ERA 10 - Time of television and computer

 

The last era in history is about the second half of the 20th century. It starts at 1945 and runs until present day.    

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It’s the time of the Cold War and threat of a destructive atomic war. The world is divided into two ideological powers. Capitalism on one side led by the USA and communism on the other side led by The Soviet Union. A threat that lasts until 1991.

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Several European countries decided to work together and start a economic and political partnership. It leads to the foundation of the EGKS (European Community of Coal and Steel), the EEG (European Economic Community) and eventually the EU (European Union) in 1992.

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Also the process of decolonization in Africa and Asia is underway, in which many colonies declare their independence and want to separate themselves from their European colonizers. 

 

Several other developments are creating new migration flows to the Western world.

 

Since 2001 the fear of Islamic terror has increased in the Western world.  Especially when terrorist attacks with hijacked planes are being commited by Al'Qaeda at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

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Characteristic aspects:

45. The division of the world into two ideological blocks in the grip of an arms race and the ensuing threat of an atomic war.

 

46. The decolonization which ends Western hegemony in the world.

 

47. The process of the unification of Europe.

 

48. The increasing Western prosperity that led to radical changing socio-cultural processes from the 1960s onwards.

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49. The development of pluriform and multicultural societies.

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