Full Circle

"What is the most important issue in world politics?”

I have never been able to tackle a broad question, such as this one, with any sort of ease; it is simply too difficult to pinpoint any one single issue as most important. In an ever-changing world and society, not only do pressing new issues surface every day, but each of these issues, both new and old, are forever interconnected. Thus, to say one problem is more important than the other would be much too easy, and much too ignorant, of an answer.

My response to this question was almost “global warming.” That is, until I realized that I had thought of this by default rather than passionately believing it to be true. Don’t get me wrong – I am a devout believer that unless the entire world starts living greener very soon and very quickly, mother nature will slowly deteriorate, bringing humanity down with it. This being said, many parts of the world are too poverty stricken and disease ridden to even begin to care about living green. Citizens in third world countries have enough trouble as it is trying to provide food, water, and shelter for their families, children, and, not to mention, their selves. If these citizens do not know if they will be alive next week, for there is a good chance they will starve to death or catch a deadly disease, how can anyone expect them to think about the future of our environment? For the impoverished, rather than worrying about the cleanliness of the air that they breathe, their main concern is that they will continue to breathe at all.

It’s impossible to focus on one world issue without relating it to all the others. This concept applies to an endless list of world problems, for instance, the debate about China. The United States condemns China for its treatment of Chinese citizens, yet, we as a nation depend on their exports; without them, cost of living in the US would increase dramatically. Furthermore, you can also throw into the mix that China is now the leading producer of harmful CO2 emissions, bringing this argument full circle. When seeking a solution for the multiple problems in China, you now have to attempt to resolve issues concerning human rights, economic success, environmental sustainability, and survival.

When this question was assigned, I thought it would help to sort out my thoughts on world politics. I assumed that I would be able to designate one issue as above the others in significance, but instead I have just added to my own personal frustration and confusion pertaining to both the question and the world’s problems. However, I do stand resolute in my opinion that the world's turmoil is all interconnected and most important as a whole rather than divided up into subgroups. I hope to flush out this topic in more depth in future posts.