MicroCase   Instructions: You may find it works well to print out these Exercises so you can have the directions always in front of you. Click Here to print out this page. Click on the Microcase button to get to Online MicroCase, the software you need to complete this exercise. Enter your answers into the boxes below. If you'd like a print-out of your responses, click on the Submit button at the bottom of the page, and you will be taken to a printer-friendly page. If you have been instructed to submit your exercise online, enter both your and your instructor's name and e-mail address, then click the Email button at the bottom of the page. Your answers will be e-mailed immediately.   Islamic Countries 1 Although Islam is one of the world’s fastest growing religions, many people, particularly in the West, know very little about the Islamic world. Let’s begin our exploration of Islamic countries by identifying the scope of Islam. Note that it is helpful to remember that a Muslim is a follower of Islam. CLICK DATA FILE: SHARES CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: WORLD-REL CLICK: [Continue] 1. What percentage of the world’s people identify themselves as Muslims? 2. How many other world religions have more members than Islam? 3. Identify the other world religions that have more members than Islam. CLICK: DATA FILES CLICK DATA FILE: GLOBAL04 CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: MUSLIM-MAJ CLICK: [Continue] 4. True or False: A majority of countries have populations that include Muslims. 5. How many countries have populations that are at least 50 percent Muslim? 6. How many countries have populations that are at least 75 percent Muslim? CLICK: TASKS CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: MUSLIM-MAJ CLICK VIEW: Map CLICK: [Continue] 7. True or False: The Middle East region consists primarily of countries with majority Muslim populations. 8. True or False: Southern Africa has more countries with majority Muslim populations than Northern Africa. 9. True or False: Asia as a whole has more countries with large Muslim populations (i.e., 25 percent or more) than the entire Western Hemisphere. Another way to evaluate the global scope of Islam is to examine the membership of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), a body designed to promote the interests of Muslims worldwide. CLICK: TASKS CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: OIC MEMBER CLICK: [Continue] 10. How many countries are members of the OIC? 11. True or False: A majority of the world’s countries are OIC members. CLICK: TASKS CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: OIC MEMBER CLICK: [Legend] 12. True or False: The members of the OIC are concentrated in eastern Asia. 13. Identify the continents that have either at least one OIC member and/or observer. Another way to identify Islamic countries is to determine how many countries in the world have populations that consist predominantly of Muslims (i.e., Muslims form a plurality). While the level of influence of Islam in these countries clearly varies, it nonetheless exists and, at a minimum, indirectly influences the environment within which political decisions are made. CLICK: VARIABLES CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: MUSLIMPRED CLICK VIEW: Map CLICK: [Continue] 14. How many countries have populations that consist predominantly of Muslims? 15. True or False: Countries with populations that are predominantly Islamic are concentrated mainly in the Middle East and North Africa. Now let’s examine some of the key socio-economic and political characteristics of Islamic countries, beginning with fertility. As you likely recall, Islam is one of the world’s fastest growing religions. Many people convert to Islam annually, but population increases also account for much of the growth. It’s helpful to remember that to maintain a stable population, a fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman is necessary. Rates higher than 2.1 indicate populations that are expanding, all other factors held constant. CLICK: DATA FILES CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: ISL-FRTLTY CLICK VIEW: Rank Table CLICK: [Continue] 16. True or False: A majority of predominantly Islamic countries have fertility rates greater than 2.1. 17. How many predominantly Islamic countries have fertility rates lower than 2.1? Another important factor to examine is the relative wealth of Islamic countries. CLICK: VARIABLES CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: ISLGDP/CAP CLICK VIEW: Rank Table CLICK: [Continue] 18. Which country has the highest GDP per capita? 19. What is the GDP per capita of the country with the highest GDP per capita? 20. True or False: Most Islamic countries have a GDP per capita of less than $3,000. 21. How many Islamic countries have a GDP per capita less than $2,000? Literacy is another socio-economic issue that affects development in the Islamic states. Advanced industrial democracies typically have literacy rates in the range of 95 – 100 percent. Let’s examine literacy in the predominantly Islamic states of the world. CLICK: VARIABLES CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: ISL-LIT% CLICK VIEW: Rank Table CLICK: [Continue] 22. What is the range (i.e., the lowest and highest literacy rates) for the predominantly Islamic states? 23. How many predominantly Islamic states have literacy rates of 95 percent or more? 24. True or False: The majority of these states have literacy rates of less than 75 percent. 25. How many of these states have literacy rates of less than 50 percent? There is a lot of variation in the political systems of predominantly Islamic states. Let’s examine this. CLICK: VARIABLES CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: ISL-GOVTYP CLICK VIEW: Map CLICK: [Continue] 26. How many of these states are in transition? 27. True or False: Dictatorships form the second most common type of government in these countries. 28. True or False: A minority of these countries are democracies. Theocracy is a form of government wherein secular rulers are subordinate to religious leaders. 29. How many countries are theocracies? CLICK: BACK (use your browser’s back button) CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: ISL-GOVTYP CLICK VIEW: Alphabetical Table CLICK: [Continue] 30. Identify the countries that fall into the theocracy category. Traditional monarchies that allowed hereditary rulers to exercise real political power were typical throughout the world in past centuries, but have become much less common. Most of the world’s remaining monarchies are constitutional monarchies, where the monarch serves as a figurehead and real political power is vested in elected parliaments. The Islamic states possess both traditional and constitutional monarchies. Let’s examine this. CLICK: TASKS CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: ISL-GOVTYP CLICK: [Continue] 31. How many predominantly Islamic states are monarchies? 32. What percentage of predominantly Islamic states are monarchies? CLICK: VARIABLES CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: ISL-MONRCH CLICK: [Continue] 33. True or False: A majority of monarchies in the predominantly Islamic states are constitutional monarchies. 34. How many traditional monarchies exist? CLICK: TASKS CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: ISL-MONRCH CLICK VIEW: Map CLICK: [Continue] 35. True or False: The traditional monarchies are located primarily in the Middle East. Now let’s turn our attention to the level of freedom and equality in these states. CLICK: TASKS CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT VARIABLE 1: ISL-DEMOC CLICK: [Continue] 36. True or False: None of these states are ranked in the highest category of freedom (i.e., a "seven"). 37. What percentage of these states are in the lowest two categories of the freedom rankings? CLICK: TASKS CLICK TASK: Mapping SELECT VARIABLE 1: ISL-%FEM.L CLICK VIEW: Rank Table CLICK: [Continue] 38. True or False: Most of these states have legislatures with female membership rates of less than ten percent. 39. How many of these states have legislatures without a single female representative? 40. Provide a reasonable argument that might explain what you’ve observed about equality and freedom in the Islamic states.     Student Name:* Student Email:*   Professor Name:*   Professor Email:*         *required