Truly the End of History: What if the '90s were even better?

How we truly have entered a true New World Order that leads us to a Star Trek future- without WWIII or the Eugenics Wars in between?

China: Zhao Ziyang and the reformists win power in 1989 during the Tiananmen Square protests, the PRC goes in a pro-democracy direction

Russia: Boris Nemtsov becomes president? Or earlier, say economic shock therapy didn't happen, or at least as devastatingly

Iraq: either no invasion of Kuwait, or the 1991 uprisings lead to the creation of a democratic Iraqi republic or at least Kurdish and Shia states with only a rump Ba'athist remnant

Mexico: NAFTA passes under terms that don't lead to increased migration of low-income agricultural workers to the U.S., nor a boom in narcotics trafficking

There's plenty of other counter-forces and flashpoints that I didn't consider. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel-Palestine, Pakistan, India, North Korea, all of Africa and Latin America, etc. Nor have I discussed how liberal democracy itself is supposed to resolve the rampant inequality caused by neoliberalism that has led to illiberal populism. Also yes this thread is highly Yankeecentric so if you want to cast it in different terms that's fine too.
 

GeographyDude

Gone Fishin'
. . . Nor have I discussed how liberal democracy itself is supposed to resolve the rampant inequality caused by neoliberalism that has led to illiberal populism. . .
Okay, we can have smart changes to overtime law which really push companies to spread out available jobs. I consider this to be absolutely low-hanging fruit.

Then . . .

(1) Start Universal Income through a series of medium steps, supported by Value Added Tax in the U.S.

(2) Seed money for time-banking and can hopefully get a quilt workout such organizations going.
 
The US congress pushes to strengthen unions, and increase access to health insurance.

Greater and more effective efforts to curb AIDS all over the world, and while they're at it, ebola.

Instead of NAFTA, have a North American Fair Trade Agreement, to assure that Mexican workers are paid more for their labor.

Greater restrictions on child abuse.

Peace in Yugoslavia somehow.

@GeographyDude, I'm curious about time-banking. What is it and how would it improve the world?
 

GeographyDude

Gone Fishin'
@GeographyDude, I'm curious about time-banking. What is it and how would it improve the world?
Basically it’s so that meaningful activities are more readily available in a future which is partially jobs and partially post-jobs.

In Andy Yang’s book The War on Normal People (2018), he has a whole chapter about it.

For example, I might have an app on my phone in which I’ve expressed an interest in helping people with landscaping and also with tax prep. Hopefully, they would vet on criminal background, especially before helping people with their finances. (I worked a couple of years at H&R Block, which I might recommend for experience but don’t expect the bonus.)

And as I accumulate hours, I can use them to “hire” services to enhance my own life. People can even run a deficit to kind of get the ball rolling.

And somehow, the part I really liked was that you could win trips based on the total number of hours you had earned for the year, even though you had already spent those hours for something else. So, this and other parts will require seed money.

————-

It’s Chapter 18 “Time as the New Money” in Andy’s book. He talks about Social Credits, or more fully Digital Social Credits which is DSCs for short.
 
Last edited:
U.S.: Gore wins and somehow goes after Bin Laden early in his administration and also pushes an anti-global warming agenda front and center.
You could also have the US Navy succeed in killing bin Laden during Operation Infinite Reach (they missed him by a few hours), while at the same time not target al-Shifa Pharmaceutical Factory in Khartoum North, Sudan (what made the operation controversial.) The CIA capturing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Mohammed Atef, as well as the FBI arresting OTL's hijackers prevent 9/11.

Maybe you could have the Republicans nominate John McCain instead of George W. Bush. By doing this, neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party become ideologically polarized at least until the 2002 Midterms. An election between Gore and McCain would be less personal and more civil than what happened in OTL.

Some say Bush losing the 2000 Primary hurts his future chances, but at the same time him being 'next in line' sets him up as the frontrunner for 2004.
 
Last edited:
Also have a better transition in Eastern Europe to capitalism. Make sure corruption is cracked down early on and make the former Warsaw Pact form a loose economic union of their own with the aim of them getting up to speed and join the EU down the line (a kind of wider V4 perhaps?). Also I think there is potential for growth is the terrible industry is reformed by someone who knows what he is doing.
 

marathag

Banned
Maybe you could have the Republicans nominate John McCain instead of George W. Bush. By doing this, neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party become ideologically polarized at least until the 2002 Midterms. An election between Gore and McCain would be less personal and more civil than what happened in OTL.
There wasn't much difference between Dunya and Gore at the time, shown by Rage against the Machine video _Testify_
1999 Al wasn't post 2000 Al.
McCain is still the same guy who sang 'bomb Iran'
 
I thought the post about Gore was about him becoming president instead of Clinton?


Other thoughts:

The Rwandan genocide is butterflied away.
After Kim Il-Sung dies, North Korea begins to gradually merge with South Korea. Maybe because Kim Jong-Il suffers some crippling injury and someone who favors unification is put in charge of North Korea. Don't know how plausible it is, but surely something better than what happened could have happened in North Korea.
The Burmese military junta grudgingly relinquishes power to Aung San Suu Kyi.
The police who killed Rodney King are jailed, and police forces across the US are reformed to prevent this from happening again.
Along with the spread of capitalism into communist countries is a much more effective spread of democracy into these countries. China reforms its elections, and increases people's freedom of speech, along with OTL's economic reforms.
Kill Bin Laden and destroy Al Qaeda before the first World Trade Center Bombing. Keep the Taliban out of power in Afghanistan.
Destroy the Branch Davidian Compound in Waco earlier, and less violently. It's done very publicly, though, and intelligence agencies around the world are inspired to improve their tactics in fighting terrorists and religious extremists. This butterflies away the Oklahoma City Bombing and the Buenos Aires AMIA bombing. McVeigh and his conspirators are put into mental hospitals.
Algerian army officers fail to cancel its first democratic election.
When Vladimir Putin is found guilty of corrupt practices by the St. Petersburg City Council in 1991, he is fired as the investigators had indeed recommended. His political career never recovers.
The Troubles in Northern Ireland end 7 or 8 years earlier.
Somalia's uneasy peace continues without civil war, thanks to massive diplomatic efforts.
The Rwandan civil war never happens. At least, the Rwandan genocide doesn't, depending on how early of a POD you'll allow. Does the POD need to be in the 90s?
 
Top