In the course of its development, human civilization has repeatedly faced and continues to face a number of certain difficulties and challenges. In the twentieth century, these problems became much more acute and acquired a completely new, menacing character. They concern absolutely all the inhabitants of the planet, affecting the interests of many countries and peoples of the world.
The essence of the concept of “global problem”, classifications of global problems and possible recipes for solving them will be discussed in this article.
The history of relationships in the "man-nature" system
The interaction of man and nature has changed over time. Once upon a time, the human body was as organically integrated as possible into the surrounding landscape. But then he began to actively "tune" nature to his needs and requirements, increasingly changing the earth's surface, penetrating into the bowels of the planet and mastering its new shells.
In general, five milestones (stages) in the history of the relationship between man and nature can be distinguished:
- The first stage (about 30 thousand years ago). During this period, a person adapts to his surrounding nature. He is mainly engaged in gathering, hunting and fishing.
- The second stage (about 7 thousand years ago). At this time, there is a revolutionary transition of man from gathering to agriculture. The first attempts are being made to transform the surrounding landscape.
- The third stage (IX-XVII centuries). The era of the development of crafts and the first serious wars. Human pressure on the environment increases significantly.
- The fourth stage (XVIII-XIX centuries). The world is revolutionized by the industrial revolution. Man is trying to completely subjugate nature.
- The fifth stage (twentieth century). Stage of the scientific and technological revolution. It was at this time that all the global problems of mankind, especially the environmental ones, were significantly aggravated.
Acquaintance with such a distant history of the development of our civilization will help to more thoroughly approach the issue of classification and characterization of global problems. Almost all of them fully manifested themselves only in the second half of the twentieth century.
Global problems, their essence and root causes
Before proceeding to consider the specific global problems of civilization and their classification, you should understand the essence of this concept.
So, they should be understood as those problems that affect the life of everyone on planet Earth and require the joint efforts of various international organizations, nations and states for their resolution. It is important to learn one key point: ignoring these problems casts doubt on the continued existence of terrestrial civilization. And the most dangerous for humanity are military and environmental threats. In the classification of global problems today they occupy a "honorable" (that is, the most important) place.
Among the main causes of global problems are the following:
- objective confrontation between man and nature;
- the mismatch of cultures and worldviews within human civilization;
- rapid development of science and technology;
- rapid population growth of the planet;
- a sharp increase in the consumption of natural and energy resources.
Approaches to the classification of global problems
So, we have already identified what problems can be considered global. In addition, we found out that they can be solved only on a planetary scale and by joint efforts. Now let's take a closer look at the existing classifications of global problems. Philosophy, ecology, economics and other social sciences devote quite a lot of attention to this issue.
It is important to note that classification is never an end in itself for scientists. Indeed, with its help, it is possible to single out significant relationships between components, as well as determine the degree of importance (priority) of certain phenomena. In addition, the classification helps to more deeply and fundamentally study the object under study.
Today, there are several options for classifying the global problems of mankind. And each of them primarily reflects the views of a researcher in a given field of knowledge.
It is important to note the fact that the classification of global problems of our time are dynamic. After all, the object of study itself is extremely dynamic. The world is changing rapidly, and threats are changing with it. So, a few decades ago, the problem of terrorism was not so acute in the world. Today, it is increasingly becoming the main one on the agenda of summits of the UN and other organizations.
Thus, the classification of global problems of mankind, developed and actively used by scientists yesterday, tomorrow may already become irrelevant. That is why research in this direction does not stop.
Global problems of modern civilization and their classification
The acuteness of global problems and the priority of their solution are the main criteria that underlie the most popular approach to their classification. Global problems, in accordance with it, are divided into three main groups:
- Problems caused by contradictions and conflicts between different states (problems of war and peace, terrorism, etc.).
- Problems that arose in the process of interaction between man and nature ("ozone holes", "greenhouse effect", pollution of the oceans and others).
- Problems associated with the functioning of the Man-Society system (“population explosion”, child mortality, female illiteracy, the spread of AIDS and other dangerous diseases, etc.).
According to another classification of global problems, they are all divided into five groups. It:
- economic;
- environmental;
- political;
- social;
- spiritual issues.
List of key global issues of the modern world
The issues of the essence and classification of global problems are dealt with by many modern researchers. They all agree on one thing: not one of the existing states today is able to cope with these serious challenges and threats on their own.
At the beginning of the XXI century, the following problems of humanity can be called priority:
- environmental;
- energy;
- food;
- demographic
- the problem of war and peace;
- terrorist threat;
- the problem of social inequality;
- North-South problem.
It should be noted that many of the above global problems are closely related to each other. So, for example, the food problem stems from the demographic.
Ecological problems of modern civilization
Global environmental problems mean a fairly wide range of threats caused by the degradation of the geographic shell of the Earth. First of all, we are talking about the irrational use of natural resources (mineral, water, land and others) and the pollution of the planet with human waste.
In the classification of global environmental problems, it is customary to distinguish the following negative processes:
- atmospheric air pollution with exhaust gases, industrial emissions, etc.;
- soil pollution with heavy metals, pesticides and other chemicals;
- depletion of water resources;
- total and uncontrolled deforestation;
- soil erosion and salinization;
- pollution of the oceans;
- extermination of certain species of flora and fauna.
Energy issue
Global fuel consumption has increased significantly in the second half of the twentieth century. The largest oil and gas deposits are depleted at a frantic rate. And while in developed countries they are trying to somehow solve the problem of energy depletion, in developing countries it is most often simply ignored.
There are at least two methods for solving the energy problem. The first of these is the active development of nuclear energy, and the second involves the widespread use of unconventional energy sources (the sun, wind, tides, etc.).
Food problem
The essence of this global problem is the inability of human civilization to provide themselves with necessary food products. So, according to the World Health Organization, about 1 billion people are starving on the planet today.
The food problem has a distinct geographical character. Scientists conditionally distinguish a certain “famine belt” that borders the line of the earth's equator on both sides. It covers the countries of Central Africa and some states of Southeast Asia. The largest percentage of starving people is recorded in Chad, Somalia and Uganda (up to 40% of the country's total population).
Demographic problem
The demographic problem became especially acute in the second half of the 20th century. And she has a twofold character. So, in a number of countries and regions there is a “population explosion” when the birth rate significantly exceeds mortality (Asia, Africa, Latin America). In other states, on the contrary, the birth rate is too low against the background of the general aging of the nation (USA, Canada, Australia, Western Europe).
Many economists call the "population explosion" the main cause of total poverty in many third world countries. That is, population growth is far ahead of the growth of the economies of these states. Although other experts claim that the problem is not so much in the growth of the Earth's population, but in the economic backwardness of some countries of the world.
War problem
Human civilization, by and large, did not learn any lessons from World War II. Nowadays, new conflicts and local wars erupt in different parts of the world. Syria, Palestine, Korea, Sudan, Donbass, Nagorno-Karabakh - this is far from a complete list of modern “hot spots” in the world. One of the main tasks of modern diplomacy is to prevent a possible Third World War. After all, with the invention of nuclear weapons, it can end very quickly and leave the planet without humanity in general.
The problem of terrorism is another serious threat to the modern world. In a way, it has become a negative symbol of the new century. New York, London, Moscow, Paris - almost all the major megacities of the planet over the past two decades have felt the severity of this threat.
The problem of social inequality
Social inequality is a deep income gap between a tiny percentage of very wealthy people and the rest of the world's inhabitants. According to many experts, three main reasons led to such a situation in the world:
- reduction of wages of the working class;
- tax evasion by oligarchs;
- merging big business with power.
The problem of social inequality is most clearly seen in the post-Soviet states, as well as in the underdeveloped countries of Asia and Latin America. Here, it inevitably leads to poverty of the working strata of the population - that is, to the impossibility of people to satisfy their basic needs.
The North-South Problem
This is another global issue that is clearly related to geography. Its essence lies in the deepest socio-economic gap between the developed and developing countries of the world. It so happened that the former are located mainly in the “north” (in Europe and North America), and the latter are located in the “south” of the planet (in Africa, Asia and South America). The border between these states is shown on the following map: conditionally rich countries are shaded in blue, and conditionally poor in red.
The statistics are amazing: the income level in the richest countries of the planet is 35-40 times higher than the same indicator in the poorest countries of the world. Moreover, over the past decades, this gap has only widened.
