1. Solidarity was established by Lech Walesa as a trade union which later was developed into an independent labor movement. The main task of Solidarity was to preserve the rights of the working class in Poland. In spite of the fact Solidarity based on the principles of the social good for workers and equality, its activity was opposite to the Communist system.
The social labor movement became an important political force which aim was to restrict the Communist system which limited the people’s rights. The leaders of the movement could effectively confront the Communist system because they proposed the realization of the public’s democratic rights with references to the interests of workers and ordinary people.
Thus, Solidarity’s main means to confront the Communist system were the strikes against the Communist programs, alternative solutions to the problems of workers, the opportunity to realize the right of free speech and free thought (Perry, Peden, & Von Laue, 2006).
2. When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985 the country experienced a lot of challenges connected with the problems of corruption. The traditional Communist’s vision of the problem and the Communist system did not provide the effective solutions to the issues.
That is why it was necessary to implement the definite reforms in the country. Gorbachev made accents on the reforms which had a lot of similarities with the principles on which the Capitalistic societies based.
Three main elements of the reform policy were ‘perestroika’ or the rebuilding of the current system, ‘glasnost’ or the openness for the public of the government’s activity, and ‘democratizatsiya’ as the presentation of more democratic rights and freedoms for the public and the changes in the policy and economy.
Thus, Gorbachev tried to realize rather democratic principles on the platform of the Communist society in order to overcome the problems in the country’s policy and economy (Spielvogel, 2008).
3. Modern Western civilization develops according to the principles of globalization. Nevertheless, to understand the peculiarities of this development, it is necessary to pay attention to the elements of the notion of ‘globalization’. Today people are inclined to define the process of globalization as based on the principles of democracy, free markets, and cooperation.
In this case, Fareed Zakharia discusses democracy as the key aspect of globalization, but it also has its ‘dark sides’ which are in different ways to realize the democratic approach. The effective democracy is the liberal democracy dependent on the balance and a slow development associated with capitalism.
Amy Chua also connects globalization with the peculiarities of democracy, but she determines such problems of democracy as the ethnic hatred and the disbalance in the economy of minorities (McKay, Hill, & Buckler, 2008).
In spite of the fact Fareed Zakharia and Amy Chua predominantly focus on the discussion of the negative effects of globalization, this process is multidimensional and has many advantages, such as the development of free markets and free trade, the effective usage of the natural resources, the restriction of the cultural barriers, the development of the global labor market, and the spread of the democratic principles within societies.
The future of Western civilization depends on the preservation of the balance between all these elements and on preventing the spread of militant ideas which can cause the conflicts.
Thus, according to Mary Habeck, militant ideas which are typical for Islam make the followers of such religious movements and ideologies as jihadist ideology rebel against the democratic principles of Western civilization (Habeck, 2006). That is why to preserve the democracy in society means to contribute to the effective globalization without religious and ethnic conflicts.
References
Habeck, M. (2006). Knowing the enemy: Jihadist ideology and the war on terror. USA: Yale University Press.
McKay, J. P., Hill, B. D., & Buckler, J (2008). A history of Western society since 1300. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Perry, M, Peden, J. R., & Von Laue, H. T. (2006). Sources of the Western tradition: Volume II: From the Renaissance to the present. USA: Wadsworth Publishing.
Spielvogel, J. J. (2008). Western Civilization: Since 1500. USA: Cengage Learning.