1990s and 2000s

EVENTS
HISTORICAL
DECADE OF THE 1990'S
BEGINNING OF THE 1990'S
• It begins with great changes in International Politics: end of the
Cold War, fall of the Berlin Wall and disintegration of the USSR.

• Globalization and ICT (emergence of CDs, DVDs and the

Internet).

• Emergence of the Washington Consensus (package of economic

policies to reformulate the world's economies).

• Persian Gulf War/ Saddam Hussein (1991) Iraq against the

coalition in response to the invasion and annexation of Kuwait.
Operation Desert Storm.

• Creation of the Eurotunnel. Liberation of Nelson Mandela.

German reunification and launch of Hubble into orbit.
Main events:
• July 1, 1990: Reunification of Germany (economic,
monetary and social union). 2+4 Treaty and
dissolution of the GDR.

• 1990-1991 Gulf War. “Desert Storm” (40d). Coalition of

34 countries (UN) led by the US against the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait.

• 1991 Disintegration of Yugoslavia. (Croatia, Slovenia,

Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia).
Bosnian War
1990-1995
• Birth of Mercosur (1991)

• 1991 Disintegration of the USSR. Dissolution of Comecon, Warsaw

Pact, resignation of Gorbachev and creation of the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS).

• Abolition of Apartheid in South Africa (racial segregation). Nelson

Mandela is declared president.

• 1991 Launch of SICA.

• 1992 The EU emerges with the Treaty of Maastrich

• Rio Summit (de Janeiro DS).

• 1993 Clinton as US president.

1990-1995
• 1993 Oslo Accords: Israel (Isaac Rabin) and Palestine (Yassir Arafat) mediation by the
US.

• Division of Czechoslovakia.

• NAFTA and ZLC in the US.

• 1994 “Genocide” in Rwanda. War between Hutus (majority) against Tutsis (minority
75% exterminated). UN role.

• Financial Crisis in Mexico (Tequila Effect) lack of international reserves causing the
devaluation of the peso and capital flight. Salinas de Gortari and Ernesto Zedillo. It
spread x AL.

• China begins economic and trade reforms.

• 1995 Creation of the WTO.

1996-2000
• Establishment of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

• 1996 Signing of the Firm and Lasting Peace Treaties in Guatemala.

• England returns Hong Kong to China.

• 1998 G7 (Germany, Canada, USA, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom) and
G8 (+Russia). Political, economic and military weight.

• Financial Crisis in Southeast Asia (devaluation of the Thai currency and the domino
effect). Implications of the IMF.

• The boy and the girl. Pacific warming-cooling and its effects.
• 1999-2000 Launch of the Euro Zone.

• Kosovo War, begins with a guerrilla war and culminates between (Serbs, Bosnians and
Albanians) and NATO. Ethnic cleansing. Milosevic.
Latin America in the 1990's
• Application of the reforms of the Washington Consensus (privatisation).

• Mexico enters NAFTA.

• Pinochet falls in Chile.

• Dictatorship ends in Paraguay (Stroessner).

• Signing of Peace in Guatemala (end of the 36-year war)

• AL as the region with the greatest social inequality in the world

2000S
 21st century (2000-
2010)
• Decade marked by:
• The war against Terrorism
•Emergence
India.
of new economic powers: China and

•Emergence of New international actors:

multinationals.
• Migration problems from the south to the north.
• Leftist movements in AL.
• Environmental Issues.
• 2000: Vladimir Putin in Russia.
2000-
2010
• 2001: George W. Bush new US president.

• September 11 Terrorist Attacks: WTC, Pentagon and Pennsylvania.

Vindication of Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden
• Afghanistan War. Accusation of the Afghan Taliban of 9/11, they begin
their attack and the Northern Alliance is formed.

• Economic and political crisis in Argentina (suspension of payments and

credit from the IMF).

• Panama assumes sovereignty of the Canal.

• The International Criminal Court is born.

• Bird flu.
• Lula da Silva and Kirchner. Creation of ALBA.
 2000-
•2010
2003. Iraq War/Second Gulf War: Countering International
Terrorism and WMD. Overthrow and death of Saddam Hussein.
• Madrid Terrorist Attacks (March 11, 2003) attack on RENFE
trains by Muslim terrorists.

• 2004 Southeast Asia Tsunami.

• 2005 John Paul II dies. 2006 Bachelet in Chile.

• Signature of DR-CAFTA.

• 2006 Lebanon War. Israel vs Lebanon. Hezbollah.

• Creation of UNASUR.

• 2007-2008 Mortgage Crisis in the US (later worldwide). Financial crises and

bank nationalizations. International recession
 2000-
•2010
Barak Obama as the first African-American president of the United States.

• 2008 Political Crisis in Honduras (Coup d'état). War between Russia and
Georgia. Raúl Castro president of Cuba.

• 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic.