The global 1980s : people, power and profit / Jonathan Davis.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 244-267) and index.

Revolutions in East and West: Iran and Nicaragua -- Thatcher, Reagan and free markets: ghost towns, rust belts and a new individualism -- Inside the Soviet bloc: the end of détente and the rise of Solidarność -- Africa and decolonisation: twenty years after the "winds of change" -- Changes in China: the consequences of Deng Xiaoping's reforms -- Bombs, jobs and famine: music and global concerns -- Global crises: AIDS, acid rain and the ozone layer -- Mikhail Gorbachev: new man, new thinking -- Making a "modern" decade: computers, videos and yuppies -- The first wave of Indian liberalisation: the Rajiv Gandhi era -- South Korea's twisted path to democracy -- The Middle East in turmoil: Iran-Iraq and the first Intifada -- Reagan and Thatcher depart, a new world order emerges -- Latin America's transition to democracy: Chile and Haiti -- "Free Nelson Mandela": the end of apartheid in South Africa -- The Communist world breaks.

"The Global 1980s takes an international perspective on the upheaval across the world during the long 1980s (1979-1991) with the end of the Cold War, a move towards a free-market economic system, and the increasing connectedness of the world. Offering an overview of a decade in transition, as the global order established after 1945 broke down and a new, globalised world order emerged, and supported by case studies from across the world, this truly global book is an essential resource for students and scholars of the long 1980s and the twentieth-century more generally"-- Provided by publisher.