Significant Historical Events
| Subject: | 🏺 History |
| Type: | Exemplification Essay |
| Pages: | 11 |
| Word count: | 2818 |
| Topics: | Historiography, ✔️ Political Science, Democracy, Electoral College, 🏳️ Government |
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Table of Contents
As time passes by, it presents occurrences that are left pinned in our minds and passed from one generation to the other due to the effects they have worldwide. In this report, we will study five of the significant events that happened in 1993, and in different continents. The inauguration of Clinton to the presidency of the U.S., running of the first federal election in Australia after the depression, the merger and formation of UNISON in Britain, Mandela winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and a peace treaty between Israeli and Palestine will form the basis of the study. The significance and importance of these events and how they impact the global history will be analyzed.
North America
In 1993, the North America region witnessed a historical event, where president-elect Bill Clinton was inaugurated. He was elected in 1992 on a Democrat party ticket after defeating George H. W. Bush, from the Republican Party. Clinton was inaugurated into power on 20th January 1993, signifying the start of the Democrat rule. After his inauguration, he embarked on serious policy changes in the US which changed the face of America and the whole world.
For instance, in his first month in office, he signed into law the Medical and Family Act of 1993, which gave a legal requirement to large institutions to allocate an unpaid leave to their employees in case of a medical or pregnancy situation. The act received a bipartisan support and gained popularity and approval of the public. On 15th February 1993, Clinton announced his intentions to increase taxes in order to close the massive budget deficit left by his predecessors (Thomas, 2017). He also outlined his economic plan, which focused on dropping the debt instead of reducing the tax rates. He believed that once the deficit is reduced, the bond interest rates would fall. These policies formed Clinton’s first amendments after ascending into power, acting as the foundation for economic revival in the United States and North America. In later reforms in August that year, he signed into action the “Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993,” which aimed at reducing the tax rate allocated for low-income householders, and imposed tax rate cuts to more than 90% of the small enterprises in the Nation (Thomas, 2017). He imposed an increased tax rate for the wealthy residents and business community, in efforts of ensuring a sustainable and an equitable distribution of income. These policies were geared towards the revival of the weakening US economy, which had resulted in a massive deficit budget when Clinton took over the office. The healthcare plan for reforms was instituted into action, aiming at the implementation of a national healthcare plan and became one of his praised achievements, which led to a formation of a task force supervised by his wife, Hillary Clinton. He authorized the Brady Bill in November the same year, granting the federal government the mandate to institute background checks on individuals acquiring firearms in the nation. The action was aimed at promoting peaceful coexistence and reduce the crime rates in the country.
The achievements and actualization of the above reforms rate the inauguration of Bill Clinton as a historic event. Some of his reforms such as the health care plan have impacted the healthcare sector of the North American continent and the world. Most nations have adopted similar changes to improve the healthcare industry. Clinton later before his impeachment left the country boasting a surplus budget, which was the first of its kind, indicating the success of the economic reforms, and most countries in the world have emulated and improved these policies in the efforts of reviving their economies. President Bill made the United States a reference nation in the economic and legal reforms, making his presidency an historic event.
Australia
On 13th March 1993, the continent witnessed the first election following the great recession of the late 1980s to the early parts of 1990. The Australian Labor Party, which was incumbent, achieved the fifth-time presidency term led by Paul Keating, the then Prime Minister. This occurrence led to the defeat of the opposition; the Liberal Party, which was headed by John Hewson (Bean & Marks, 1993). The conclusion of the elections led to the initiation of massive reforms in the nation to ensure it conveniently overcomes the effects brought by the depression and prevent future occurrences of such events.
To promote the Australian economy to overcome the effects of depression, he embarked on internal economic reforms. He reduced the company tax rate and provided a reduction in the income tax in 13th March 1993 (Bean & Marks, 1993). These moves were aimed at increasing the capital flow into the economy to aid mass investment, which could, in turn, lead to the revival of the economy. The Federal Elections held in the nation gave victory over the opposition’s agenda of reducing the services and goods consumption tax, which was the primary campaign tool of the liberal party. It led to full implementation of the Keating’s party agendas to revive the economy from depression. During his few months in the office, after the 1993 re-election, Keating instituted the implementation of the tax cuts in two stages since it seemed expensive to be conducted in one abrupt phase. The government adopted a five-year strategic plan aimed at increasing the employment rate, especially for the youth, and set a target of increasing job opportunities and vacancies ranging more than two million. In 1994, the nation experienced a fall in the inflation rates and measurable economic growth, promoting the government’s target of ending the recession period (Bean & Marks, 1993). The administration aimed at increasing the level of competitiveness of the Australian products in the global market. It reduced the tariffs charged on export goods to the Asia-Pacific territories. These activities and policies saw the nation go past the depression and experiences recovery of the economy.
The federal elections formed a historical event in the Australian continent as it acted like the end of the vigorous fight between the governing party and the opposition (Liberal party). It gave a chance for the ruling party to embark on the agenda of instituting strategic and economic policies, to help the nation recover from great depression it had faced in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The event was a significant event in the globe since it put Australia as a reference state for reforms to be adopted to overcome the recession in an economy.
Middle East
In 1993, a peace accord was signed between Palestine and Israel to end the long and prevailed animosity between the two communities. Representatives of the two parties met at White House’s South Lawn and drafted a peace framework referred to as Declaration of Principles. The agreement allowed the Palestinians and Israelis to end their long-lived conflicts and resolved to share the holy land which was sandwiched between the Mediterranean Sea and River Jordan (Springer, 1994). This led to a peaceful coexistence between the two communities, which later benefited from the act of shared the former conflicted land.
The peace negotiations were conducted by Shimon Peres, who was the Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister and Mahmoud Abbas, a delegate from PLO and foreign policy personnel. The conflicts originate from way back into the 1940s, where the Israeli engaged in fights with Palestinian Arabs, who were overpowered by Israel and went ahead to capture vast territories, formerly allocated to the Arabs. This led to the migration of Palestinians, and most of them became refugees and retreated to the West bank region (Springer, 1994). The said agreement initiated the establishment of the Palestinian administration and the withdrawal of all the Israeli army troops away from the Gaza strip and Jericho town’s West bank city. These negotiations were initiated and presided by the then US president, more than 3,000 onlookers attended Bill Clinton and the ceremony. The move ended the feud between the two communities despite several attempts both side’s extremists trying to sabotage the arranged process (Springer, 1994). The treaty led to later developments such as the signing of the 1995 peace deal by Peres, Arafat, and Robin, which facilitated the extension of self-rule in Palestine’s west bank and the conduction of a democratic election that determined the Palestine leadership. These efforts were later boosted by the assumption into office by Peres, who became the Prime Minister in the year 1995. He pledged and sworn to hold and sustain the peace process despite several challenges presented by rebels of the arrangement. All these developments were overseen by the United States, who acted as the chief mediator and controllers of the process.
The peace accord process represented a historical event in the Middle East Continent, since if promoted peace and interactive co-existence between the Israeli and Palestinians. The sharing agreement signed at the White House relieved pain for the vast Palestine population, who were held captive and as refugees in their land. The event is also meaningful to the international community due to its promotion of peace. Unity being a primary call of the global society, seizing the fight between the two communities was seen as a great achievement and warranted for the day to be recorded as a historical event.
Europe
In 1993, UNISON was created after the merger involving the National and Local Government Officers Association (NALGO), Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE), and National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) merged. The trade union became the second largest in the United Kingdom hosting more than 1.3 million members (Strauss, 1993). Rodney Bickerstaffe was selected as the Secretary-General and was replaced by Dave Prentis in the year 2001, after elections which were held on February 28, 2000. The union is referred as the Public-Sector bargainer and covers part-time and full-time members. The primary population of their members originates from the education, healthcare, and government based employees.
The formation of the union in 1993 facilitated the representation of issues affecting their members to the employees ensuring the creation and maintenance of healthy working conditions for the public-sector workers. This has provided that the employees are taken care of and regarded as assets in the places of work, and reduced the chances of exploitation of these individuals. For instance, the union advocates for fair remuneration by the job an employee handles. It has also advocated for the inclusion of overtime payments into the compensation budget of a firm and employment of employee motivation strategies. The branches of the central office present in various states in the nation control the ground checks and reports any businesses breaking the set regulations (Strauss, 1993). The Union has also embarked into strategies aimed at empowering their members through funding them for political and social campaign processes. The Labor party initiates identify the campaigns that need funding, and through thorough investigation, they then decide on whether to fund the activity or not. This has led to massive activism movements, for instance, the 2005 campaigns and vote cast against the proposals form the government to initiate a move to issue British identity card to the nationals. The initiative also funded the anti-racism events in the country which helped the community to express their wish to terminate the racial discrimination and fair treatment of the population (Strauss, 1993). The organization since its induction has engaged in issues affecting their members and the society hence ensuring that their rights are upheld.
The formation of the UNISON union has proved to be a historical event in the UK in the year 1993. It has enabled the maintenance of the best code of ethics by the employers through their consistent protection of the rights and privileges of their members, especially the workers in the public sector. The activities of the Union can be described as universal, since, apart from the fight for the rights of their members, the organization engages in other community development projects such as the campaign against racial abuse and its presence in the major regional and international events aimed at discussing the rights and privileges of humanity. Hence, the occurrence ensured that the employees in different sectors and economies of the world are treated fairly and get what they deserve regarding payments. This has made the merger process to be considered as a historical event in both the European continent and the whole world.
Africa
In 1993, the African hero Nelson Mandela was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, which he jointly shared with Willem de Klerk. Mandela is commonly referred to as the father of Africa and peace. His works across the continent and his country South Africa, significantly contributed to his consideration and wining of the highly coveted award (ISS, 2017). He held on his religious beliefs and authored famous quote “for to be free is not merely cast off one’s chain, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” He used this phrase in his fight against oppression especially during the apartheid era. Due to his unwavering fight for equality and peace, he was given the name Madiba.
The event when Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, shows that the international community recognized the efforts Nelson had put to ensure a peaceful coexistence in Africa. He advocated for equal treatment to all races of people and maintenance of democracy, where cries of all are heard and executed. Mandiba dreamt of a continent where marginalized and vulnerable would exist without want or fear from harassment from the so-called owners of the economy (ISS, 2017). He led the movement that ensured the achievement of constitutional democracy and solved most of the conflicts involving African countries and nationalities. Mandela was also the first South African President after the Apartheid era and dedicated his efforts in transforming the intentions of the army fighting the South African residents and turned it into a civil controlled state. He established policies that ensured the protection and respecting of the community’s dignity. During his era as the president, he initiated the formation of an anti-corruption unit that was a task to reduce and terminate the police corruption dilemma. He also fought for the independence of the nation’s judiciary to ensure that even the most powerful individual in the country could be prosecuted and face charges on any offenses committed. He even went ahead to prove this in 1998, where he presented himself in a court to defend his choice to set a commission that focused on investigating cases of racism, nepotism, and corruption in the nation’s rugby organization (ISS, 2017). The man fought tirelessly for the respect of human rights and justice among the citizen regardless of the color, social status or nationality.
1963 is referred as a historical day by the South African nationals and all the nations of Africa due to the recognition of good deeds from a person who meant good for the country and the continent. Mandela’s actions are evidence of a moral person, who fought for the rights of all humanity. The international society has lauded his efforts to ensure equality and peace across the world. This makes the awarding of Nobel Peace Prize to Mandela a historical event for both the African continent and the globe.
Summary
Historical events are activities that have occurred in the past dates or years and have caused an impact; may it negative or positive into the world. The 1993 year had several instances of historical events happening across the continents as highlighted in the report. These activities have led to positive contribution into the world’s face and developed different approaches to handle several economic situations in the world.
The inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1993 helped the nation to overcome the financial dilemma, where the country had been forced to operate on a deficit budget for so long. After interventions such as fair tax rates, he could lead the country to achieve surplus budget before his term ended. The federal elections held in Australia helped in eliminating the power opposition had and gave the government to apply interventions to help in the economic recovery process. Using instruments such ad reduced corporation tax, Australia could recover from depression under Paul Keating. The peace accord signed between the Israeli and Palestine helped to foster peace and coexistence between the two communities. The formation of the UNISON merger assisted in boosting the bargaining power of the public-sector employees and participate in important decisions in the nation. The move has significantly increased the way workers are treated worldwide and improved the conditions of the workplace. Mandela’s nomination and winning the Nobel peace prize has encouraged other leaders in the world to promote unity and love in emulation of Mandiba’s approaches.
Conclusively, these events should be taken as important and significant, especially the ones that contribute positively to the well-being of the globe. They represent some actions that the modern community can adapt to make the world a better place to live.
- Bean, C., & Marks, G. (1993). The Australian federal election of 1993. Electoral Studies. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0261-3794(93)90028-i.
- Friedman, T. L. (2017). The Inauguration: Clinton takes oath as 42nd President, urging sacrifice to ‘renew America.’ Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2 October 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/21/us/inauguration-clinton-takes-oath-42d-president-urging-sacrifice-renew-america.html?pagewanted=all&mcubz=1
- ISS. (2017). Nelson Mandela remembered for his contribution to human security. ISS Africa. Retrieved 2 October 2017, from <https://issafrica.org/about-us/press-releases/nelson-mandela-remembered-for-his-contribution-to-human-security>
- Springer. (1994). The Israel-Palestine peace process. Geo-Journal, 34(2), 233-233. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf00813829.
- Strauss, D. (1993). “Fireflies Flashing in Unison”: Percival Lowell, Edward Morse and the birth of planetology. Journal for the History of Astronomy. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002182869302400301.
Offered for reference purposes only.