Economic Responses: c. 1900 - Present
AP Concept: 6.3 New Conceptualizations of Global Economy and Culture
Key Concepts
Communism
Japan
Key Concepts
- States responded in a variety of ways to economic challenges
- Several nations turned to communism in response to the economic challenges facing nations in the 20th century, hoping that collectivizing industry and agriculture would increase productivity
- These nations pushed their people to industrialize and modernize rapidly, with limited success
- Russia underwent two economic revolutions following the fall of the czar in 1917
- The New Economic Policy of 1921 (NEP) instituted by Vladimir Lenin allowed peasants to sell products, while the government controlled banking, trade, and heavy industry
- Joseph Stalin's Five-Year-Plans took over the NEP when Lenin died in 1924; under the plans, farms were collectivized, and those who refused were put to death
- Agricultural productivity actually declined, and it was not until the Great Depression hit Western Europe and the United States that Russia's industrial productivity increased
- China underwent an economic revolution as Mao Zedong attempted to modernize the country in order to equal the output of Western countries
- The Great Leap Forward aimed to collectivize agricultural and industrial production, as well as individual family life
- The government inflated initial production statistics, and bad weather and declining food production led to the deaths of at least 16 million people
- At the end of WWII, Japan was devastated by the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Allies put together an administration to restore Japan's economy and infrastructure
- Allies hoped to make Japan strong enough to defend against communism in East Asia
- Allied administration occupied Japan and instituted a constitution, land reforms, and an education system
- The United States formed a defensive alliance with Japan, which allowed Japan to spend less than 1% of its GDP on self-defense
- This financial ease allowed Japan to develop an export economy focusing on technology
Japan's economy recovered tremendously quickly from WWII
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Related Links: AP World History Quizzes AP World History AP World History Notes Restructuring of States: c. 1900 - Present |