Confrontations of military, political and economic forces in different regions of the planet occur constantly. As soon as there is a lull in the Western Hemisphere, the causes of global problems appear in some other part of the Earth. Sociologists, economists, political scientists and representatives of various cultural and scientific circles explain these phenomena from the position of their vision, but the complexities of humanity are planetary in scale, so everything cannot be reduced to problems that exist in any one region and a single period of time.
The concept of a global problem
When the world was too big for people, they still didn't have enough space. The inhabitants of the Earth are arranged in such a way that the peaceful coexistence of small peoples, even in vast territories, cannot last forever. There are always those to whom the lands of a neighbor and his well-being do not give rest. The translation of the French word global sounds like "universal", that is, it concerns everyone. But problems on a global scale arose even before the advent of not only this language, but writing in general.
If we consider the history of the development of the human race, then one of the causes of global problems is the selfishness of each individual person. It just so happened that in the material world all individuals think only about themselves. This happens even when people care about the happiness and well-being of their children and loved ones. Often one's own survival and obtaining material we alth is based on the destruction of one's neighbor and the withdrawal of we alth from him.
This has been the case since the time of the Sumerian kingdom and Ancient Egypt, the same thing is happening today. In the history of human development, there have always been wars and revolutions. The latter came from well-meaning intentions to take sources of we alth from the rich in order to distribute them to the poor. Because of the thirst for gold, new territories or power in each historical era, their own causes of the global problems of mankind were discovered. Sometimes they led to the emergence of great empires (Roman, Persian, British and others), which were formed by conquering other peoples. In some cases, to the destruction of entire civilizations, as was the case with the Incas and Mayans.
But never before have the causes of global problems of our time affected the planet as a whole so sharply as today. This is due to the mutual integration of the economies of different countries and their dependence on each other.friend.
Ecological situation on Earth
The causes of global environmental problems initially lie not in the development of industrial production, which began only in the 17th and 18th centuries. They started much earlier. If we compare the relationship of a person with the environment at different stages of his development, then they can be divided into 3 stages:
- Worshiping nature and its powerful forces. In the primitive communal and even in the slave system there was a very close relationship between the world and man. People deified nature, brought her gifts so that she would take pity on them and give a high harvest, since they directly depended on her "whims".
- In the Middle Ages, religious dogmas that man, although a sinful creature, is still the crown of Creation, raised people above the outside world. Already during this period, the gradual subordination of the environment to humanity for the good begins.
- The development of capitalist relations led to the fact that nature began to be used as an auxiliary material that should "work" for people. Massive deforestation, subsequent pollution of the air, rivers and lakes, the destruction of animals - all this led the earth's civilization at the beginning of the 20th century to the first signs of an unhe althy ecology.
Each historical epoch in the development of mankind has become a new stage in the destruction of what surrounded it. The subsequent causes of global environmental problems aredevelopment of the chemical, machine-building, aircraft and rocket industries, mass mining and electrification.
The most tragic year for the ecology of the planet was 1990, when more than 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide produced by industrial enterprises of all economically developed countries were released into the atmosphere. Although after that scientists and environmentalists sounded the alarm, and urgent measures were taken to eliminate the consequences of the destruction of the Earth's ozone layer, the causes of the global problems of mankind only began to really manifest themselves. Among them, one of the first places is occupied by the development of the economy in different countries.
Economic problems
For some reason, historically, it has always developed in such a way that civilizations appeared in different parts of the Earth, which developed unevenly. If at the stage of the primitive communal system everything is more or less the same: gathering, hunting, the first rough tools and transitions from one abundant place to another, then already in the Eneolithic period the level of development of settled tribes varies.
The appearance of metal tools for labor and hunting brings the countries in which they are produced to the first place. In a historical context, this is Europe. In this regard, nothing has changed, only in the 21st century the world is not ahead of the owner of a bronze sword or musket, but countries that have nuclear weapons or advanced technologies in various fields of science and technology (economically highly developed states). Therefore, even today, when scientists are asked: "Name two reasons for the emergence of globalproblems of our time", they point to poor ecology and a large number of economically underdeveloped countries.
Third world countries and highly civilized states are especially discordant with the following indicators:
| Underdeveloped countries | Advanced countries |
| High mortality rate, especially among children. | Life expectancy is 78-86 years. |
| Lack of proper social protection for poor citizens. | Unemployment benefits, medical benefits. |
| Underdeveloped medicine, lack of medicines and preventive measures. | High level of medicine, introducing the importance of disease prevention into the minds of citizens, medical life insurance. |
| Lack of programs to educate children and youth and provide jobs for young professionals. | A large selection of schools and universities with free education, special grants and scholarships |
Currently, many countries are economically dependent on each other. If 200-300 years ago tea was grown in India and Ceylon, processed there, packaged and transported to other countries by sea, and one or several companies could participate in this process, today raw materials are grown in onecountry, processed in another, and packaged in a third. And this applies to all industries - from the manufacture of chocolate to the launch of space rockets. Therefore, the causes of global problems often lie in the fact that if an economic crisis begins in one country, it automatically spreads to all partner states, and its consequences reach a planetary scale.
A good indicator of the integration of the economies of different countries is that they unite not only in times of prosperity, but also in times of economic crisis. They do not have to deal with its consequences alone, as richer countries support the economies of less developed partners.
Population growth
Another reason for the emergence of global problems of our time, scientists believe the rapid growth of the population on the planet. 2 trends can be noted in this issue:
- In highly developed Western European countries, the birth rate is extremely low. Families with more than 2 children are rare here. This gradually leads to the fact that the indigenous population of Europe is aging, and it is being replaced by immigrants from Africa and Asia, in whose families it is customary to have many children.
- On the other hand, in economically underdeveloped countries such as India, the countries of South and Central America, Africa and Asia, the standard of living is very low, but the birth rate is high. Lack of proper medical care, lack of food and clean water - all this leads to high mortality, so it is customary to have many children there so that a small part of themcould survive.
If you follow the growth of the world's population throughout the 20th century, you can see how strong the population "explosion" was in certain years.
In 1951, the population was just over 2.5 billion people. In just 10 years, more than 3 billion people already lived on the planet, and by 1988 the population had crossed the threshold of 5 billion. In 1999, this figure reached 6 billion, and in 2012, more than 7 billion people lived on the planet.
According to scientists, the main causes of global problems are that the resources of the Earth, with the illiterate exploitation of its bowels, as is happening today, will not be enough for an ever-growing population. Nowadays, 40 million people die of hunger every year, which does not reduce the population in any way, since its average increase in 2016 is more than 200,000 newborns per day.
Thus, the essence of global problems and the causes of their occurrence is in the constant growth of the population, which, according to scientists, by 2100 will exceed 10 billion. All these people eat, breathe, enjoy the benefits of civilization, drive cars, fly planes and destroy nature with their vital activity. If they do not change their attitude to the environment and to their own kind, then in the future the planet will face global environmental disasters, massive pandemics and military conflicts.
Food problems
If forIn highly developed countries, there is an abundance of products, most of which lead to such he alth problems as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes, and many others, then in third world countries, constant malnutrition or hunger among the population is normal.
In general, all countries can be divided into 3 types:
- Those where there is constant shortage of food and water. This is 1/5 of the world's population.
- Countries that produce and grow plenty of food and have a food culture.
- Governments that have programs to combat overconsumption of food in order to reduce the percentage of people suffering from the consequences of malnutrition or overnutrition.
But it so happened historically and economically that in countries where the population is especially in dire need of food and clean water, either the food industry is underdeveloped or there are no favorable natural and climatic conditions for agriculture.
At the same time, there are resources on the planet so that no one will ever go hungry. Leading food-producing nations can feed 8 billion more people than the world, but today 1 billion people live in total poverty and 260 million children go hungry every year. When 1/5 of the world's population suffers from hunger, it means that this is a global problem, and all of humanity should solve it together.
Social inequality
Basicthe causes of global problems are the contradictions between social classes, which manifests itself in such criteria as:
- We alth is when all or almost all natural and economic resources are in the hands of a small select group of people, companies or a dictator.
- Power that can belong to one person - the head of state or a small group of people.
Most third world countries have a pyramid in their distribution structure of society, at the top of which is a small number of rich people, and below are the poor. With such a distribution of power and finances in the state, people are divided into rich and poor, without a middle class layer.
If the structure of the state is a rhombus, at the top of which there are also those in power, at the bottom of the poor, but the largest layer between them is the middle peasants, then there are no clearly expressed social and class contradictions in it. The political structure in such a country is more stable, the economy is highly developed, and the social protection of the low-income population is carried out by state and charitable organizations.
Today, many countries in South and Central America, Africa and Asia have a pyramidal structure, in which 80-90% of the population lives below the poverty line. They have an unstable political situation, military coups and revolutions often occur, which introduces an imbalance in the world community, since other countries may be involved in their conflicts.
Political confrontations
BasicPhilosophy (science) defines the causes of global problems as the separation of man and nature. Philosophers sincerely believe that it is enough for people to harmonize their inner world with the external environment, and problems will disappear. In fact, things are somewhat more complicated.
In any state there are political forces, the rule of which determines not only the level and quality of life of its population, but also the entire foreign policy. For example, today there are aggressor countries that create military conflicts on the territories of other states. Their political order is opposed by a global community that defends the rights of their victims.
Since almost all countries are economically connected with each other in our time, it is just as natural for them to unite against states that use a policy of violence. If even 100 years ago the answer to military aggression was an armed conflict, today economic and political sanctions are applied that do not take human lives, but can completely destroy the economy of the aggressor country.
Military conflicts
The causes of global problems are often the result of small military conflicts. Unfortunately, even in the 21st century, with all its technologies and achievements in the sciences, human consciousness remains at the level of thinking of representatives of the Middle Ages.
Although witches are not burned at the stake today, religious wars and terrorist attacks look no less wild than the Inquisition once did. The only effective preventive measuremilitary conflicts on the planet should be the unification of all countries against the aggressor. The fear of ending up in economic, political and cultural isolation should be stronger than the desire to attack the territory of a neighboring state.
Global human development
Sometimes the causes of global problems in the world are manifested on the basis of ignorance and cultural backwardness of some nations. Today one can observe such contrasts when in one country people prosper, create and live for the benefit of the state and each other, and in another they strive to gain access to nuclear developments. An example would be the confrontation between South and North Korea. Fortunately, the number of countries in which people seek to establish themselves through achievements in science, medicine, technology, culture and art is greater.
You can see how the consciousness of humanity is changing, becoming a single organism. For example, scientists from different countries can work on the same project, so that, by combining the efforts of the best minds, it can be completed faster.
Ways to solve problems
If we briefly list the causes of global problems of mankind, they will be:
- bad environment;
- presence of economically underdeveloped countries;
- military conflicts;
- political and religious confrontations;
- rapid population growth.
To solve these problems, countries must become even more interconnected with each other to unite theirefforts to eliminate the consequences that arise on the planet.
