Political Science

To survive in todays globalized world, the making of a written constitution is a main criteria for post-conflict states or regimes to obtain democratic credentials (Hart, 2003, p. 154).  Historically, the process of constitution-making is regarded as the highest embodiment of the social contract at work. Incorporated in this written document are all the laws that govern a nations political, economic, social, and cultural life. All citizens are bound to this written document in exchange for protection from the state.

A salient problem with the process of constitution-making in this day and age is that constitutions are often styled in conformity to the interests of more powerful nations or to a group of political elite. The pioneering example of this is the 1787 American constitution, which was drafted by a hand-picked elite group with the intention of marking a settlement of conflict and inaugurating a new regime of powers and rights (Hart, 2003, p. 155).

The effort to reconcile largely non-Western tradition of conflict states to the democratic principles of the West creates both problems and opportunities. First, the idea of creating a supreme law to govern all citizens that is patterned after a Western democracy creates tensions especially among nationalist factions that fight for an indigenous and patriotic constitution.

This often occurs in states where the process of constitution is undemocratic therefore, the legitimacy of the drafted constitution itself is put in question and fought against. However, where the constitution-making entailed participatory processes that allow all sectors to take part, this allows the written document and tradition to be harmonized and legitimized.  Second, there is the hesitation that the constitution-making process is required by the Western hegemonic states to influence the economic life of the country. If customary economic laws and traditions are not included in the written constitution, the constitution itself would be considered as anti-citizen and rejected. The bottom line in the constitution-making process is the resolution of conflict. The emphasis is as much on the product itself as to the process that governed it (Hart, 2003).

Richards Global Issues
Richard Robinson is an anthropologist based at Stanford University who has written much about the global problems affecting the globe. In one of his articles on the consequences of consumerism to people and the environment, he is quoted by Shah (2005) observing that the consumption rate in wealthy countries is becoming unsustainable due to decreasing  productive land in the world caused by abuse of natural resources by most governments. He further explains that the consumption levels are largely influenced by our culture and changing these habits would require extensive cultural adjustment and economic change that can cause recession and rapid employment. He observes that production of goods to meet this massive demand utilizes natural resources, factories and other infrastructure that cause pollution. Yet this cause of pollution gets very little attention. This makes shah (2005) to warn us that this consumerism risks causing development that is destructive in the long run, unsustainable as well as causing other social and ecological concerns.

As a way of meeting these challenges, governments in these wealthy nations must be proactive in ensuring that they import products that are produced in an environment friendly way like imposing bans on products that are produced in way unhealthy to the environment. Another way to address the effects of these consumerisms is for governments in major key manufacturing and farming sectors to ensure that the resources used in their production are utilized in an environment friendly way by imposing strict regulations and standards to be met in their production (Shah, 2005).  The governments in these wealthy nations can also use the convincing power of civil society organizations like consumer watchdogs to educate consumers on their effects of consumption on the environment in order for them to become environment conscious and cut on wastage associated with high consumerism.

President Barack Obama of the U.S. is facing lots of difficulties in effective governance. This is not easy to understand by the first glance.  President Obama hails from the Democrats party which holds the majority votes and power in the government but he faces stiff conflict in the implementation of the change policies and programs that the party had promised.  It is worth noting that as at now, important programs like the medical health care program, reforms in the financial systems, as well as the climate change policies that need to be changed are stalled despite the presidents popularity and his commanding party power.

The democrats party had about 84 approval vote for Obama while the Republican Party had only 18. The deliberation on sending 40,000 troops to Afghanistan had only 18 of the Democrats supported while Republicans support was 57. The American society is polarizing at an increasingly high rate if unchecked, will yield devastating results. A wide rift is developing along ethnicity, political and religious affiliations as well as economic status and citizenry such that the poor dont matching with the rich (Jeffrey, 2009). 

In other words, American politics is taking rather a different direction from the expectations before the president came in to power. Policy making has now remained among the powerful corporations like the healthcare, automobile industries among others that are the stakeholders of the economy.  It is suspected that the high taxation is playing a major role in the divide because the majority of Americana do not support the heavy taxation imposed by the budget policy makers (Jeffrey, 2009).

In conclusion the divide may continue if not given a close scrutiny in terms of financial contributions. Attention is required in the analysis of opportunity cost in war expenditures and the security for the U.S.

NATO which stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a military alliance which consists of many governments from various countries in the world. It operates under a treaty which was passed in 1949 by member states. The treaty is referred to as North Atlantic Treaty. Brussels is where the headquarters of NATO are situated. Collective defense is the mandate of this organization which deals with security matters. The member states join hand in providing mutual defense to prevent any security attacks. NATO expansion involves inclusion of new member states (Smith, 2009).

The inclusion of new member states in NATO defines its expansion. There has been a series of meetings which have been held by member states with the perception of introducing new members. The meeting held in Bucharest saw the introduction of new member states. NATO is composed of states in North America and Europe. Collective defense is perfected in this organization. There have been subsequent agreements which have helped in the governance and expansion of NATO. There are certain requirements formulated for those countries which wish to be member states.  The process of becoming a member state involves military integration and political dialogue.  NATO has expanded over the few decades.

The Cold War triggered the expansion of NATO. This saw the inclusion of various countries to be member states. Amongst these are Spain, Turkey, Greece and West Germany. NATO expansion continued even after the Cold War. Some of the countries brought in after the Cold War include Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. The NATO expansion faced some opposition from Russia. Other countries from Eastern and Northern European joined later. These countries include Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria, Slovea, Latvia and Slovakia. The Bucharest meeting prospered expansion of NATO (Smith, 2009). They also laid down some agreements.

Croatia and Albania were proposed to be members in the 2008 Bucharest
Meeting. The 2008 Bucharest meeting impacted some nations. The meeting was mandated for NATO expansion and improvement in handling security threats. The meeting was used to strategize on how to encounter security threats in the 21st century. There are issues which prompt divergent understanding of outcome of the 2008 Bucharest meeting. The chapter to welcome Croatia and Albania was addressed during the meeting. They were to start accesation talks mandated towards joining the alliance (Henrich, 2008). This was considered beneficial since it prospered security. The alliance was to be transformed by taking new members on board. During the meeting, it was found that to be difficult to address security challenges alone. The international community was to take place in meeting security challenges. Cooperation amongst the global community was realized to be the key issue in addressing security challenges.

Afghanistan was focused as a major ground for terrorism. The threat of terrorism in Afghanistan rose divergent understanding. The member states of NATO were devoted in maintaining peace in Afghanistan. Additional efforts were found to be necessary in restoring human rights in Afghanistan. Other security matters involved the Balkans. NATO was devoted in ensuring security all over the Balkans (Henrich, 2008). Kosovo was to remain under the control of the security until peace prevailed. The authorities were to take part in the mission of restoring peace in Kosovo. In carrying out international operations, NATO policies were to be followed. This included the Kosovo and Afghanistan operations. They recognized the efforts of United States in ensuring international security. They were to team up in maintaining peace in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

In conclusion, NATO expansion has been of many debates with some member states offering opposition towards membership. NATO is governed through subsequent agreements. The 2008 NATO meeting in Bucharest impacted most countries towards a common agenda of peace and stability.

Francis Fukuyama (1989) in his paper,  The End of History  declared that the liberal democracy is the only system of government that prevailed in the war of political systems that happened in the past decades. In accordance with this, we have witnessed the rise and industrialization of different countries such as Singapore, South Korea, India and Brazil along with the already developed countries in the Western Hemisphere. All of these countries adopted a liberal and democratic approach in their politics and economics in  many sense.  However, we cannot also deny the ongoing existence of states and countries with socialist origin and inspiration such as Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and of course China which are now having a say in the international scene.

We can never forget the fall of USSR which became the strongest basis of the critics to conclude the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of a communist or socialist regime. However as a paper for a comparative politics, we are interested in analyzing the new socialist regimes such as Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and China in comparison with the late USSR. This for us to see if  there are major or minor changes in the structure of this new countries political system when compared with the late USSR.

In this respect, this paper will prove the existence of changes and shifts, both major and minor to what are presently communist states. If there are some changes and shifts, we believe that these changes were adopted by the government itself to avoid the pitfalls to where the Soviet Union had fallen and also to adopt to the fast changing world of today.

I. Introduction
The novel, World on Fire by  Amy Chua examines the impact of free markets in the in the non-Western world. The  novel presents Chuas thesis that the effects of free market democracy  is not aiming at promoting peace unlike what the Thomas Friedman conception says. The book posits the knowledge that exporting free markets and democracy will cause the meltdown of peace and prosperity across the developing world.

She critically evaluates the factors which turns free market democracy as a source of ethnic and political conflict across the region. The themes of the novel includes the proliferation the so-called market-dominant minorities, ethnic violence, globalization, and the backlash of free market policies. The novel validates the concept that the market dominant minorities control a portion of a nations wealth and resources which causes socio-political outbreak in the impoverished and ethnic minorities.

II.  Summary
The World on Fire opposes the Friedman concept that tells of free markets as the contributing factor to peace and progress. According to Chua, the disturbing backlash of the massive economic dominance of the outsider market dominant minorities fuels virulent ethnic envy and hatred among the poor and socially disadvantaged majorities around them (Chua 2003). 

One of the main attributes intensifying the dominance of such outsider minorities is the global market which places the United States at the top notch level. The novel stresses the fact that America is at the helm of the accelerating phase of globalization and has become the main influence for the proliferation of market dominant minorities (Chua 2003). 

In support of her notion that the dominance of free markets can lead to political instability, Chua examines the economic setting in Burma. According to the novel, since Burma shifted to a market-oriented, open-door economy, both the countrys modern capital and Mandalay have been taken over by the ethnic Chinese who were  disproportionately wealthy during the colonial period  (Chua, 2003, p. 24). Since then, the  Chinese have remained active in Burmas black markets and, in a few cases, opium trafficking  (Chua, 2003, p. 24). 

According to Chua, the Burmese way of capitalism and marketization have given many opportunities for corrupt government officials and have provided no benefits to the indigenous population (Chua 2003). This confirms the notion that free markets do not spread wealth and economic opportunities evenly in a certain nation but instead, it produces a new class of extremely wealthy plutocrats or the individuals who are as rich as the nations (Chua 2003).

Chua says that in the non-Western world,  free markets have led to the rapid accumulation of massive, often shocking wealth by members of the outsider or the non-indigenous ethnic minority  (Chua, 2003, p. 19).  This scenario has a major impact to the social dynamics of the indigenous people who are the unwilling victims of the backlash of free trade markets. For some, free trade has rendered many opportunities for businessmen to expand their market reach and to create a kingdom in the non-Western world, but for some developing nations, the free trade robs them the right to partake in their countries earnings.

Unknown to many, the indigenous people from the non-Western world including the South and South East Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and much of the Latin America, have been suffering from this economic phenomenon (Chua 2003). The Chinese Indonesians, even though they make up only 3 percent of Indonesias total population, controlled roughly 70 percent of Indonesias private economy and they  had fine food and clothing  (Chua, 2003, p. 31).

In this case, the dominance of the market minorities causes the envy of the indigenous people who cannot even have the access to their countrys wealth and resources. Some civilians often turn to violence such as kidnapping and murder in order to satisfy their need for equality while at the political level, government officials tend to take advantage of the free trade marketers by taking part in the wealth and through illegal transactions. It appears like the non-Western world has become the milking cow of the market dominant minorities inspired by the global power of the United States.

III. Critical Commentary
Chuas anti-Friedman musing on the political and social implications of free trade democracy in the non-Western world shows the gruesome fact that wealth translates to crime.  Drawing insights from Chuas examples, it can be said that the market dominant minorities have become targets of violent hatred of the impoverished societies due to the fact that such wealthy plutocrats are robbing the socially disadvantaged people of the right to obtain the benefits of free trade. Also, the creation of aggressive policies which tend to neglect the rights of the indigenous people ignite peoples anger.

The so-called wealthy plutocrats have led to the feeling of discontent and envy among the ethnic groups and have opened the idea of greed in the political system. The social and political breakdown caused by the free trade markets is best seen through the phenomena of Arab-Israeli ethnic conflict and the rising wave of anti-Americanism sentiments across the globe.

Chua argues that  in the numerous countries around the world that have pervasive poverty and a market-dominant minority, democracy and markets-at least in the form in which they are currently being promoted-can proceed only in deep tension with each other  (Chua, 2003, p. 16). One of the contributing factors to this tension is the establishment of free market policies which have worked greatly to the advantage of the market-dominant minorities and left the impoverished societies with no opportunities to gain something out of wealth of the outsider minorities.

The free market-policies adopted by Suharto in Indonesia caused democracy protests and riots (Chua 2003). The political instability in Indonesia during Suhartos regime was attributed to  ruthless repression, corruption, and the self-enrichment of a small military and political elite  (Cohen, 2003, p. 283).  It is noted that Suharto is a pro-Western strategist who continually takes pride in his anti-nationalistic free market policies that led to the murder of  half a million Chinese and Indonesians (Cohen 2003).

In this sense, free market democracy can have negative effects to the non-Western world because of their reliance to international trade and vulnerability for the socio-political effects of trade. According to a major study by the US State Failure Task Force, the  likelihood of state failure is affected by international influences, including openness to trade and membership of international organizations  (Dodds and Pippard, 2005, p. 98).  Free trade opens up many possibilities of how a certain foreign empire can gain something from the land of the indigenous people and encourages how that land can be free traders slave.

Chua says that the free trade democracy in the face of the pervasive Filipino poverty and disproportionate Chinese prosperity led to powerful anti-market, anti-Chinese movements  (Chua, 2003, p. 154).  In this case, the author reveals that the democratization of of free markets has catalyzed ethnic violence. The current setting in the Philippines is a picture of conflict between Chinese business tycoons. There have been kidnappings of the prominent Chinese businessmen as well as killings of their relatives which, according to  Chua, are the results of hatred and envy of the Filipinos against the rich and wealthy Chinese.

The research implies that the lethal violence and political instability instigated by free trade democracy weaken the ties of the non-Western world with the international community. The non-Western world without the support of the regional clubs and organizations is likely to suffer the consequences of state failure and isolation. With this information, it can be said that Chua is reflecting on the sociological and psychological implications of free trade.

Given that Chinese have been stigmatized as rich and business wise, Filipinos resort to violence in pursuit of their needs to gain take part in the wealth of the Chinese. Consequently, the Chinese are becoming more aware of the tendency of the Filipinos to spur violence against them. It is now reported that the Chinese have been on a pursuit to safeguard themselves from violence and uncertainties. The Chinese have sought the government for any policies and initiatives that may protect them from any forms of violence and inhumanities.

This act by the Chinese fuel the anguish of the Filipinos who believe that such act is a form of allegiance to the wealthy businessmen of different race. Filipinos encourage the idea that the policies directed to protect the Chinese wealth may a negligence on their part and a violation of their rights to utilize the countrys resources.

The novel also describes America as the global market dominant minority. In this sense, the spread of the American-led markets, supported by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and the World Trade Organization have been empowering the wealth and dominance of the United States. According to Chua, the United States today has become the worlds market dominant minority (Chua 2003). In addition, Chua says that the country is technically powerful and an industrial power yielding an annual GDP of 9 trillion (Chua 2003). 

As the United States maintains its status as the most powerful globalized nation and industry leader, anti-Americanism sentiments of those who are envious of the nations power are rising. It is noted that the  real United States haters are those whose anti-Americanism is provoked by dislike of Americas values, institutions, and society-and their enormous impact abroad  (Wittkopf  McCormick, 2004, p. 37).

According to some of Americas detractors,  the most eloquent spokesman is Bin Laden, for whom America and the globalization it promotes relentlessly through free trade and institutions under its control represent evil  ( Wittkopf  McCormick, 2004, p. 37).  For the Islamic world, the American-fueled globalization and free trade dominance is the triumph of the Westernized mass culture and tradition and a complete negligence to the remaining ethnic cultures. It is said that those who attack specific American policies  envy the qualities and institutions  that have helped the United States grow rich, powerful and influential  (Wittkopf  McCormick, 2004, p. 37).

IV. Conclusion
The authors critical evaluation of how the West imposed economic liberalization and free market democracy posits the unfavorable impact of globalization in terms of politics and society. Chua points out that markets and liberalization are not the problem, but it is the unreadiness of free trade policies to comply with the demands of the indigenous people. In rushing the process of free trade, politics and the impoverished communities are being compromised in the pursuit of wealth and economic expansion of the market-dominant minorities.

The rapid changes in free trade policies have worsened the conditions in the non-Western world. The economic conflict between the rich and the poor and between the market-dominant minorities and the indigenous majorities, have led to social inequalities that often lead to violence.  This scenario necessitates a fair and socially productive reform in free  trade policies.

Americas paralyzed political system is in crisis and not showing signs of improvement.  Despite President Barack Obamas personal popularity and party majority in both houses of Congress, he still has difficulty passing his basic programme (i.e. healthcare, climate change and financial reform).  Rather than improving under his administration, the countrys ideological divisions are worsening.  These divisions are evident in recent statistical data from November 2009

The Presidents approval rating was 84 among Democrats, while only 18 among Republicans.
58 of Democrats agreed with the countrys current direction.  A mere  9 of Republicans agreed.
57 of Republicans supported deploying more soldiers. 18 of Democrats supported this deployment.
60 of Democrats favored the decrease of military presence in Afghanistan but only 26 of Republicans.
These considerable dissimilarities between party lines reflect an increasingly polarized society, where the gap of political division has broadened over many religious and socio-economical facets.

The brokenness of the political system, itself, is also contributing to Americas governance crisis of paralysis.  Things like filibusters are stalling the progress of policymaking in Senate, especially on more controversial initiatives.  The role of big money also plays a part in warping and stalling the policymaking process as lobbying and private corporate negotiations take place outside the accountability of the public eye.

Finally, there is the federal budget, which may be the leading contributor to Americas crisis situation.  While the U.S. public definitively opposes a tax increase and clings to the Presidents campaign promises against increased taxation, the U.S. government desperately needs the funding to accommodate the core functions of government operation and to provide basic public services.  This standing divergence between the people and their governing body has resulted in unmet needs and a furthered national deficit. 

In order to avoid worsening these paralyzing factors and to restore effective governance, improvement must be made in the growing division over the war, in party relations and in the taxation of Americans.