Three global problems of the modern world. Global problems of humanity: example, solutions

Plan

Introduction……………………….…………………………………………3

A look at global problems……………………………………………………………4

Intersocial problems……………………………………………………………..5

Ecological and social problems…………………………………………………………….9

Sociocultural problems…………………………………………….………..14

Conclusion……………………………….…………………………………….16

References…………………………………………………….………17

Introduction

From French Global - universal

Global problems humanity - problems and situations that cover many countries, the Earth's atmosphere, the World Ocean and near-Earth space and affect the entire population of the Earth.

Global problems of humanity cannot be solved by the efforts of one country; jointly developed regulations on environmental protection, coordinated economic policies, assistance to backward countries, etc. are needed.

In the course of the development of civilization, humanity has repeatedly faced complex problems, sometimes of a planetary nature. But still, this was distant prehistory, a kind of “incubation period” of modern global problems. These problems fully manifested themselves in the second half and, especially, in the last quarter of the 20th century, that is, at the turn of two centuries and even millennia. They were brought to life by a whole complex of reasons that clearly manifested themselves during this period.

The twentieth century is a turning point not only in world social history, but also in the very fate of humanity. The fundamental difference between the passing century and all previous history is that humanity has lost faith in its immortality. He began to understand that his dominance over nature was not unlimited and was fraught with the death of himself. In fact, never before has humanity itself increased quantitatively by 2.5 times during the lifetime of only one generation, thereby increasing the strength of the “demographic press”. Never before has humanity entered into a period of scientific and technological revolution, reached the post-industrial stage of development, or opened the road to space. Never before has such a quantity of natural resources been required to support its life, and the waste it returns to the environment has also been so great. Never before has there been such a globalization of the world economy, such a unified world information system. Finally, never before has a Cold War brought all of humanity so close to the brink of self-destruction. Even if it is possible to avoid a global nuclear war, the threat to the existence of humanity on Earth still remains, because the planet will not withstand the unbearable load that has arisen as a result of human activity. It is increasingly obvious that the historical form of human existence, which allowed him to create modern civilization, with all its seemingly limitless possibilities and conveniences, has given rise to many problems that require radical solutions - and urgently.

The purpose of this essay is to give modern ideas about the essence of global problems and the nature of their interrelations.

A LOOK AT GLOBAL ISSUES

In the process of historical development of human activity, outdated technological methods are broken down, and with them outdated social mechanisms of human interaction with nature. At the beginning of human history, predominantly adaptive (adaptive) interaction mechanisms operated. Man obeyed the forces of nature, adapted to the changes occurring in it, changing his own nature in the process. Then, as the productive forces developed, man’s utilitarian attitude towards nature and other people prevailed. The modern era raises the question of the transition to a new path of social mechanisms, which should be called co-evolutionary or harmonious. The global situation in which humanity finds itself reflects and expresses the general crisis of human consumerism towards natural and social resources. Reason pushes humanity to realize the vital need to harmonize connections and relationships in the global system “Man - Technology - Nature”. In this regard, understanding the global problems of our time, their causes, relationships, and ways to solve them is of particular importance.

Global problems name those problems that, firstly, concern all of humanity, affecting the interests and destinies of all countries, peoples and social strata; secondly, they lead to significant economic and social losses, and if they worsen, they can threaten the very existence of human civilization; thirdly, for their solution they require cooperation on a planetary scale, joint actions of all countries and peoples.

The above definition can hardly be considered sufficiently clear and unambiguous. And their classifications according to one or another characteristic are often too vague. From the point of view of an overview of global problems, the most acceptable classification is one that combines all global problems into three groups:

1. Problems of economic and political interaction of states (intersocial). Among them, the most pressing are: global security; globalization political power and structures civil society; overcoming the technological and economic backwardness of developing countries and establishing a new international order.

2. Problems of interaction between society and nature (ecological and social). First of all, these are: prevention of catastrophic environmental pollution; providing humanity with necessary natural resources; exploration of the World Ocean and outer space.

3. Problems of relationships between people and society (sociocultural). The main ones are: the problem of population growth; the problem of protecting and promoting people's health; problems of education and cultural growth.

All these problems are generated by the disunity of humanity and the unevenness of its development. Consciousness has not yet become the most important prerequisite for humanity as a whole. The negative results and consequences of uncoordinated, ill-considered actions of countries, peoples, and individuals, accumulating on a global scale, have become a powerful objective factor in global economic and social development. They are having an increasingly significant impact on the development of individual countries and regions. Their solution involves joining forces large quantity states and organizations on international level. In order to have a clear idea of ​​the strategy and methodology for solving global problems, it is necessary to dwell on the characteristics of at least the most pressing of them

INTERSOCIAL ISSUES

Global Security

In recent years, this topic has attracted special attention in political and scientific circles; a huge number of special studies have been devoted to it. This in itself is evidence of an awareness of the fact that the survival and development of humanity is facing threats such as it has never experienced in the past.

Indeed, in earlier times the concept of security was identified primarily with the defense of the country from aggression. Now it also means protection from threats associated with natural and man-made disasters, economic crisis, political instability, the spread of subversive information, moral degradation, impoverishment of the national gene pool, etc.

All this vast range of issues is rightfully a matter of concern both in individual countries and within the world community. It will be considered in one way or another in all parts of the research undertaken. At the same time, it remains, and in some respects even intensifies military threat.

The confrontation between two superpowers and military blocs has brought the world close to a nuclear disaster. The end of this confrontation and the first steps towards real disarmament were undoubtedly greatest achievement international politics. They proved the fundamental possibility of breaking out of the cycle that was inexorably pushing humanity into the abyss, turning sharply from the escalation of hostility and hatred to attempts to understand each other, take into account mutual interests, and open the way to cooperation and partnership.

The results of this policy cannot be overestimated. The main one is the absence of an immediate danger of a world war using means mass destruction and the threat of general extermination of life on Earth. But can it be said that world wars from now on and forever completely excluded from history, that such a danger will not arise again after some time due to the emergence of a new armed confrontation or the spontaneous expansion of a local conflict to global proportions, equipment failure, unauthorized launch of missiles from nuclear warheads, other cases of this kind? This is one of the most important global security issues today.

The problem of conflicts arising from interfaith rivalry requires special attention. Are traditional geopolitical contradictions hidden behind them, or is the world facing the threat of a revival of jihads and crusades inspired by fundamentalists of various persuasions? No matter how unexpected such a prospect may seem in an era of widespread democratic and humanistic values, the dangers associated with it are too great not to take the necessary measures to prevent them.

Current security issues also include joint fight against terrorism, political and criminal, crime, drug trafficking.

Thus, the efforts of the world community to create a global security system should follow the path of progress towards: collective securityuniversal type, covering all participants in the world community; security complex type, covering, along with military, other factors of strategic instability; security long-term type, meeting the needs of the democratic global system as a whole.

Politics and power in a globalizing world

As in other areas of life, globalization entails fundamental changes in the field of politics, structure and distribution of power. The ability of humanity to keep control of the process of globalization itself, using its positive aspects and minimizing negative consequences, to adequately respond to economic, social, environmental, spiritual and other challenges of the 21st century.

The “compression” of space due to the revolution in communications and the formation of a global market, the need for universal solidarity in the face of looming threats, is steadily reducing opportunities national policy and multiply the number of regional, continental and global problems. As the interdependence of individual societies increases, this trend not only dominates foreign policy states, but is also increasingly making itself felt in domestic political issues.

Meanwhile, sovereign states remain the basis of the “organizational structure” of the world community. In the conditions of this “dual power,” there is an urgent need for a reasonable balance between national and global policies, an optimal distribution of “responsibilities” between them, and their organic interaction.

How realistic is such a connection, whether it will be possible to overcome the opposition of the forces of national and group egoism, to use the unique opportunity that is opening up to form a democratic world order - this is the main subject of research.

The experience of recent years does not allow us to answer this question unambiguously. The elimination of the split of the world into two opposing military-political blocs did not lead to the expected democratization of the entire system of international relations, to the elimination of hegemony or a reduction in the use of force. There is a great temptation to start a new round of geopolitical games, redistributing spheres of influence. The disarmament process, which was given impetus by new thinking, has noticeably slowed down. Instead of some conflicts, others broke out, no less bloody. In general, after a step forward, what was the termination “ cold war”, was taken half a step back.

All this does not give reason to believe that the possibilities for democratic reconstruction of the international system have been exhausted, but it does indicate that this task is much more difficult than it seemed ten years ago to the politicians who dared to take it on. The question remains open that the bipolar world will be replaced by a new version with a replacement Soviet Union some kind of superpower, monocentrism, polycentrism, or, finally, democratic management of the affairs of the world community through generally acceptable mechanisms and procedures.

Along with the creation new system international relations and the redistribution of power between states, other factors that actively influence the formation of the world order of the 21st century are becoming increasingly important. International financial institutions, transnational corporations, powerful information complexes such as the Internet, global communication systems, associations of like-minded political parties and social movements, religious, cultural, corporate associations - all these institutions of the emerging global civil society may in the future have a strong impact on the course of world development. Whether they will become conductors of limited national or even selfish private interests or an instrument of global politics is a question of enormous importance that requires in-depth study.

Thus, the emerging global system needs a reasonably organized legitimate government that expresses the collective will of the world community and has sufficient powers to solve global problems.

The global economy is a challenge for national economies

In economics, science, and technology, globalization manifests itself most intensively. Transnational corporations and banks, uncontrolled financial flows, a single worldwide system of electronic communications and information, modern transport, transformation in English into a means of “global” communication, large-scale population migrations - all this blurs national-state boundaries and forms an economically integrated world.

At the same time, for a huge number of countries and peoples, the status sovereign state appears to be a means of protecting and ensuring economic interests.

The contradiction between globalism and nationalism in economic development is becoming a pressing problem. Is it true that, and to what extent, nation states are losing their ability to determine economic policy as they give way to transnational corporations? And if this is so, then what are the consequences for the social environment, the formation and regulation of which is carried out primarily at the national-state level?

With the end of the military and ideological confrontation between the two worlds, as well as progress in the field of disarmament, globalization received a powerful additional impetus. The relationship between market transformation in Russia and throughout the post-Soviet space, in China, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, on the one hand, and economic globalization, on the other, is a new and promising area of ​​research and forecasting.

Apparently, a new sphere of confrontation between two powerful forces is opening: the national bureaucracy (and everything that stands behind it) and the international economic environment, which is losing its national “registration” and obligations.

The next layer of problems is the attack of the globalizing economy on the social protection institutions created over many decades, welfare state. Globalization sharply intensifies economic competition. As a result, the social climate inside and outside the enterprise worsens. This also applies to transnational corporations.

So far, the lion's share of the benefits and fruits of globalization go to rich and powerful states. The danger of global economic shocks is noticeably increasing. The global financial system is particularly vulnerable, as it is disconnected from the real economy and can become a victim of speculative scams. The need for joint management of globalization processes is obvious. But is it possible and in what forms?

Finally, the world will probably have to face a dramatic need to rethink the basic principles economic activity. This is caused by at least two circumstances. First, the rapidly deepening environmental crisis requires significant changes in the prevailing economic system, both nationally and globally. “Market failure” in regulating the scale of environmental pollution may indeed become the “end of history” in the near future. Secondly, a serious problem is the “social failure” of the market, manifested, in particular, in the growing polarization of the rich North and the poor South.

All this raises the most difficult questions regarding the place in the regulation of the future world economy of classical mechanisms of market self-regulation, on the one hand, and the conscious activities of state, interstate and supranational bodies, on the other.

ECOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES

The essence of this range of global problems lies in the imbalance of biosphere processes that is dangerous for the existence of mankind. In the twentieth century, technological civilization came into threatening conflict with the biosphere, which had been formed over billions of years as a system that ensured the continuity of life and the optimality of the environment. Without solving social problems for the majority of humanity, the technogenic development of civilization has led to the destruction of the habitat. The ecological and social crisis has become a reality of the twentieth century.

The ecological crisis is the main challenge to civilization

It is known that life on Earth exists in the form of cycles of organic matter based on the interaction of the processes of synthesis and destruction. Each type of organism is a link in the circulation, the process of reproduction of organic matter. The synthesis function in this process is performed by green plants. The function of destruction is microorganisms. At the first stages of its history, man was a natural link in the biosphere and the biotic cycle. The changes he introduced into nature did not have a decisive impact on the biosphere. Today man has become the largest planetary force. Suffice it to say that every year about 10 billion tons of minerals are extracted from the bowels of the Earth, 3-4 billion tons of plant mass are consumed, and about 10 billion tons of industrial carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere. More than 5 million tons of oil and petroleum products are discharged into the World Ocean and rivers. The problem is getting worse every day drinking water. airy atmosphere The modern industrial city is a mixture of smoke, toxic fumes and dust. Many species of animals and plants are disappearing. The great balance of nature has been disrupted to such an extent that a gloomy forecast has emerged about the “ecological suicide of humanity.”

Voices are being heard louder and louder about the need to abandon all industrial interference in the natural balance and stop technical progress. However, solving the environmental problem by throwing humanity back to the medieval state is a utopia. And not only because people will not give up the achievements of technological progress. But, on the other hand, many in the world of science and politics still rely on an artificial mechanism for regulating the environment in the event of deep destruction of the biosphere. Therefore, science is faced with the task of finding out whether this is real or is it a myth generated by the “Promethean” spirit of modern civilization?

Satisfying mass consumer demand is recognized as the most important factor in internal socio-political stability. And this is placed by influential political and economic elites above global environmental security.

Unfortunately, a biosphere catastrophe is quite possible. Therefore, there is a need for honest recognition of the scale of the environmental threat and intellectual fearlessness in the face of this challenge to humanity. The fact is that changes in the biosphere, including catastrophic ones, have occurred and will occur regardless of man, so we should not talk about complete obedience to nature, but about the harmonization of natural and social processes based on the humanization of scientific and technical progress and a radical restructuring of the entire system of social relationships.

Security natural resources

Mineral resources

Despite the acute crisis phenomena that manifested themselves from time to time in developed countries and countries with economies in transition, the global trend is still characterized by a further increase in industrial production, accompanied by an increase in the need for mineral raw materials. This stimulated an increase in the extraction of mineral resources, which, for example, over the period 1980-2000. in total exceeds production by 1.2-2 times over the previous twenty years. And as forecasts show, this trend will continue. The question naturally arises: are the mineral resources contained in the bowels of the Earth sufficient to ensure the indicated enormous acceleration in the extraction of minerals in the near and distant future. This question is logical especially because, unlike other natural resources, mineral resources on the scale of the past future history of mankind are non-renewable, and, strictly speaking, within the boundaries of our planet, limited and finite.

The problem of limited mineral resources has become particularly acute because, in addition to the growth of industrial production, which is associated with an increasing need for mineral raw materials, it is aggravated by the extremely uneven distribution of deposits in the subsoil earth's crust by continent and country. Which in turn aggravates economic and political conflicts between countries.

Thus, the global nature of the problem of providing for humanity mineral resources predetermines the need for the development of a wide range of international cooperation. The difficulties that many countries of the world experience due to the lack of certain types of mineral raw materials could be overcome on the basis of mutually beneficial scientific, technical and economic cooperation. Such cooperation can be very effective in jointly conducting regional geological and geophysical research in promising zones of the earth's crust or through joint exploration and exploitation of large mineral deposits, by providing assistance in the industrial development of complex deposits on a compensation basis, and finally, through mutually beneficial trade in mineral raw materials and its products.

Land resources

The characteristics and properties of the land determine its exclusive place in the development of the productive forces of society. The relationship “man - earth” that has developed over centuries remains at the present time and in the foreseeable future one of the determining factors of world life and progress. Moreover, land supply problem due to the population growth trend will be constantly worsening.

The nature and forms of land use in different countries differ significantly. At the same time, a number of aspects of the use of land resources are common to the entire world community. This is first of all protection of land resources, especially land fertility, from natural and anthropogenic degradation.

Modern trends in the use of land resources in the world are expressed in the widespread intensification of the use of productive lands, the involvement of additional areas in economic turnover, the expansion of land allocations for non-agricultural needs, and the strengthening of activities to regulate the use and protection of lands at the national level. At the same time, the problem of economical, rational use and protection of land resources should be under increasingly close attention of international organizations. The limited and indispensable nature of land resources, taking into account population growth and the continuous increase in the scale of social production, require their effective use in all countries of the world with increasingly close international cooperation in this area. On the other hand, the land simultaneously acts as one of the main components of the biosphere, as a universal means of labor and as a spatial basis for the functioning of productive forces and their reproduction. All this defines the task of organizing scientifically based, economical and rational use of land resources as one of the global ones at the present stage of human development.

Food resources

Providing food to the ever-growing population of the Earth is one of the long-term and most complex problems of the world economy and politics.

According to experts, the aggravation of the world food problem is the result of the combined effect of the following reasons: 1) excessive load on the natural potential of agriculture and fisheries, preventing its natural recovery; 2) insufficient rates of scientific and technological progress in agriculture in those countries that do not compensate for the declining scale of natural renewal of resources; 3) ever-increasing instability in world trade in food, feed, and fertilizers.

Of course, scientific and technological progress and an increase in the production of high-quality agricultural products based on it, incl. and food crops may allow in the future to double and triple. Further intensification of agricultural production, as well as the expansion of productive lands, are real ways to solve this problem on a daily basis. But the key to solving it still lies on the political and social plane. Many rightly note that without establishing a fair economic and political world order, without overcoming the backwardness of most countries, without socio-economic transformations in developing countries and countries with economies in transition that would meet the level of requirements of accelerating scientific and technological progress, with mutually beneficial international mutual assistance - the solution The food problem will remain a distant matter.

Energetic resources

A characteristic feature of the future development of global energy will be a constant increase in the share of converted energy carriers in the final use of energy (primarily electrical energy). The increase in prices for electricity, especially base prices, occurs much more slowly than for hydrocarbon fuels. In the future, when nuclear power sources play a more prominent role than at present, we should expect stabilization or even reduction in the cost of electricity.

In the coming period, the share of world energy consumption by developing countries is expected to grow rapidly (up to 50%). The shift in the center of gravity of energy problems during the first half of the 21st century from developed countries to developing countries puts before humanity completely new tasks for the social and economic restructuring of the world, which need to begin to be solved now. Given the relatively low supply of energy resources in developing countries, this creates a difficult problem for humanity, which could develop into a crisis situation during the 21st century if appropriate organizational, economic and political measures are not taken.

One of the first priorities of the energy development strategy in the region of developing countries should be an immediate transition to new sources of energy that can reduce the dependence of these countries on imported liquid fuels and put an end to the unacceptable destruction of forests, which serve as the main source of fuel for these countries.

Due to the global nature of these problems, their solution, as well as those listed above, is possible only with the further development of international cooperation, through strengthening and expanding economic and technical assistance to developing countries from developed countries.

Development of the World Ocean

The problem of the development of the World Ocean has become global in nature due to a complex of reasons: 1) a sharp aggravation and transformation into global problems such as the raw materials, energy, and food problems described above, to the solution of which the use of the resource potential of the ocean can and should make a huge contribution; 2) the creation of powerful technical means of management, which determined not only the possibility, but also the need for a comprehensive study and development of marine resources and spaces; 3) the emergence of interstate relations of resource management, production and management in the maritime economy, which turned the previously declarative thesis about the collective (with the participation of all states) process of ocean development into a political necessity, causing the inevitability of finding a compromise with the participation and satisfaction of the interests of all major groups of countries, regardless on geographical location and level of development; 4) awareness by the overwhelming majority of developing countries of the role that the use of the ocean can play in solving the problems of backwardness and accelerating their economic development; 5) becoming a global environmental problem, the most important element which is the World Ocean, which absorbs the main part of pollutants.

Man has been obtaining his food products from the ocean for a long time. Therefore, it is very important to study the life activity of ecological systems in the hydrosphere and identify the possibility of stimulating their productivity. This, in turn, leads to the need to understand very complex and hidden biological processes in the ocean, hidden from direct observation and far from being understood, the study of which requires close international cooperation.

And in general, there is no alternative to the division of vast spaces and resources other than broad and equal international cooperation in their development.

SOCIO-CULTURAL ISSUES

In this group, the priority issue is population. Moreover, it cannot be reduced only to the reproduction of the population and its gender and age composition. We are talking here primarily about the relationship between the processes of population reproduction and social methods of producing material goods. If the production of material goods lags behind population growth, then the financial situation of people will worsen. Conversely, if population growth decreases, this ultimately leads to an aging population and a decrease in the production of material goods.

The rapid population growth observed in the late twentieth century in Asia, Africa and Latin America is associated, first of all, with the liberation of these countries from the colonial yoke and their entry into a new stage of economic development. The new “demographic explosion” has exacerbated the problems generated by the spontaneity, unevenness and antagonistic nature of human development. All this was reflected in a sharp deterioration in the nutrition and health of the population. To the shame of civilized humanity, more than 500 million people (every tenth) are chronically malnourished every day, leading a half-starved existence, and this is mainly in countries with the most favorable conditions for the development of agricultural production. As an analysis conducted by UNESCO experts shows, the causes of hunger in these countries must be sought in the dominance of monocultures (cotton, coffee, cocoa, bananas, etc.) and the low level of agricultural technology. The vast majority of families engaged in agriculture on all continents of the planet still cultivate the land with a hoe and plow. Children suffer the most from malnutrition. According to World Organization healthcare, 40 thousand children under the age of 5 die every day, who could have been saved. This amounts to about 15 million people per year.

Education remains an acute global problem. Currently, almost every fourth inhabitant of our planet over the age of 15 remains illiterate. The number of illiterate people increases annually by 7 million people. The solution to this problem, like others, rests on the lack of material resources for the development of the education system, while at the same time, as we have already noted, the military-industrial complex absorbs enormous resources.

No less pressing are the issues that, in their totality, capture the cultural, religious and moral problems of the globalization process.

The idea of ​​international justice can be stated as a basic principle of coexistence and free development of civilizations and cultures. In the process of globalization of the world, the problem of transferring the principles of democracy as a tool for coordinating interests and organizing cooperation to relations between countries, peoples, and civilizations becomes relevant.

CONCLUSION

An analysis of the global problems of our time shows the presence of a complex and branched system of cause-and-effect relationships between them. The largest problems and their groups are, to one degree or another, related and intertwined. And any key and major problem can consist of many private, but no less important in its relevance, problems.

For thousands of years, man lived, worked, developed, but he did not suspect that perhaps the day would come when it would become difficult, and perhaps impossible, to breathe clean air, drink clean water, grow anything on the ground, because the air? polluted, water? Is the soil poisoned? contaminated with radiation or other chemicals. But a lot has changed since then. And in our century this is quite real threat, and not many people realize this. Such people? owners of large factories and the oil and gas industry think only about themselves, about their wallets. They neglect safety rules, ignore the requirements of the environmental police, GREANPEACE, and sometimes they are reluctant or too lazy to buy new filters for industrial wastewater and gases that pollute the atmosphere. What could be the conclusion? ? Another Chernobyl, if not worse. So maybe we should think about this?

Every person must realize that Humanity is on the verge of destruction, and will we survive or not? the merit of each of us.

Globalization of world development processes presupposes international cooperation and solidarity within the world scientific community, an increase in the social and humanistic responsibility of scientists. Science for man and humanity, science in order to solve global problems of our time and social progress - this is the true humanistic orientation that should unite scientists all over the world. This presupposes not only a closer unification of science and practice, but also the development of fundamental problems of the future of humanity, involves the development of the unity and interaction of sciences, the strengthening of their ideological and moral foundations, corresponding to the conditions of global problems of our time

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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8. Isachenko A.G. Geography in the modern world. M.: Education, 1998

Modernity is a series of social problems of the development of civilization, which, however, are not limited exclusively to the social aspect, and affect almost all areas of society: economic, political, environmental, psychological. These problems have been formed over many years, which are characterized by the rapid development of various spheres of human life, and therefore the methods for solving them do not have clear options.

Philosophy and global problems of our time

Awareness of any problems is the first stage in solving them, because only understanding can lead to effective actions. For the first time, the global problems of our time were comprehended by philosophers. Indeed, who else but philosophers will be engaged in understanding the dynamics of the development of civilization? After all, global problems require full analysis and consideration of different points of view.

The main global problems of our time

So, he studies global processes. They arise as an objective factor of human existence, i.e. arise due to human activities. Global problems of our time are not numerous:

1. The so-called “neglectable aging”. This problem was first raised in 1990 by Caleb Finch. Here we are talking about expanding the boundaries of life expectancy. A lot of scientific research has been devoted to this topic, which has been aimed at studying the causes of aging and methods that can slow it down or even reverse it. However, as practice shows, the solution to this issue is quite a long way off.
2. The North-South problem. It includes understanding the large development gap between northern and southern countries. Thus, in most countries of the South, the concepts of “hunger” and “poverty” are still a pressing problem for large parts of the population.
3. The problem of preventing thermonuclear war. It implies the damage that could be caused to all of humanity in the event of the use of nuclear or thermonuclear weapons. The problem of peace between peoples and political forces, the struggle for common prosperity, is also acute here.
4. Preventing pollution and maintaining ecological balance.
5. Global warming.
6. The problem of diseases: AIDS, cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
7. Demographic imbalance.
8. Terrorism.

Global problems of our time: what are the solutions?

1. Negligible aging. Modern science is taking steps towards studying aging, but the question of the feasibility of this still remains relevant. In mythological legends different nations You can come across the idea of ​​eternal life, however, the elements that make up the concept of evolution today conflict with the idea of ​​eternal life and prolongation of youth.
2. The problem of the North and South, which is illiteracy and poverty of the population of southern countries, is solved with the help of charitable actions, but it cannot be solved until the countries lagging behind in development become developed in political and economic aspects.
3. The problem of preventing the use of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, in fact, cannot be exhausted as long as the capitalist understanding of relations dominates in society. Only with a transition to another level of assessment of human life and peaceful coexistence can the problem be solved. Acts and agreements concluded between countries on non-use are not a 100% guarantee that war will not break out one day.
4. The problem of maintaining the ecological balance of the planet today is being solved with the help of political forces that are concerned about this, as well as with the help of organizations that are trying to preserve endangered species of animals, are engaged in planting and organize events and campaigns that are aimed at attracting public attention to this problem . However, a technological society is unlikely to be able to preserve the environment 100%.
5. Questions about global warming have long worried scientists, but the reasons that cause warming are this moment cannot be eliminated.
6. The problems of incurable diseases at the present stage find a partial solution offered by medicine. Fortunately, today this issue is relevant for scientific knowledge and the state is allocating funds to ensure that these problems are studied and effective medicines are invented by doctors.
7. The demographic imbalance between the countries of the south and the north finds a solution in the form of legislative acts: for example, Russian legislation encourages high birth rates in the form of additional payments to large families, and, for example, Japanese legislation, on the contrary, limits the ability of families to have many children.
8. Currently, the problem of terrorism is very acute after a number of high-profile tragic incidents. The internal security services of states are doing everything possible to counter terrorism on the territory of their country and prevent the unification of terrorist organizations on an international scale.

Problems that concern not any particular continent or state, but the entire planet, are called global. As civilization develops, it accumulates more and more of them. Today there are eight main problems. Let's consider the global problems of humanity and ways to solve them.

Ecological problem

Today it is considered the main one. For a long time, people have used the resources given to them by nature irrationally, polluted the environment around them, and poisoned the Earth with a variety of waste - from solid to radioactive. The result was not long in coming - according to the majority of competent researchers, environmental problems in the next hundred years will lead to irreversible consequences for the planet, and therefore for humanity.

There are already countries where this issue has reached a very high level, giving rise to the concept of an ecological crisis area. But a threat looms over the whole world: the ozone layer, which protects the planet from radiation, is being destroyed, the earth’s climate is changing - and humans are unable to control these changes.

Even the most developed country cannot solve the problem alone, so states unite to jointly solve important environmental problems. The main solution is considered to be reasonable use of natural resources and reorganization of everyday life and industrial production so that the ecosystem develops naturally.

Rice. 1. The threatening scale of the environmental problem.

Demographic problem

In the 20th century, when the world's population exceeded six billion, everyone had heard of it. However, in the 21st century the vector has shifted. In short, the essence of the problem now is this: there are fewer and fewer people. A competent policy of family planning and improving the living conditions of each individual will help solve this issue.

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Food problem

This problem is closely related to the demographic one and consists in the fact that more than half of humanity is experiencing acute food shortages. To solve it, we need to more rationally use available resources for food production. Experts see two development paths: intensive, when the biological productivity of existing fields and other lands increases, and extensive, when their number increases.

All global problems of humanity must be solved together, and this is no exception. The food problem arose due to the fact that most people live in unsuitable areas. Combining the efforts of scientists from different countries will significantly speed up the solution process.

Energy and raw materials problem

The uncontrolled use of raw materials has led to the depletion of mineral reserves that have been accumulating for hundreds of millions of years. Very soon, fuel and other resources may disappear altogether, so scientific and technological progress is being introduced at all stages of production.

The problem of peace and disarmament

Some scientists believe that in the very near future it may happen that there will be no need to look for possible ways to solve humanity’s global problems: people are producing such an amount of offensive weapons (including nuclear weapons) that at some point they can destroy themselves. To prevent this from happening, world treaties on arms reduction and demilitarization of economies are being developed.

Human health problem

Humanity continues to suffer from deadly diseases. The progress of science is great, but diseases that cannot be cured still exist. The only solution is to continue scientific research in search of cures.

The problem of using the World Ocean

The depletion of land resources has led to increased interest in the World Ocean - all countries that have access to it use it not only as a biological resource. Both the mining and chemical sectors are actively developing. Which gives rise to two problems at once: pollution and uneven development. But how are these issues resolved? Currently, they are being studied by scientists from all over the world, who are developing principles of rational ocean environmental management.

Rice. 2. Industrial station in the ocean.

The problem of space exploration

To explore outer space, it is important to join forces on a global scale. Latest Research– the result of consolidation of the work of many countries. This is precisely the basis for solving the problem.

Scientists have already developed a model of the first station for settlers on the Moon, and Elon Musk says that the day is not far off when people will go to explore Mars.

Rice. 3. Layout of the lunar base.

What have we learned?

Humanity has many global problems that can ultimately lead to its death. These problems can only be solved if efforts are consolidated - otherwise the efforts of one or several countries will be reduced to zero. Thus civilizational development and solutions to problems of a universal scale are possible only if the survival of man as a species becomes higher than economic and state interests.

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Modern global problems are a consequence of all today's global situation. One of the main problems today is the depletion of mineral resources, pollution and, as a result, destruction of the environment. Issues of ecology and natural resources make many people think today. Transport and production are the main causes of contamination of the world's oceans, seas and soil. In addition, emissions of harmful substances also play a large role in the death of various terrestrial organisms.

Landscape deterioration, climate change and water regime may lead to climate change (warming). This will lead to the melting of glaciers. As a result, many populated areas of the earth may be under water. In addition, human health is affected by radio waves, exhaust gases, electricity and the like. The Red Book contains many species of animals that have disappeared and been replaced by other dangerous microorganisms.

Soil pollution often leads to the death of not only plants, but also the accumulation of various metals. Acid rain causes environmental, economic and aesthetic damage. This phenomenon leads to the destruction of various structures, monuments, soil pollution, etc. In addition, plant species and genetic changes are associated with acid rain. Dying lichens, considered indicators of air purity, make us think about environmental pollution and the possibility of reducing such risks not only for human life, but also for animals and plants.

Another global problem today is the greenhouse effect, one of the main problems of which is carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide allow the sun's rays to penetrate, but trap the planet's thermal radiation, preventing it from escaping into space. This further impacts climate warming, melting glaciers and rising sea levels.

The problem of planetary overpopulation is also pressing. The number of people on Earth is growing very quickly, while consuming huge amounts of fossils and energy. Economic development, information technology and much more can lead to the fact that our planet simply cannot stand it. There is only one way out of this situation: “limiting the birth rate while simultaneously reducing mortality and improving the quality of life.”

However, this goal practically unattainable due to social relations, religion, forms of management and many other obstacles.

Most actual problem is the problem of energy resource consumption. An energy crisis is upon us. The state of the environment is getting worse and worse. The biosphere can no longer cope with environmental restoration. To artificially restore it, about 99 percent of labor and energy resources are needed. Consequently, only one percent of such resources will remain for the inhabitants of the earth. There is a way out: hydropower, solar, wind energy, etc. But... they are still at the development stage.

AIDS and drug addiction have turned from a social problem into a global one. This disease has been found in more than 124 countries. The largest number of HIV-infected people is in the United States. Most crimes and mental illnesses come from them. Drugs are a global disaster for many young people.

The drug mafia always makes sure that in difficult times drugs are always at hand.

Let us note that in comparison with seven other global problems, the probability of thermonuclear war occupies a leading position. According to scientists, in order to plunge the whole world into an extraordinary environmental catastrophe, even five percent of the arsenal that the great powers have accumulated today is enough. When they were put into effect, the soot from the burned cities and forest fires forms such an impenetrable veil for sun rays that the temperature is will fall to the ground by as much as tens of degrees. Even tropical zone will be overtaken by a long polar night.

Today, all of humanity is faced with the problem of preserving the environment. The environmental disaster is making itself felt. There is no doubt that someone will find a way out of this situation, but when? Every day we all continue to destroy various “gifts” of nature without thinking about it. However, if the end does come normal conditions life, then whether the human body can adapt to a different, abnormal life.

Man and nature are one. Their existence separately is impossible. Therefore, today every person should think about environmental ethics.

Selfishness is the primary source of all problems of modern society

Selfishness is an integral part of humanity. Man is an element of a complex system, which is the universe and nature, which have their own laws. All systems are interconnected and complementary. Take, for example, a house of cards: as soon as you take out at least one element from it, the entire structure collapses. So it is in nature. Harmony can only be achieved if all its elements are useful. All systems are aimed at the successful development of the entire organism, and, consequently, the entire system.

Each person is a single organism. Today this organism is depleting our planet: it consumes a huge amount of resources, there are wars and civil strife. The imposition of Christianity used to be also a good intention. Murders, atrocities, power, money - these were an integral attribute of the entire people in the past. What about today? Let's take countries such as Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. and everything becomes clear. In these countries, the issue of morality is not raised; the problem of conquest of resources is there.

Human selfishness and worthless wars cannot lead anywhere in the future. Perhaps someday society will understand this. Today there are still full families that everyone strives to bring into the family. However, the time is not far off when even among the family there will be division and appropriation. Already today, the problems of various families are being raised more and more every day. Often, it is the inability to share rights between husband and wife that leads to bad consequences. Young couples want to have children less and less often, and more often they want to get a divorce. There are many examples of this kind.

The cause of all problems is simply human egoism. Today people are driven by self-interest and envy, not love and respect. Most people don’t even care what state the environment is in or what global problems exist today. There is no need to look beyond your nose.

But what is the reason for selfishness? How could he even gain a foothold in society? This is influenced by a number of factors such as education, religion, social structure, upbringing and many others. Finding himself in a certain social environment, each person tries to become like it. Often, the choice is in the wrong direction.

A mother who abandoned or killed her child because she didn’t need him, a son who killed his parents because of an apartment or money... These and many terrifying examples of selfishness play their role today. The worst thing is that many people follow this example. Instead of reading Dostoevsky, young people prefer Paulo Coelho or various crazy science fiction. Why are various old films still watched today and they don’t “perish”? Because these works show pure and open people, without lies and betrayal, without flattery, envy and selfishness. What kind of cinema is it today? I don't think it's even worth answering.

Selfishness is not only self-destruction, but also pain for others. Anyone who treats selflessly, and receives in return only pathetic cries of “I”, cannot help but remain very offended, humiliated and upset. Often, unable to bear it, many people become like the person they spend their time with.

Let’s imagine: if we allow supreme authority selfish, what will happen to the country?

No matter what the world is like now and what people are like, kindness and responsiveness are the best adornments of any person. It was so a long time ago, and it is so now, even if it is somewhat less pronounced.

Social problems of modern society

Social problems modern society: do they exist at all?

The answer is obvious. Bad habits, alcohol, drugs, various kinds of diseases, social stratification, racism, homelessness, crime, bribery, corruption, etc. It seems that this list can be enumerated for a very long time and persistently.

Let's take, for example, our “golden” youth. Let us remember when in last time did we see a non-smoking woman? What about a non-smoking woman with a baby? Or when a boy of about five asked for a light? How long has it been since drunken, annoying individuals or “hucksters” appeared on the streets?

There are a lot of questions, but there aren’t very many answers to why things are this way today. The most terrible issue is probably the issue of juvenile delinquency and homelessness. Cause? Troubled families social environment, character inherent at the genetic level, etc. Often, the most cruel are abandoned children who are offended by the whole world for the reigning chaos in their lives. Accustomed to surviving in shelters and on the streets, they acquire knowledge not from educational programs, but from street laws that change their views and priorities. Family and friends cannot be blamed for crime and immorality alone. Here it is worth paying attention to politics, as well as monetary relations. In our country, everything can be paid for with money: power, respect, family, in the end. Everything is bought and sold. Why does a person strive for something better and purer in his soul if, after committing a couple of crimes, he can buy it for himself? A discussion on this topic can go on for a long time. However, we should not forget that crime can turn a country into a place where only crime rules and where the fittest survive. Homelessness is a threat to future generations.

Employment... Perhaps the eternal problem of humanity. There are a lot of such people in our country. Often, problems with finding a job lead to very detrimental consequences.

Contemporary issues youth and society as a whole is not a problem of today, but of tomorrow. After all, every day the situation will only get worse. Today is bad habits, such as nicotine and alcohol, tomorrow means theft and murder, and after tomorrow it means drugs and AIDS.

Maybe it's time to think about it?

Introduction

The development of human society has never been a conflict-free, consistent process. Throughout the history of the existence of intelligent life on Earth, questions have invariably arisen, the answers to which forced us to radically reconsider the already familiar ideas about the world and man. All this gave rise to countless problems that faced man most acutely in the second half of the 20th century, when his destructive activities acquired global proportions. Conditions, processes, and phenomena have arisen on our planet that have placed humanity in danger of undermining the very foundations of its existence. The range of problems whose solution ensures the survival of humanity is called the global problems of our time.

The concept of globalization became truly key at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. For the first time in its history, the human race was faced with the possibility of its general destruction. The very existence of life on Earth was called into question, i.e. global problems of humanity cover all countries, the Earth’s atmosphere, the World Ocean and near-Earth space; affect the entire population of the Earth.

Distinctive feature modern civilization - the increase in global threats and problems. We are talking about the threat of nuclear war, the growth of armaments, the unreasonable waste of natural resources, diseases, hunger, poverty, etc., therefore, the study of the phenomenon of globalization attracts scientists, public and political figures, and representatives of the business world.

The purpose of this work: a comprehensive study and characterization of modern global problems of humanity, as well as the causes of their occurrence.

To do this, we will solve the following problems:

the essence, causes, features of each of the global problems, possible ways to solve them;

possible consequences manifestations of global problems at the present stage of development of societies.

The work consists of an introduction to three chapters of the main part, a conclusion, a list of sources used and applications.

1. Modern global problems of humanity

1 Concept, essence, origin and nature of global problems

Second half of the 20th century marked by the processes of globalization. According to the view of most researchers, the main content of the globalization process is the formation of humanity as a single society. In other words, if in the 19th century. Since humanity was still a system of independent societies, then in the 20th century, and especially in its second half, certain signs emerged indicating the formation of a single global civilization.

Globalization is a natural and inevitable process, its basis is internationalization, a high degree of division of labor, the development of high, and above all, information technologies, and the formation of global markets. The end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries. led to the development of a number of local, specific issues of development of countries and regions into the category of global ones. The problems that have arisen have given rise to a threat that is of a worldwide, planetary nature and is therefore called global.

The importance of global problems especially increased in the second half of the twentieth century; by this time the territorial division of the world was completed, two poles had formed in the world economy: at one pole there were industrial the developed countries, and on the other side of the country - agricultural and raw materials appendages. The latter were drawn into the international division of labor long before the emergence of national markets there. The world economy formed in this way, even after the former colonies gained independence, preserved the relationship between the center and the periphery for many years. This is where the current global problems and contradictions originate.

Thus, the global problems of our time should be understood as a set of problems on the solution of which the further existence of civilization depends.

Global problems are generated by uneven development of different areas of life modern humanity and contradictions generated in socio-economic, political-ideological, socio-natural and other relations of people. These problems affect the life of humanity as a whole.

For all their diversity and internal differences, global problems have general features:

have acquired a truly planetary, worldwide character, and because of this affect the interests of the peoples of all states;

threaten (if their solution is not found) humanity with either the death of civilization as such, or a serious regression in the further development of productive forces, in the conditions of life itself, in the development of society;

need urgent decisions and actions to overcome and prevent dangerous consequences and threats to the livelihoods and safety of citizens;

For their solution, they require collective efforts and actions on the part of all states and the entire world community.

The global problems of our time are in organic connection and interdependence with each other, forming a single, integral system, characterized by their well-known subordination, hierarchical subordination.

This circumstance allows us to classify these problems on the basis of establishing cause-and-effect relationships between them, as well as taking into account the degree of their severity and, accordingly, the priority of solutions. The main criteria for classifying a problem as global are its scale and the need for joint efforts to eliminate it. According to their origin, nature and methods of solution, global problems, according to the accepted international classification, are divided into 3 groups.

The first group consists of problems determined by the main socio-economic and political tasks of humanity. These include maintaining peace, ending the arms race and disarmament, non-militarization of space, creating favorable conditions for global social progress, and overcoming the development gap of countries with low per capita incomes.

The second group covers a complex of problems revealed in the triad “man - society - technology”. These problems should take into account the effectiveness of using scientific and technical progress in the interests of harmonious social development and the elimination negative influence technology per person, population growth, the establishment of human rights in the state, its liberation from under excessively increased control state institutions, especially on personal freedom as the most important component of human rights.

The third group is represented by problems related to socio-economic processes and environment, i.e. problems of relations along the society-nature line. This includes solving raw materials, energy and food problems, overcoming the environmental crisis, which is spreading to more and more new areas and can destroy human life.

Note that the above classification is relative, because various groups of global problems taken together form a single, extremely complex, multifactorial system in which all components are interconnected.

The scale, location and role of individual global problems are changing. Until recently, the struggle to preserve peace and disarmament occupied a leading place; now the environmental problem has taken first place.

Changes are also taking place within global problems: some of their components lose their former significance and new ones appear. Thus, in the problem of the struggle for peace and disarmament, the main emphasis began to be placed on the reduction of means of mass destruction, the non-proliferation of mass weapons, the development and implementation of measures for the conversion of military production; in the fuel and raw material problem there is a real possibility of exhaustion of a number of non-renewable natural resources, and in the demographic problem, new tasks have arisen related to a significant expansion of international population migration, labor resources etc. It is also necessary to take into account that global problems do not arise somewhere next to pre-existing and local problems, but grow organically from them.

2 Contemporary problems caused by globalization

IN scientific literature You can find various lists of global problems, where their number varies from 8-10 to 40-45. This is explained by the fact that, along with the main, priority global problems (which will be discussed further in the textbook), there are a number of more specific, but also very important problems: for example, crime, drug addiction, separatism, democratic deficit, man-made disasters, natural Disasters etc.

In modern conditions, the main global problems include:

The North-South problem is a problem of economic relations between developed countries and developing countries. Its essence is that in order to bridge the gap in the levels of socio-economic development between developed and developing countries, the latter require various concessions from developed countries, in particular, expanding access for their goods to the markets of developed countries, increasing the influx of knowledge and capital (especially in the form assistance), debt write-off and other measures in relation to them. The backwardness of developing countries is potentially dangerous not only at the local level, but also for the global economic system as a whole. The backward South is his integral part and, therefore, its economic, political and social problems will inevitably find and are already finding manifestation outside. Concrete evidence of this can be, for example, large-scale forced migration from developing countries to developed ones, as well as the spread in the world of both new and previously considered infectious diseases. That is why the North-South problem can be rightfully interpreted as one of the global problems of our time.

The problem of poverty is one of the main global problems. Poverty refers to the inability to provide the simplest and most affordable living conditions for most people in a given country. Large levels of poverty, especially in developing countries, pose a serious threat not only to national but also to global sustainable development. According to World Bank estimates, the total number of poor people, i.e. There are 2.5-3 billion people living on less than $2 a day in the world. Including the total number of people living in extreme poverty (less than $1 a day) - 1-1.2 billion people. In other words, 40-48% of the world's population are poor, and 16-19% are ultra-poor. Most of the poor are concentrated in rural areas of developing countries. In some developing countries, the problem of poverty has long reached critical levels. For example, at the beginning of the 21st century. 76% of the population of Zambia, 71% of Nigeria, 61% of Madagascar, 58% of Tanzania, 54% of Haiti are forced to live on less than $1 a day. What makes the global problem of poverty especially acute is that many developing countries, due to low income levels, do not yet have sufficient opportunities to alleviate the problem of poverty. This is why broad international support is required to eliminate pockets of poverty.

The world food problem lies in the inability of humanity to date to fully provide itself with vital food products. This problem appears in practice as a problem of absolute food shortage (malnutrition and hunger) in the least developed countries, as well as nutritional imbalance in developed countries. Over the past 50 years, significant progress has been made in food production - the number of undernourished and hungry people has almost halved. At the same time, a large part of the world's population still experiences food shortages. The number of people in need exceeds 850 million people, i.e. Every seventh person experiences absolute food shortages. More than 5 million children die every year from the consequences of starvation. Its solution will largely depend on the effective use of natural resources, scientific and technological progress in the field Agriculture and on the level of government support.

The global energy problem is the problem of providing humanity with fuel and energy now and in the foreseeable future. The main reason for the global energy problem should be considered the rapid increase in the consumption of mineral fuels in the 20th century. On the supply side, it is caused by the discovery and exploitation of huge oil and gas fields in Western Siberia, Alaska, and on the shelf North Sea, and on the demand side - by an increase in the vehicle fleet and an increase in the production of polymer materials. The increase in the production of fuel and energy resources has entailed a serious deterioration in the environmental situation (expansion of open-pit mining, offshore mining, etc.). And the growth in demand for these resources has increased competition among countries exporting fuel resources for Better conditions sales and between importing countries for access to energy resources. At the same time, there is a further increase in mineral fuel resources. Under the influence of the energy crisis, large-scale geological exploration activities intensified, leading to the discovery and development of new energy deposits. Accordingly, the availability of the most important types of mineral fuel has also increased: it is believed that at the current level of production, proven coal reserves should last for 325 years, natural gas for 62 years, and oil for 37 years. If developed countries are now solving this problem, first of all, by slowing down the growth of their demand by reducing energy intensity, then in other countries there is a relatively rapid increase in energy consumption. Added to this may be growing competition in the global energy market between developed countries and newly large industrialized countries (China, India, Brazil). All these circumstances, combined with military and political instability in some regions, can cause significant fluctuations in the level of world prices for energy resources and seriously affect the dynamics of supply and demand, as well as the production and consumption of energy goods, sometimes creating crisis situations.

The global demographic problem is divided into two aspects: rapid and poorly controlled growth (demographic explosion) of the population of countries and regions of the developing world; demographic aging of the population of developed and transition countries. For the former, the solution is to increase economic growth and reduce population growth. For the second - emigration and reform of the pension system.

Never in the entire history of mankind have the world population growth rates been as high as in the second half of the 20th - early 21st centuries. During the period from 1960 to 1999, the planet's population doubled (from 3 billion to 6 billion people), and in 2007 it amounted to 6.6 billion people. Although the average annual growth rate of the world's population has decreased from 2.2% in the early 60s. to 1.5% in the early 2000s, the absolute annual growth increased from 53 million to 80 million people. The demographic transition from the traditional (high birth rate - high death rate - low natural increase) to the modern type of population reproduction (low birth rate - low death rate - low natural population growth) was completed in developed countries in the first third of the 20th century, and in most countries with transition economies - in the middle of the last century. At the same time, in the 1950-1960s, a demographic transition began in a number of countries and regions of the rest of the world, which begins to end only in Latin America, East and Southeast Asia and continues in East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle and Middle East. The rapid rate of population growth compared to the rate of socio-economic development in these regions leads to aggravation of problems of employment, poverty, food situation, land issue, low level of education, and deterioration of public health. These countries see the solution to their demographic problem in accelerating economic growth and simultaneously reducing the birth rate (China could be an example). In European countries, Japan and a number of CIS countries since the last quarter of the 20th century. There is a demographic crisis, manifested in slow growth and even natural decline and aging of the population, stabilization or reduction of its working population. Demographic aging (increase in the proportion of the population over 60 years of age to over 12% of the total population, over 65 years of age - over 7%) is a natural process, which is based on advances in medicine, improved quality of life and other factors that contribute to the extension of life of a significant part of the population. population.

For the economies of developed and transition countries, increasing life expectancy has both positive and negative consequences. The first is the possibility of extension labor activity senior citizens above the current retirement age threshold. The second includes problems of both material support for elderly and elderly citizens, and their medical and consumer services. The fundamental way out of this situation lies in the transition to a cumulative pension system, in which the citizen himself is primarily responsible for the amount of his pension. As for the aspect of the demographic problem in these countries, such as a reduction in the economically active population, its solution is seen primarily in the influx of immigrants from other countries.

The relationship between population growth and economic growth has long been the subject of research by economists. As a result of research, two approaches to assessing the impact of population growth on economic development have been developed. The first approach is, to one degree or another, associated with the theory of Malthus, who believed that population growth is faster than food growth and therefore the world population is inevitably becoming poorer. Modern approach to assess the role of population on the economy is comprehensive and identifies both positive and negative factors in the impact of population growth on economic growth. Many experts believe that the real problem is not population growth per se, but the following problems: underdevelopment - underdevelopment; depletion of the world's resources and environmental destruction.

The problem of human development is the problem of matching the qualitative characteristics of the labor force with the nature of the modern economy. Human potential is one of the main types of total economic potential and is distinguished by specific and qualitative characteristics. In the conditions of post-industrialization, the requirements for physical qualities and especially for the education of the worker increase, including his ability to constant improvement qualifications. However, the development of the qualitative characteristics of the labor force in the world economy is extremely uneven. The worst indicators in this regard are demonstrated by developing countries, which, however, act as the main source of replenishment of the world labor force. This is what determines the global nature of the problem of human development.

The problem of disarmament and maintaining peace on Earth. The history of mankind can be viewed as the history of wars. Only in the 20th century. There were two world wars and many local wars (in Korea, Vietnam, Angola, the Middle East and other regions). Only after World War II until beginning of the XXI century. There were more than 40 international and about 90 intrastate conflicts, where tens of millions of people died. Moreover, if in international conflicts the ratio of civilian and military deaths is approximately equal, then in civil and national liberation wars the civilian population dies three times more than the military. And today, dozens of potential international or interethnic conflicts continue to exist on the planet.

The problem of ensuring human safety. Increasing globalization, interdependence and the reduction of time and spatial barriers create a situation of collective insecurity from various threats, from which a person cannot always be saved by his state. This requires the creation of conditions that enhance a person’s ability to independently withstand risks and threats. Over the past two decades, the concept of security has undergone significant revision. Its traditional interpretation as the security of the state (its borders, territory, sovereignty, population and material assets) was supplemented by human security (human security).

Human security is a state of people being protected from internal and external threats and risks and freedom from fear and want, which is achieved through the joint and purposeful activities of civil society, nation state and the international community. The main conditions ensuring human security include: personal freedom; peace and personal security; full participation in management processes; protection of human rights; access to resources and basic necessities of life, including access to health services and education; a natural environment favorable for human life. Creating these conditions involves, firstly, eliminating the root causes or establishing effective control over the sources of threat and, secondly, increasing the ability of each individual to withstand threats. To ensure these conditions, it is possible to use two groups of measures: preventive, or long-term, and immediate, extraordinary. The first group includes activities aimed at overcoming problems that are most often sources of instability and local conflicts. The second set of measures includes measures to resolve existing conflicts or post-conflict reconstruction measures and humanitarian aid.

The problem of the World Ocean is the problem of conservation and rational use of its spaces and resources. The essence of the global problem of the World Ocean lies in the extremely uneven development of Ocean resources, in increasing pollution marine environment, in using it as an arena for military activity. As a result, over the past decades, the intensity of life in the World Ocean has decreased by 1/3. That's why it's very great importance adopted in 1982 by the UN Convention on maritime law, which is called the “Charter of the Seas”. It established economic zones of 200 nautical miles from the coast, within which the coastal state can also exercise sovereign rights to exploit biological and mineral resources. Currently, the World Ocean, as a closed ecological system, can hardly withstand the greatly increased anthropogenic load, and a real threat of its destruction is created. Therefore, the global problem of the World Ocean is, first of all, the problem of its survival. The main way to solve the problem of using the World Ocean is rational oceanic environmental management, a balanced, integrated approach to its wealth, based on the combined efforts of the entire world community. The essence of this problem lies in the difficult finding of ways to optimize the exploitation of the ocean's biological resources.

The environmental situation is currently one of the most acute and difficult to resolve. A feature of our time is the intense and global human impact on the environment, which is accompanied by intense and global negative consequences. Contradictions between man and nature can worsen due to the fact that there is no limit to the growth of human material needs, while the ability of the natural environment to satisfy them is limited. The contradictions in the “man - society - nature” system have acquired a planetary character.

There are two aspects of the environmental problem:

environmental crises arising as a consequence natural processes;

crises caused anthropogenic impact and irrational environmental management.

The main problem is the inability of the planet to cope with the waste of human activity, with the function of self-cleaning and repair. The biosphere is being destroyed. Therefore, there is a great risk of self-destruction of humanity as a result of its own life activity.

Nature is influenced in the following ways:

use of environmental components as a resource base for production;

the impact of human production activities on the environment;

demographic pressure on nature (agricultural use of land, population growth, growth of large cities).

Many global problems of humanity are intertwined here - resource, food, demographic - they all have access to environmental issues.

The ecological potential of the world economy is increasingly undermined by human economic activity. The answer to this was the concept of environmentally sustainable development. It involves the development of all countries of the world, taking into account current needs, but not undermining the interests of future generations. The problem of ecology and sustainable development is the problem of stopping the harmful effects of human activities on the environment.

Back in the middle of the last century, ecology was internal matter each country, because pollution from industrial activities only occurred in areas with a high concentration of environmentally hazardous industries. However, in the second half of the 20th century. The economic impact on nature has reached levels at which it began to lose its ability to self-heal. In the 1990s. The environmental problem has reached a global level, which is manifested in the following negative trends:

the world ecosystem is being destroyed, more and more representatives of flora and fauna are disappearing, upsetting the ecological balance in nature;

All large areas the planets are becoming an environmental disaster zone;

the most difficult and potentially most dangerous problem is possible climate change, which is expressed in the growth average temperature, which, in turn, leads to an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme natural and climatic phenomena: droughts, floods, tornadoes, sudden thaws and frosts, which cause significant economic damage to nature, people and the economy of countries. Climate change is usually associated with the strengthening of the “greenhouse effect” - an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which get there from the combustion of fuel, associated gas at production sites, on the one hand, and deforestation and land degradation, on the other.

The main consequences of environmental pollution are as follows: harm to human health and farm animals; contaminated territories become unsuitable or even unsuitable for human habitation and their economic activities, and pollution can lead to disruption of the biosphere’s ability to self-purify, its complete destruction. The main directions of exacerbation of the environmental crisis include the withdrawal from land use of saline soils subject to wind and water erosion; excessive use of chemical fertilizers, etc.; increasing chemical impact on food, water, and the human environment; destruction of forests, i.e. everything that in one way or another affects the life and health of people; growing emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere leading to the gradual destruction of the protective ozone layer; rapid growth of waste, proximity to landfills of various industrial and household waste human habitat.

In principle, the level of environmental pressure can be reduced in three ways: reducing the population; reducing the level of consumption of material goods; making fundamental changes in technology. The first method is actually already being implemented naturally in developed and many transition economies, where the birth rate has decreased significantly, this process gradually covers all most developing world, but the total world population will continue to grow. Reducing the level of consumption is hardly possible, although recently in developed countries there has been an increase in new structure consumption dominated by services and environmentally friendly components and products reuse. Therefore, technologies aimed at preserving the planet’s environmental resources are of paramount importance for the sustainable development of the world economy:

tightening measures to prevent environmental pollution. Today, there are strict international and national regulations regarding the content of harmful substances, for example, in car exhaust gases, which forces automobile companies to produce environmentally less harmful cars. As a result, NOCs, concerned about the negative reaction of their consumers to environmental scandals, strive to follow the principles of sustainable development in all countries where they operate;

creating cost-effective products that can be reused. This makes it possible to reduce the growth in consumption of natural resources;

creation of clean technologies. The problem here is that many industries use outdated technologies that do not meet the needs of sustainable development. For example, in the pulp and paper industry, many production processes are based on the use of chlorine and its compounds, which are one of the most dangerous pollutants, and only the use of biotechnology can change the situation.

The number of global problems is not constant and is growing steadily. As human civilization develops, the understanding of existing global problems changes, their priority is adjusted, and new global problems arise (space exploration, weather and climate control, etc.).

Currently, other global problems are emerging.

The twenty-first century, having just begun, has already added its own problems: international terrorism. In the context of globalization, international terrorism represents the most serious security problem. International terrorism is aimed at undermining the stability of society, destroying borders and usurping territories. The goals of globalization are the same: to achieve influence, power, wealth and redistribution of property at the cost of public or international security.

The social danger of international terrorism is expressed, first of all, in the transnational scale of its activities; expanding its social base; changing the nature and increasing the scope of goals; increasing the severity of the consequences; rapid changes in growth rates and level of organization; in the appropriate material, technical and financial support for its nature.

Thus, the problem of international terrorism poses a real planetary threat to the world community. This problem has its own specificity, which distinguishes it from other universal human difficulties. However, this problem is closely interconnected with most of the global problems of modern international relations, and therefore can be considered as one of the most pressing global problems of our days.

Act of terrorism recent years, and above all the tragic events of September 11, 2001 in New York, in their scale and influence on the further course of world politics have become unprecedented in the history of mankind. The number of victims, the extent and nature of the destruction caused by terrorist attacks at the beginning of the 21st century were comparable to the consequences of armed conflicts and local wars. The response measures caused by these terrorist acts led to the creation of an international anti-terrorist coalition, which included dozens of states, which previously took place only in the case of major armed conflicts and wars.

Retaliatory anti-terrorist military actions have acquired a planetary scale.

Under these conditions, the global problem of international terrorism cannot be considered only as an independent phenomenon. It began to turn into an important component of a more general military-political global problem related to fundamental issues of war and peace, on the solution of which the further existence of human civilization depends.

In modern conditions, a new, already formed global problem is the exploration of outer space. The urgency of this problem is quite obvious. Human flights in near-Earth orbits have helped us create a true picture of the surface of the Earth, many planets, the terra firma and ocean expanses. They gave a new insight into globe as the center of life and the understanding that man and nature are an inextricable whole. Cosmonautics has provided a real opportunity for solving important national economic problems: improving international communication systems, long-term weather forecasting, and developing navigation of sea and air transport. The entry of man into space was an important impetus for the development of both fundamental science and applied research. Modern systems communications, forecasting of many natural disasters, remote exploration of mineral resources - this is only a small part of what has become a reality thanks to space flights. At the same time, the scale of financial costs necessary for further exploration of outer space today already exceeds the capabilities of not only individual states, but also groups of countries. The extremely expensive components of research are the creation and launch of spacecraft and the maintenance of space stations. Enormous investments are required to implement projects related to the exploration and future development of other planets in the solar system. As a consequence, the interests of space exploration objectively imply broad interstate interaction in this area, the development of large-scale international cooperation in the preparation and conduct of space research.

Emerging global problems currently include the study of the structure of the Earth and the management of weather and climate. Like space exploration, the solution to these two problems is only possible on the basis of broad international cooperation. Moreover, weather and climate management requires, among other things, global harmonization of behavioral norms of business entities in order to universally minimize the harmful impact of economic activity on the environment.

An independent problem on a planetary scale is the problem of man-made disasters that have nothing to do with natural disasters.

One of the most pressing global problems of our time in the scientific literature is identified with the process of urbanization.

According to many scientists, natural phenomena can be identified as an independent global problem of our time.

Another emerging global problem is the problem of suicide (voluntary death). According to open statistics, in most countries of the world the suicide curve is creeping up today, which indicates the global nature of this problem. There is a point of view according to which it is suicide (not drugs, AIDS or road accidents) that is becoming an increasingly common cause of death in peaceful conditions. This is an inevitable payment for the benefits of technological progress in all its manifestations: industrialization, urbanization, acceleration of the pace of life, complications of human relationships and, of course, lack of spirituality.

The concept, essence, classification and ways to solve global problems of our time are clearly shown in the Appendix.

2. Causes of global problems and ways to solve them

An objective prerequisite for the emergence of global problems is the internationalization of economic activity. The global development of labor has led to the interconnectedness of all states. The scale and degree of involvement of various countries and peoples in world economic relations have acquired unprecedented proportions, which has contributed to the development of local, specific problems of development of countries and regions into the category of global ones. All this indicates that there are objective reasons for the emergence of such problems in the modern world that affect the interests of all countries. Controversies appear global scale, affecting the fundamentals of the existence of life on earth.

The UN appeals to all countries: if we want to take the best of globalization and avoid the worst, we must learn to govern better together. These appeals could work successfully if most countries were sufficiently high level economic development, and there would not be such a significant differentiation in per capita income between countries. The vast inequality in the distribution of wealth in today's world, the miserable conditions in which more than a billion people live, the prevalence of ethnic conflicts in some regions of the world and the rapid deterioration of the natural environment - all these factors combine to make the current development model unsustainable. We can rightfully say that in order to reduce tension on a number of global problems, it is necessary to completely discard the factors of class and political confrontation between social systems and groups of people, and use the principle of spatial institutionality when considering global problems that influence the formation of the world economy.

Thus, the reasons for the emergence of global problems: on the one hand, are the enormous scale of human activity, which has radically changed nature, society, and people’s way of life; on the other hand, it is a person’s inability to rationally manage this power.

The following ways to solve global problems of our time are identified:

preventing a world war with the use of thermonuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction that threaten the destruction of civilization. This involves curbing the arms race, prohibiting the creation and use of weapons systems of mass destruction, human and material resources, elimination of nuclear weapons, etc.;

overcoming economic and cultural inequality between the peoples inhabiting the industrialized countries of the West and East and the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America;

overcoming the crisis state of interaction between humanity and nature, which is characterized by catastrophic consequences in the form of unprecedented environmental pollution and depletion of natural resources. This makes it necessary to develop measures aimed at the economical use of natural resources and the reduction of pollution of soil, water and air by waste from material production;

reducing population growth rates in developing countries and overcoming the demographic crisis in developed capitalist countries;

preventing the negative consequences of the modern scientific and technological revolution;

overcoming the downward trend in social health, which involves combating alcoholism, drug addiction, oncological diseases, AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases.

Therefore, the priority global goals of humanity are as follows:

in the political sphere - reducing the likelihood and, in the future, completely eliminating military conflicts, preventing violence in international relations;

in the economic and environmental spheres - the development and implementation of resource- and energy-saving technologies, the transition to non-traditional energy sources, the development and widespread use of environmental technologies;

in the social sphere - improving living standards, global efforts to preserve people's health, creating a global food supply system;

in the cultural and spiritual sphere - the restructuring of mass moral consciousness in accordance with today's realities.

Solving these problems is an urgent task for all of humanity today. The survival of people depends on when and how they begin to be resolved.

Thus, summarizing the above, we note that the global problems of our time are a set of key problems that affect the vital interests of all humanity and require coordinated international actions within the global community for their resolution.

Global problems include the problems of preventing thermonuclear war and ensuring peaceful conditions for the development of all peoples, overcoming the growing gap in economic levels and per capita income between developed and developing countries, problems of eliminating hunger, poverty and illiteracy on the globe, demographic and environmental problems.

A distinctive feature of modern civilization is the increase in global threats and problems. We are talking about the threat of thermonuclear war, the growth of armaments, the unreasonable waste of natural resources, diseases, hunger, poverty, etc.

All global problems of our time can be reduced to three main ones:

the possibility of the destruction of humanity in a global thermonuclear war;

the possibility of a worldwide environmental disaster;

spiritual and moral crisis of humanity.

It is important to note that when solving the third problem, the first two are solved almost automatically. After all, spiritually and morally developed person will never accept violence either towards another person or towards nature. Even a simply cultured person does not offend others and will never throw garbage on the sidewalk. From little things, from incorrect individual behavior of a person, global problems grow. We can say that global problems are rooted in human consciousness, and until he transforms it, they will not disappear in the outside world.

Conclusion

Thus, global problems are the key problems that confronted all of humanity in the second half of the twentieth century, on the solution of which its existence, preservation and development of civilization depend. These problems, which previously existed as local and regional, have acquired a planetary character in the modern era. Thus, the time of the emergence of global problems coincides with the achievement of the apogee of industrial civilization in its development. This happened approximately in the middle of the 20th century.

Global problems emerged under the conditions of the scientific and technological revolution in the second half of the twentieth century; they are interconnected, cover all aspects of people’s lives and affect all countries of the world without exception.

Many problems are considered global; in the scientific literature their number varies from 8-10 to 40-45. This is explained by the fact that, along with the main, priority global problems (which will be discussed further in the textbook), there are a number of more specific, but also very important problems: crime, drug addiction, separatism, democratic deficit, man-made disasters, natural disasters.

There are various classifications of global problems, usually distinguished: problems of the most “universal” nature, problems of a natural-economic nature, problems of a social nature, problems of a mixed nature. There are also “older” and “newer” global problems. Their priority may also change over time. So, at the end of the twentieth century. Environmental and demographic problems came to the fore, while the problem of preventing a third world war became less pressing.

Among modern global problems, the main groups are distinguished:

Problems of a socio-political nature. These include: preventing global thermonuclear war, creating a nuclear-free, non-violent world, bridging the growing gap in the level of economic and cultural development between the advanced industrial countries of the West and the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Problems related to the relationship between humanity and society. We are talking about eliminating poverty, hunger and illiteracy, fighting disease, stopping population growth, anticipating and preventing the negative consequences of the scientific and technological revolution and rational use her achievements for the benefit of society and the individual.

Ecological problems. They arise in the sphere of relations between society and nature. These include: protection and restoration of the environment, atmosphere, soil, water; providing humanity with the necessary natural resources, including food, raw materials and energy sources.

The problem of international terrorism has recently acquired particular relevance and, in fact, has become one of the highest priorities.

The causes of global problems are:

integrity modern world, which is ensured by deep political and economic ties, for example - war;

the crisis of world civilization is associated with the increased economic power of man: the impact of man on nature in its consequences is comparable to the most formidable natural forces;

uneven development of countries and cultures: people living in different countries, with different political systems, according to the achieved level of development, they live in historically different cultural eras.

Global problems of humanity cannot be solved by the efforts of one country; jointly developed regulations on environmental protection, coordinated economic policies, assistance to backward countries, etc. are needed.

In general, the global problems of humanity can be schematically represented as a tangle of contradictions, where from each problem various threads stretch to all other problems.

Solving global problems is only possible through the joint efforts of all countries coordinating their actions at the international level. Self-isolation and development features will not allow individual countries to remain aloof from the economic crisis, nuclear war, the threat of terrorism or the AIDS epidemic. To solve global problems and overcome the danger that threatens all of humanity, it is necessary to further strengthen the interconnection of the diverse modern world, change the interaction with the environment, abandon the cult of consumption, and develop new values.

globalization economic growth crisis

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