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global history



  • Climate Policy Needs a Return to Land Reform

    by Jo Guldi

    In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the United Nations' international development agenda took its cues from struggles for decolonization from Ireland to India, making the redistribution of rural land a top priority. Is this the key to more effective climate change mitigation? 



  • What "Big History" Misses

    by Ian Hesketh

    "Big History" has become established in the popular media and in some academic quarters, telling global-scale narratives of human and even planetary history. After 30 years, it's time to evaluate its successes and failures. 



  • Black Veterans of the First World War are Often Overlooked

    by Michelle Moyd

    Nearly 638,000 African men fought in Africa and Europe. Some were conscripted by colonial powers and forced to fight or labor, and others hoped through service to stake claims to political rights. More global attention to their service and its relationship to colonialism is needed.



  • Not Everyone Can Afford to ‘Learn to Live With’ COVID-19

    by Kyle Harper

    "This two-track recovery, where protection against the disease mirrors wealth and power, unfortunately reflects a historical pattern that is several centuries old. The world’s only hope lies in breaking it."



  • What Kind of Fear Is Stopping Joe Biden?

    by Samuel Moyn

    The course of the Biden administration's policy agenda will be determined by what Democrats are afraid of. In particular, it will matter whether they are more afraid of foreign adversaries or of domestic poverty. 



  • Beyond Gay Imperialism

    by Samuel Huneke

    Do global campaigns for LGBTQ civil rights that originate in affluent Western societies reproduce the "civilizing mission" trope of colonialism, or use the goal of antidiscrimination to buttress the influence of wealthy nations? A historian considers a new book on global gay rights.



  • Does Biden Really Want to End the Forever Wars?

    by Jack Goldsmith and Samuel Moyn

    Recent presidents, including Joe Biden, have relied on an expansive view of presidential powers under Article II of the Constitution to conduct military action outside of the framework of declared war. 



  • The Prosperity Hoax

    A 2020 report on global poverty suggests that the problem is getting worse, directly attacking the methodologies the World Bank has used for decades to justify global capitalism as an anti-poverty program. 



  • Toward a Global History of White Supremacy

    by Daniel Geary, Camilla Schofield, and Jennifer Sutton

    We need to understand the history of global connections between white supremacists if we are to grasp what has sustained white nationalism despite global trends toward liberation and equality.



  • Are We Living at the "Hinge of History"?

    Journalist Richard Fisher examines the argument that the present--this moment--is the most important juncture in human history because human capacity to affect the planet outstrips human wisdom to direct that capacity.



  • Black Lives Matter But Slavery Isn’t Our Only Narrative

    by Aretha Phiri and Michelle M. Wright

    "Black folks are astonishingly diverse in their cultures, histories, languages, religions, so no single definition of Blackness is going to fit everyone. When we fail to consider this, we effectively leave many Black people out of the conversation."



  • A New Theory of Western Civilization (Review)

    "The WEIRDest People in the World" is the latest addition to the Big History category. The outstanding feature of the genre is that it wrangles all of human existence into a volume or two, starting with the first hominids to rise up on their hind legs and concluding with us, cyborg-ish occupants of a networked globe.