POLS 131 1st Edition Exam 4 Study Guide This exam is optional but will replace your lowest exam score if you have taken all three previous exams and do better on this one than any of those three If something is unethical but legal is it corruption Why does this matter when challenging corruption Yes it can still be a corrupt act when a person acts for personal gain or deviates from normal duties while in a public role This matters because it can be very difficult to combat the corruption if no rules have actually been broken Ex Campaign contributions political favors or favorable policy legislation in exchange for money According to Sachs how is corruption related to growth and poverty reduction Countries providing foreign aid often have misperceptions that any money donated will be eaten up by corruption like being put into Swiss bank accounts instead of going to public aid How might corruption impede basic government services related to poverty reduction There is the argument that extreme poverty persists because governments fail to open up their markets provide public services and clamp down on bribe taking Analysis of Sachs s roadmap to eliminate poverty altogether Roadmap 1 Double affluent nation s poverty assistance to 160 billion a year Commit to donating 0 7 of GNP of the planet s rich countries 2 Donations would need to be closely monitored and audited to ensure they are correctly targeted towards those in need Evaluation Reasons why rich countries would not sign onto this Weak political support for foreign assistance in most rich countries Uncertainty of commitment Ongoing armed conflicts that impede efforts to help the poor Feasibility the international community has not been very successful in complete cooperation or in recognizing actors that would need to become monitors Outcomes if all of the richest countries cooperated and were able to donate 0 7 of GNP the outcomes in poverty stricken areas would likely be very good Efficiency Sachs s proposal makes eliminating poverty altogether sound very cost effective so it very well may be Identify and describe 3 key trends in education 1 More people are being formally educated Continued ascent of the knowledge economy Explosive growth in higher education worldwide 2 Education seems to be making a quantifiable difference for individuals and states Individuals Education is closely tied to people s prospect for employment Education is closely tied to people s earning potential Education seems to be tied to outcomes that are not as closely tied to employment States Education is the key to national development human capital 3 Systematic inequalities in education remain Types age gender race geography class Critically important for maintaining social mobility What is the Room to Read Program Program that helps girls gain access to education by providing schools teachers books uniforms transportation etc What are the outcomes of Room to Read The program has been very successful in positively impacting the lives of the children the reach but millions of children remain uneducated and in poverty According to Henderson and Jeydel why has it been so difficult for girls to gain access to education Families spend what money they have on educating boys educating girls is seen as a wasted expense since they will marry and leave the family while boys will not Girls are expected to either stay at home and care for younger children the elderly and the sick or to join the workforce to supplement low family incomes Physical and sexual safety are concerns due to the dangers presented by inadequate roads and transportation and due to sexual harassment by other male students Conflicts war leave girls as sex slaves cooks refugees etc How do the three main paradigms of the class evaluate the impact of the information revolution Realism states remain primary actors the information has thus far favored the power of large states relative to small ones Liberalism states remain primary actors argue that the information revolution benefits democratic states Constructivism predict dramatic weakening of the state system Does online activism matter Why or why not Yes It is shifting the nature of power Arab Spring example coordination of social movements through tweets facebook etc Venue for political conversations among the young and well educated How has the information revolution impacted state sovereignty Will sovereignty be reduced because of how freely information can flow across borders Weakening of transmission interference information on a global scale Some say sovereignty will be completely eroded others say it will live on States and international organizations taking information technology seriously and getting involved in shaping their online presence Theories on Change in World Politics Fukuyama End of History Predicts a final uniform victory of Western liberal democracy o Strength liberal democracy capitalism has been the best form of government so far o Weakness it hasn t happened Huntington Clash of Civilizations Predicts that powerful conflicts will continue no end in history in sight that is largely due to globalization The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural o Strength continuation of conflict post Cold War o Weakness too Western centric Nye Third Way Forward Based on the idea that the future will probably entail the rapid advance of information technology Effects diffusion of power away from central governments power has been flowing toward both higher and lower levels of governance