Georgetown University
World History
December 2002


According to the American Heritage Dictionary, globalization is the process of “making [something] global or worldwide in scope or application.”  That explanation seems a bit limited, confining this type of development to mere geographical expansion.  It is much more than that.  Globalization as a phenomenon comprises and is inexorably linked to increasing interaction and ever-greater collaboration with others—other peoples, places and ideas. With this expanded definition in mind, history has been on a trajectory of globalization since the beginning of time.

Continue reading "Trends in Globalization" »

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Georgetown University
World History
December 2002


The cultural contacts and conflicts between pastoral-nomadic peoples and agro-urban peoples profoundly influenced their societies’ development, especially during the years 1000-1400 C.E.  It was at this time that nomadic peoples “dominated affairs in most of Eurasia through their conquests and construction of vast transregional empires.”   Through both diverse travels as well as occupations of lands throughout the eastern hemisphere, they fostered positive developments, inciting “continuous movement, encounters, mutual reactions and responses, adaptation and change.”

These cross-cultural interactions led to the dissemination of technologies, religions, goods, and beliefs over wide distances.  However, in spite of “encouraging systematic peaceful interaction between [different] peoples,”  the nomadic tribes also wrecked spectacular destruction on many settled societies, altering the course of countless civilizations with the force of their rule.

Continue reading "Nomadic vs. Settled Societies in World History" »

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Georgetown University
International Relations
Fall 2002


There is a key distinction between the reasons President Kennedy gave the nation (and the world) for his support of the coup d’etat against South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and his actual motivations.  To the world and the American public, Kennedy aided the overthrow of Diem because he felt a regime change would facilitate a victory against North Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh.   In reality, Kennedy’s decision was much more complicated.

Continue reading "Kennedy's Vietnam Dilemma" »

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