Economic issues in the Cold War and Post-Cold War era

  1. Human and physical geography

  2. A comparison of market versus command economies (Western Europe versus Soviet Union)

  3. Economic recovery in Europe and Japan

    a. Western Germany becomes a major economic power

    b. European economic community/Common Market/ European Union—steps toward European integration

    c. Japan becomes an economic superpower

  4. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC): oil crisis in the 1970s

  5.  Pacific Rim economies/economic crisis

  6.  North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 1997 

 

TEACHER’S NOTE: Students should understand that the Cold War was more than a military rivalry; it was a struggle for survival and supremacy by two basically different ideologies and

economic systems.

 

TEACHER’S NOTE: You might wish to have students compare and contrast industrialization in Europe and Japan with that in Egypt, India, or Korea.

 

 

Suggested Documents: Resource maps, graphs, charts, cartograms, GDP maps, World Bank Allocations

 

European Union