Peace in Our Time!, or Peace in Our Time?
When the Berlin wall fell in 1989, the Iron Curtain that had descended over Europe over four decades ago collapsed with it. Similarly to how Europe was no longer divided into West and East, the nations of the world took huge steps to globalize and integrate themselves into a new order, more or less united in a vision for a new future. This perceived sense of unity can be especially seen manifested in the establishment of the European Union in 1993. Similarly, the peace efforts in Northern Ireland and the end of apartheid in South Africa seemed to be emblematic of a broader shift towards both reconciliation and understanding across the globe. New technological advancements such as the Internet also helped democratize and globalize access to knowledge and break down communication barriers in a manner no one had really seen before. For a fleeting moment in time, the world seemed to become a smaller and more interconnected place.
Design by Hana Norder
This feeling of hope was not lost on the students of SSE in 1997, which becomes evident if you happen to read issue one of Minimax that year. Student Niklas Amundsson boldly claims in his article “Bulgarien lirar i Östeuropas division II” (eng.“Bulgaria plays in Eastern Europe’s Division II”) that “everybody has
it better off after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe”. Amundsson then, perhaps with a sense of capitalistic pride, makes it evident to the reader how former East Germany slowly but surely “fights its way up to the standard of West Germany”, how the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland are set to join Nato and how Western investments flourishes in East Europe. However, as the title of his article might suggest, these changes did not mean that all countries in the former Eastern bloc underwent a miraculous economic transformation all at once. In 1997, Bulgaria could just about boast that it was now home to a single McDonald’s in Sofia, with an entire menu costing as much as a singular cheeseburger in Stockholm according to Amundsson. Granted, Bulgaria did come to make sweeping changes in their economic policies in the following years, strengthe- ning the financial sector, and eventually joined both the European Union and Nato in the 00s.
Design by Hana Norder
Now, let’s go back to the future. As the new millennium progressed, the seeds of optimism planted in the 90s were challenged by an increasingly harsher reality. The financial crisis of 2008, originating from a housing crisis in the U.S., showed the world’s nations how globalized they truly were, increased unemployment and economic insecurity spreading all around the world. This downturn led to a ripple effect of both political instability and discontent, and served to fuel the fires of the populist movements who sought to question the interconnected world order that had been all the rage in the decade prior. The previously mentioned technological advancements continued at a rapid pace, but a digital divide soon appeared. The Internet, once seen as a great equalizer of information and an empowering tool, became a platform used for misinformation and surveillance, and the concentration of power into the hands of a handful of companies began to show how an originally democratic platform could easily be monetized and controlled. There hasn’t been any uplifting news on the geopolitical front either, with Russia, who had previously at least tried to invade her neighbors under the radar, annexed Crimea in 2014 and invaded Ukraine fully in 2022, and the (ongoing) conflicts in the Middle East flaring up after the September 11 attacks in 2001. These events, coupled with countless other ones not mentioned here, mark the return to a contentious and fragmented global arena, not unlike that of the Cold War.
Design by Hana Norder
So, as we reflect on the transition from a hopeful 1990s to a challenging 2020s, it becomes apparent that progress is not always linear. The world has lear- ned that with great interconnectivity comes an even greater responsibility, a responsibility to each other. If humanity can rise to the challenge is something worth pondering on, but neither that nor the question “Peace in our time?” is what we should focus on right now. In fact, the question now isn’t just whether we can reclaim the spirit of hope from the 90s, but how we can adapt its lessons to the realities of today’s world, as we strive for a future were “Peace in our time” is a plausible and comforting affirmation, not just a nostalgic echo of a bygone era.