Before trying to complete this study guide, in mock questions, you must have completed the reading of Chapters 12 and 13 of the Textbook as well as the related exercises.

To answer the questions, you must first choose a country from each of the following pairs:

First pair of countries: URUGUAY or ARGENTINA

Second pair of countries: IVORY COAST or CONGO-KINSHASA

All questions in this study helper pertain to both countries you choose.

As it is not always easy to find recent data for a developing country, relative data dating back as far as five years will be accepted.

These study questions require you to carry out research. Here is some information that you might find very useful for your research.

To find relevant articles on the Internet, use a good search engine (e.g., Bing, Google or Ask.com), using key words such as name of country, economy, market conditions, growth, GDP, GNP, economic policies, foreign trade, and so on.

The World Bank as well as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the departments of foreign affairs and international trade for Canada and the US, and newspapers regularly publish analyses on countries, and in particular on developing countries.

The book "World Development Report," published annually by the World Bank, is also useful and available online and in university libraries. It contains valuable analyses on developing countries and includes statistical tables on them.

The following are a few relevant websites:

www.worldbank.org

www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca

www.monde-diplomatique.fr (in French only)

www.courrierinternational.com (in French only)

This guide consists of seven essay questions, which will help you show your understanding of the chapters

A few suggestions:

Read the instructions and questions carefully before answering.

Take some time to organize your research and information before writing the response

Verify across multiple sources before using facts or stats, not required to use them for this

Good luck!

#1

Analyze and compare the development indicators for the two countries you chose:

a) For each of the two countries, give their GDP or per capita GDP and four development indicators. These could be their human development index (HDI), rate of infant mortality, life expectancy, education or literacy rate, annual population growth, number of doctors per capita, etc. Supply your references.

b) Analyze the data of one country by comparing them with those of the other, and try to identify the characteristic traits. Specify which of the two countries offer its residents the highest level of development. Explain.

c) You have learned that some developing countries are categorized under different designations. How would you classify the two countries you chose?

# 2

Analyze and compare the indicators for the economic situation of the two countries you chose:

a) In order to determine whether the two countries you chose are growing, state the growth rate of their real GDP over the last few years. For each of these countries, was their growth average, high, somewhat steady, or was the country in recession? Don't forget to give your references.

b) To complete the analysis of the economic situation for these countries, give at least four indicators, such as unemployment level (often expressed as "unemployment rate"), price stability (often expressed as "inflation rate"), indebtedness, international trade deficit (imports and exports or current account balance), the stability of its currency, and so on.

c) Analyze the recent data for each of the countries you chose.

d) Compare the situation of the two countries and conclude by stating which one enjoys a more satisfactory economic situation. Back up your response

#3

Countries all use different strategies to increase their growth and their level of development. Their governments may play a more or less active role; they may orient their production toward exporting or, conversely, toward their domestic markets; they may emphasize agriculture or industrialization; they may oversee the equitable sharing of wealth (socialist ideas) or promote strong market economies (increased competition); they may attract foreign capital; they may have trade policies that are somewhat protectionist; and so forth.

a) Describe the development strategies used by each of the two countries you chose over the period covering approximately the last 10 years. From among the strategies outlined above, consider those that are relevant to the analysis.

b) Compare the development strategies for those same two countries, and point out two major similarities and two major differences.

#4

You have learned that trade relations are also a specific factor that can set a country apart and hinder or advance its development. What kind of regional trade associations does each of the countries chosen in the question before belong to?

Do not give just the acronyms, and include the region concerned by these regional associations.

#5

International institutions are often called on to intervene when countries find themselves in difficult situations.

a) For each of the countries, state whether they have called on international institutions (e.g., the World Bank, the IMF, the Asian Development Bank, or the United Nations Development Programme) and when.

b) Give the context in which this intervention occurred and why.

c) If a solution was found, explain it and its results.

#6

Aside from all the economic information you gathered on the two countries you chose, there are surely some important characteristics interesting to explore that would give a better understanding of these countries' development.

Specify these characteristics (civil war, culture, recent economic crisis, religion, etc.)

#7

describe the development of each of the two countries chosen and point out the differences between them.

References

URUGUAY

Agence France-Presse. (2002, August 8). General strike in Uruguay. Le Soleil. (Grve gnrale en Uruguay)

Bloomberg. (2002, August 5). Banking chaos in Uruguay. La Presse. (Chaos bancaire en Uruguay)

Crutsinger, M. (2002, August 8). South American crisis. Le Devoir. (Crise sud-amricaine)

Moci. (1999, March 31). Is Uruguay still the Switzerland of South America? Problmes conomiques, 2610. (L'Uruguay est-il toujours la Suisse de l'Amrique du Sud?)

ARGENTINA

Ancellin, N.& Bisard, J.C. (2002, April). Argentina: A country on its knees. Go, 278. (Argentine : un pays genoux)

Gabeta, C.(2002, January). Total crisis in Argentina. Le Monde diplomatique. (Crise totale en Argentine)

Gualdoni, F.(2002, January 17). Foreign investors in Argentinean turmoil. Courrier international,585. (Les investisseurs trangers dans la tourmente argentine)

Husson, M.(2001, February). This mortal fascination with the dollar. Le Monde diplomatique. (Cette mortelle fascination du dollar)

Toussait, . (2002, February). An odious debt. Le Monde diplomatique. (Une dette odieuse)

Congo-Kinshasa

Braeckman, C.(2001, April). War without winners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Le Monde diplomatique. (Guerre sans vainqueurs en Rpublique dmocratique du Congo)

The World in 2002. (2002). Courrier international/The Economist Publications. (Le monde en 2002)

IVORY COAST

Fall, A. (2001, April-May). The mask of ethnicity in Ivory Coast. Relations, 668. (Le masque de l'ethnicit en Cte d'Ivoire)