Step-by-Step: How to Craft a Strong Global Issue
- Crafting a strong global issue matters because it’s the anchor of your entire IO.
- If it’s vague or weak, your analysis won’t hold up.
- Examiners want to see depth and real-world relevance, your issue should clearly connect your texts to something meaningful.
- It also helps keep your presentation focused.
- A solid issue gives your analysis direction, so you don’t go off track.
- Plus, when your global issue is well thought out and specific, it makes everything else, choosing extracts, picking techniques, structuring your points, a lot easier.
Basically, get the global issue right, and the rest of the IO becomes way more manageable.
Step 1: Understand the IB Definition
- A global issue must:
- Be relevant across multiple regions or societies
- Significantly impact individuals or communities
- Arise in everyday or familiar contexts, not just extreme cases
- IB's Five Categories
- Culture, identity & community
- Beliefs, values & education
- Politics, power & justice
- Art, creativity & imagination
- Science, technology & the environment
You don’t actually have to pick a global issue from one of IB’s five categories and honestly, most strong IOs don’t.
Note
- You are not required to choose your issue from the IB’s five suggested categories.
- Those categories are optional and designed to spark ideas, not limit them.
- You can create your own category as long as the issue fits the criteria above.
Step 2: Start Broad, Then Refine
- Begin with a general theme, then narrow it down:
- Broad: Censorship
- Refined: The psychological consequences of state censorship on personal identity
Step 3: Link to Both Texts
- Is the issue clearly present in both texts?
- Can I analyse techniques and authorial choices related to it?
- Are the representations comparable or contrasting?
Step 4: Phrase It Effectively
- Frame the global issue as a specific, insightful topic:
- Strong: The impact of trauma on female agency in patriarchal societies
- Weak: Trauma
Step 5: Test for Depth
- A strong global issue should allow for:
- Multiple perspectives (e.g. oppressed vs oppressor)
- Thematic nuance (e.g. control, resistance, moral ambiguity)
- Literary technique analysis (e.g. structure, symbolism, voice)
70 Global Issue Ideas
1. Culture, Identity & Community
- Loss of cultural identity through assimilation
- Generational conflict in migrant families
- Identity fragmentation in diasporic communities
- Social exclusion due to language and accent
- Cultural erasure through colonisation
- Stigma against hybrid or mixed identities
- Displacement and identity crisis in refugees
- Cultural rituals as a source of resistance
- The commodification of minority traditions
- Tension between national and ethnic identity
Example
- The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri: Loss of cultural identity through assimilation, generational conflict in migrant families
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi: Tension between national and ethnic identity, stigma against hybrid identities
- Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Social exclusion due to language and accent, identity fragmentation in diasporic communities
2. Beliefs, Values & Education
- Indoctrination in authoritarian education systems
- Conflicts between traditional values and modern ethics
- Education as a tool of social mobility or control
- Suppression of dissenting ideas in academic institutions
- Generational shifts in moral belief systems
- The role of literature in shaping ethical worldviews
- The impact of moral relativism on social cohesion
- The manipulation of faith for political gain
- Value formation through trauma and survival
- The effect of silence and taboo in moral education
Example
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: The ethical limits of education and suppression of dissenting knowledge
- Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman: Value formation through trauma and survival
- Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez: Generational shifts in moral belief systems; honour and societal codes
3. Politics, Power & Justice
- Normalisation of surveillance and loss of privacy
- Political propaganda and historical revisionism
- Legal discrimination based on race or gender
- Censorship as a tool of authoritarian control
- The moral ambiguity of revolutionary violence
- The role of power in shaping justice systems
- The fragility of truth in political discourse
- Public apathy in the face of injustice
- Structural violence against marginalised groups
- The collapse of democracy through fear and manipulation
Example
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: Censorship and authoritarian control, structural violence against women
- 1984 by George Orwell: Surveillance and loss of privacy; historical revisionism and propaganda
- Antigone by Sophocles: Legal versus moral justice; the role of power in shaping justice systems
4. Art, Creativity & Imagination
- The tension between art and censorship
- The weaponisation of narrative in propaganda
- The role of art in preserving cultural memory
- Ethical dilemmas in representing trauma
- The romanticisation of suffering in art
- The artist's struggle between expression and responsibility
- Narratives as tools of resistance under oppression
- The commodification of creativity in capitalist societies
- Marginalised voices in mainstream art
- Art as a vehicle for reclaiming identity
Example
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi: Narratives as resistance, art preserving cultural memory
- The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid: The role of narrative structure in political commentary
- The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien: Ethical dilemmas in representing trauma, romanticisation of suffering in war stories
5. Science, Technology & the Environment
- The psychological impact of digital surveillance
- Displacement caused by climate change
- The ethical limits of scientific experimentation
- Inequality in access to digital infrastructure
- Loss of privacy in the age of social media
- The use of AI in reinforcing social bias
- Technological progress versus environmental sustainability
- Climate injustice in the Global South
- Exploitation of natural resources in postcolonial regions
- Technology's role in shaping modern relationships
Example
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: The ethical limits of scientific experimentation, loss of autonomy through cloning
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: Technology and ethical responsibility, fear of scientific overreach
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: Control of reproduction as biopolitical manipulation
Here's some additional examples beyond the list of 5 that you can consider. Honestly, just be creative, the list endless!
6. Work, Class & Economic Inequality
- The invisibility of working-class struggles in literature
- Emotional labour and unpaid domestic work
- The impact of economic precarity on mental health
- Class barriers in accessing education and opportunity
- Exploitation in global supply chains
- Wealth as a determinant of social legitimacy
- Class-based discrimination in the legal system
- The glamorisation of wealth and consumption
- Generational poverty and systemic barriers
- Urban poverty and identity fragmentation
Example
- An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley: Class-based discrimination, invisibility of working-class struggles
- A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller: Economic precarity and masculinity, generational poverty
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: Exploitation in labour systems, emotional toll of economic instability
7. Gender, Bodies & Sexuality
- Gendered expectations and emotional repression
- The objectification of female bodies in literature and media
- The erasure of non-binary identities in traditional narratives
- Sexual violence and societal silence
- The commodification of beauty standards
- Patriarchy and the denial of female autonomy
- Homophobia embedded in cultural norms
- Sexual agency versus social control
- Toxic masculinity and its consequences
- Female sexuality as a threat to societal norms
Example
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: Patriarchy, reproductive control, and female autonomy
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov: Objectification and commodification of female bodies
- A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams: Toxic masculinity and emotional repression
Tip
- Choose a global issue that naturally emerges from both texts, not one you try to force onto them.
- This means:
- Look for overlapping themes (e.g. power, identity, justice) that appear organically in both works.
- Then, ask: What real-world problem do these themes connect to?
- A good global issue will feel like it’s already present in the texts, it just needs to be articulated clearly.
- Example:
- If both texts explore characters struggling with oppressive systems, don’t pick “political corruption” unless that’s a specific focus. Instead, refine it to something like:
- “The psychological consequences of institutional power on individual autonomy.”
- If both texts explore characters struggling with oppressive systems, don’t pick “political corruption” unless that’s a specific focus. Instead, refine it to something like:
