America

Nowadays the world changes every day and the influence of America is seen clearly. The development of the United States affects practically all the countries, but we, also, have different problems. This paper discusses two different files that tell about the situation in America and in the world: Fareed Zakaria’s “The Post-American World” and George Packer’s article “Is America Over?” and tells about the contemporary America, its culture, mentions positive and negative things.

The first file (“Is America Over?”) tells about the situation in America’s economy after the war and in 1978. It includes the information about the war in Iraq and the consequences that caused the inequality in the society and a lot of problems in other areas of political and economical life of the country. George Packer tries to find the reason for the decreases in the development of United States. His work helps us to understand the difference between the life in America in the 1970’s and today. The author analyzes the problems that urged American society to protest and to feel injustice. This article gives us an opportunity to compare the quality of life and the situation in society and economy, and to find out more about the foreign affairs.

The second file (“The Post-American World”) is focused on the changes not only in the United States, but in the whole world. Fareed Zakaria explains what the modernization and westernization is and gives us strong examples of the impact of Western countries on non-Western. The author tells about the development of Asia and Africa, which includes many elements that are inherent in the Western world. His work proves that culture plays a very important role in the development of economy and political life. Zakaria shows that the United States has affected the whole world, but they cannot solve their problems. His work includes the theories that explain why there are so many “standards” in the world and why some countries still have noteworthy features.

The article “Is America Over?” tells about foreign affairs. The author starts his work with telling about the war in Iraq. He mentions that the warfare hurt everyone. Packer repeats several times that they are just not that good anymore, which means that America has a difficult period of decline.

He proves that by telling that Americans can invite the high-speed trains and new technologies, but they still have problems with bridges and roads. His work shows that political system is badly organized and need improvement.

The author tells about new organizations, which appeared between 1960’s and 1980’s, and about lobbying that became extremely popular at that time. He states that many organizations made business due to their own interest and they got results.

Another interesting appearance was organized money that helped to raise the economy. However, the elite that supported organized money were not interested in the middle class. That was a vivid example of inequality. Packer thinks that inequality is a big threat to democracy. He gives the convincing instances of impact of inequality: it affects the society, cause different social problems. Some people say that the reason for the decline and imparity is the influence of other countries and relations with them, but the main reasons are politics and public policy. The imparity is a great issue, which divides Americans and creates a big gap between rich people and the middle class.

George Packer states that America is a strong developed country, but its foreign affairs are not perfect. They cause a lot of problems in economy and social life.

Fareed Zakaria in his work “The Post-American World” states a theory about why modernization and westernization is practically the same thing and explains why some countries have managed to keep their features.

The author shows distinguish between Western and non-Western nations. He describes the development of Asian and African countries, particularly Japan, China and India. His work proves that the influence of Europe and America on the whole world was so powerful that even political and economical systems are nearly standard in different nations. The policy of isolation in China and the desire of Indians to save all their traditions were not able to stop the westernization. In fact, the whole world has borrowed something from the West, but has managed to save some features.

The modernization and westernization is practically the same thing, because when non-Western countries started developing, they borrowed a lot from the West. Social, economical, political systems became similar to western; new religions and idea became worldwide and common in Asian and African nations.

Zakaria’s theory explains the development of the whole world, shows that Western countries, which were the most developed, changed the world. Those changes can be seen everywhere: in the architecture, art, mass media, science, medicine, education. The world uses standards that were initiated by Western nations.

Nowadays America is one of the most developed and industrialized countries. Its culture has some features that make American society different from others and some advantages and disadvantages, which help to understand the whole situation in contemporary America.

It is worth saying that traditions are dependent on the regions, so the United States is very various and interesting country. It has an advanced economy that is highly power-driven (“United States of America”). The country meets all its needs, is one of the best exporters of food in the world and has one of the most successful financial systems. In my opinion, contemporary America does not have so powerful influence on other countries, but it still has a very high economical rate and the rate of social life.

American culture is understandable and widespread: the arts, literature, films, religions and music are known worldwide. Also, American society is one of the most independent and without restrictions. The quality of education is very high and most Americans observe etiquette and good manners. All these positive things make the United States one of the most advanced countries in the world, but America has its disadvantages as well.

First of all, there is an inequality in the society that cause strained relations between the black and white, men and women. Also there is no social fabric that could hold individuals together. I think that American society does not have the motivations that can make people understand that they all are in one thing. It consists of individuals that are not willing to help each other if it does not bring them some benefit. Despite the fact, that America is the country, where all people have equal chances, many of them are poor and have to work very hard to make some money.

Also, the rate of crimes and cruelty is extremely high, even in small towns. There are so many prisons and so many people, who are engaged in different offenses, that the United States are considered to be the country with the highest level of social problems among the industrialized nations in the world.

So, to my mind, America is a strong and highly developed country, which has own peculiar culture and many preferences. It has some shortcomings as well, but I am sure that the United States is one of the most advanced nations in the world, despite all its defects.

In conclusion, Zakaria’s and Packer’s articles tell about America and the whole world. Both authors have interesting ideas and theories; their works help to understand the situation in the United States and the development of other nations, help to analyze world’s cultures and features. Having read those files, we can see why contemporary America has so many different positive and negative things.

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