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MicroCase
 
Instructions:
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Developing World 2

Clearly, one of the most basic characteristics of Developing States is that they suffer from poverty, and multiple related problems, to a much greater extent than the rich countries of the world. Let’s focus our study on Brazil, India, Mexico, and Nigeria, and make some comparisons to the rich countries of the world. One of the most fundamental issues confronting every country is population. The greater the number of people, the greater the need for national income to provide for their basic needs.

CLICK DATA FILE: GLOBAL04
CLICK TASK: Mapping
SELECT VARIABLE 1: POPULATION
CLICK VIEW: Rank Table
CLICK: [Continue]


1. Identify the population and world rank for each of the following:

Country Population World Rank
Brazil
India
Mexico
Nigeria


2. True or False: All four of these countries rank among the world’s top 25 countries in terms of total population.



According to the United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report (2001) the world’s rich countries have gross domestic products that average $25,860 per person. Let’s see how our four countries compare to the rich country average.

CLICK: VARIABLES
SELECT VARIABLE 1: GDP/CAP
CLICK VIEW: Alphabetical Table
CLICK: [Continue]


3. Identify the GDP/Capita for each of our four countries:

Country GDP/Capita
Brazil
India
Mexico
Nigeria


4. True or False: The GDP/Capita values for all four of these countries are significantly lower then the overall average for the rich countries of the world.



One reason that many "Developing States" have lower GDPs/capita is that they earn significant portions of their income from agriculture, a sector that tends to provide less national income than industrial or high-tech sectors. Let’s explore the degree to which these countries rely on agriculture as a percentage of their income.

CLICK: VARIABLES
SELECT VARIABLE 1: % AGRIC $
CLICK VIEW: Map
CLICK: [Continue]


5. True or False: The "rich states" of France, Germany, Japan, and the United States all earn less than 5 percent of their GDP from agriculture.



CLICK: VARIABLES
SELECT VARIABLE 1: % AGRIC $
CLICK VIEW: Alphabetical List
CLICK: [Continue]


6. Identify the percentage of GDP accounted for by agriculture in the following countries:

Country Agriculture as a percentage of GDP
Brazil
India
Mexico
Nigeria


The United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report (2001) also indicates that the world’s rich countries have an average life expectancy of 78 years. Let’s see how our four countries compare to the rich country average.

CLICK: Back (use your browser’s back button)
SELECT VARIABLE 1: LIFE EXPCT
CLICK VIEW: Alphabetical Table
CLICK: [Continue]


7. Identify the Life Expectancy for each of our four countries:

Country Life Expectancy
Brazil
India
Mexico
Nigeria


Let’s examine a few other measures that significantly influence politics and development in these countries, beginning with one measure of health, the infant mortality rate, which is calculated by determining the number of infant deaths per 1,000 births.

CLICK: VARIABLES
SELECT VARIABLE 1: INF. MORTL
CLICK VIEW: Rank Table
CLICK: [Continue]


8. What country has the world’s highest mortality rate?



9. What is the infant mortality rate for that country?



10. What country has the world’s lowest infant mortality rate?



11. What is the infant mortality rate for the country with the world’s lowest rate?



12. What is the infant mortality rate for the United States?



CLICK: BACK (use your browser’s back button)
SELECT VARIABLE 1: INF. MORTL
CLICK VIEW: Alphabetical Table
CLICK: [Continue]


13. Identify the Infant Mortality rates for Brazil, India, Mexico, and Nigeria:

Country Infant Mortality
Brazil
India
Mexico
Nigeria


There are also significant differences between rich and poor states in terms of education. Clearly, education is also a factor in determining the wealth of a country (the two are inter-related). Let’s examine this factor.

CLICK: VARIABLES
SELECT VARIABLE 1: EDUCATION
CLICK VIEW: Rank Table
CLICK: [Continue]


14. What country has the highest average number of years of education?



15. What is the average number of years of education for this country?



CLICK: BACK (use your browser’s back button)
SELECT VARIABLE 1: EDUCATION
CLICK VIEW: Alphabetical Table
CLICK: [Continue]


16. Identify the average number of years of education for each of the following:

Country Education
Brazil
India
Mexico


Another issue confronting Developing States is ethnic differences. This issue is not unique to the Developing States, but it is an important cause of political cleavage and, at times, violence.

CLICK: VARIABLES
SELECT VARIABLE 1: MULTI-CULT
CLICK VIEW: Map
CLICK: [Continue]


17. Which continent has the most countries with a multi-cultural rating of 72 or higher?



CLICK: BACK (use your browser’s back button)
SELECT VARIABLE 1: MULTI-CULT
CLICK VIEW: Alphabetical List
CLICK: [Continue]


18. Identify the multi-cultural ratings and rankings for each of the following:

Country Education Ranking
Brazil
India
Mexico
Nigeria


One consequence of multi-culturalism is that the higher the degree of diversity, the more challenging it is to develop a single national identity. Let’s begin our examination of cultural diversity in India by evaluating religious diversity.

CLICK: DATA FILES
CLICK DATA FILE: SHARES
CLICK TASK: Univariate
SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: INDIA-REL
CLICK: [Continue]


19. Which religion has the largest number of followers in India?



20. What percentage of Indians are members of the largest religious group in India?



21. True or False: There are more Muslims in India than Sikhs.



Now let’s turn our attention to linguistic diversity.

CLICK: VARIABLES
CLICK TASK: Univariate
SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: INDIA-LANG
CLICK: [Continue]


22. True or False: A majority of Indians identify Hindi as their mother tongue.



23. What is the second most common mother tongue in India?



24. What percentage of Indians identified the second most common language as their mother tongue?



25. How many different languages are identified by at least five percent of Indians as their mother tongue?



You probably noticed a very large "other" category. Let’s explore how many Mother Tongues are spoken in India, and look specifically at the large number of Mother Tongues that have relatively small numbers of speakers.

CLICK VARIABLES
SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: INDIA-LAN2
CLICK: [Continue]


26. How many Mother Tongues, overall, are spoken in India?



27. What percentage of Mother Tongues are spoken by fewer than one million Indians.



We’ve examined many of the challenges facing "Developing States." Let’s turn our attention to their political systems.

CLICK: DATA FILES
CLICK DATA FILE: GLOBAL04
CLICK TASK: Mapping
SELECT VARIABLE 1: GOVERNMENT
CLICK VIEW: Alphabetical Table
CLICK: [Continue]


28. Identify the types of governments in each of the following countries:

Country Government Type
Brazil
India
Mexico
Nigeria


CLICK: VARIABLES
SELECT VARIABLE 1: ELECTSYSTM
CLICK VIEW: Alphabetical Table
CLICK: [Continue]


29. Identify the electoral system used in each of the following countries:

Country Electoral
Brazil
India
Mexico
Nigeria


Some analysts believe the level of interest in politics is related to citizen perceptions that the political system works, both in terms of the type of government it has and its electoral system. Let’s examine some survey results for both industrial democracies and the "Developing States" we’ve been studying.

CLICK: VARIABLES
SELECT ARIABLE 1: P.INTEREST
CLICK VIEW: Rank Table
CLICK: [Continue]


30. Which country has the highest percentage of citizens indicating they are either "very" or "somewhat interested" in politics?



31. What percentage of citizens in that country indicated that they are either "very" or "somewhat interested" in politics?



32. Where does the United States rank, in terms of the percentage of citizens indicating that they are either "very" or "somewhat interested" in politics?



33. What percentage of Americans indicated that they are either "very" or "somewhat interested" in politics?



CLICK: BACK (use your browser’s back button)
SELECT VARIABLE 1: P.INTEREST
CLICKVIEW: Alphabetical Table
CLICK: [Continue]


34. Identify the percentages of citizens either "very" or "somewhat interested" in politics in the following "Developing States:"

Country Political Interest
Brazil
India
Mexico
Nigeria


35. Based on what you’ve learned about the level of interest in politics for these Developing States, how do you think this will affect their long-term abilities to develop and maintain strong, viable democracies?

 
 
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