Case Studies Flashcards
(13 cards)
Free Trade
Australia and New Zealand have a very strong free trade relationship through the Closer Economic Relations (CER) Agreement, signed in 1983.
Key features:
Almost no tariffs or quotas between them — goods and many services move freely.
It covers not just trade in goods, but also services, investments, and even labor mobility (people can move and work across both countries quite easily).
They even recognize each other’s product standards — meaning if a product is approved in Australia, it’s automatically accepted in New Zealand, and vice versa. This saves companies a lot of time and money.
Impact:
It has created one of the most integrated economies in the world.
Businesses can operate almost like they are in the same country.
Workers (like engineers, teachers, etc.) can easily get jobs across the border.
Fair trade
-Football workers in Pakistan
-Cacao Farmers in Ghana
Foreign aid
Bill Gates strongly believes that foreign aid was instrumental in curing diseases such as small pox due to the vaccinations provided by wealthy countries to countries part of west Africa.
Diambisa Moyo have identified certain problems with foreign aid such as poor planning of projects with lead to an extreme waste of resources (such as the Millenium project by Jeffery Saccs in 2005),
Not following up on the foreign aid and poor countries depending on foreign aid lifelong.
Ex. If foreign aid has been provided to a country for educating youth, and is in fact successful, even after bypassing corruption and government officials, there is no way to do anything with that education as there are no job opportunities after graduating. This keeps the poor countries in a vicious cycle known as the poverty trap and keeps extending to a point of no return, that is why these people may believe “dead aid” and that it is causing more harm to these countries than good.
Poverty Cycle Solution
Kiberia, Kenya residents did community empowerment by building public restrooms, schools, etc. which reduced disease & improved literacy rate
Economic Growth Country
Norway used its oil wealth to fund social programs that improved people’s quality of life.
Specifically, the government used oil profits (through taxes and investments) to provide:
Free healthcare for everyone
Free or heavily subsidized education, including university
Strong unemployment benefits (if you lose your job, you still get financial support)
Pensions for the elderly so people can retire comfortably
Paid parental leave and childcare support for families
Public housing and social welfare programs for people in need
Negative Resource Extraction
Canada Tar Sands
1978- 2010
Has had many economic benefits for Canada since it exports oil to US for billions of dollars, 140,000 jobs were created, supports national GDP and energy independence
Environmental problems such as deforestation and lost of forest, high carbon emissions and lot of use of water
Social problems such as conflicts with indigenous communities due to environmental injustice, health risks and cultural disruption
UN involvement to tackle problems but Canada has been slow to take action
Positive Resource Extraction
Botswana Diamond Mining
1966- present
Lot of economic success since 80% of earnings and 30% of GDP come from diamond mining
Led to massive boost in healthcare, education and infrastructure funded by mines making profit which makes it one of the most stable economies in Africa
It had less corruption and good government
Signed a joint venture with TNC called ‘De Beers’ controlling diamond production and developed a long term plan to avoid resource curse like other African countries
Less environmental impact since they enforced rehabilitation plans, used water recycling plans and placed wildlife protection laws
Urban Slums Case Study
Dharvi Slum Mumbai:
Main Causes:
Rapid rural to urban migration
Lack of affordable housing
Action Taken:
Slum rehabilitation authority initiated in 1995, residents were given free 225sq feet flats in high rise buildings
Basic services such as water, electricity and water were improved through NGO and government support
Improved living standards and lead to positive economic impacts since it created jobs via development, it lead to a decrease in crime, better education access
Dharvi now has a thriving micro-community for recycling and 60% of Mumbai’s plastic waste is recycled there
One-child policy China
1979-2016
Policy included fines for having more than one child, increased access to family planning and child care as well as propoganda
Put a lot of pressure on individuals since they had no brothers or sisters to divide expectations
A family mainly consisted of grandparents, parents and their own children. No uncles, aunts, nephews, etc.
Family was often the support system of people, especially in rural populations
Responsible anti-natalist initiative
Kumbarshee Mission in Kerela, India
1998- present
Promotes woman empowerment in Kerala which has lead to higher literacy rate for woman and has significantly lowered birth rates
Civil Rights Movement –> Montgomery
1950s
Fought to make America more inclusive
Martin Luther king led the Montgomery bus boycott. It was a powerful display of non-violent protest. It ended social segregation on buses in southern states of USA
NAACP –> Key civil rights organisation. They could form a case in the supreme court to get more attention to the story
MIA –> Montgomery improvement association. Organisation that was founded shortly after Rosa Parks incident
The bus boycott was successful due to it being well organised, had committed leaders, media attention and financial impact on companies
Civil Rights Movement –> Greensboro sit ins
1960
Fought segregation in public places like restaurants
Started when 4 people sat at ‘white-only’ lunch counters in Greensboro school and refused to leave until served
This story got a lot of media attention and people across US saw protesters being victim to violence and discrimination which made people more supportive
SNCC –> To train students on how to cope with harassment and abuse during protests
This was significant since it inspired youth activists, had a lot of media coverage and spread across the country
Supernational organisations
1950s - Present
European Union
Made of 27 different countries
After WW2, European countries who were severely impacts came together to rebuild
Main Idea: If countries traded together, they would be less likely to go to war
Formed organisations such as ECSC and started to work together more and created common policies
Then, governments decided to let go of some power to create a common treaty for the main institutions
As more countries joined the EU, they passed money from richer countries to developing countries to create fairer playing field, they also developed a common currency
Problems such as developing countries not being able to voice their concern due to them joining later. Also had issues with differences between countries which slowed cooperation
