If you'd like to print out this page, click the Print button above. Alternatively, you may click the printer icon on your browser's toolbar, or choose File>Print from the menu.     Globalization in Comparative Politics 1 It is becoming increasingly clear that any study of specific countries must be placed into the context of a world that is experiencing widening and deepening globalization. Numerous international factors, such as war, economic activity, disease, and environmental factorsclearly impact individual countries and often influence their political decisions. While countries have always been affected by such phenomena, their relative scope and intensity has increased significantly in recent decades. In the extreme, a country’s sovereignty (in short, its ability to control its own internal affairs), can be threatened or reduced. Let’s explore some of the factors that individual governments must address in the world of globalization, beginning with war. CLICK DATA FILE: GLOBAL04 CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: War CLICK: [Continue] 1. What percent of the world’s countries have not been engaged in some form of war recently? (Correct Answer: 56.4 percent) 2. What percent of the world’s countries have been engaged in civil wars recently? (Correct Answer: 29.1 percent) CLICK: TASKS CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: WAR CLICK VIEW: Map CLICK: [Continue] 3. Identify the continents that have experienced some form of war recently (Correct Answer: Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America) 4. True or False: A majority of countries in both the Middle East and Africa have experienced war recently. (Correct Answer: True) One of the factors that contributes to war is, ultimately, domestic political decisions, such as whether or not to ship arms to other countries. Let’s examine the transfer of arms between countries. CLICK: VARIABLES SELECT VARIABLE 1: ARMSEXPORT CLICK VIEW: Map CLICK: [Continue] 5. True or False: Countries that export arms exist on every continent. (Correct Answer: True) CLICK: BACK (use your browser’s back button) SELECT VARIABLE 1: ARMSEXPORT CLICK VIEW: Rank Table CLICK: [Continue] 6. What is the value of United States arms shipments? (Correct Answer: $3941 millions, or $3,941,000,000) 7. Identify the ten countries that transfer the highest volume of Major Convential Weapons. COUNTRY Answer Russia United States France China Germany United Kingdom Italy Canada Ukraine Netherlands CLICK: VARIABLES SELECT VARIABLE 1: GOVERNMENT CLICK VIEW: Alphabetical Table CLICK: [Continue] 8. How many of the ten countries identified above are old democracies? (Correct Answer: seven) 9. How many of the ten countries identified above are new democracies? (Correct Answer: two) CLICK: VARIABLES SELECT VARIABLE 1: ARMSIMPORT CLICK VIEW: Map CLICK: [Continue] 10. True or False: Arms importers exist on every continent. (Correct Answer: True) 11. True or False: Asia, including the Middle East, has a higher concentration of countries importing the most arms (i.e., more than $U.S. 236 million) than any other region in the world. (Correct Answer: True) Another security issue related to war is terrorism. Let’s explore this phenomenon. CLICK: DATA FILES CLICK DATA FILE: SHARES CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: TERRORISM CLICK: [Continue] 12. According to the U.S. State Department, how many terrorist attacks occurred in 2003? (Correct Answer: 208) 13. Identify the two regions that experienced the most terrorist attacks during 2003? (Correct Answer: Asia and the Middle East) 14. What percent of the world’s terrorist attacks in 2003 occurred in the two regions identified above? (Correct Answer: 70.7 percent) Clearly, high levels of violence as a result of wars and terrorism influence domestic political decisions, including the classic tradeoff between "guns" and "butter." When a government chooses to spend more on one of these, regardless of the specific reasons for the choice, it results in what economists refer to as an "opportunity cost." Simply defined, this means that when money is spent on a particular item, other purchases must be forgone. These "forgone" choices are the opportunity costs, or what is "not purchased" because the money has been spent on something else. Let’s examine global military expenditures. CLICK: DATA FILES CLICK DATA FILE: GLOBAL04 CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: % MIL GDP CLICK VIEW: Rank Table CLICK: [Continue] 15. What is the range of military spending as a percent of gross domestic product (i.e., the highest and lowest percentages)? (Correct Answer: 0.2 percent to 22.9 percent) 16. How many of the world’s countries spend at least five percent of their gross domestic product on the military? (Correct Answer: 18) 17. What percent of the United States’ gross domestic product is spent on the military? (Correct Answer: 3.9 percent) 18. True or False: The United States ranks in the top quarter of all countries in terms of the percent of its gross domestic product spent on the military. (Correct Answer: True) 19. Clearly the decision to spend money on the military is a function both of the global environment and domestic considerations. However, when tradeoffs are made between "guns" and "butter," "opportunity costs" occur. Identify a specific opportunity cost that might occur and discuss briefly the effects that it might have on domestic politics. (Correct Answer: multiple possibilities exist, such as devoting more money to the military leaves less for education, or transportation, or the environment, and vice versa.) Other global phenomena also influence domestic politics. Let’s examine a few of these, starting with an environmental issue, the emission of greenhouse gases. Neither greenhouse gases nor their consequences respect political boundaries, so the decisions and actions of one country clearly influence others. CLICK: VARIABLES SELECT VARIABLE 1: GREENHOUSE CLICK VIEW: Map CLICK: [Continue] 20. True or False: Every continent has at least one country with per capita carbon dioxide emission level of at least 7.7 . (Correct Answer: True) 21. True or False: The United States has one of the world’s lowest per capita carbon dioxide emissions levels (i.e., less than 0.3). (Correct Answer: False) Similarly, diseases fail to recognize borders and state sovereignty. Let’s explore one of these. CLICK: VARIABLES SELECT VARIABLE 1: AIDS % CLICK VIEW: Map CLICK: [Continue] 22. True or False: A majority of countries on every continent have HIV/Aids infection rates of at least 0.10 percent. (Correct Answer: True) 23. Which continent has the most countries with the highest infection rates? (Correct Answer: Africa) CLICK: TASKS CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: AIDS % CLICK: [Continue] 24. What percent of the world’s countries have infection rates of at least one percent? (Correct Answer: 32.3 percent) 25. How many of the world’s countries have infection rates of less than 0.10 percent? (Correct Answer: 30 countries) 26. What percent of the world’s countries have infection rates of less than 0.10 percent? (Correct Answer: 20.7 percent) Economic activity is also no longer influenced solely by decisions of domestic governments. Let’s explore one key type of international economic activity: trade. CLICK: TASKS CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: TRADE CLICK VIEW: Map CLICK: [Continue] 27. True or False: A majority of the world’s countries rely at least in part on trade to generate income or supply needed goods. (Correct Answer: True) 28. True or False: Western Europe has the world’s highest concentration of countries with trade valued at more than 73,033 million U.S. dollars. (Correct Answer: True) Domestic political decisions that influence the occurrence of war, standards of living, quality of life (e.g., by fighting disease and improving health), and so on can create inducements for people to immigrate. Conversely, when governments are either unable to provide a relatively high quality of life for its citizens or make decisions that are viewed by citizens as failing to adequately address basic needs, some people will decide to emigrate. This has tremendously important implications for a world undergoing increased globalization. Let’s examine net migration. CLICK: VARIABLES SELECT VARIABLE 1: NETMIGRT CLICK VIEW: Map CLICK: [Continue] 29. How many of the world’s countries have a net, positive level of migration? (Correct Answer: 99 countries) 30. True or False: A majority of the world’s countries have a net negative level of migration. (Correct Answer: False) 31. True or False: Excluding Australia, every continent has at least half a dozen countries with a net negative level of migration. (Correct Answer: True) 32. Based on what you’ve learned, speculate about whether globalization forces will lead to a reduced level of sovereignty for most states or will they largely retain their current levels of sovereignty. Explain your reasoning.