Download Social Studies 20-1: Nationalism Source Analysis – Internationalism Essay

The time for unilateral action is long past. If the international community cannot find
immediate collective measures to address global issues, we will all pay the ultimate price.
The source is a quote that states, “The time for unilateral action is long past. If the
international community cannot find immediate collective measures to address global issues, we
will all pay the ultimate price”. The term unilateral is defined as a nation working alone to solve
an issue of any magnitude. This term, however, is contradictory to the perspective of the source.
The source holds the belief that the international community must come together to solve
problems that impact the global community as a whole. Should the international community
refuse to come together, “we will all pay the ultimate price” — this is another world war. The
global community is already seeing the effects of the refusal to solve global issues international
rather than alone. Throughout the summer of 2020, the world watched as the United States of
America became engulfed in violent protests in response to the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Countries around the world have rejected the idea of working together to end the problem of
racism; consequently, allowing the problem to worsen. The spark that caused the eruption in
America was the death of Goerge Floyd. Centuries of refusal to acknowledge the issue finally
erupted to take over the world through the months of july and august. The global community can
work towards solving the issue of racism through internationalism. The terman internationalism
is defined as a political principle that advocates greater political or economic cooperation among
nations. Internationalism is best demonstrated in the 1990s with the Yugoslavian crisis. When
civil war broke out in the late 1990s, the UN intervened and entered into Yugoslavia. As violence
continued to rise within the country, UN peacekeepers were not allowed to intervene in an
aggressive matter consequently bringing a NATO intervention. In the case of the Yugoslavian
crisis, the perspective in the source is upheld as internationalism was utilized and solved a
problem. However, in the case of the Rwandan Genocide, the source percpectce was not upheld
and concquestly lived up the statement of “we will all pay the ultimate price”. As the threat of
Genocide grew more apparent, the UN refused to get involved militaristicly; therefore,
peacekeeping officers were forced to follow peacekeeping rules. The 1990 Somalian Crisis is
another example of the consequence of working unilaterally and not internationally. In both cases
of the Rwandan Genocide and the Somalian Crisis, the world paid the ultimate price —war. It is
for these reasons that the perspective of the source should be fully embraced.
The borders within society are not between nations or countries, rather it is between
people— the powerful against the powerless, the free and the restricted, the privileged and the
disadvantaged. These are the borders that separate us from each other, our humanity, and our
nations; consequently we pay the price for it. The political divide within the United States of
America best demonstrates this statement. In 2016, President Donald Trump used the slogan
Make America Great Again. This statement is symbolic of the rejection of liberal
internationalism — the belief that the United States plays a key role in the international affairs of
the world. The America First policy the Trump Administrationhas is pulling America into the
past and causing a detriment to the world. When the United Stated pulled out of the WHO during
the 2020 pandemic, it left the world without the key health organizations needed to address the
virus. By pulling out of the WHO, the organization lost a significant amount of funding which
has impacted the world negatively. The Trump era of presidency has pulled the United States
into the isolationist political ideology. The term isolationism is defined as a policy of remaining
apart from the political affairs of other countries and the world. Isolationists agree with the idea
of unilateralism therefore, rejecting the idea of the source. In 2003, the invasion of Iraq under the
belief of weapons of mass destruction, is an example of unilateralism. The US made the decision
to invade Iraq alone which has caused a war continuing till this day. The source states; “If the
international community cannot find immediate collective measures to address global issues, we
will all pay the ultimate price”. The Iraq invasion proves this statement true as the lack of
countries coming together to solve a possible global issue led to the worst possible outcome —
war.
Throughout the 1990s, Rwanda underwent a Civil War. The two ethnic groups, the
Hunitus, and the Tutsis, were divided after centuries of colonization. The Beligan colonizers
instilled the beliefs that the Tutsis’ were superior due to their similarity to the Eruopeans. Prior to
the colonization of the Beligians, Rwanda was governed through the occupation of the people.
The Hutus would work the land and the Tutsis worked with the cattle; however, the Beligins
found more use for the cattle workers instilled the belief of superiority within the Tutsis. After
gaining independence, the country changed hands and the government fell into the hands of the
Hutus. As a result, thousands of Tutsis fled the country to create revolutionary groups to
overthrow the governing Hutus. Both ethnic groups believed that their people were entitled to
lead the country—the hutus’ for making up the majority of the population and the tutsis’ for their
belief in being superior. The battle for power led to a war that lasted several years. The UN
intervened and created a government mixed of both groups. In 1994, the plane carrying the
moderate Hutu president was shot down. It is believed that the Hutu Extremist group shot the
plane down to give themselves and the people a reason to kill the Tutsi people. The source
describes unilatatism as a leading cause of war as conflicts within nations and between them can
be solved by working internationally; therefore, the UN belief that they did not have a role in
preventing conflict between countries encourages the idea of unilateralism. At the time the UN
saw that the Rwandan people needed to solve their nations issues and not the international
community. Several countries that were stationed in Rwanda warned against the geocide;
however, no international intervention was allowed or happened. Consequently, if the
perspective was upheld in the situation of the Rwandan Genocide the lives of thousands could
have been saved.
The source holds the belief that the international community must come together to solve
problems that impact the global community as a whole. It states that unilateral decision making
will lead the world to the “[to] all pay the ultimate price” — war. If nations spend more time
focusing on themselves, then the consequence of war will be more imminent; and therefore, to
avoid this should work more with each other. I believe that the perspective of the source is fully
embraced in the examples of the Trump Era of the United States, the Black Live Matter
Movement, and the Rwandan Genocide.