Instructor's Manual for Chapter Six. Corporate and Non-Governmental Actors

Transcription

1 World Politics in the Twenty-First Century Instructor's Manual for Chapter Six Corporate and Non-Governmental Actors Active and Collaborative Teaching Techniques 1) Intergovernmental Organizations, NGOs, and the Nation-State Since students have now completed Chapters Five and Six on IGOs and NGOs, they are better prepared for a debate about the future of the nation-state. Work with the following discussion question: will the nation-state cease to be the dominant unit of analysis in world politics? This question can help demonstrate the following points: a) This question makes students think not only about external factors (such as non-state actors in world politics) but internal factors as well, such as the capacity of a country to respond effectively to changes in the world. That is, domestic and international forces are at work potentially weakening the power of the state. b) It is important to stress the point that not all nation-states are equally equipped to handle these internal and external forces. For example, transnational businesses are very influential in the United States, but many small, politically weak states in the developing world are even less able to influence these powerful international corporate actors. 79

2 Instructor s Manual c) Threats to national sovereignty come from many angles. Besides global interdependence, membership in IOs can limit a country s mobility, and IGOs and NGOs can sometimes be critical players where individual national actions might not be. d) The question forces students to think about trends in world politics: how IOs have developed over time and how things are likely to look into the future. 2) Assessing How Successful NGOs Can Be: the Case of Greenpeace Discussion question. How likely is it that Greenpeace will be able to achieve its goals? The goals are in the chapter for the students but are reprinted here for the instructor s convenience. * Promote peace, global disarmament and non-violence. * Prevent pollution and abuse of the earth's oceans, lands and fresh water. * End all nuclear threats. * Protect biodiversity in all its forms. Students may also be asked to rank the goals in terms of which is most likely to be achieved. The question helps get students thinking about environmental issues which come later in the course. It also get them thinking about what is and isn t possible given the 80

3 World Politics in the Twenty-First Century current state of international relations. Take the first goal, for example. The promotion of peace can be achieved easily, but actually creating peace is something much harder and something that Greenpeace may fail to achieve. Likewise, students should conclude that Greenpeace will have to be content with preventing some pollution but not all. In the end, some students might say that Greenpeace s efforts will come to nothing significant, that the basic functioning of the international system will not be affected by its actions. Others might argue that this IO can make significant progress at the local or regional level, and that it helps contribute to the overall effort from individuals, other NGOs, and even countries to achieve these goals. In the end, students may find themselves debating whether a few individuals can make a difference. This, of course, has relevance for most NGOs. 3) The Relationship Between the U.S. and Amnesty International Through class discussion, elicit student reactions to Amnesty International criticism of the United States as presented in the textbook. The instructor can ask the class the questions below; the questions start out easy and then get more substantive. a) Were you surprised by these criticisms? 81

4 Instructor s Manual b) If there are criminal justice students in the class, ask them if they learn in their criminal justice courses about the problems described in the textbook. c) Do Amnesty International s criticisms make you angry? Do they make you angry with Amnesty International, the U.S., or both? Explain. d) What is the likelihood that the U.S. will respond constructively to the criticisms of Amnesty International? This question can help get the students to address the idea that NGOs can have (a) no impact, (b) immediate impact, and (c) delayed impact. That is, students may argue that AI won t make any difference; U.S. policy won t be driven by international criticism. Others might argue that such exposure could contribute to current U.S. plans for addressing the problem and thus have an impact. Yet others might conclude that there may be no immediate effects, but that over the medium or longer term, attitudinal change will result in policy change. 4) The Pros and Cons of Transnational Corporations and FDI There are many easy-to-organize projects or discussion questions that can help students understand both the positive and negative aspects of transnational corporations and foreign direct investment. Consider the following examples: 82

5 World Politics in the Twenty-First Century Divide the class in half. One half of the class makes a long list of the positive contributions of MNCs both to the home and host countries. The other half of the class makes a long list of the negative aspects of MNCs. The instructor could randomly ask students about the positive qualities first and then the negative qualities. A constructive debate may ensue at any point along the way. For First World countries, what s good about MNCs? For First World countries, what s bad about MNCs? For Third World countries, what s good about MNCs? For Third World countries, what s bad about MNCs? 5) Debating the Actions of International Corporate Actors Debate topic: In what ways would the world be better off or worse off with more or bigger corporate actors than today? This question taps into several points in the chapter. First, it forces students to consider the positive and negative consequences of the activities of transnational and multinational corporations. Second, it encourages students to think about the extent to which corporate actors may be affecting national sovereignty in the U.S. and overseas, and in home and host countries in general. 83

6 Instructor s Manual 6) Simulating the Interests of International Corporations In this simulation, some students will play owners of transnational corporations (TNC), others will play local officials, others will play local (small) businessmen who are threatened by TNC competition, and yet others will play members of a labor organization that opposes TNC activities because of their impact on unemployment. The simulation is useful for the following reasons: It reinforces the notion that politics and economics are linked. It reinforces the notion that international and domestic politics are linked. It demonstrates some of the costs and benefits of TNCs, e.g. how TNCs can threaten local businesses but also make contributions to developing countries by providing jobs. 7) The U.S. and Terrorism The following question will work well as a group project: You are members of the U.S. Commission on Anti-terrorism. Given a limited budget, how do you allocate your resources to combating terrorist threats of the 21 st century? The class should be divided into groups of four or five students. Each group spends about seven to ten minutes addressing this question. Encourage them to work with percentages of the budget and not actually dollar 84

7 World Politics in the Twenty-First Century amounts, e.g. 20% should be devoted to combating biological and chemical warfare, 30% should be devoted to domestic terrorism, etc. After group time is over, get the results from one group, and write their budget percentages on the board. Go to the next group and see if their mix of budgeting targets is different. Ask the groups to justify why they did what they did. Ask the other groups if they have radically different budget targets, and then ask why. The exercise is useful for at least two reasons. First, it makes students understand the wide variety of terrorist threats facing the U.S.: foreign-based vs. domestic; biological, chemical, and nuclear vs. cyber-terrorism, etc. Second, it gets students to think about what threats are most significant; hence the need to devote more of the budget to countering certain threats as opposed to others. In addition to the sources cited in the chapter, a general, useful resource is Jeffrey Simon's The Terrorist Trap: America's Experience with Terrorism (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1994). Internet Projects 1) International Non-Governmental Organization The following question can work as either an in-class discussion question or as an Internet project. As a wealthy individual concerned about world affairs, you have decided to give 85

8 Instructor s Manual one million dollars to a non-governmental organization. Which NGO will it be and why? If this project is Internet-based, students should visit a variety of web sites in order to learn more about various NGOs. The chapter provides brief descriptions of Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and Doctors Without Frontiers. The instructor could provide students with the following list of other NGOs. Students can explore the various NGOs on the Internet and decide where to donate the money. This project should help demonstrate the diversity of scope and issues of NGOs, and it should also bring out students' conscious or unconscious biases in terms of their political priorities. Here is a partial list, although a much longer one (with over 150 sites) is located at Amnesty International: Doctor s Without Frontiers: Earth Pledge Foundation: Greenpeace: The Hunger Project: InterAction: Oxfam: Physicians for Human Rights: Population Action International: World Wildlife Federation (WWF): 86

9 World Politics in the Twenty-First Century 2) Learning More About International Terrorism At several locations on the Internet are lists of international terrorist organizations. Students can be assigned one of the groups to learn about what the group hopes to achieve and what its tactics are. A longer project which would involve a medium-length to term-length paper would also address responses by the government in question and the international community as well as the prospects for the terrorist group of achieving its objectives. Here are three locations to get students started: a. Patterns of Global Terrorism, United States Department of State, provided by the Dudley Knox Library at the Naval Postgraduate School. b. ICT - At the Interdisciplinary Center Herzlia P.O.Box 167, Herzlia, 46150, Israel. c. Terrorism Research Center: The following list, from the U.S. State Department, may be useful to the instructor when assigning terrorist groups to students. Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) Al-Gama'at al-islamiyya Al-Jihad Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB) 87

10 Instructor s Manual Anti-Imperialist International Brigade (AIIB) Arab Revolutionary Brigades Arab Revolutionary Council Armed Islamic Group Aum Shinrikyo Aum Supreme Truth (Aum) Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) Black September Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Dev Sol Devrimci Sol (Revolutionary Left) DHKP/C Ellalan Force Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna Fatah Revolutionary Council Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils (FACT) HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement) Harakat ul-ansar (HUA) Hizballah (Party of God) Irish Republican Army (IRA) The Islamic Group (IG) Islamic Jihad Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine Jamaat ul-fuqra Japanese Red Army (JRA) Jihad Group Kach Kahane Chai Khmer Rouge Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (FPMR) The Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO) Muslim Iranian Students Society (MEK front organization used to garner financial support) 88

11 World Politics in the Twenty-First Century National Liberation Army (ELN)--Colombia The National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA, the militant wing of the MEK) New Jihad Group New People's Army (NPA) Organization of the Oppressed on Earth Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Party of Democratic Kampuchea The People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) The Provos Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Revolutionary Justice Organization Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17 November) Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) Revolutionary People's Struggle (ELA) Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path, SL) Sikh Terrorism Talaa'al-Fateh Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) Vanguards of Conquest World Tamil Association (WTA) World Tamil Movement (WTM) 89

12 Instructor s Manual 3) International Terrorism and Non-Western Political Thought To explore the world of nonwestern political thought, students can look up web sites dealing with international terrorists, such as Osama bin Laden. See: 90