Howdy ya'll. So, the holidays are encroaching ever so much closer, which means for many university students that their Fall semester is coming to a close. Of course, such a feeling is bitter sweet as that also usually means your dick-deep in final exams. I'm pretty lucky myself; I have but one final exam (Political Science) outside of classtime (thanks to my tactfull registering of courses, muahaha). However, this too is not a typical exam for it is take-home. This particular political science class I took looks at politics through a comparative approach. Throughout the semester, the whole basis of our assignments and tests was this notion of comparing the political structures of the first, second and third world. What the fuck is the second world, you ask? Well Jimmy, the second world acts as an illustration of the Communist/post-Communist world. Countries such as China, Vietnam, North Korea, Mongolia in Asia. Mother Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and the Baltic states in Europe. And, of course, that adorable little trouble maker off the coast of Florida. Some of these have democrasized, a few remain firm Communist states. Some have even gone full-blown capitalist, China being a prime example despite remaing a "Communist state" in name.
My final exam requires me to write an essay on three out of several countries covered in the class textbook: Britian, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Russian and India. My assignment is to take three of these countries, one from each "world", and compare their executive, legislative and judicial branches so as to see which of these branches has the most diversity among the three countries I've selected. I've already written and essay and did a speach on France, therefor I am sick of them and will not be selecting them for my first world option. Japan, to me, seems like the most exotic and interesting of the first world systems available to me, so I'm going with them. Russia is the only second world country available so I have to choose them (no complaints, the country is like a second home to me). This leaves me at my final crossroad: which third world country do I go with?
Mexico, Nigeria and India are my three options within the third world. All are COMPLETELY different systems of government, all with there own traditions and problems. Well, I guess that is something they all share; on some level, they are all corrupt governments. Such is life in the third world (or atleast most of it). A Namibian classmate who did a speach on Nigeria was incredible insightfull, before listening to him I barely would have considered Nigeria an option. "Shell" has thoroughly fucked that country in terms of human development. The oil pipelines in that region constantly conbust, absolutely pummeling the eco-system. Did you know that Shell has a larger armed force than the Nigerian state? Wild.
Mexico is an interesting option. I do enjoy studying drug trade as I find it interesting how these cartels and are able to essentially expand so fruitously and gain such a grip on a state economy as to hold a country by the balls, kind of like what our friendly-neightborhood gas company has got going on with Nigeria. Colombia is a prime example of a drug state. Mexico, though not a drug state, is just about there as made apparent by the rapid increase in gang violence.
And then there's India. What an interesting country, so incredibly different than what we as Westerners can fathom. There lies a catse system within India, a system that transcends religion, creed, income or class. A caste is something you are born into. For literally thousands of years these castes have stood, dividing people into "lower" catses and "higher" castes. This is so ingrained in Indian culture that is as much a piece of identity for someone as their gender or race. It is something you are born with, something like sticks to you like a tattoo. The largest democracy in the world has, in years, made steps to eradicate the caste system, but such a culturally ingrained concept is all but eraseable.
So there you have it, a small write off addressing a few of the major issues within Nigeria, Mexico and India. Now the question is, which is the most interesting?
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