Optimism high at the end of Communism Peace process begins in Northern Ireland in 1995
Balkan War in former Yugoslavia in 1995
United Kingdom hands sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997
President Bill Clinton's sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky and his impeachment in 1998 takes the entire year
Second Congo War begins in 1998 and lasts until 2002
High economic growth among many first world nations
Oil and gas discovered in former Soviet bloc countries