“Learning about other cultures allows us to see the vast range of traditions, dialects, and histories that define societies. Each corner of the globe has its individual customs and myths, offering invaluable lessons on the diversity of the human experience. This includes various cultural customs, though, revealing plurality in how different people groups, regions, and- cultures celebrate, communicate, and provide meaning into their everyday life. It’s a space that encourages awareness for the exquisite variations that are part of the human experience.”

Things which are happening right now have a major impact on the way we see the world today. It’s essential to stay on top of world events to understand how interconnected our lives are, from political and economic upheaval to environmental threats. This category provides background and context beyond the day-to-day news to help you better understand the issues in play, and to keep you abreast of interesting one-off moments.

One of the most fascinating aspects of exploring the world stage is learning about how other countries approach shared challenges. All areas have something to teach, whether they are cutting-edge technology innovations, creative approaches to environmental sustainability, or unique social projects. This category is filled with stories of resiliency, creativity and teamwork, showing how people across the world have tackled the same problems in different ways.

Exploration and travel is about more than just visiting new places; it’s about seeing the world from different perspectives. It may be as simple as immersing yourself digitally in a different culture which over time broadens your perspective and dispels stereotypes. Their encounters come alive through the World category, which also offers suggestions on how to engage the peoples of other societies with civility and substance, and back stories about nearby and further-away destinations.

This genre shares stories of activism, advocacy and progress and amplifies the movements and people working toward change. It illustrates how even the things we do here affect others all around the world and stresses the importance of being a global citizen. These connections force readers to consider their place within a greater tapestry critically.”

Trade policies and economic trends can affect people’s lives well outside the frontiers where they originated. It’s a category that unpacks and demystifies potentially dry concepts like currency waves, market forces and foreign trade deals. The readers understand their own lives/financial situation, investments, business, and what to buy and when to buy.

Arts is a cross-cultural, worldwide language of human expression. Our world expands various world views — via global arts initiatives, musicals to theatre, paintings and writings. This category honors the creative achievements of individuals from different cultural traditions, acknowledging the potential of creativity to serve as a bridge, connecting and illuminating others.

The Situation in Geopolitics

Governments and alliances of countries interact with each other in ways that will encourage peace and collaboration or lead to war and rivalry, and given that fact, the global geopolitical map is in permanent motion. Because of the likes of World War I and World War II, alongside the subsequent Cold War, the planet became partitioned with two major ideological blocs: the communist eastern bloc led by the Soviet Union and the capitalist democracies of the west led by the United States.

But their effects rippled well beyond the lots — into the global political order. The post-1980s period of ideological competition (from what really came to be seen as the first phase of it, in the Cold War, ended with no more than this in 1991, the fall of the Soviet Union) is now generally accepted to be at an end and yet many of its effects are still seen rippling through interactions today in present-day international politics.

In the current age, the world is becoming multipolar. While the United States still commands global hegemony, new powers — like China, India and Brazil — are transforming the world’s political and economic dynamics. But as a maker of trade, and especially with its behemoth economy and its agenda of policies, notably the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global development strategy of investment in infrastructure projects along the path of its culture and influence in Asia, Africa and Europe, China has been a force to reckon with. The shifting horizons of great power relations are leading to a re-evaluation of international alliances, economic treaties, and security facts on the ground, with a recalibration of foreign policy by several countries.

Unfortunately, that peace is increasingly fragile as the ongoing conflict in places like the Middle East or war between Russia and Ukraine is proving. There’s a clear trend, however, of regional flash points of conflict — the conflict in the South China Sea, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Syria and so on — being the foci of regional instability, and often of instability with global ramifications. The humanitarian impact of these wars is also vast, with millions being displaced, and the world facing a refugee crisis. That is why organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are critical agents of peacemaking and peacekeeping even if they are contentious.

Environmental Difficulties: An International Duty

The staggering environmental challenges we now face are cross-national, the public health crisis demands a global response and climate change — our most inspiring and urgent challenge — has no plan from the world. Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of the twenty-first century. Emissions of greenhouse gases from these resources causes global warming which in turn leads to issues such as rising sea level, increased frequency of extreme weather events, disturbance of ecosystem and much more.

At the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries made a pledge to cut their carbon emissions, thereby limiting rises in global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels — the first major effort to stave-off climate change. These are just a few of many options to reflect the reality that, whatever the better world looks like, we — the world — are still experiencing the effects of climate inaction, and hitting the targets set in the Paris Agreement wouldn’t be a simple task.

Our rivers are choked, the oceans fouled, forests ravaged and loss of biodiversity has emerged as one of the most pressing environmental issues in need of urgent attention. The destruction of rain forests adds to global warming and diminishes biodiversity around the globe, a double whammy for the environment, particularly in areas like the Amazon. The gargantuan pollution of the oceans by plastic debris is certainly destroying aquatic species and ecosystems, and microplastics are increasingly entering the human food chain.

And people are trying to solve these environmental problems using green technologies and they invest in hydropower, solar, wind, etc in a lot of nations. But the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy isn’t happening fast enough, and many emerging countries are finding it difficult to square environmental protection with economic development. This highlights why more equitable solutions are needed that allow all countries to participate in and prosper from the global green economy.”

Globalization and Interaction of Cultures

Globalization is a key piece of the interconnectedness of the world, as it is the ability for a country, idea, culture, or product to cross international borders with relative ease. Globalization has altered virtually all aspects of modern life, from the way we communicate to how we consume. The world is more connected than ever, mainly because of the internet and advances in communications technology. People can hold conversations with others from around the world in real time and businesses can promote their products to a world-wide consumer base.

Globalization has opened borders, allowing for a rich exchange of trade and ideas, but has also raised concerns of cultural homogenization and the eradication of local traditions. Time after time, the Western—especially American—culture has muscled onto consumer trends, fashion and media worldwide, a phenomenon labelled by some critics cultural imperialism. Yet globalization has enabled the proliferation of diverse cultural expressions; witness the global embrace of Bollywood movies, the rise of K-pop, the diverse culinary movements.

Globalization has had a large impact on migration. More people are crossing borders than at any time in history, whether to seek jobs or educational opportunities or to escape persecution and violence. By the exchange of ideas and cultures, migration has enriched civilizations, but it has also led to challenging political and social problems, particularly those related to immigration law, labor laws and national identity.

Possibilities and Inequalities of Economic Globalization

Even though the economic plane of globalization has created vast wealth, it also has produced growing inequality both within countries and among them. Data: IoT Spot, Google NewsThe ubiquity of international trade, accompanied by the expansion of multinational corporations, has been a transformative economic force, and the results of this have inarguably been one of huge benefits and the expansion of wealth, particularly in the developing world. But the rapid-fire industrialization and urbanization that has lifted millions out of poverty and turned economies like China’s, India’s and other Southeast Asian countries into key engines of the world economy.

But not every country has benefited as much as others from globalization. For instance, many Latin American and African countries found it difficult to connect to the global economy and, in some cases, they found historical developments like debt, colonization and weak systems of governance to be obstacles. Many regions have benefited unevenly from the economic success, and hundreds of millions of people remain in poverty. International trade agreements and economic policies that favor the richer nations have worsened disparities, resulting in greater call for fair trade practices and policies in the economy that include the poorer nations.

Discussions around global trading arrangements and the economic policies that perpetuate them have also played a huge role in worsening these inequities and have sparked dialogues to agree to fairer trade agreements that consider economies that do not reside in the West. It was the three richest men and companies on the planet hoarding nearly every dollar of wealth that created global inequality.

Every layer of elite in wealthier nations from the top up has grown further from the general populace, creating social and political problems like in the United States and the United Kingdom in recent decades. Populist political parties and movements like Occupy Wall Street can be seen as reactions to widespread dissatisfaction with the current economic system and the power it gives the few over the many.

Creativity + technology + education are the forces of growth in any civilization. Across the world, educators and also creative thinkers are removing obstacles and creating new ways to link, educate and also learn. This category explores the transnational flow of information and ideas, showing how advances in one place can inspire new innovations elsewhere. It is proof of the importance of fostering international collaboration and the successful exchange of experiences.