1980 - PRESENT

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

After World War II, the United States grappled with prosperity and unfamiliar international responsibilities while struggling to live up to its ideals.

Key Concept:

  • The United States responded to an uncertain and unstable postwar world by asserting and working to maintain a position of global leadership, with far-reaching domestic and international consequences.
  • New movements for civil rights and liberal efforts to expand the role of government generated a range of political and cultural responses.
  • Postwar economic and demographic changes had far-reaching consequences for American society, politics, and culture.


  1. Are peace and stability in the Middle East vital to the United States’ economy and national security?
  2. Should the United States have fought a war against Iraq to liberate Kuwait?
  3. Is it the responsibility of the United States today to be the world’s “policeman?”
  4. Can global terrorism be stopped?
  5. Does the United States have a fair and effective immigration policy?
  6. Should the United States restrict foreign trade?
  7. Has racial equality and harmony been achieved at the start of the twenty-first century?
  8. Should the United States still support the use of economic sanctions to further democracy and human rights?
  9. Should the federal surplus be used to repay the government’s debts or given back to the people in tax cuts?
  10. Should Bill Clinton be considered an effective president?
  11. Should a president be impeached for ethical lapses and moral improprieties?
  12. Should the United States use military force to support democracy in Eastern Europe? In the Middle East?
  13. Is it constitutional for the United States to fight preemptive wars? Was the United States justified to fight a war to remove Saddam Hussein from power?
  14. Can the United States maintain its unprecedented prosperity? (policies of the Federal Reserve System; balancing the Federal budget; international trade and the global economy; inflation factor; etc.)
  15. Is the world safer since the end of the Cold War?
  16. Should Americans be optimistic about the future?
  17. Should we change the way that we elect our presidents? Has the president become too powerful? Or the Supreme Court?
  18. Should limits be placed on freedom of expression during times of national crisis?
  19. Should stricter laws regulating firearms be enacted?
  20. Should affirmative action programs be continued to overcome the effects of past injustice and discrimination?
  21. Is the death penalty (capital punishment) a “cruel and unusual punishment” (and thus unconstitutional)?
  22. Does the media have too much influence over public opinion?
  23. Should lobbies and pressure groups be more strictly regulated?
  24. Do political parties serve the public interest and further the cause of democracy?