This paper focuses on the long-term negative effects of Argentina’s populist economic policies have had on entrepreneurs. Micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) are an important part of Argentina’s economy employing 65% of the working population and generating 40% of the gross national product (GDP). Entrepreneurs create the start-up businesses that become MSMEs. Fostering entrepreneurs and their businesses can have a major impact on GDP growth and the standard of living of the people of Argentina.
Working out of the financial crisis in 2001-2, the new populist government focused on reducing poverty and income disparity through a series of large government social programs including employment, pensions, education and healthcare. With a strong global economy and export market, Argentina successfully transitioned reducing poverty while increasing GDP. The large government influencing many economic areas became increasingly unstable as the global economy suffered in 2008. Costly policies had to be paid for with dwindling revenues. Money was printed eroding the value of the peso overtime.
The uncertainty first with the radical change of government in 2002 and the abrupt changes in policy since have not promoted an innovation driven economy. While improving income disparity and poverty rates for the Argentinean people, the government’s continual political and economic instability, monetary policy, prohibitive regulations, and interference with free trade, has restrained the entrepreneurial class.
Women in Saudi Arabia are faced with some of the most restrictive living conditions that exist in the world today. This research paper focuses on how the legal system supports Saudi Arabia’s patriarchal society. To support this claim, the research is based upon the content of 25 articles about Saudi Arabian court cases. The articles each fell within one of four categories of policies that influence Saudi women’s daily lives: male guardianship, the driving ban, child marriage, and domestic violence. The results of this research showed that women in Saudi Arabia are denied their basic human rights due to the absence of a written legal code, which allows Saudi judges to make arbitrary sentences based on their personal interpretations and beliefs rather than the rights laid out by Islam.
The fundamental message of Islam is indisputably egalitarian, as all followers of God, both men and women alike, are promised success and forgiveness with their faith. However, women in Saudi Arabia have consistently faced some of the worst living conditions for females in the world. In the Global Gender Gap Report of 2013, conducted by the World Economic Forum, Saudi Arabia received the 127th ranking out of 136 countries for overall quality of life for women in the nation. This is an improvement compared with its position as the 131st country out of 136 that it had held for the past two years. Though many Saudis believe that the Quran clearly states equality for all in its purest text, Islam remains the justification for the restrictive social and legal policies and practices implemented by Saudi Arabia towards women. This conflict over the core principles of Islam and their application to society has sparked an ongoing debate in the Middle East, represented not by a war of the sexes, but rather, “a proxy war between modernizers and conservatives over what sort of Saudi Arabia both sexes will inhabit and over the role and relevance of the omnipresent religious establishment in Saudi society” (House, 2012, 72).
The obvious conflict over the true intentions of Islam towards women has led me to ask: Why are women denied their basic human rights in Islam, and particularly in Saudi Arabia? After conducting significant research, I have concluded that women were initially suppressed in Saudi society because of the history of the religious clash between fundamentalists and modernizers. This suppression has since been sustained by the non-codification of laws in Saudi Arabia, which allows the more traditional authorities to continue making arbitrary sentences based on their personal opinions. Saudi society is inhibited by the exclusion and suppression of women in society economically, politically, socially, and educationally; and must look to the purest texts of the Quran, free from interpretations, to reevaluate the role of women in society under the Islamic faith.
How would you feel if you were in jeopardy of losing your identity? How would you feel if your fundamental beliefs were questioned? Nearly two hundred thousand people in the Dominican Republic suffer with these feelings at this very moment. The Dominican Republic is threatening to not grant any Haitian descendent their identification papers even if they were born in the Dominican. This discrimination can be traced back to colonial times when these tensions began within the enthralling island of Hispaniola.
I have, through service organizations, first hand knowledge of working with Haitian Migrants in the Dominican Republic. From this experience, I greater understand now the day-to-day struggles these people have living in the Bateyes, or sugar cane communities. The Bateyes and the working conditions they foster are seen as modern day slavery. A slavery from which the Haitian works cannot seem to escape. Haitian workers make $2 per ton of sugar cane they produce. In addition, the Haitians are not paid in dollars but mostly in coupons. These coupons, called vales, can only be used in the Bateyes, which furthers the exclusion of the Haitian workers from outside the Bateyes. It is estimated that 15,000 to 20,000 Haitians come and go at the seasonal cane cutting season and many end up staying full time.Another problem is that many times when a Haitian comes to the Bateyes, they do not have immigration papers. Without these papers, the workers cannot travel outside of the Bateyes.
The sad part is that the sugar cane companies know about the abuse in the sugar cane fields yet do nothing to stop it. The government seems to turn a blind eye as well and they benefit from the addition to the economy that the sugar cane trade and these workers provide. Not until the recent court decision has their been any true dialogue about the treatment of the Haitians. The Haitian migrants because of their exile to the Bateyes are excluded from the same lifestyle that most Dominicans live. The impression is that Dominicans and Haitians have tried to unite as one island but many have concluded that this forced geographical union may be what actually has driven them so far apart.
My presentation aims to examine the racial relations between Haitians and Dominicans and how the relations affect these groups both socially and governmentally. My presentation will explore both current and potential consequences related to the relationship between these two groups. Social tensions between Haiti and the Dominican Republic date back to colonization and linger through many pivotal political points. Both the history of the creation of the sugar cane fields in the Dominican Republic and the way the Dominicans use migrant workers, has aided in the creation of superiority complex between two nations who share one island. To frame the research within the issues of the sugar cane communities, the paper’s research question is, “how has sugar cane influenced racial relations in the Dominican Republic?” This quickly leads to the governmental aspect and the fact that there is institutional racism demonstrated by things such as Trujillo’s rule over the Dominican Republic to the now infamous Dominican Court Decision 0168-13. In connecting both aspects, it appears that the sugar cane companies, which started the idea of racial order, have now aided institutional racism and, as a result, ultimately the revoking of nationality and citizenship. The method of study in my presentation was qualitative analysis and also a small amount of statistical analysis in comparing the two countries’ demographics, economics, and current situations. The sugar cane trade has always been the source of challenges on the island of Hispaniola whether it was being privately owned or government controlled. The main analysis and data collection of my presentation refers back to the court decision decided in September of 2013 that will take around 18 months to fully be implemented. This court decision is a clear violation of human rights and showcases discrimination and prejudice becoming the primary voice of the Dominican Republic.
Cambodia is a unique country because of its 90% rural population and subsequently large agricultural sector. The agriculture is on a subsistence level for 72% of farmers which means that the majority of the farmers are farming to produce food for themselves. Buying pesticides in their local markets has become a part of the farming culture. While these pesticides theoretically aid them with the pests who hinder their crops, in reality they are hurting the farmer’s income, crop yield and health. After reading a few case studies I found a dependency on not just pesticides but toxic and illegal pesticides. Cambodian farmers are subjecting themselves to possible death from overexposure to pesticides banned in other nations but available illegally in Cambodia. The illegal trade of these pesticides to developing countries is a major problem developed countries like the United States contribute to. However, the more fascinating research is how illegal pesticides are engrained in the Cambodian culture despite their cancerous nature.
This topic interested me because it required an analysis of many factors such as the economic, political, educational, cultural and historical nature of Cambodia. Pesticides are not a new problem. I could trace the start of the problems back to the Pol Pot genocide of 1975 where 20% of the population died. The Cambodian economy is also just as relevant because 85% of the jobs for women are concentrated in agriculture and textiles. This in conjunction with the fact that 60% of the population relies on one crop, rice, for their daily existence made Cambodia fascinating to me. Many factors contribute to this dependency on pesticides in Cambodia. However, potential solutions are being implemented and finally more research is being done to save farmer’s health, modernize the Cambodian economy, educate a generation on new farming techniques and raise the standard of living.
Morocco is a small country in Northern Africa, and is in the interesting position of having three major spoken languages – Arabic, Berber, and French – each of which occupies a unique position in society. It was the difference between these positions that interested me the most. Arabic, and more recently Berber, are the official languages and the first language of approximately half the population. French is the primary second language of Morocco, and is spoken by many at the same level of a first language. However, Berber has only recently started being taught as a language in the Moroccan school system, and is still only taught for three hours per week as a second language. Why is this? What is the connection to the fact that Berber-speakers have lower incomes and literacy rates than the rest of the country?
To this end, I did my research on the impacts of societal attitudes on the usage of a language, and the implications of language usage on a population. Through research on the Berber language and its position in the Moroccan educational system, my research attempts to prove that negative views of a society diminish the effectiveness of both top-down and bottom-up reform efforts. This issue is, additionally, a way of exploring the wider issues of social inequality and the challenges that face evolving multilingual societies, including China and the United States.
Upon the fall of the U.S.S.R. in the late 80s and early 90s, George H.W. Bush was president and Walkmans were quite popular. Though that was a quarter century ago, as a family friend who grew up in the Soviet Union says regarding Russia, “Putin may use the CD instead of phonograph, but they are still playing the same song”.
On that note, I am researching Russia’s energy dominance over Europe and how it affects western, and more specifically American, foreign policy. Russia holds enormous power through its oil and natural gas resources. Through being a primary energy source for many countries, it can use that leverage to affect change through energy-based foreign policy. With their expanding leverage over having the power to shut off oil and gas supplies to former Soviet-bloc countries, it is conceivable that Putin and his administration are looking to expand their political influence back into the governments of those countries. Such expansion, whether simply through remote power or actual territorial expansion, has serious implications for U.S. foreign policy and might re-ignite the Cold War.
In my thesis, I question how Russia is using energy to gain political and economic concessions from its neighboring states, and what effect those actions have on American foreign policy. Through seeking answers to these questions, I am looking to shed light on a Russia that is perhaps looming larger over the international scene than many realize.
For the developed world, energy access is something that we take for granted. Sixty eight percent of all American Jobs are in services; businesses could not fathom working without an efficient and active energy grid. Our heavy service industry is only rivaled by India’s who accounts for sixty percent of its GDP. However, unlike the United States, India has a problem with its power grid. Centralized reforms and strong coal regulation have destabilized the power grid. My research will examine what role privatization has on accelerating India’s energy developments.
India’s energy has been centralized for decades following Indira Gandhi’s socialist reforms. Her reorganizations originated from a strong desire to improve the social welfare of the Indian population in the 1970s. By aiming her focus at industrial and natural resource sectors, millions of new jobs were created. However, as India has joined the world economy, government inefficiencies pose a threat to business development. The question arises; does privatization of India’s energy production benefit its businesses? Privatization has been experimented in a couple of states within India and has shown promising results. Case studies have shown that the decentralized change in management incentivizes businesses to offer superior services but at a more expensive price.
Over the last century, obesity has become one of the United States’ most pressing issues. More than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7%) are obese. This makes the United States the second most obese country in the world, right behind Mexico. Obesity is the cause of many health issues such as gallstones, type two diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and triglycerides, coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke, sleep apnea, heart disease, and certain types of cancer. These obesity related diseases increase the United States health care costs. It was estimated that in 2008, the United States spend $147 billion just on obesity related illness. Also, the healthcare cost per obese person was $1,429 higher than those of normal a weight.
I am researching the role that socioeconomic status, race, education, and gender play in the obesity epidemic in the United States. To explore this, I analyzed data from a survey provided by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). I used the height and weights of the participants to calculate their BMI and break them into four different weight categories. I hypothesized that there is an inverse relationship between obesity and socio-economic status, and that race, education level, and gender affect socioeconomic status.
Two summers volunteering at a Chinese orphanage for medically fragile orphans caused me to focus my Global Thesis on how Special Needs Orphans have been impacted during China’s modernization.
In the wake of the failure of China’s Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward, China’s new leaders sought modernization in the 1970s. China’s drive to modernize has resulted in urbanization, economic reform, industrial development, and birth planning policies. The One Child Policy was implemented to limit China’s large population. Urbanization has shifted the majority of China’s population to cities. China’s economic reform has created the second greatest economy in the world. However, the environment has been destroyed by industrial development that has engulfed cities in pollution.
Urbanization, economic reform, industrial development, and birth planning policies have impacted the fates of special needs orphans. The One Child Policy resurrected the traditional preference for boys that caused families to abandon their healthy infant daughters. These girls flooded the orphanages previously primarily filled with special needs orphanages. By limiting families to have only one child, the One Child Policy promoted quality over quantity. The economic reform further emphasized this concept as the government called on every citizen to contribute to the economy. This emphasis on human quality, known as su zhi, decreased the value of people whose deformities and disabilities hindered their ability to contribute to China’s rise to success. The pollution that entrenches Chinese cities, a byproduct of industrial development, has been shown to increase the prevalence of birth defects. China’s industrialization has increased the number of children who will be abandoned because of their low su zhi.
The demographics of Chinese orphanages have come full circle as they return to the numbers of pre-modernization. The sad truth is that although special needs orphans don’t have to compete for resources with healthy children, they still are orphans who will never know the love of a family. While the government was reluctant for the first few decades of China’s modernization to address the issues of orphans, in the last few years, China has become more and more involved in attempting to better the fates of Chinese orphans. However, improving their medical resources and physical conditions of orphanages superficially treats the poor conditions of orphans, but will never end the cycle of abandonment and isolation from society that children with any disability or deformity undergo.
For the global community, soccer is a game that reaches all aspects of society. In America however, this is not the case. In fact, there is a notion held by many that soccer is un-American, but the sport is rapidly growing in popularity across the nation. Soccer’s effects off the field are what make it have greater importance than most sports. This is why the integrity of the game must be salvaged. What makes soccer so important to the world is its strong connection to society and match fixing can ruin that.
This project will look into why and how match fixing has infiltrated the world’s most popular sport. Match fixing has plagued soccer for decades and recently has surfaced in the most popular competitions in Europe. This problem has stemmed from a massive gambling market in Asia, specifically Malaysia and Singapore. By targeting poorly treated players and corrupt referees, tens of millions of dollars have been made through illegal match fixing. Match fixing begs a question about humanity beyond soccer; why do economic incentives triumph over people’s morals? Through examples of match fixing in multiple sports, this paper will explore how money has become more important than integrity. However, this problem is not something that will threaten Major League Soccer, The United States’ professional league. The MLS has taken measures to protect its players from match fixing. Through reading journal articles and news articles, the research conducted shows that match fixing will positively impact the United States, but is destroying the sport globally.
World Perspectives Program 