Thanks to their economic and military strength, the European empires had achieved global supremacy by 1900, with large parts of the world under their dominance in the wake of colonial expansion. This situation fuelled ideas of Europe's permanent, almost natural global superiority, especially among the middle classes. However, as early as the First World War, such claims came under increasing pressure. This volume explains the role played by modern nationalism and anti-imperial movements, the competition between different political orders, changes in the economy and society, and the great ideas and utopias. Their interplay gave rise to enormously destructive forces in Europe. From the Boer and Balkan wars before 1914 to the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and the Ukraine war since 2022, they have produced a continuum of violence. At the same time, the great promise of political participation and social security is one of the constants of Europe's history in the long twentieth century. Against this backdrop, modern societies emerged whose values had moved far away from the older models. Perceptions of the role of the sexes, families, and generations changed fundamentally. In addition, the major internal European migrations, together with the global immigration that became increasingly significant after 1945, ensured that the ethnic profile of European societies changed considerably. Europe in the Long Twentieth Century shows how, on the one hand, these different factors led to a Europeanisation of living and working conditions and, at the same time, how the political and economic integration of the countries of Europe progressed. On the other hand, it demonstrates how Europe's role in the global context changed fundamentally. As much as the geopolitical provincialisation of Europe continued unabated, Europeans were constantly searching for new ways to assert themselves throughout the long twentieth century. The search continues.

The biological transformation of modern times -- The foundations of the modern global economy -- Reorganizing the global economy -- Localization and globalization -- The great explosion -- New world (dis)order -- High modernity -- Revolt and refusal -- Transformative modernity -- Democracy and capitalism triumphant

Examines the array of financial crises, slumps, depressions and recessions that happened around the globe during the twentieth century.

Winner of the American Sociological Association PEWS Award (1995) for Distinguished Scholarship The Long Twentieth Century traces the epochal shifts in the relationship between capital accumulation and state formation over a 700-year period. Giovanni Arrighi masterfully synthesizes social theory, comparative history and historical narrative in this account of the structures and agencies which have shaped the course of world history over the millennium. Borrowing from Braudel, Arrighi argues that the history of capitalism has unfolded as a succession of "long centuries"—ages during which a hegemonic power deploying a novel combination of economic and political networks secured control over an expanding world-economic space. The modest beginnings, rise and violent unravel-ing of the links forged between capital, state power, and geopolitics by hegemonic classes and states are explored with dramatic intensity. From this perspective, Arrighi explains the changing fortunes of Florentine, Venetian, Genoese, Dutch, English, and finally American capitalism. The book concludes with an examination of the forces which have shaped and are now poised to undermine America's world power.

The United States in the Long Twentieth Century explores the nature of American politics and society in the period from 1900 to the present day, illuminating both the changes and the continuities. This was a period largely characterized by exceptional growth and international power, though one also assailed by the crises and divisions that Michael Heale carefully examines. A strength of the book is its integration of political with social history, and it thus explores a range of social, demographic and economic phenomena that have been central to American history in the long twentieth century, such as immigration and ethnicity, the labour, civil rights and environmental movements, and the role and achievements of women. This new and fully revised edition of the seminal student textbook Twentieth-Century America has been updated throughout to take recent scholarship in the field into account and also includes a number of important new features, including: - a brand new chapter on the years from 2000 onwards, covering 9/11, the financial crisis, and the rise of Barack Obama; - substantial revisions to Part III, covering 1969 to the present day, and in particular to the material on Reagan, Clinton, African Americans, immigrants, the growth of the financial sector and (de)regulation and global warming; one theme is the limits of conservatism and the resilience of liberalism; - greater emphasis on the United States in a transnational world and within the context of the rise of globalization. The United States in the Long Twentieth Century is a detailed guide to American political and social history since 1900 and an essential text for all students interested in the modern history of the United States of America.

The twentieth-century process of secularization does not mean that institutional church and Christian ideas were irrelevant for twentieth-century societal projects – such as the introduction of democracy, the improvement of school and education, the framing of national identities – or in the establishment of welfare-states. On the contrary, this publication is built on the presupposition that secularization runs parallell with the sacralization of the state. It can be argued that Christianity has been decisive for how the modern European society evolved in the twentieth century, e.g. concerning how Christian history and Christian values were a part of the new national and social imaginary where re-enchantment and re-sacralization of the state were central elements. In this publication, the aim is to highlight the role of Christianity in the twentieth- and twentyfirst-century welfare-state modernization process with the focus on schooling and education. A central perspective is the impact of cultural Protestantism during the twentieth century. The publication is comparative and will investigate education in Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands via chapters on curriculums, textbooks, politicians, and political debates.

Groundbreaking work of political theory that provides a synthesised analysis of globalisation.