Unit 5 Overview: Political and Economic Changes and Development

Welcome to the last Unit of AP Comparative Government! It is last, but not the least important one, as in this Unit you will learn how to connect all the internal political structure of the course countries, to the global market they are inserted in. 🌎

Why Economic Changes and Development? 🤔

Over the last 30 years (or more!) these course countries have gone through great economic transformations that have shaped their political landscape. In this unit you should also learn how to identify the limitation of qualitative analysis. Sometimes, data does not explain everything, either due to the lack of it or due to its inherent limitations. In this unit, you should hopefully be able to identify where it lacks and come up with interpretations for it. 

Furthermore, it is important to recognize that politics and economics are deeply interconnected. The economic policies of a nation depend on the type of ideology and goals that government wishes to achieve. That is why it is important to learn about the course country structures before jumping into its economic policies. For example, you learned about the two majors parties of Nigeria, the PDP and the APC, in topic 4.3 - What are Political party Systems?. The PDP is known to have a more liberal ideology, and economics they support an economy that mixes neoliberalism and public enterprises. The APC supports less government intervention in the economy and supports measures such as privatization and free trade. You will build up on the knowledge of previous topics for this unit. 

Key Terms 🔎

Here are important concepts that you should know for this unit. These key terms are constantly being thrown around in deliberations of International politics and Economics. You can refer back to these definitions as you go through the unit: 

• Globalization 🌎 - process of increasing interconnectedness between world nations in the economic, social and political camps which was brought by great advancements in technology.
• International Organizations 🇺🇳 - Organizations that contribute to the interconnectedness between countries and help to mediate conflicts, develop diplomacy and serve as a foundation for goals and objectives of nations. Popular examples are: United Nations, IMF (International Monetary Fund), and WTO (World Trade Organization).
• Multinational Corporations (MNCs) 🏭 - consists of companies that operate in multiple countries and generally have a decentralized structure. There are several controversies related to the MNCs structure, and we will discuss further throughout the unit topics!
• Market 🤑 - in simple terms, markets consists of the spaces for buyers and sellers, and can be specific. There is a financial market, a commodities market, a food market, etc. Markets dominate the economic sphere and they dictate many rules of the global economic landscape.
• Supranational Organizations 🥸 - International organizations that have a power that supersedes the power of individual nation-states. These organizations are important in promoting coordination and harmony between nation-members.
• Free Trade - consists on the adoption of policies that facilitate the trading between countries and expands global economic activity.