DEBREBIRHAN UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL SCIENCE

Assignment Of Global Trends
 Assignment One
1. Define the following words
A. State : Group of people which have acquired international recognition
as an independent country and which have a population ,a common
language and distinct territory.
B. Nation: Is a stable community of people formed on the basis of a
common language, territory, history, ethnicity, or psychology make-up
manifested in a common culture.
C. Nation State: Is a state in which a great majority shares the same
culture and is conscious of it. The nation State is an ideal in which
cultural boundaries match up with political boundaries.
D. International Relation: Is the study in interconnectedness of politics,
economics and law on a global level.
2. Explain actors in International Relations
The two type of actors involved in international relation
include state and non state actors .
 United Nations (UN) : Maintain international peace and
security. Develop friendly relations among nations.
Achieve international cooperation in solving
international problems . Function as a centre for
harmonizing the actions of nations.
 World Bank: This International Financial Institution
works on reducing poverty. It helps developing countries
by giving loans.
3. What are the basic assumptions of Liberalism and Realism
 Liberalism assumes instead of portraying lust of power as
the international conflict liberalism fights for the basic
rights of the people. It insists on pursuing the political
reforms establish democracies.
 Realism assumes the state as the ultimate power that is
not answerable to any body ; it can resolve the critical
issues itself. The realists often believe that world politics is
a zero-sum game ; what ever is gained by one competitor
is lost by the other.
4. What is National Interest according to
Pragmatic Criterion ?
National Interest established on this ground is
unemotional and calculated . It tries to deal with
political reality. This Criterion is key for realistic
school.
5. Briefly explain Economic Instruments of Foreign Policy ?
There are three major instruments that conduct foreign policy
including:
 Diplomacy is a way of dealing with other nations through
compromise and communications.
 Foreign aid is money that one country voluntarily transfers
to another, which can take the form of a gift, a grant or a
loan.
 Military force is a heavily armed, highly organized force
primarily intended for warfare, also known collectively as
armed forces.
6. Describe the following Theories
A. Liberalism : is an political doctrine that takes protecting
and enhancing the freedom of the individual to be the
central problem of politics.
B. Mercatilism : is an economic policy that is designed to
maximize the exports and minimize the imports for an
economy. It promotes imperialism, tariffs and subsidies on
traded goods to achieve that goal.
C. Developments State Approach: is characterized by having
strong state intervention, as well as extensive regulation
and planning.
 ASSIGNMENT TWO
1. What are the positive and negative impact of Globalization in
Africa?
Positive impact of globalization in Africa
 Globalization opens peoples lives to other cultures and all their
creativity and to the flow of ideas and values.
 Information and communication technologies have eased
interaction among countries and peoples.
 It is creating a global village out of a wide and diverse world.
 One major positive impact of globalization on Africa is that it
has made available information on how other countries are
governed and the freedoms and rights their people enjoy.
Negative impacts of Globalization in Africa
 More important is the fact that globalization for most part
does not facilities the establishment of the economic
condition necessary for genuine democracy and good
governance to take solid roots and thrives.
 Globalization introduce anti-development by declaring the
state irrelevant or marginal to the developmental effort.
 Has encouraged illicit trade in drugs, prostitution, human
smuggling of dangerous waste and depletion of the
environmental by unscrupulous entrepreneurs.
2. Define Regionalism
Regionalism is a political ideology focusing on
the ‘’ development of a political or social system
based on one or more’’ regions and/or the
national, normative or economic interests of a
specific region, group of regions .
3. What are the major contemporary Global Issues? Discuss at least
three of them.
 Food security : the number of hungry people in the world has
increased over the last few years. One in nine people in the world
go hungry each day, and suffer form nutritional deficiencies as a
result.
 Water scarcity: there is actually enough fresh water for each
person currently living on the planet. However, access to that
water is not always possible for everyone.
 Global child health and primary education: children are key to
our success, yet many children across the world do not have
some of their most basic needs met.