coming decades, between 50 and 60% of humans living there
will be younger than 25; this will be well below 30% in Europe and
North America. In 2050, 25% of the population in Europe and North
America will be over 65, compared to only 5% in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Demographics will profoundly change global relations. Urban areas
are expected to absorb virtually all of the future growth in the world’s
population. Rapid urban growth presents important opportunities
and challenges, including the implementation of an ambitious agenda
that seeks to make cities and human settlements inclusive and
ecologically sustainable.
Ever since the creation of regional social systems, humans have

Inequalities institutionalised forms of inequality, mainly through differences in
status, wealth, and living conditions. These inequalities have been
contested in many ways by different social groups.
Although it is richer than ever, the world currently stimulates material
inequalities based on income and wealth. The income share of the
global top one per cent has increased in the last decades to more
than 20%, and is, under unchanged circumstances, expected to grow
to almost 30% in 2050. Other inequalities also persist. Life expectancy
at birth is expected to increase to 77 years by 2050. Significant gaps
remain between countries and social groups. Today, life expectancy
at birth in the least developed countries is 7.4 years lower than the
global average, primarily due to persistently high levels of child and
maternal mortality, as well as violence, conflicts and the continuing
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Frontiers
impact of the HIV epidemic. These inequalities are not natural or

necessary; they are the outcome of choices made by ruling elites that
are only a small part of humanity.
Authoritarianism is currently on the rise around the world, with
significant implications for humans and environments. Differences
in gender, class, culture and ethnicity are emphasised in order
to preserve existing hierarchies. Since we shared knowledge for
hundreds of thousands of years, we could share the wealth that is
concentrated in a few human hands. Our way of producing tools and
goods is destroying the planet, and the largest part of humanity is
paying the price for the wealth of the few. Your political choices will
decide whether inequality rises or declines.
More humans will increase the need for new resources, food, energy
Frontiers and other commodities, pressing the question of the ecological and
social costs of the current capitalist growth model. As we have seen,
frontiers have always been part of human history. Humans’ shifting
relationships with each other and with other forms of life created
varying zones of contact or frontiers. While frontiers fuelled human
expansion, and crossed and connected worlds, they also reshaped
and destroyed organic and non-organic life.
Over the past 600 years, under capitalism, frontiers have moved at
ever accelerating speeds; they have intensified action across vast areas
of the globe and incorporated increasing amounts of land, labour,
resources, and lives. Flatlands, valleys, forests, marine spaces and
mountains have been farmed, logged, fished, and quarried to provide
raw materials and food for a rapidly urbanising and industrialising
global capitalist economy. Workers have been employed, worked
to exhaustion, exploited and moved - forcefully or voluntarily - to
fuel this mode of production that benefits a small percentage of the
human population.
Humans have changed, destroyed and recreated organic and non-
organic life, from the microcellular to the global scale. This includes
climate change and increasing frontier extraction and exploitation.
Frontiers have been redefined with global networks of money and
communication that cross territories, disregarding nationality, as
well as with new regional identities, national barriers to migration,
and immense, impoverished areas. Businesses open new commodity
markets, and financial institutions define more profitable forms of
investment, including grabbing new land and resources. Technology
markets have intensified in many sectors, with ownership concentrated
around information and production technologies, including private
2,0 CE
197
Changing the twenty-first century
data sharing, automated labour, and patents for seed and other forms
of life. China and Chinese firms have emerged as important drivers
of commodity frontier expansion, especially in Africa, Latin America,
and parts of Asia.
Global capitalism is pressing the planet to its limits and creating safer
and wealthier areas for a small part of humanity. In this century, we
must create a new relationship within the complex web of organic
and non-organic life.
One of the drivers of frontier expansion has been commodification,

The commodification
making whatever is available subject to market forces. When something
of everything
becomes private property, it can be traded, bought and sold to the
highest bidder. It is given a market value, making it accessible only to
those who can pay for it. But everything has an untold cost; it is the
cost for humanity and the whole planet.
The current capitalist global economy is an economy of unpaid
costs. Ecological damage, natural degradation, pressure on the earth’s
ecological capacity, animal extinctions, and limits to fuels are never
factored in or considered. We also know that renewable energy is
not a solution for the levels of energy we are currently consuming.
In fact, solar energy batteries are made with minerals from the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Bolivia, where the extraction
process resembles complexes in colonial times that used child labour.
Elsewhere, damming rivers became a strategy to dispossess indigenous
populations and dismantle human-made reservoirs.
As we have seen, the regional impact is unequal: core countries import
non-renewable riches and export ecological degradation via mining
and plantation agriculture. The profits disproportionately enrich
the already wealthy elites based in core countries, and the harmful
consequences disproportionately affect the most impoverished
populations that inhabit the most peripheral areas. The effects of
Access to clean water is the commodification of planet Earth and the ecological costs of
not guaranteed as a social
commodification are global.
entitlement to all populations
around the world. Search for
Since capitalism’s mode of production continuously results in the
information about this topic and commodification of life, humans must guarantee some ‘utilities’
create a poster that you will as social entitlements for the entire population rather than as
show to your classmates. commodities that must be paid for. At the same time, these
entitlements have to be organised in accordance with the earth’s
ecological capacity.
One of the earliest forms of commodification has been labour, at least

Work and workers some of the labour activities humans have been performing. Workers
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Global migrations
have created societies, infrastructures, transportation, buildings,

commodities, knowledge, and other humans. We have learned that
work can be performed under different conditions. In slave labour,
humans are considered property and forced to perform tasks; they are
not free to refuse or break the bond with their master. In wage labour,
workers sell their labour under conditions that are established by a
contract. Flexible work contracts generate an ever-growing group of
precarious workers. One single job can have many employers through
the system of subcontracting; this makes it difficult for workers to get
social benefits, better wages and working conditions. Few workers can
refuse to work or are guaranteed rights, including social rights. Many
forms of labour are still not recognised as paid ‘work’ and do not
generate social protection. Care work remains the most vulnerable
area of employment, especially in a world where persons aged 65 or
Sign on a door in a public over make up the fastest-growing group. At the same time, advances in
facility in Slovenia.
The Slovenian word for fertility technology have produced a demand for surrogate mothers;
“charwoman” and the
drawing specify that the world’s largest market for wombs is South Asia. Vast international
cleaning work is done by a networks of care service providers sustain households elsewhere.
woman. Do you think that
the pictogram is acceptable Workers are on the move more than ever before, often changing the
or would you prefer a country they live in (that means different fiscal and social systems) and
gender neutral one? How
would you draw it? employers. Workers are mobilised and managed by global capitalism,
but they also move to find better living and working conditions.
One of the biggest challenges in this century is global migration, which

Global migrations is expected to increase in the coming decades. Three world regions
are net receivers of migrants: Europe, the United States and Canada;
Northern Africa and Western Asia; and Australia and New Zealand. In
these regions, particularly in the United States, Southern Europe and
Australia, borders and internment camps are multiplying to prevent
human movement. Few countries are hosting migrants, and ever more
governments are turning to nationalistic policies.
At the same time, global warming is putting pressure on ecological
systems and living conditions, forcing populations to escape. The
effects of global capitalism are forcing them to move and become
climate refugees. Ongoing wars and conflicts in some regions - that
are often the outcome of colonial interventions or disputes between
international allies - are forcing more humans to move to other
regions. The first global crisis of the twenty-first century contributed
to a wave of migration from Southern Europe countries like Italy and
Greece.
In this textbook, we have shown that humans have always moved
throughout all of human history. We have shown that migration
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can be a transformative force that connects different populations

and cultures. We need to figure out how to create systems of safe
migration that address global inequality, poverty, insecurity, and a
lack of decent work.
The story of humans, as we have told it, makes it clear that the
Tomorrow’s worldviews human world is not an object, a thing. It is the outcome of permanent
interaction and struggles between human activity and other forces of
nature that we call the environment. Humans have changed nature;
nature has changed humans. In the past, humans made and remade
many worlds, small and large. This process is still ongoing. These
worlds are the outcome of cooperation and conflict, of connections
and networks. They are also the outcome of our imagination. In
our story about the history of humans, we put great emphasis on
worldviews and the way that humans have imagined and represented
the worlds they lived in. These worldviews also represented power
relationships. Who was able to advance his or her imagination? How
was it represented and reproduced? Other humans have always
reacted to these views, interiorised them, adapted them, and resisted
them. Worldviews are never fixed and should provoke interaction and
imagination. Humans should reimagine the world they are living in,
creating imaginary spaces for legitimation, action, interaction and
resistance.
You can question existing worldviews, the relationship between
humans and nation states, the complexity of both the past and
present worlds. You can make claims about how the world functions
today and how it could function tomorrow. As we have argued,
claims, interpretations and evaluations cannot be made solely in the
framework of our own, known world; they must reflect the complexity
of human history.
During most of history, humans have organised their existence

Resistance through common systems of possession and use rather than through
and the commons
private property. We call this the commons: spaces and institutions
where humans manage land, resources, and ecosystems in the interest
of all parties. Many humans do not accept the current world order
in which economic expansion, profits and commodification seem to
be the main drivers. They organise themselves to instigate processes
of change and transformation; they rethink the world, creating more
equal social organisations, and protecting organic and non-organic
life from the effects of frontier expansion.
Commons movements are more active than ever. They advocate the
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Resistance and the commons
preservation of non-commodified access to food, water, housing,

forests, clean air, knowledge and goods. Twenty-first-century forest
commoners, for instance, are better caretakers of trees than either
corporations or central governments. Environmental justice groups
have defended culturally and ecologically relevant areas from
the expropriation attempts by global companies; this challenges
the expansion of present-day frontiers. Popular economies have
reorganised the production of goods towards equal systems of wealth
distribution and ecological sustainability. Social groups defend
migrant movements and their access to welfare.
The common use of resources and the organisation of social life
should guarantee a better balance between resource consumption,
organic and non-organic life, wealth, and biodiversity. There are
already alternatives at play, and we can choose to embark upon this
global movement of change.
Learning from the past, changing the planet.
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201
ARE COMPANIES IMPACTING ECOSYSTEMS?

Read this text, then complete “Multinational corporations are relentlessly expanding their operations
the activities. into ever more vulnerable and remote regions of the planet. As they do
so, they drive the climate crisis and exacerbate its impacts. They bear
Do you agree with the authors
1 responsibility for a global crisis which affects us all, and they bring social
of the text on the side? Support
and environmental destruction to the local communities where they operate.
your answer with arguments.
A further legacy of their oil drilling, industrial mining and huge hydroelectric
If possible, describe situations
projects is the erosion of those communities’ resilience at a time when
and cases in which the impact
the impacts of climate change are beginning to take effect. These same
of corporations on climate
multinationals are also the biggest barrier to meaningful action on climate
change is apparent.
change, blocking urgently needed regulations and genuine transformational
solutions.”
Source: Corporate Conquistadors. The Many Ways Multinationals both Drive

and Profit from Climate Destruction, by “The Democracy Center”, “Corporate
Europe Observatory”, “The Transnational Institute”, 2014.
Do you know which companies

2 NAME OF THE
or institutions are most IMPACT ON THE
responsible for C02 emissions COMPANY / PRODUCTS
ENVIRONMENT
and pollution in the world? CORPORATION
Do some research on the web
and fill a table like the one on
1 Your main competitor discovers a new material: the GOMPACK, which makes
the side.
the soles of shoes stronger and also lighter than usual. The Brazilian factory
Work in groups of four or five. producing the GOMPACK is polluting the aquifers of the whole area.
3
Imagine that you are members What do you do?
of the Board of Directors of a
You file charges against your competitor for the pollution produced.
multinational corporation that
You too use the GOMPACK for your business, but you also finance the
produces sports shoes. You
remediation of contaminated aquifers.
have to make decisions about
the issues listedon the side to You fund the research for a non-polluting material similar to GOMPACK.
avoid negative impacts on the As soon as you get to know about the GOMPACK, you start using it in your
environment. Discuss each of business, too.
them with your group, then tick
the ones you all choose. 2 You bought 70% of the shares in “PetrolYes”, a Nigerian oil company. Many of
the oil wells are located in the forest.
What do you do?
You extract the oil, but you also take the necessary precautions to avoid
pollution (this increases extraction costs by 20%).
You extract the oil at the lowest possible cost.
You decide not to extract oil any more, so as not to pollute the forest.
You keep extracting that oil, and you launch a new brand of petrol,
“PINEpetrol”, a petrol with a scent of pine, to appeal to ecological
consumers.
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS What makes us happy?
1/2 WHAT MAKES US HAPPY?

In our world, it seems that every aspect of life has a monetary value; in
other words, it can be considered a commodity. Our job and our basic needs
(food, water, clothing, shelter, and fuel) have a market value, but we are also
used to paying to maintain our physical health and personal appearance, for
maintaining good social relations, and for amusement and leisure activities.
Can we say that happiness is a commodity? What makes us happy?
Read the following text by the 1. Life. Being able to live to the end of a human life of normal length; not
1
American philosopher Martha dying prematurely or before one’s life is so reduced as to be not worth living.
Nussbaum, which lists ten 2. Bodily Health and Integrity. Being able to have good health, including
“Central Human Functional reproductive health; being adequately nourished; being able to have
Capabilities”. Tick the capability/ adequate shelter.
capabilities that you feel 3. Bodily Integrity. Being able to move freely from place to place; being able
humans lack the most, then to be secure against violent assault, including sexual assault, marital rape,
write a 10-sentence paper in and domestic violence; having opportunities for sexual satisfaction and for
which you outline what steps choice in matters of reproduction.
can be taken to develop that 4. Senses, imagination, thought. Being able to use the senses; being able
capability. Finally, debate this to imagine, to think, and to reason – and to do these things in a “truly
topic in class. Will humans have human” way, a way informed and cultivated by an adequate education,
to pay to take steps to develop including, but by no means limited to, literacy and basic mathematical and
the capabilities they need? scientific training; being able to use imagination and thought in connection
What kind of payment method with experiencing and producing expressive works and events of one’s own
should they use? choice (religious, literary, musical etc.); being able to use one’s mind in
ways protected by guarantees of freedom of expression with respect to both
political and artistic speech and freedom of religious exercise; being able to
have pleasurable experiences and to avoid nonbeneficial pain.
5. Emotions. Being able to have attachments to things and persons outside
ourselves; being able to love those who love and care for us; being able to
grieve at their absence; in general being able to love, to grieve, to experience
longing, gratitude, and justified anger; not having one’s emotional developing
blighted by fear or anxiety. (Supporting this capability means supporting
forms of human association that can be shown to be crucial in their
development.
6. Practical reason. Being able to form a conception of the good and to
engage in critical reflection about the planning of one’s own life. (This entails
protection for the liberty of conscience.)
7. Affiliation. (a) Being able to live for and in relation to others, to recognise
and show concern for other human beings, to engage in various forms of
social interaction; being able to imagine the situation of another and to
have compassion for the situation; having the capability for both justice
and friendship. (Protecting this capability means, once again, protecting
institutions that constitute such forms of affiliation, and also protecting
institutions that constitute such forms of affiliation, and also protecting the
freedoms of assembly and political speech.) (b) Having the social bases
of self-respect and non-humiliation; being able to be treated as a dignified
being whose worth is equal to that of others. (This entails provisions of non-
discrimination.)
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2/2 WHAT MAKES US HAPPY?
8. Other species. Being able to live with concern for and in relation to
animals, plants, and the world of nature.
9. Play. Being able to laugh, to play, to enjoy recreational activities.
10. Control over one’s environment. (a) Political: being able to participate
effectively in political choices that govern one’s life; having the rights of
political participation, free speech, and freedom of association (b) Material:
being able to hold property (both land and movable goods); having the right
to seek employment on an equal basis with others; having the freedom from
unwarranted search and seizure. In work, being able to work as a human
being, exercising practical reason and entering into meaningful relationships
of mutual recognition with other workers.
Source: M. Nussbaum, Creating Capabilities, 2011.
PAID AND UNPAID ACTIONS

Draw a table similar to the
1 HOUR OF THE DAY PAID ACTIONS UNPAID ACTIONS
table on the side. Make a list
of your daily actions at home
and elsewhere. In the second
column, write the actions that
are paid and write those that
are unpaid in the third column.
Actions in the third column are Consider your sports activities. They are not paid (on the contrary, you often
2
unpaid. Very often, their effect pay to play them!), so it looks like they do not have any financial return. But if
cannot be calculated, nor can you enjoy your sports training, you feel good and are amused. You appreciate
they be described in quantitative the quality of this return, which has value for your well-being. Moreover, you
terms. Do they have any other are investing in your health so you will not get sick as frequently, and you will
kind of value? not burden your country’s health care system. Every unpaid action has its
own value and can turn into benefits for you, for society, for the government
or for the environment.
Work in pairs and list at least

3
five other actions that do not
have any financial value at first
sight but have both a qualitative
and quantitative value.
Write down the positive
outcomes that each of them can
cause.
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS How many migrants are there in
TO GLOBAL CAPITALISM Europe?
HOW MANY MIGRANTS ARE THERE IN EUROPE?

Migration flows to West Europe have increased in the last decades. What is
the perception of Europeans on the presence of migrants in their country?
Read the bar graph about the
1
perception of migrant share in
some countries of the world.
A. In which order are the
countries listed?
B. Redraw the graph by listing
the same countries by the
actual share of migrants living
there (put the larger actual
share at the top and the lowest
share at the bottom).
C. Compare the two bar graphs
and answer: Why is there such
a misleading perception, in your
opinion? Discuss this topic with
your classmates.
Source of the bar graph:

10 Trends Shaping Migration,
European Political Strategy
Centre, European Commission,
2017.
Now tick the sentences that you Neither the institutions of the European Union nor European governments
2
think are correct or possibly have developed good national and international strategies to cope with the
correct. migration issue.
European conservative and demagogical forces are working to spur hostility

and fear towards immigrants, by leveraging the feelings of insecurity of the
middle and lower social strata, who are dealing with the economic crisis.
The perception of Europeans on the presence of immigrants in their country

is frequently distorted.
Increased migration flows are due to unprecedented inequality between

wealthy and poor countries.
What about you? How do you
3 Increased migration flows are due to the catastrophic impact of climate
feel about the migrants who
change on many countries around the planet.
arrive in your country?
Write down your own Migrants leave their country because they want to steal work from the
perception. inhabitants of their new country.
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IS FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT A HUMAN RIGHT?

When you hear the word “migration”, you do not usually think about humans
leaving your country to move to another one; instead, you imagine migrants
coming to your country. What is the difference between “emigration” and
“immigration”? What is our view of migration based on?
Read the following text and “Is it possible to envisage a right to mobility? According to the Universal
1
look up the definition of Declaration of Human Rights (Article 13-2), “Everyone has the right to leave
the underlined words and any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” But if the
expressions in a dictionary. right to emigrate is acknowledged, what about the corresponding right to
immigrate? This question is of particular relevance because contemporary
migration policies are increasingly characterised by a restrictive spirit that
makes international mobility problematic. While skilled workers circulate
quite easily, those who do not belong to this elite have little access to
migration opportunities, at least within a legal framework. In the meantime,
globalisation has increased the mobility of capital, information, goods and
even services, thus making the non-liberalisation of human mobility the
exception rather than the rule. These diverging patterns in international
mobility take place in a context characterised by the contestation of this
order by irregular migration flows and by receiving states’ attempts to stop
them. [...] A possible rights-based answer to the challenges of migration lies
in the elaboration of a right to mobility.”
Source: A. Pécoud, P. De Guchteneire, International Migration, Border

Controls and Human Rights: Assessing the Relevance of a Right to Mobility,
“Journal of Borderlands Studies”, Volume 21, No. 1, 2006.
MOBILITY:
EMIGRATE:
IMMIGRATE:
RESTRICTIVE SPIRIT:
SKILLED WORKERS:
LEGAL FRAMEWORK:
NON-LIBERALISATION:
RIGHTS-BASED ANSWER:
Imagine that devastating floods hit your country, and your government is
2
suddenly taken over by a dictator who allocates all financial resources to
prepare for war rather than helping citizens who have lost everything. You
and your family decide to move to another country. EU states do not accept
refugees from your country because they fear that your dictator will wage
war against them. Choose one non-EU state in the world, use the internet
and look up the different ways to enter the country. Keep in mind that your
country’s government will not issue tourist visas to anyone. Write down step-
by-step instructions of what to do.
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Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Join the change
1/3 JOIN THE CHANGE

Observe the images and read Here are pictures and captions about movements of young people who are
1
the captions. Then search online fighting for changing the world. They think that change will come from the
for more information and fill in bottom: it will draw its strength from the involvement of common people.
the table of the Identity Card of Each of us can get in touch with these movements and make a contribution.
each movement.
(On the left) “Fridays for future” is

a movement involving young people
all over the world. It was born
thanks to Greta Thunberg (on the
right). Activits of this movement
want to make everybdy aware of
the need to change her/his lifestyle,
so that human actions have less
impact on climate change.
IDENTITY CARD
NAME OF THE MOVEMENT
MAIN AIMS
YEAR OF FOUNDATION
WHERE IT IS ACTIVE (COUNTRIES, GROUPS)
WEBSITE
HOW YOU CAN BE INVOLVED
“4ocean” is a United States for

profit company that sells bracelets
made from recycled materials,
usually apparel and plastic bottles.
The company uses a share of its
profits to help cleaning the oceans
from plastic pollution: it removes
one pound of trash for each
bracelet that is sold.
IDENTITY CARD
MAIN AIMS
YEAR OF FOUNDATION
WEBSITE
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2/3 JOIN THE CHANGE
The “youth4peace movement” aim

at increasing the role of young
people in building peace around the
world. This photo has been taken
during the Youth Summit held in
2012 at Pualas, Philippines.
IDENTITY CARD
MAIN AIMS
YEAR OF FOUNDATION
WEBSITE
The “Association for Women’s

Rights in Development” is an
international feminist organization
committed to achieving gender
equality, sustainable development
and women’s human rights.
IDENTITY CARD
MAIN AIMS
YEAR OF FOUNDATION
WEBSITE
208
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Join the change
3/3 JOIN THE CHANGE

The “Degrowth web portal”
helps everybody to connect
to groups, movements and
associations working for “a form of
society and economy which aims at
the well-being of all and sustains
the natural basis of life”
(www.degrowth.info/en/).
IDENTITY CARD
MAIN AIMS
YEAR OF FOUNDATION
WEBSITE
Which of these movements would you like to join?

2
How could you get involved?
Write down your choice and the reasons of your decision.
2,0 CE
209
REFERENCES
and London, 2000.
Cambridge, 2008.
edition).
Berkeley, 2017.
Cambridge, 2015.
2012, pp. 24–39.
pp. 1-63.
forthcoming.
2013.
210
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Index of terms
INDEX OF TERMS
VOLUME 1
Aesthetic qualities are concerned work and live together. Page 119 humans”. “Distribute” originated
with beauty or the appreciation of from “tribe” and refers to the
beauty and art. Page 85 Cosmology is the set of beliefs and practice of collecting goods from
theories about the origin and the tribe members and giving them
Agropastoral systems are farming nature of the universe. Page 84 to a central authority, which later
systems that combine animal and distributes some of those goods
crop production. They vary across Daily forms of resistance are forms back to the members according to
regions and agro-ecological zones. of individual resistance, with little established shares. Page 100
Page 73 or no coordination, to any kind of
authority. They are short-term Domesticate means to bring or
A chiefdom is a hierarchically forms of resistance that occur keep (wild animals or plants) under
organised society in which social in the lives of humans, usually control or cultivation. The word
rank was inherited. Page 80 workers, to escape authority and to “domestic” comes from the Latin
improve living conditions. Examples domus, which means “home”. In
City-states were cities ruled by include pilfering, sabotage, false- a broader sense, domesticate can
a king or by a group of notables compliance, foot- dragging, and mean to make somebody change
whose residents were organised feigned ignorance. Daily forms of their habits and adapt to a different
into a hierarchical structure resistance are part of our everyday home. Page 61
with different functions. There life. Just think of kids who do not
were priests, soldiers, judges, want to do something and pretend Ecology is the study of the relations
administrators (who carried out not to hear their parents… Surely of organisms (plants, animals,
decisions made by the ruler), you have done this! Page 110 humans) to one another and to their
artisans and merchants. When physical surroundings. Page 32
one city- state grew stronger and The demographic pressure is the
started subjugating other cities in pressure put on a territory either Endogamy is the marriage of
the same territory, a kingdom or an by the population growth or by humans who belong to a specific
empire could emerge. Page 104 increasing food consumption. The group as required by custom or law.
increasing number of humans For example, a marriage within the
A clan is a large group of humans living on an area can make the same ethnic or religious group, or
who can trace their descent from environment’s resources (food, within the same social class.
common ancestors. Page 45 clean water, air, spaces, climate Page 119
conditions, ecological and
Climate is the average weather geological conditions etc.) no more Experimentation is a set of, or a
condition (temperature, rainfall, sufficient for its population. Scarcity procedure, carried out in order to
wind, humidity, etc.) in a certain can push humans to move away. test a hypothesis or to prove an
period of time in a certain place. Page 43 assumption related to a given fact
Page 31 or event. Page 56
“Distributive” comes from
A corporate lineage is a group whose “distribute”, which literally means Foragers are humans searching for
members are tied by kinship, and “giving something out to several food in their environment. They

211
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Index of terms
do not produce food; they find it by Watering means pouring water over number of individuals per unit area,
hunting animals or gathering plants, crops and plants. River water and which is usually either a square
fruits and roots. Page 33 groundwater contain salt. Intensive kilometre or a square mile. Page 67
irrigation and watering can leave too
A hierarchy is a system in which much salt on the ground, especially Reproductive work is all the work
humans or things are arranged in warmer climates. Salt reduces that humans do to reproduce and
according to their importance and soil fertility. Page 104 maintain themselves (cleaning,
status. The humans on the upper washing, taking care of children and
level control those on the lower Labour force refers to all the the elderly, etc). Page 45
levels. Page 45 members of a social group or
organisation that are able to work. Resource-rich ecological zones are
Homo sapiens is the primate Page 110 natural areas where there are
species to which modern numerous resources (food, water,
humans belong. A species Megafauna are the sum of very large shelter, etc.) for a variety of living
is a class (a group) of mammals and other animals that beings. Page 56
animals or plants whose lived in ancient geological eras.
individuals have the same Page 32 A revolt is an attempt, successful or
main characteristics. The not, to break away or rise up against
Homo sapiens classification Patriarchy describes a system of an established authority (single
distinguishes contemporary society in which males hold the human or a body). It is a vigorous,
males and females from other power and females are largely often violent, action against
species of ape or animal and excluded from it. Page 120 authority and control. Page 100
from earlier forms of humans.
Page 29 Patrilineality is a kinship system Right of use covers the benefits of
based on male lineage. It usually a good, such as land, and all its
Household refers to the group of involves the inheritance of property, products (wood, crops, forage etc.)
humans, related or not, who live in rights, names or titles by persons for a certain period of time (years or
the same house. Page 78 related through their father’s a lifetime) without owning it. Those
lineage. Page 119 who are entitled to this right can
Incorporation means inclusion, which use the good, but they do not own it.
is the result of adding something Polity is any kind of political entity, Page 76
(like lands) to a whole. Page 120 including a chiefdom, a kingdom, a
city-state, an empire, a state. Slavery is a practice through which
Intensive exploitation of land Page 79 humans are deprived of their
means that the land is cultivated independence. They are forced to
continuously and systematically for Polygamist is an individual who has serve and obey, becoming chattel
crop production. Page 62 more than one partner - wife or of another human who owns them.
husband - at a time. Page 45 Page 125
Irrigation means bringing water to
cultivated fields through channels. Population density measures the A strike is a coordinated refusal
212
to work or a work slowdown,

organised by a body of workers
as a form of protest in order to
improve their pay level, working
conditions, working hours, food and
accommodations, etc. Page 118
Surplus is more than what is

needed; it is the amount of
something that has been left over
because it’s not necessary at that
moment. Page 72
Tribute is a stated sum of goods

such as animals, food, slaves,
or a share of the harvest that is
given by one party to another in
acknowledgment of subjugation or
as the price of peace, protection, or
the like. The tributary system was
a way to extract surpluses from
peasant activities in various regions
such as India, China, the Fertile
Crescent and Europe. Page 80
Urbanisation refers to a population

shift; lots of humans move from the
countryside to the city in order to
live and work there. Page 109

213
VOLUME 2
Caliphate is the political a freshwater lake for agricultural the population being stable or
organization of the Muslim purposes. It is made by layering increasing slowing. Page 89
communities, ruled by a caliph who soil, sediment, mud and decaying
is considered one of the successors vegetation, and stabilized Empiricism is a school of thought
of the prophet Muhammad. Page 46 with stakes. The lake provides in which all knowledge is based
decomposing organic wastes that on experience derived from the
Capitalism is a historical social irrigate and fertilize the chinampa’s senses. Page 155
system; it’s a mode of production soil. Page 35
that is geared toward ‘endless’ Enclosure is the act of enclosing
commodification, surplus Colonialism is the conquest, an area, usually through fences or
accumulation and self- expansion. possession and direct control of hedges, that was previously used in
It is very pliable since it has territories that belong to other common by different groups. The
changed the way it functions over human groups/peoples that are so enclosure is a private land that was
time; and it has used different defined by this condition of being once part of the commons.
ways of extracting surpluses from colonised. Page 90 Page 138
nature and labour in different
places simultaneously. It is a Commons refers to spaces and Factory. The root of the word is
globalising mode of production that institutions where humans manage “factor”, which at the time also
creates inequalities to reproduce land, resources, and ecosystems in meant “merchant”. The slave ship
itself: spatial inequalities, like the interest of all parties. Page 62 changed this meaning and long
the one between core regions and before the English factory, the slave
peripheries; social inequalities, A demographic transition occurs ship changed the way that humans
including sexual and racial, and when birth rate and death rate work and produce. Page 118
inequality between the classes: change due to economic and
spatial inequalities, like the cultural transformations. According Globalisation refers to the increased
one between core regions and to the theory, in the first stage, connection of different continents
peripheries; social inequalities, both birth rate and death rate in the world in which humans,
including sexual, racial, and are high and the population is knowledge, commodities, beliefs
inequality between classes. stable or increases slowly, human circulated. Page 87
Capitalism reproduces itself communities move to a second
to create value from formerly stage, when the birth rate remains The Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
uncommodified nature and human high while the death rate falls measures the monetary value of
lives. Frontiers of extraction rapidly, resulting in a very rapid all service and goods produced in a
of nature, land and labour are increase in population. The third territory in a specific period of time,
continuously remade and moved to stage of the demographic transition usually a year. Page 190
nourish this expansive and inequal takes place when the birth rate
mode of production. Page 87 falls dramatically and population Hinterland refers to regions lying
growth slows down. Further inland from a coast or from the
The chinampa is a small, stages correspond to births and banks of major rivers. It also refers
stationary, artificial island built on deaths dropping to low rates and to areas lying beyond a city. Page 46
214
Imperialism is the process of The manorial or seignorial system The workhouse was a building in
political integration of various is a social and economic system of which orphans, children, unmarried
regions. Imperialism stands for the landholding in which the peasants women used to work in exchange for
political and territorial domination held land from the lord of an estate food and shelter. Workhouses were
of peripheral regions far from in return for a fixed tribute. This workshops for sewing, spinning and
core states. Imperialism has been system established a rigid and long weaving or other local trades. Page
perpetuating and remoulding the lasting subordination of peasants 157
relationship between core and that were rendered dependent
periphery since the 16th century. on their land and on their lord by World cities are major cities that
Page 190 means of serfdom. It prevailed mediate trade in international trade
in present-day France, England, networks. Page 46
We have always referred to the Germany, Spain, Italy and far into
populations of the Americas by Eastern Europe. Page 33
naming their own specific civilisation
or empire: Aztec, Inca, etc. The French word “marron” derives
The conquest and colonisation from Spanish cimarrón, itself
violently erased these populations’ based on a Taíno [Amerindian]
cultural and political belonging. A root. Usually known in Spanish
new hierarchy was imposed upon as palenques and in Brazilian as
the previous one in which social quilombos or mocambos. Page 144
organisation was based on Gods,
the Inca, the panaqas and peasants. Rationalism is a world view that
All the members of the civilisations considers reason as the only source
were considered “Indians”; their of knowledge. The rationalist
social status was disregarded. They thinks that reality is logical in itself,
were all Indians since Christopher therefore humans can grasp truth
Columbus thought he had reached through logic. Page 155
the “Indies” in Asia when he landed
on the Caribbean island of Religious rethoric is a speech or a
Guanahani, as the indigenous called writing about an issue from the point
it, or San Salvador as Columbus of view of a specific religion. The
renamed it. We now know it as the religious rhetoric does not seek the
Bahamas. historical or factual truth, but aim at
We prefer the term “indigenous”, convincing its public about rightness
which stands for native, or born in a of dogmas and principles of the
particular place. Page 90 religion. Page 44
Irrigation means bringing Theology is the study of religious

water to cultivated fields faith and the nature of God. Page 138
through channels. Page 30

215
VOLUME 3
A guerrilla is a small group of as a form of punishment. Typically, fluctuations in the market. Page 165
armed forces that uses hit-and- humans were exiled and forced to
runtactics, such as surprising work. Page 94 Stateless is a human that is not
raids and sabotaging the enemy’s recognsed or does not recognise
communication and supply lines, Casual, temporary, indirect, and himself/herself as a citizen of a
and fight against the institutional zero-hour contracts are all terms state. Page 70
army within a nation state’s that describe precarious work. This
territory. Page 75 type of work is increasingly being Subaltern refers to the subordinate
used to replace direct, permanent position established through
Logistics is the synchronisation jobs, allowing employers to reduce dependent relationships. Page 21
and management of the flow of or even abandon their responsibility
entities (commodities, humans, to workers. Page 171
information) between the point of
origin and the point of consumption. Protectionism is an economic policy
Page 164 aimed at protecting domestic
industries against foreign
A multinational corporation is a competition. This protection
business enterprise that has occurred through the imposition of
offices, production facilities and tariffs on imported goods. It makes
other assets operating in several foreign goods more expensive than
countries, but is managed from one national goods. Page 33
home country. Page 39
Secularisation is the distinction
Neoliberal states are those states between and separation of religious
that were reorganised around beliefs and values. Secularisation
principles associated with the increased in many world regions
marketplace since the 1970s. throughout the 20th century. Page
The neoliberal state privileges 65
markets, and privatises public
infrastructures and services. More Speculation is the purchase of
importantly, neoliberal states an asset (a commodity, goods,
involve relentless efforts to remake or real estate) in the hope that it
social and poliical life around an will become more valuable in the
ideal plucked from the market. near future. In finance, it refers to
Page 175 the act of conducting a financial
transaction that has a substantial
The penal colony is a distant, usually risk of losing value but also holds
overseas settlement to which the expectation of a significant gain
humans are exiled: they are placed or other major value. The motive
in a remote and isolated location is to take maximum advantage of
216
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS Credits
INTENSIFING FRONTIERS:
CONTENTS
CREDITS
FOREWORD: THE LONG HISTORY OF A GLOBAL TEXT
Giordana
All cartographies, Francia
diagrams, andand Massimiliano
illustration inLepratti
the A global history of humanity are
made by Giulia Tagliente.
INTRODUCTIONS
Introduction to the textbook, Claudia Bernardi and Eric Vanhaute
All texts taken from published works (either paper books or online digital content) are
Cartography for a global history of humanity, Giulia Tagliente
duly quoted either on page or
The educational at theofend
activities this of the each
textbook, Annachapter.
Favalli andAll images
Catia and maps
Brunelli
taken from published works are duly quoted at the end of the book. The authors and
publisher have made every effort to abide by relevant copyright laws for all texts and
images reproduced herein. We request that copyright holders contact the publisher if
INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD VOLUME
they suspect copyright violation(s). We are open to amending the use of materials as
required by the relevant copyright owners.
CHAPTER 3.1
CHAPTER A WORLD OF NATIONS
unknown@WikimediaCommons; IISG@flick.com; TullioSaba@flickr.com; State
3.1
Library of Victoria@WikimediaCommons; @PublicDomainPictures.net; @
PublicDomainPictures; netteachpol.tcn@WikimediaCommons; Bantustan boundary
data from the Directorate: Public State Land Support via Africa Open Dat Htonl@
WikimediaCommons;
CHAPTER Guinnog@WikimediaCommons; David Wilson@Flickr.com;
GLOBAL CAPITALISM
BeenAroundAWhile@WikimediaCommons;
3.2 Ekrem Canli@WikimediaCommons; Pekka
Haraste/Lehtikuva@WikimediaCommons; Mondoperaio@WikimediaCommons; U.S.
Information Agency. Press and Publications Service@WikimediaCommons; Marcel·lí
Perelló@WikimediaCommons; centrogalmozzi@WikimediaCommons; alrapp.narod@
CHAPTER
WikimediaCommons;
CHANGINGHarper’sMagazine@WikimediaCommons;
THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BreveStoriaDelCinema@
3.3
Flickr.com; Bartleby08@WikimediaCommons; Casa editrice Tumminelli Governo
Mussolini@WikimediaCommons; Casa editrice Tumminelli Governo Mussolini@
WikimediaCommons; @NASA; skeeze@Pixabay; NASA Earth Observatory@
WikimediaCommons; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center@WikimediaCommons
REFERENCES and CREDITS
NASA images by Reto Stöckli, based on data from NASA and NOAA@Flickr.com
1,870 CE 21 st CENTURY
217
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY Credits
CHAPTER 3.2
Avsa@WikimediaCommons; Rehman@WikimediaCommons; -EMASESA-@flickr.
com; NH53@flickr.com; Volgons@pxhere.com; Kevin Dooley@flickr.com; RAWA@
wikimediaCommons
[Icons] From The Noun Project

Coal by Icon Lauk, Oil by Edward Boatman, Flame by Daniel DeLorenzo, Deer by Aleks,
Train by Ker’is
218
Vol.3 INTENSIFYING FRONTIERS: FROM A WORLD OF NATIONS
219
This manual was produced thanks to the collaboration of dozens of teachers throughout
Europe who provided their comments during the preparation phase. Below is their list:
CZECH REPUBLIC Maria Elisa Calascione UNITED KINGDOM

Maria Rosaria De Luca
Alena Tíkalová Mariarosaria Di Tarsia Alison Clark
David Navrátil Maria Rosaria Russo Andrew Holt
Dieter Schallner Monica Abussi Cait Talbot-Landers
Dobruše Fajkusová Paola Vicennati Daniel Pearson
Hana Vacková Pia Ferrara Jacquie Ayre
Kamila Fridrichová Sara De Lorenzis Matthew Fisher
Jakub Formánek Silvana Amodeo Nicola Neesam
Jan Zdichynec Stefania Francica Paul Keenan
Jitka Hudečková
Lenka Kociánová
Lubor Kysučan NETHERLANDS
Lukáš Michael Pitřík
Wietse van Dijk
Markéta Hummlová
Martin Vonášek
Pavel Martinovský POLAND
Petr Gal
Petra Mačková Anna Sadowska
Roman Čapka Grażyna Szotrowska
Jan Kakareko
Jola Głodowska
IRELAND Małgorzata Braszak-Biernacka
Maria Barry
Mella Cusack PORTUGAL
Naomi Rennicks
Oisin McMahon Fogarty Carla Pereira
Conceição Gonçalves
Cristina Carvalho
ITALY La Salete Coelho
Luísa Neves
Andrea Mamone
Lurdes Freire
Angela Petrassi
Miguel Filipe Silva
Annunziata Volpe
Nuno Martins
Antonella Fucecchi
Costanza Maria La Gamba
Erica Scaramuzzino SPAIN
Fabiana Domizi
Francesca Ferraioli Aitor Alonso Llano
Giuseppina Prestia Elena Prats Castillo
Laura Crea Laura Garcia Català
Laura Paola Scullino Santiago Marcet
Maria D’Agostino
Maria Carmela Riso
220
The manual is part of the activities of the
Get up and Goals! Global Education Time
project, whose partners are:
This geo-history manual for secondary school
students and teachers in 12 European countries
was written with a non-ethnocentric approach.
It’s jam-packed with maps and educational
activities.
This manual uses the principles of global history
to explain how local transformations over
millennia are linked and interconnected to
broader regional, intercontinental and global
transformations. This story illustrates the
changing relationship between human beings
and nature, the great migrations that have
always distinguished the human species, as well
as the birth and development of inequalities.
This manual was designed to deepen knowledge
about a series of historical and transversal
competences that are useful for understanding
global society and functioning in it. These include
the ability to understand the interactions
between different temporal and spatial scales,
the connection between the past and the
present, and the non-progressiveness of history.
Readers will be confronted with viewpoints that
may be different from their own.
This publication has been produced with the assistance of

the European Union. The contents of this publication are
the sole responsibility of name of CISP and can in no way be
taken to reflect the views of the European Union.
ISBN 978-88-99592-04-2
9 788899 592042

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Claudia Bernardi

and Eric Vanhaute

1,870 BCE 21ST CENTURY

A GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY

FOREWORD: THE HISTORY OF A GLOBAL TEXT

INTRODUCTION AND GUIDE TO THE TEXTBOOK

CARTOGRAPHIC AND EDUCATIONAL APPARATUS

INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD VOLUME

CHAPTER 3.2 GLOBAL CAPITALISM

CHAPTER 3.3 CHANGING THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

FOREWORD: THE HISTORY OF A GLOBAL TEXT page 6

INTRODUCTION AND GUIDE TO THE TEXTBOOK page 8

CARTOGRAPHIC AND EDUCATIONAL APPARATUS

INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD VOLUME page 20

CHAPTER 3.1 A WORLD OF NATIONS page 23

CHAPTER 3.2 GLOBAL CAPITALISM page 137

CHAPTER 3.3 CHANGING THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY page 193

INDEX OF TERMS page 211

CREDITS page 217

This textbook is the result of a story, made up of different actors and

Starting from this favourable breeding ground, the project “Get

This textbook is intended as one of the instruments of a broader

These introductory remarks should clearly show that this textbook is

We are confident that this history textbook will be a valuable support

Finally, this book is dedicated to Paolo Dieci, beloved friend and

Giordana Francia and Massimiliano Lepratti – CISP

This book is a complex thing that required a long process of thinking,

Knowledge is not an individual outcome; it is always a collective

1. Why is history important?

by accepting, refusing or resisting domination. All these actions and

2. Why narrate human history?

3. Why study a history of human and non-human nature?

produce clothing. This occurs as an interaction between human beings

4. Why use the perspective of frontiers?

5. Why explore a global history of humanity?

6. Why different time and space scales?

time. It is a broad picture of the planet that recounts the immense

A chronological and thematic approach

Each volume is divided into three chronological chapters. Each

1,870 CE 21st CENTURY

We have privileged sources of global historians, in order to avoid as

We look at each theme in more detail.

Theme one: Humans change nature

This theme highlights the outcomes produced by human actions

Theme two: Humans on the move

The second theme highlights the expansion and abridgment of human

traces found by archaeologists, we know that migrations have existed

Theme three: Social organisation and inequality

social organisation, we will point at regional differences, processes of

Theme four: Worldviews

Theme four covers acts of imagination, with beliefs, views of the

8. Learning from the past to change the present

Planet Earth, August 2020

“It is not possible to think about the evolution of

We inhabit planet Earth. We inhabit it for a certain period of time,

The Geographical Projections

Giulia Tagliente, August 2020

What types of educational activities are proposed?

How do these activities form for global citizenship?

Catia Brunelli and Anna Favalli, August 2020

became more intense and pervasive.

action spread, but the system is still at play.