Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy

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Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy, from PBS introduces important events and ideas related to political economy and also fosters critical thinking about economic issues.This website “offers a comprehensive overview of global economic history from the beginning of the First World War through 2002. Along with a six-hour video narrative divided into short chapters, it includes extensive interviews, essays, charts, reports, an interactive atlas of history, and economic data related to the topics of globalization, economic development, and international trade.”Students can view the netcast, consult a timeline of key events, look at country reports which summarize the economic development of each of 40 nations from 1910, read the interviews of more than 150 men and women from all continents and many walks of life, and explore theories, facts, and trends that drive our understanding of economic forces and events.

Commanding Heights is a visually engaging way to help students see the connections between economics, politics, and world events. The time-map students use to navigate indicates the various types of economic and political situations in various regions over time, from the most restictive command economies through social and liberal markets. Areas in conflict or occupied are also indicated.Using an interactive map with an associated timeline, students can focus on a country and learn the social, environmental, political, economic, and policy events from 1910 through 2002. In addition to historical highlights and key events in the development of each nation, graphs based upon demographic and statistical information are available for growth, trade, debt, unemployment, well-being, government spending, income and inflation. The amount of information available for each nation varies, but there are rich resources for the study of United States, China, Russia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, France, Germany, India, and Argentina. The time-map also includes “hotspots” that flash when there are special reports to add to particular countries.Another way to access the resources is through the Key Events Timeline. This chronological listing references the dates and locations of significant events; many reports are enhanced with video clips. For example, in the 1973 listing explaining the effects of the event Pinochet topples Allende includes a powerful three and a half minute video entitled Counterrevolution in Chile. You may also discover biographical profiles and many interviews of key People. These can be viewed by name, country, or profession. Don’t miss the listing of Economic Architects, which includes major players in the economic field from Adam Smith through Galbraith and Friedman. Finally, check out the Ideas section to read essays about Lenin’s Critique of Global Capitalism, Keynesian Economic Theory, The Rise of State-owned Companies, Development in Africa, and more.Be sure to use the Educator’s Guide which includes key themes and questions for use in the economics, modern world history, international relations or political science unit you are teaching. You may select to view this site in a mode appropriate to high (Quicktime 5 required) or low bandwidth. Commanding Heights is a companion website to the PBS television series. Series storyline summaries, video promos and transcripts are available on the Storyline page.