Study Notes for Mid-Term Test in "Capital,Culture and Globalization"

Capital, Culture and Globalization

2 hours

The test will call on students to select about six or seven topics from a list of about twelve or fifteen possibilities. The possible topics include, but are not limited to, those listed below. You will be asked to

Describe and give the significance of (say) seven of the following:

AIG

Brooksley Born

The Dalai Lama

The Role of the Olympic Movement in Globalization

Financial Derivatives

South Africa and the Anti-Apartheid Movement

The Royal Proclamation of 1763

Hugo Chavez

President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal

The Tata Nano and the Global Car Industry

Timothy Geithner, Wall Street and the Federal Reserve

System in the USA

William K. Black and His Analysis of the Causes of the Recent Financial Debacle

Splitting The Sky and George W. Bush

The Recent Earthquake in Haiti

China’s Relationship with the United States

Tad Mitsui and the International Role of the United Church of Canada

Naomi Klein and the Shock Doctrine

Preparation and Grading Scheme

The grading scheme will be based on 20 possible marks for each answer. If you were asked, therefore, for six answers the test would be out of 120 possible marks. If you were asked for seven answers the test would be out of 140 possible marks, etc.

For test preparation students are encouraged not only to use class notes but also to employ Internet search mechanisms such as google. Make use of the New Media to conduct your own independent research. Another possibility would involve small groups of students getting together for discussions and the comparing of notes on possible topics.

Generally speaking the answers should describe the event,

person or phenomenon in question giving basic information to explain the essentials of background, context, substance, definition and the like. The requirement to describe significance gives you more latitude to give your own more personal interpretations drawing, for instance, connections to other topics, possibilities or dangers. Don’t be afraid to be creative and speculative in coming up with your own unique interpretations of what makes a subject significant and important.

Sample Answer

Describe and give the Significance of

The Tata Nano and the Global Car Industry

In the spring of 2009 the Tata Motor Company of India introduced its new Nano vehicle. The introduction of the Nano was widely viewed as an expression of India’s increasing prosperity, its enhanced industrial capacity and the growing mobility of its expanding middle class. Priced at about $2,500 in the Indian market, the existence of the Nano projects the possibility of owning a car to newly empowered consumers throughout Asia. That potential range of Nano sales extends also to North America where it is calculated that this Indian export item might
sell for about $8,500 per unit. The low prices pose further problems for the viability of the older car manufacturing operations like General Motors of Detroit Michigan. GM was until fairly recently a symbol of US inventiveness and efficiency in making highly coveted consumer items. The prospect of cheap Nanos bringing tens of millions of new drivers onto the road has huge implications for the politics of climate change. The rise of automobile manufacturing in heavily populated places like India, China and Brazil can be seen as part of a transfer of wealth and power from North America and Europe to new centres of commercial and industrial might.