Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism

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GUIDELINES FOR ESSAYS

The following are some general guidelines for each of the papers due for the course. Most of the information should be available on the Internet, but don’t neglect library resources (URLs of resource sites accompany each paper description) Above all your papers should reflect your reading of the text and assigned readings (particularly if your country is discussed) Don't be reluctant to quote from the text or the readings. All your sources must be cited, and, if you are not aware of them, acquaint yourselves with the college's plagiarism policy. If you do use direct quotations from sources, note them as such and cite the author and source.

You will find some overlap between topics (e.g. economic conditions and poverty and hunger) and that information that you use in one paper will be applicable to others. That's fine.
 

Required paper: History and Capital Development (5 to 7 pages)

Web resources:
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/capitalist_resources.htm
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/nation_state_resources.htm
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/country_resources.htm

The key in this paper is to focus on your country's position in the global economy and how it got that way. I suggest that you work from the present backwards; that may help focus your paper on the events and agents that contributed to the present state of your country. Be sure to begin your paper with your brief summary of the issues raised in appropriate chapters of the text. And include a map of your country (see http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/map_file.htm)

Some of the questions to address in this paper include:

  1. What are some of the issues and topics discussed in your readings or class that relate to the economic history of your country?
  2. How and when did your country emerge as a nation-state? How were its borders created and defined?
  3. Which of the core powers most influenced your country? What was the relationship between them (e.g. colonizer to colonized, etc.)? Which core country is most influential today in the affairs of your country?
  4. What is the present state of the economy (e.g. GNP, per capita income, rate of economic growth, etc.)? How much debt does your country have? How does the economy (particularly the economic growth rate) today compare to 20 or thirty years ago? Try to find out what sort of economic programs have been imposed on your country by the IMF.
  5. What are the dominant industries and or corporations, and who controls them?
  6. How would you characterize the present government of your country (democratic, authoritarian, etc.)?

You will find a lot of the information that you need for this paper at the CIA country site, the World Bank site, and the IMF site.
 

Population (3-5 pages)

Web resources:
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/population_resources.htm

This paper should focus on the population history of your country. Again, begin your paper with a brief description from the text and readings of the major issues involved in the study of population. Your paper should then address the following questions:

  1. What are some of the issues discussed in your readings or in class that relate to understanding the population dynamics of your country?
  2. What are the demographics of your country (e.g. total population, age and gender distribution, rate of population growth, urban vs. rural population, etc.)?
  3. How many people are there per square mile? For comparison, New Jersey (the highest in the U.S.) has 1,042.2 persons per square mile, the Northeastern U.S., 313.1, and the U.S. as a whole 70.3 persons per square mile. You can check out the density of other states at http://www.demographia.com/db-landstatepopdens.htm. Which state does your country most closely resemble? Is your country overpopulated?
  4. What was the population 20 years ago? 40 years ago?
What is the role of women in your country in deciding reproductive strategies?
 

Poverty and Hunger (3-5 pages)

Web Resources:
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/hunger_resources.htm

Begin your paper with a brief summary from the text and readings of the issues involved in the causes of hunger and poverty. Address the following questions:

  1. What are some of the issues discussed in your readings or class discussions that relate to poverty and hunger in your country?
  2. What is the per capita income in your country? How unevenly is income distributed (e.g. what percentage of the population earns less than $1.00 a day? Less than $2.00 a day?)? What is the Gini coefficient? (see www.nationmaster.com); What might you conclude is the degree of endemic hunger?
  3. What are the major agricultural crops produced (e.g. land devoted to different crops)? Which are food crops? What percentage of the food crops produced are exported?
  4. Have there been major famines in your country?
  5. How much foreign aid does your country receive? From where do they receive it?
  6. What sort of programs does your country have to alleviate hunger and/or poverty? Are there international efforts?
  7. What role does the informal economy play in people's lives?
 

The Environment (3-5 pages)

Web resources:
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/environment_resources.htm

Begin your paper with a brief summary from the text and readings of the basic issues involved in the study of environmental conditions. Address the following questions:

  1. What are some of the issues discussed in readings and class discussions that relate to environmental conditions in your country?
  2. What is the environmental status of your country's a) forests, b) water, c) air quality? How much and what kind of energy (e.g. coal, hydroelectric, nuclear, etc.) does your country use and what is its rate of carbon emission (you can get that information at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/iea/contents.html)?
  3. What is the greatest source of environmental pollution in your country? What sort of environmental laws does your country have? Is it relatively easy to get information on the sources of pollution? How does that compare to the U.S.?
  4. Does your country import toxic waste? To what extent are multinational corporations responsible for environmental pollution
 

Health and Disease (3-5 pages)

Web resources:
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/health_resources.htm

Begin your paper with a summary from the text and readings of the basic issues involved in the study of health. Address yourself to the following questions:

  1. What are some of the issues discussed in readings and class discussions that relate to health conditions in your country?
  2. How would you characterize the basic state of health in your country (e.g. infant and child mortality rates, life expectancy, etc.)? What are the greatest threats to health? How many doctors or health care workers (e.g. nurses) are there per 1000 persons?
  3. What are the infection rates for such things malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS?
  4. What are some of the cultural factors that might predispose people in your country to specific diseases? How is the rate of disease and access to health care influenced by class and/or gender?
 

Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Conflict (3-5 pages)

Web resources:
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/indigenous_peoples.htm

 Begin your paper with a brief summary from the text and readings of the basic issues involved in the study of indigenous people and ethnic conflict. Address yourself to the following questions:

  1. What are some of the issues discussed in readings and class discussions that relate to the position of indigenous peoples in your country?
  2. Who are the indigenous groups or religious or ethnic minorities within your country? Approximately what is their percentage within the general population? (you can get some of that information at http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html.)
  3. Historically, how have indigenous groups or ethnic and/or religious minorities been treated by the majority or dominant population? Are there present or past conflicts between them? Have these conflicts been violent?
  4. What is the present economic and social condition of indigenous and/or ethnic or religious minorities relative to the rest of the population?  Does your country have any market-dominant minorities?
 

Required Paper: Social Protest (5-7 pages)

Web Resources
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/peasant_protest.htm
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/antisystemic_protest.htm
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/religious_protest.htm

There are various forms of protest to the expansion of capitalism that we will examine in class including peasant, labor, feminist, minority, environmental, indigenous, and religious protest, among others. Your paper should begin with a brief summary from the text and readings of the major issues involved in social and/or antisystemic protest. Address at least some of the following questions in your paper:

1. How have small-scale farmers (peasants) fared in agricultural development? What is the history of peasant protest? To what extent were these and other forms of protest linked to the expansion of the capitalist world system?

2. What were the motivations or reasons given by members of antisystemic movements for their protest? Could they be linked to economic conditions?

3. Are there present-day movements that involve attempts of people or groups (labor groups, women’s groups, environmental groups) to gain relief from what they view as oppression?

4. What role have religious groups played in addressing the social and economic problems of your country? Have religious groups been involved in any way in violent protest in your country?

5. What has been the reaction of your nation-state to the protests? Were these reactions violent?
 

 

 

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