What modern problems can be called global. Global problems of the world economy

On modern stage development of civilization, questions have arisen more acutely than ever before, without the solution of which further forward movement of humanity along the path of economic progress is impossible. Despite the fact that it is only part of universal human activity, from its development in the 21st century. problems of security and preservation of peace depend to a greater extent, natural environment and, as well as moral, religious and philosophical values.

The importance of global problems especially increased in the second half of the twentieth century. It is they who significantly influence the structure of the national and. Historically world economy formed as a single whole by the beginning of the twentieth century. as a result of drawing most of the countries of the world into world economic relations. By this time it was finished territorial division of the world, in the world economy has formed two poles. At one pole were industrialized countries, and on the other - their colonies - agricultural raw materials appendages. The latter were involved long before the emergence of national markets there. The involvement of these countries in world economic relations actually did not occur in connection with the needs of their own development, but was a product of the expansion of industrialized countries. The world economy thus formed, even after the former colonies gained independence, long years preserved the relationship between center and periphery. This is where the current global problems and contradictions originate.

As a rule, solving global problems requires enormous material and financial resources. The main criteria for classifying a particular problem as global is considered to be its scale and need for joint efforts to eliminate it.

Global problems— discrepancies between the most significant planetary needs and the possibility of satisfying them through the joint efforts of humanity in a certain period of time.

Examples of global problems of the world

Global problems of humanity - These are problems that affect the vital interests of the entire population of the planet and require the joint efforts of all states of the world to be solved.

In modern conditions, global problems include:

Other global problems are emerging.

Classification of global problems

The exceptional difficulties and high costs of solving global problems require their justified classification.

According to their origin, nature and methods of solution, global problems, according to the classification adopted by international organizations, are divided into three groups. First group constitute problems determined by the basic socio-economic and political tasks of humanity. These include maintaining peace, ending the arms race and disarmament, non-militarization of space, creating favorable conditions for global social progress, overcoming the development gap of countries with low per capita incomes.

Second group covers a complex of problems revealed in the triad “man - society - technology”. These problems should take into account the effectiveness of using scientific and technical progress in the interests of harmonious social development and the elimination negative influence technology per person, population growth, the establishment of human rights in the state, its liberation from under excessively increased control state institutions, especially on personal freedom as the most important component of human rights.

Third group is represented by problems related to socio-economic processes and the environment, that is, problems of relations along the society-nature line. This includes solving raw materials, energy and food problems, overcoming the environmental crisis, which is spreading to more and more new areas and can destroy human life.

The end of the twentieth and beginning of XXI centuries led to the development of a number of local, specific issues of development of countries and regions into the category of global ones. However, it should be recognized that internationalization played a decisive role in this process.

The number of global problems is growing; in some publications in recent years, more than twenty problems of our time are named, but most authors identify four main global problems: environmental, peacekeeping and disarmament, demographic, fuel and raw materials.

The scale, location and role of individual global problems are changing. The environmental problem has now come to the fore, although recently its place was occupied by the struggle to maintain peace and disarmament. Changes are also taking place within global problems: some of their components lose their former significance and new ones appear. Thus, in the problem of the struggle for peace and disarmament, the main emphasis began to be placed on the reduction of means of mass destruction, the non-proliferation of mass weapons, the development and implementation of measures for the conversion of military production; in the fuel and raw materials problem there is a real possibility of exhaustion of a number of non-renewable natural resources, and in the demographic one, new tasks have arisen related to a significant expansion of international migration of the population, labor resources, etc.

It's obvious that global problems are closely interconnected. For example, the severity of the food problem is aggravated by faster population growth than the growth of agricultural production in many developing countries. To solve the food problem it is necessary to use the resource potential of industrialized countries or international organizations developing and implementing special assistance programs. Consideration of the impact of global problems on the formation of the world economy requires their detailed analysis and assessment from the positions of both individual countries and the world community as a whole. Features of world development of the second half
XX century are that it has become a constant factor influencing all areas of economic activity. Economic activity has spread to territories and areas that were previously not accessible to humans (the World Ocean, polar zones, space, etc.).

The accelerated development of productive forces, the planned nature and global scale of technical progress, if not supported by a perfect management mechanism, can lead to irreversible negative consequences. In particular, the unevenness in economic development between countries will increase even more, the gap between the levels of material and spiritual culture of mankind will increase, the balance of the biosphere will be disrupted, and environmental deterioration may lead to the impossibility of life on Earth.

To overcome this food crisis, it is necessary to develop a joint international strategy on issues of food production, redistribution and consumption. Even with current methods of cultivating the land, according to calculations by British experts, it is possible to provide food for over 10 billion people. All this indicates extremely unproductive use of cultivated land.

Solving the problem of developing countries requires overcoming their economic, scientific and technical backwardness, and this is associated with the evolution of the economic space, which will lead to radical socio-economic transformations, the elimination of backward forms of land use and the rise of agriculture based on the introduction scientific methods his management.

In this situation, Russia and countries must pay attention, first of all, to preserving and increasing the potential of fertile agricultural lands, increasing the productivity of agricultural production, as well as storage and distribution systems.

The problem of military spending

After graduation Second World War The world community is making gigantic efforts to preserve peace and disarmament. However, humanity still spends huge amounts of money on weapons. Military spending slows down economic and technological development, increases inflation, contributes to inflation, distracts people from solving pressing social problems, increases foreign debt, and has a negative impact on international relationships and their stability.

The negative impact of military spending on a country's economic development can be long-lasting. Excessive military expenditures of past years place a heavy burden on countries with a low level of economic development, which at the present stage of the world economy includes many developing countries.

At the same time, zones of regional and local conflicts have emerged and are expanding, provoking external intervention, increasingly using military force. Participants in such confrontations already possess or in the near future may become possessors of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. This forces many countries to maintain high levels of military spending in their budgets.

At the same time, the reduction of military capabilities, especially in major states such as Russia, faces many difficult issues, since the military-industrial complex represents thousands of enterprises and millions of people employed in them. In addition, the global arms trade is still one of the most profitable types of business, which annually brings $3-4 billion in income to our country.

In conditions of economic instability, limitations and lack of necessary funds, the reduction of armed forces and disarmament in Russia gives rise to additional economic and social problems. Disarmament and reduction of military production in some cases does not lead to the release of funds, but requires significant material and financial resources.

Thus, ensuring security and maintaining peace on the planet is possible with close cooperation between countries, reasonable use of available resources aimed at eliminating universal military threat And nuclear war.

The development of the productive forces of the world economy requires not only constant influx material and fuel and energy resources, but also the use of significant monetary and financial resources.

Transformation of the world economy into a single market for goods, services, work force, capital and knowledge leads to a higher stage of internationalization (globalization). The single world market creates a volume of economic space and plays exclusively important role in servicing the structural restructuring of national economies. At the same time, it can contribute to deepening imbalances in the world economy.

Global goals of humanity

The priority global goals of humanity are as follows:

• in the political sphere - reducing the likelihood and, in the future, completely eliminating military conflicts, preventing violence in international relations;
• in the economic and environmental spheres - the development and implementation of resource- and energy-saving technologies, the transition to non-traditional energy sources, the development and widespread use of environmental technologies;
• V social sphere— improving living standards, global efforts to preserve people’s health, creating a global food supply system;
• in the cultural and spiritual sphere - the restructuring of mass moral consciousness in accordance with today's realities.

Taking action towards the realization of these goals constitutes the survival strategy of humanity.

Emerging Global Issues

As the world economy develops, new global problems arise and will continue to arise.

In modern conditions, a new, already formed global problem is space exploration. The entry of man into space was an important impetus for the development of both fundamental science and applied research. Modern systems communications, forecasting many natural disasters, remote exploration of mineral resources - this is only a small part of what has become a reality thanks to space flights. At the same time, the scale of financial costs necessary for further exploration of outer space today already exceeds the capabilities of not only individual states, but also groups of countries. The extremely expensive components of research are the creation and launch of spacecraft and the maintenance of space stations. Thus, the cost of manufacturing and launching a cargo spacecraft Progress costs $22 million, the Soyuz manned spacecraft costs $26 million, the Proton spacecraft costs $80 million, and space shuttle Shuttle - $500 million. Annual operation of international space station(ISS) costs approximately $6 billion.

Enormous investments are required to implement projects related to the exploration and future development of other planets solar system. As a consequence, the interests of space exploration objectively imply broad interstate interaction in this area, the development of large-scale international cooperation in the preparation and conduct of space research.

Emerging global problems currently include study of the structure of the Earth and control of weather and climate. Like space exploration, the solution to these two problems is only possible on the basis of broad international cooperation. Moreover, weather and climate management requires, among other things, global harmonization of behavioral norms of business entities in order to minimize harmful impacts everywhere economic activity on the environment.

Confrontation of military, political and economic forces in different regions planets happen all the time. 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 provide explanations for these phenomena from the perspective of their vision, but the complexities of humanity have a planetary scale, so everything cannot be reduced to problems that exist in any one region and a single period of time.

Global problem concept

When the world was too big for people, they still didn't have enough space. The inhabitants of the Earth are so structured that the peaceful coexistence of small peoples, even over vast territories, cannot last forever. There are always those who are haunted by their neighbor’s lands and their well-being. Translation 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 also writing in general.

If we consider the history of the development of the human race, then one of the reasons for the emergence of global problems is the selfishness of each individual person. It just so happens 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 wealth is based on the destruction of one’s neighbor and the confiscation of wealth from him.

This has been the case since the times of the Sumerian kingdom and Ancient Egypt, and the same thing is happening today. In the history of human development there have always been wars and revolutions. The latter came from good intentions to take away the sources of wealth from the rich in order to distribute to the poor. Because of the thirst for gold, new territories or power, each historical era discovered its own reasons for the emergence of global problems of mankind. 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 their occurrence influenced the planet as a whole so acutely as they do today. This is due to the mutual integration of economies different countries and their dependencies on each other.

Ecological situation on Earth

The reasons for the emergence of global ones initially do not lie in the development of industrial production, which began only in the 17th and 18th centuries. They started much earlier. If we compare the relationship between a person and the environment at different stages of his development, they can be divided into 3 stages:

• Worship of 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 have mercy on them and give a high harvest, since they directly depended on her “whims.”
• In the Middle Age religious tenets that although man is a sinful being, he is still the crown of Creation, raised people above the world around them. Already during this period, the gradual subordination of the environment to humanity for the benefit of humanity begins.
• The development of capitalist relations has led to the fact that nature began to be used as an auxiliary material that should “work” for people. Massive deforestation, subsequent pollution of air, rivers and lakes, destruction of animals - all this led earthly civilization at the beginning of the 20th century to the first signs of an unhealthy ecology.

Each historical era in the development of mankind became a new stage in the destruction of what surrounded it. Subsequent causes of global environmental problems- this is the development of the chemical, engineering, aircraft and rocket industries, mass mining and electrification.

The most tragic year for the planet’s ecology was 1990, when more than 6 billion tons were released into the atmosphere. carbon dioxide, produced by industrial enterprises of all economically developed countries combined. Although after this 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 humanity's global problems only began to truly emerge. Among them, one of the first places is occupied by economic development in different countries.

Economic problems

For some reason, historically it has always turned out that in different corners Civilizations appeared on Earth that developed unevenly. If at the stage of the primitive communal system everything is more or less similar: gathering, hunting, the first crude tools and transitions from one abundant place to another, then already in the Chalcolithic 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 first place. In a historical context, this is Europe. In this regard, nothing has changed, only in the 21st century it is not the owner of a bronze sword or musket who is ahead of the rest, but the countries where there are 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 global problems 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 at odds with the following indicators:

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 more companies could participate in this process, today the raw materials are grown in one country, processed in another, and packaged in the third. And this applies to all industries - from making chocolate to launching space rockets. Therefore, often the reasons for the emergence of global problems 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 in the integration of the economies of different countries is that they unite not only in times of prosperity, but also in moments of economic crisis. They do not have to deal with its consequences alone, as richer countries support the economies of their less developed partners.

Population growth

Scientists believe that another reason for the emergence of global problems of our time is the rapid growth of population on the planet. In this matter, two trends can be noted:

• 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 they are being replaced by immigrants from African and Asian countries, in whose families it is customary to have many children.
• On the other hand, economically, such as India, countries of South and Central America, Africa and Asia, have a very low standard of living, but a high birth rate. 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 so that a small part of them can survive.

If you follow the growth of the planet's population throughout the 20th century, you can see how strong the demographic “explosion” was in certain years.

In 1951 the population was just over 2.5 billion. Just 10 years later, more than 3 billion people already lived on the planet, and by 1988 the population had crossed the 5 billion mark. In 1999, this figure reached 6 billion, and in 2012 there were already more than 7 billion people living on the planet.

According to scientists, the main reasons for the emergence of global problems are that the resources of the Earth, with the illiterate exploitation of its subsoil, as is happening today, are not enough for the ever-growing population. Nowadays, 40 million people die of hunger every year, which does not reduce the population at all, since its average increase in 2016 is more than 200,000 newborns per day.

Thus, the essence of global problems and the reasons for their occurrence is the constant growth of the population, which, according to scientists, will exceed 10 billion by 2100. All these people eat, breathe, enjoy the benefits of civilization, drive cars, fly airplanes and destroy nature with their life activity. If they do not change their attitude towards the environment and their own kind, then in the future the planet will face global environmental disasters, massive pandemics and military conflicts.

Food problems

If highly developed countries are characterized by an abundance of products, most of of which leads to health problems such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes and many others, then for third world countries it is normal to have constant malnutrition or hunger among the population.

In general, all countries can be divided into 3 types:

• Those where there is a constant shortage of food and water. This is 1/5 of the planet's population.
• Countries that produce and grow plenty of food and have a food culture.
• States that have programs to combat excess food consumption in order to reduce the percentage of people suffering from the consequences of poor or excessive nutrition.

But it just so happened historically and economically that in countries where the population is in especially dire need of food and clean water, either the food industry is poorly developed or there are no favorable natural and climatic conditions for farming.

At the same time, there are resources on the planet to ensure that no one ever goes hungry. States are leaders in production food products can feed 8 billion more people than live in the entire world, but today 1 billion people live in extreme poverty, and 260 million children go hungry every year. When 1/5 of the planet's population suffers from hunger, it means that this is a problem on a global scale, and all of humanity must solve it together.

Social inequality

The main reasons for the emergence of global problems are contradictions between social classes, which manifest themselves in such criteria as:

• Wealth when all or almost all natural and economic resources are in the hands of a small group chosen people, companies or dictator.
• Power that can belong to one person - the head of state or a small group of people.

Most of them have a pyramid in their structure of distribution of society, at the top of which there is a small number of rich people, and below are the poor layers of the population. With this 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 diamond, at the top of which there are also those in power, at the bottom the poor, but the largest layer between them is the middle peasants, then there are no clearly expressed social and class contradictions in it. Political structure in such a country it is more stable, the economy is highly developed, and social protection low-income population is carried out by government 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 creates an imbalance in global community, since other countries may be involved in their conflicts.

Political confrontations

Philosophy (science) defines the main 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 external environment how the problems will disappear. In fact, everything is somewhat more complicated.

In any state there are political forces whose rule determines not only the level and quality of life of its population, but also its entire foreign policy. For example, today there are aggressor countries that create military conflicts on the territories of other states. Their political system is opposed to defending the rights of their victims.

Since in our time almost all countries are economically connected with each other, it is also natural for them to unite against states that use a policy of violence. If 100 years ago the answer to military aggression was an armed conflict, today economic and political sanctions are applied that do not take away 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 science, 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 savage than the Inquisition did in its time. The only effective measure to suppress military conflicts on the planet should be the unification of all countries against the aggressor. The fear of being economically, politically and culturally isolated must be stronger than desire attack the territory of a neighboring state.

Global Human Development

Sometimes the causes of global problems in the world manifest themselves on the basis of ignorance and cultural backwardness of some peoples. 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 the South and North Korea. Fortunately, there are more countries in which people seek to establish themselves through advances in science, medicine, technology, culture and the arts.

You can notice how the consciousness of humanity is changing, becoming a single organism. For example, scientists from different countries can work on the same project in order to combine the efforts of the best minds to implement it faster.

Ways to solve problems

If we briefly list the reasons for the emergence of global problems of humanity, they will be:

• bad ecology;
• the 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 join forces to eliminate the consequences that are occurring on the planet.

In the course of the development of civilization, humanity has repeatedly faced complex problems, sometimes of a planetary nature. But still, this was a distant prehistory, a kind of “incubation period” of modern global problems.

They fully manifested themselves in the second half and especially in the last quarter of the 20th century. Such problems were brought to life by a complex of reasons that clearly manifested themselves during this period.

In fact, never before has humanity itself increased quantitatively by 2.5 times during the lifetime of only one generation, thereby increasing the strength of the “demographic press”. Never before has humanity entered into, reached the post-industrial stage of development, or opened the road to space. Never before have such quantities of natural resources and the “waste” they return to the environment been required to support its life. All this since the 60s and 70s. XX century attracted the attention of scientists, politicians, and the general public to global problems.

Global problems are problems that: firstly, concern all of humanity, affecting the interests and destinies of all countries, peoples, social strata; secondly, they lead to significant economic and social losses, and if they worsen, they can threaten the very existence of human civilization;
thirdly, they can only be resolved through cooperation on a planetary basis.

Priority problems of humanity are:

• the problem of peace and disarmament;
• environmental;
• demographic;
• energy;
• raw materials;
• food;
• use of the resources of the World Ocean;
• peaceful space exploration;
• overcoming the backwardness of developing countries.

The essence of global problems and possible ways to solve them

The problem of peace and disarmament- the problem of preventing a third world war remains the most important, highest priority problem for humanity. In the second half of the 20th century. Nuclear weapons appeared and a real threat arose of the destruction of entire countries and even continents, i.e. almost all modern life.

Solutions:

• Establishing strict control over nuclear and chemical weapons;
• Reduction of conventional weapons and arms trade;
• A general reduction in military spending and the size of the armed forces.

Ecological- degradation of global ecological system, as a result of irrational and pollution by human waste.

Solutions:

• Optimization of the use of natural resources in the process of social production;
• Nature conservation from negative consequences human activity;
• Environmental safety of the population;
• Creation of specially protected areas.

Demographic- continuation of the demographic explosion, rapid growth of the Earth's population and, as a consequence, overpopulation of the planet.

Solutions:

• Carrying out a thoughtful .

Fuel and raw materials- the problem of reliable provision of humanity with fuel and energy, as a result of the rapid growth in consumption of natural mineral resources.

Solutions:

• Increasing use of energy and heat (solar, wind, tidal, etc.). Development ;

Food- according to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and WHO (World Health Organization), from 0.8 to 1.2 billion people are hungry and undernourished in the world.

Solutions:

• An extensive solution is to expand arable land, pastures and fishing grounds.
• The intensive way is an increase in production through mechanization, automation of production, through the development of new technologies, breeding high-yielding, disease-resistant plant varieties and animal breeds.

Use of ocean resources- at all stages of human civilization was one of the most important sources of maintaining life on Earth. Currently, the ocean is not just a single natural space, but also a natural-economic system.

Solutions:

• Creation of a global structure of the maritime economy (allocation of oil production, fishing and zones), improvement of the infrastructure of port-industrial complexes.
• Protection of the waters of the World Ocean from pollution.
• Prohibition of military testing and disposal of nuclear waste.

Peaceful space exploration. Space - global environment, the common heritage of humanity. Trial various kinds weapons can threaten the entire planet at once. "Littering" and "clogging" of outer space.

Solutions:

• "Non-militarization" of outer space.
• International cooperation in space exploration.

Overcoming the backwardness of developing countries- the majority of the world's population lives in poverty and squalor, which can be considered extreme forms of backwardness. Per capita income in some countries is less than $1 per day.

Every person has problems. Relationships with loved ones are not going well, there is not enough money to fulfill any desires, failures in school and work, etc. But on a global scale, these are trifles. At this level, there are completely different issues - these are global problems of society. Is it possible to solve them?

History and origin

Global problems have been troubling humanity in one way or another throughout its development. But those that are not resolved today became extremely relevant relatively recently, in the last third of the 20th century.

According to most researchers, all global problems of the modern world are closely interconnected, and their solution should be comprehensive, and not isolated. Perhaps it’s all about the concept of humanity’s relationship to its home - planet Earth. For a very, very long time it was purely consumer. People did not think about the future, about what kind of world their children and more distant descendants would have to live in.

As a result, we have come to an extreme degree of dependence on the contents of the earth's bowels, unwilling to fully use renewable energy sources. At the same time, these global problems acquired a truly catastrophic scale simultaneously with the demographic explosion, which aggravated them. It can also be said to be the reason why there is a shortage of resources, forcing us to dig deeper and deeper into earth's crust, closing this vicious circle. All this is accompanied by an extreme degree of social tension, which gives rise to misunderstanding between different states, and ignoring this problem inexorably leads to an increase in the likelihood of a global armed conflict.

Levels of human problems

Without a doubt, the scale of pressing issues varies. There are problems:

• individual, i.e. affecting the life of one person and, possibly, his loved ones;
• local, regional, which are related to the development of the district, region, etc.;
• state, those that are important for the entire country or most of it;
• international, affecting a macroregion, which may include many territories;
• global, planetary scale, affecting almost everyone.

Of course, this does not mean that one person's problems are unimportant and not worth paying attention to. But on a planetary scale they are truly insignificant. What is a conflict with your superiors in comparison with the hunger and poverty of a billion people or the threat of nuclear war? Of course, we can say that the happiness of each individual person leads to general well-being, but without solving the global problems of humanity, this cannot be achieved. And what are these questions?

Environmental

Global problems primarily include human influence on nature. Yes, this is indeed one of the most important questions, because people are literally destroying their home. Air, water and soil pollution, extinction of animals and plants, destruction of the ozone layer, deforestation and desertification. Of course, some of this is natural processes, but human contributions are also visible.

People continue to ravage the bowels of the earth, pumping oil and gas, extracting coal and metals necessary for their lives. But the irrational use of these resources and the reluctance to switch to renewable energy sources may in the foreseeable future become the cause of a real collapse.

Megacities are places of terrible noise and light pollution. Here people almost never see the starry sky or hear birds singing. Air polluted by cars and factories causes premature aging and health problems. Progress has made people's lives easier and faster, but at the same time, consumer society has made waste disposal more important than ever before. It is worth considering that every day is the most a common person generates just an insane amount of garbage. But there is also radioactive waste... In these conditions, it is simply vital to stop solving problems alone and start thinking more globally.

Economic problems

The global division of labor has allowed the world community to produce goods and services more efficiently and has developed trade to its current level. But at the same time, the problem of poverty in some regions has become acute. Lack of necessary resources, low development, social problems - all this one way or another hinders progress in regions such as Africa and Central and South America. The most developed countries are prospering and getting richer, while the rest lag behind, living only by selling some valuable resources. This gap in income of the world's population is simply enormous. And charity in this case is not always the answer.

Economic global problems may also include potential overpopulation of the planet. The point is not that people may not have enough space - there are areas in the world where almost no one lives. But the number of people is growing exponentially, and the growth of food production is only arithmetic. This leads to the problem of poverty and its possible further spread, especially taking into account the environmental situation.

The question is also what foreign policy some countries simply do not allow them to unite and think globally. Meanwhile, economic problems are accumulating and affecting ordinary people.

Social

The planet is torn apart by constant conflicts. The constant threat of war, social tension, racial and religious intolerance - society seems to be constantly on the brink. Unrest breaks out here and there. The revolutions of the last decade have shown how terrible wars within a country can be. Egypt, Syria, Libya, Ukraine - there are enough examples, and everyone knows about them. As a result, there are no winners; everyone loses in one way or another, and first of all, the common population.

In the Middle East, women are fighting for their rights: they want to study in schools and universities without fear for their health and lives. They want to stop being second-class citizens - it’s scary to think, but in some countries this still happens. In some countries, a woman is more likely to be raped than to learn to count. Can we really assume that these are not global social problems? And if so, then we need to deal with them together.

Solution

Of course, it is impossible with high degree confidence to say that the above-mentioned global social problems, economic and environmental issues will soon lead to the self-destruction of humanity. But it’s hardly worth denying the fact that such a possibility exists.

Solving global problems is a very difficult matter. You cannot simply limit the birth rate or find an unlimited source of energy - a complete spiritual rebirth of humanity is necessary, which would change our attitude towards nature, the planet and each other.

Some global problems of countries and the whole world have already been solved to some extent. Racial segregation has disappeared, so that now all people in civilized countries, regardless of skin color, have equal rights. Everyone else strives for the same position, trying not to evaluate people based on their religion, orientation, gender, etc.

Organizations and figures

There are several supranational bodies in the world that deal with various issues. One of these organizations was the UN, created in 1945. It includes several special commissions, whose work in one way or another deals with global problems of humanity. The UN is involved in peacekeeping missions, protecting people's rights, developing international legislation, social and economic issues.

In addition, individuals are also involved in activities aimed at solving global problems. Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Eisaku Sato and others fought for the future they wanted for their descendants. Among our contemporaries, many public people are engaged in similar activities. Shakira, Angelina Jolie, Natalia Vodianova, Chulpan Khamatova and many others establish charitable foundations, become UN Goodwill Ambassadors and do other things that make the world a better place.

Awards

Public figures are awarded various awards for their contributions or even courageous attempts to change the world for the better. The most prestigious of them is the Nobel Prize. In 2014, its winner was Malala Yousafzai, a 16-year-old girl from Pakistan who, despite the fact that her life was in constant danger, attended school every day and wrote a blog in which she talked about life under the Taliban regime, which had its own views on the need for education for women. After surviving the assassination attempt, she ended up in the UK, but decided to return to her homeland. She was awarded the prize for fighting for her interests and defending own rights. After the award, Malala released her autobiography, the Taliban’s reaction to which was a promise to kill the girl.

Why should it matter?

Of course, we can say that global problems are not our business, because the consequences of ignoring them will not hit us. Overpopulation, poverty, war, environmental disaster - even if all this is inevitable, it will not happen here and now. But you should think not only about yourself, but also about your children, loved ones and friends. Even if global problems of society cannot be solved alone, you can start small: try to use less packaging, recycle garbage, do not waste water, save electricity. It's not hard, but if everyone did it, maybe the world would be a little better.

GLOBAL PROBLEMS

GLOBAL PROBLEMS

(from Latin globus (terrae) - globe) - a set of vitally important problems that affect the whole and are insoluble within individual states and even geographic regions. G.p. came to the fore in the 20th century. as a result of significant population growth and a sharp intensification of the production process in an industrial society. Attempts to solve G.p. are an indicator of the gradual formation of a single humanity and the formation of truly world history. To the number of G.p. include: prevention of thermonuclear war; reducing rapid population growth (“population explosion” in developing countries); prevention of catastrophic pollution of the environment, primarily the atmosphere and the World Ocean; ensuring further economic development necessary natural resources, especially non-renewable ones; bridging the gap in living standards between developed and developing countries; elimination of hunger, poverty and illiteracy, etc. Circle G.p. is not sharply outlined, their peculiarity is that they cannot be solved in isolation, and humanity itself largely depends on their solution.
G.p. generated by the colossally increased impact of man on the environment, his transforming nature economic activity, which has become comparable in scale to geological and other planetary natural processes. According to pessimistic forecasts, G.p. cannot be resolved at all and in the near future will lead humanity to environmental disaster(R. Heilbroner). Optimistic assumes that G.p. will turn out to be a natural consequence of scientific and technological progress (G. Kahn) or the result of the elimination of social antagonisms and the construction of a perfect society (Marxism-Leninism). The intermediate one consists in the demand for a slowdown or even zero growth of the economy and world population (D. Meadows and others).

Philosophy: Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M.: Gardariki. Edited by A.A. Ivina. 2004 .

GLOBAL PROBLEMS

[French global - universal, from lat. globe (terrae)- globe], a set of vitally important problems of humanity, on the solution of which further progress in modern era - preventing a world thermonuclear war and ensuring peaceful conditions for the development of all peoples; bridging the growing economic gap level and per capita income between developed and developing countries by eliminating their backwardness, as well as eliminating hunger, poverty and illiteracy on the globe; cessation strives. population growth (“demographic explosion” in developing countries) and eliminating the danger of “depopulation” in developed capitalist countries. countries; preventing catastrophic environmental pollution, including the atmosphere, oceans and T. d.; ensuring further economic development of humanity with necessary natural resources, both renewable and non-renewable, including food, prom. raw materials and energy sources; prevention of direct and distant ones will be denied. consequences of scientific and technical revolution. Some researchers also include problems of health care, education, social values ​​and T. P.

These vital problems, although they existed before to one degree or another as local and regional contradictions, have become modern planetary era and unprecedented scale due to the specific historical situation that has developed on the globe. situation, namely a sharp exacerbation of uneven socio-economic. and scientific and technical. progress, as well as the growing process of internationalization of all societies. activities. Contrary to opinion pl. scientists and societies. figures in the West, in particular representatives of the Club of Rome, G. p. were generated not so much by the colossally increased means of humankind’s influence on the world around us and the enormous scope (scale) his household activity, which has become comparable to geological. And etc. planetary natures. processes, and above all the spontaneity of societies. development and anarchy of production under capitalism, the legacy of colonialism and the ongoing exploitation of developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latvia. America is multinational. corporations, as well as etc. antagonistic contradictions, the pursuit of profit and current benefits to the detriment of the long-term, fundamental interests of society as a whole. The global nature of these problems does not stem from their “ubiquity,” and certainly not from their “predatory nature.” nature of man,” supposedly equally inherent in any social system, as they say bourgeois ideologists, but from the fact that they somehow affect humanity as a whole and cannot be completely resolved within the framework dept. states and even geographical. regions. They also cannot be successfully solved in isolation from one another.

Universal. the character of civil society does not at all give them a supra-class and non-ideological character. content is believed bourgeois scientists, considering them from the standpoint of abstract humanism and liberal reformist philanthropy. The global nature of these problems does not negate the class approach to their study and the fundamental differences in methods and methods for solving them in different social systems. Marxists reject the pessimism common in the West. and pseudo-optimistic. concepts of G. p., according to which they either cannot be resolved at all and will inevitably plunge humanity into catastrophe (. Heilbroner), or can be resolved only by price T. And. zero growth of the world economy and population (D. Meadows and etc.) , or to solve them, only one scientific and technical progress (G. Kahn). The Marxist approach to G. p. differs from the non-Marxist one also with regard to their hierarchy (priority in their decision): to the bourgeoisie, to ideologists who put forward either environmentalism first. problems, or “demographic. explosion" or the contrast between "poor and rich nations" (advanced North and backward South), Marxists believe the most insistent. the problem of preventing global thermonuclear war, ending the arms race and ensuring international security, believing that this will create not only favorable peaceful conditions for socio-economic. progress of all peoples, but will also release enormous material resources to solve the remaining G. p. Consistent. resolution of emerging G. and. is possible only after the elimination of social antagonisms and the establishment of relations between society and nature on a global scale, i.e. in communist society. However, already in modern conditions pl. G. problems can be successfully resolved not only in socialist. society, but also the rest of the world in the course of general democracy. struggle for and detente, against selfishness. state-monopoly policy capital, through the deployment of mutually beneficial international cooperation, establishment of a new world economic. order in relations between developed and developing countries.

Mutual conditionality and the complex nature of G. p. suggest that they scientific research can be successfully carried out only through the cooperation of scientists of different specialties, representatives of society, natural sciences. and technical sciences, based on dialectic. method and use of such methods scientific knowledge of social reality, as well as global.

Materials of the XXVI Congress CPSU, M., 1981; Brezhnev L.I., Great October and the progress of mankind, M., 1977; Commoner B., Closing Circle, lane With English, L., 1974; Biola G., Marxism and the Environment, lane O French, M., 1975; Bud yko M.I., Global ecology, M., 1977; Shiman M., Towards the third millennium, lane With Hungarian, M., 1977; G v i sh i a n i D. M., Methodological. problems of modeling global development, "VF", 1978, "" 2; Arab-Ogly 9. A., Demographic and environmental forecasts, M., 1978; Forrester J. V., World, lane With English, M., 1978; Zagladin V., Frolov I., G. p. and the future of humanity, “Communist”, 1979, No. 7; theirs, G. p. modernity: scientific and social aspects, M., 1981; Frolov I. T., Human Perspectives, M., 1979; Sociological aspects of global modeling, M., 1979; The future of the global economy (Report of the UN group of experts headed by V. Leontyev), lane With English, M., 1979; Future. Real problems and bourgeois speculations, Sofia, 1979; ? e h e i A., Human. quality, lane With English, M., 1980; State of the Art of Modernity, M., 1981; Leibin V.M., “Models of the world” and “man”: Critical. ideas of the Club of Rome, M., 1981; F a l k R., The study of future worlds, N.Y., ; Kahn H., Brown W., Martel L., The next 200 years, L., 1977.

Philosophical encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. editor: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. 1983 .

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