7.5.3 Effectiveness of Internationalism

Should internationalism be pursued?

Big Idea:

  • What are the impacts of the pursuit of internationalism in addressing contemporary global issues?

When the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) project was initially created, one major criticism was that there were too many MDGs, and the problems were too complex to solve by 2015. Another criticism was that most countries have conflicting national interests that could interfere with solving the problems, and that nations may refuse to commit to an issue based on national interests. For instance, the 2015 Paris Agreement (a commitment by signing nations to address carbon emissions and climate change) still has 27 nations who have not signed the agreement (as of November 2017). Now that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have expanded the MDGs' eight goals to 17 goals, some nations are concerned that it may become even more difficult to convince member nations to commit to meaningful and measurable actions to address these goals.

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View a summary of the SDGs here.


There are definitely different attitudes about global issues and the international initiatives being taken to address the issues. However, how we will solve them if nations don't work together? On the other hand, is it possible for individual nations to solve these problems by themselves?

Medical team performs eye surgery

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, doctors perform noninvasive surgery for cataract removal to restore eyesight.
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Go to your textbook, Understanding Nationalism, and read pages 280 to 282. These pages will further your understanding of the impacts of the pursuit of internationalism in addressing contemporary global issues.

You should take notes on the 7.5.3 Notebook Organizer (Word, PDF, Google Doc ). When you are done, return here to continue.