A new world order and the digital age
After the Cold War, the United States was the sole superpower. Globalisation and the digital revolution reshaped the economy and daily life.
The Gulf War
When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, President George H. W. Bush assembled a broad international coalition. Operation Desert Storm (1991) quickly expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait. The war showcased American military technology and post-Cold War cooperation.
The Clinton years
Bill Clinton presided over a long economic expansion in the 1990s. The federal budget recorded surpluses from 1998 to 2001. He signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, effective 1994) and welfare reform (1996). He was impeached by the House in 1998 over charges related to a personal scandal and acquitted by the Senate in 1999.
The digital revolution
Personal computers spread in the 1980s; the World Wide Web, invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, made the internet widely accessible in the 1990s. Companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Amazon (founded 1994), and Google (founded 1998) grew rapidly. The dot-com bubble burst in 2000, but digital technology continued transforming work, communication, and commerce.
Globalisation
Trade, investment, and supply chains became increasingly global. Consumers gained cheaper goods, and exporters gained markets, but manufacturing employment fell in many communities, especially after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Debates over trade's winners and losers grew more intense.
September 11 and the war on terror
On 11 September 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes, destroying the World Trade Center towers and damaging the Pentagon; nearly 3,000 people died. The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to topple the Taliban, which had sheltered al-Qaeda. Congress passed the Patriot Act, expanding surveillance powers, and created the Department of Homeland Security.
The Iraq War
In 2003, the US invaded Iraq, citing claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, which were never found. Saddam was overthrown, but a long insurgency and sectarian violence followed. US combat troops left Iraq in 2011. The US withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, after which the Taliban returned to power.
The Great Recession
In 2007-2008, the collapse of a housing bubble fuelled by risky mortgages triggered a financial crisis. Major firms such as Lehman Brothers failed, and the economy entered the deepest downturn since the 1930s, with unemployment reaching 10% in 2009. The government responded with bank rescues, stimulus spending, and new financial regulation, the Dodd-Frank Act (2010).
Worked example
A factory town in Ohio in 2000 might lose a major employer as production moved abroad, while the same years brought cheaper electronics and clothing to shoppers nationwide and booming tech jobs in Silicon Valley and Seattle. Uneven effects of globalisation and technology across regions help explain later political divisions.
Key takeaways
The Gulf War (1991) expelled Iraq from Kuwait. The 1990s saw growth, budget surpluses, NAFTA, and Clinton's impeachment and acquittal. The internet and tech firms transformed life; the dot-com bubble burst in 2000. Globalisation brought cheaper goods and manufacturing job losses. The 9/11 attacks led to wars in Afghanistan (2001-2021) and Iraq (2003-2011) and expanded security powers. The 2008 financial crisis caused the Great Recession.
Flashcard
1991 expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait
Check your understanding
What event led the United States to invade Afghanistan in 2001?