The world today is a global and globalised one: this means that problems and issues are often not limited by geographical boundaries, but rather spill over and affect more people than one would imagine. Having sound knowledge of global issues is thus essential in helping one understand the complexity of the myriad challenges that mankind faces. This series of ‘Understanding’ GP books is written to provide students with a broad overview of the plethora of topics, issues, themes, ideas and examples that are explored in General Paper. The titles in this series include the following: • Understanding Singapore Issues • Understanding Modern Society • Understanding Global Issues For each topic, an introduction is given before several issues relating to the topic are presented and explored in greater detail. This can also serve as a starting point to explore these issues even further, and to do more research. At the end of each topic, a table is provided for students to fill in ongoing developments, trends and news for the topic as GP is a dynamic and constantly evolving subject.