Essay2 is designed to engage the student to think critically while comparing and contrasting the economic and development divide between the natural resource-rich ‘developing’ countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries or OPEC13 (Algeria, Angola, Congo [Republic of], Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela) and the powerful ‘developed’ countries of the Group of Seven or G7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United states) by observing, measuring, and explaining their long-established global North-South economic and development divideLinks to an external site. based on development indicators such as Population, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), GDP per capita, Human Development Index, and Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index; and ALSO based on the geopolitical divide between FOUR main adversaries and the United States against the Syrian Arab. Republic and the Islamic. Republic of Iran operating within TWO coalitions of states or geopolitical axes (The current LEADING members of Axis1 include the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. The current LEADING members of Axis2 include Russia, China, Iran, Syria, Yemen, and Venezuela.
Step 1. Access the CIA World FactbookLinks to an external site., click on “Countries”, scroll down, select each one of the 13 members of the OPEC countries, and find out its population (by clicking “Population and Society”) and its GDP, official exchange rate (by clicking on “Economy”). Then compute the total/combined population in 2022 (or the available year) and the total/combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP, official exchange rate, in US dollar) in 2019 (or the available year) of the 13 members of OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). Next, you divide the total/combined GDPs (official exchange rate in US dollar, or $, or USD) of the 13 OPEC countries by their total/combined population to obtain the average GDP per capita in USD of the 7 OPEC countries. Repeat the above same steps to compute the THREE figures (Total population, Total GDP, and GDP per capita) for the G7 countries.
Step 2. Access the United Nations Human Development Report 2020, scroll down to Table 1: Human Development Index and its components on pages 343-346 of the pdf file (pagination on your computer could be different), find out the Human Development Index (HDI 2019) for each one of the 13 members of the OPEC countries, add the 13 HDI figures and divide the total by 13 (minus the number of “NA”–Not Applicable or Not Available figures, if any in that column) to obtain the Average HDI 2019 figure for the 13 OPEC countries. Scroll down again through the UN Human Development Report 2020 to Table 3: Inequality‑adjusted Human Development Index on pages 351-355 (pagination on your computer could be different), find out the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI 2019 on column next to HDI 2019) for each one of the 13 members of OPEC countries, add the 13 IHDI figures and divide the total by 13 (minus the number of “NA”–Not Applicable or Not Available figures, if any in that column) to obtain the Average IHDI 2019 figure for the 13` OPEC countries. Repeat the above same steps to compute the TWO figures (Average HDI 2019 and Average IHDI 2019) for the G7 countries.
Step 3. Based on (a) the 10 figures you computed in steps 1 and 2, (b) the 82-word summary/abstract paragraph of the article entitled “Recycling PetrodollarsLinks to an external site.”, (c) the graph entitled “Who gets what from a litre of oil in 2020Links to an external site.”, (d) Qatari Prime Minister’s revelation of $137 billion spent by Geopolitical Axis1 on the war against SyriaLinks to an external site., (e) President Trump’s announcement of $350 billion in deals Links to an external site.with Saudi ArabiaLinks to an external site. and its Crown PrinceLinks to an external site. and President Trump’s geopolitical repeated reiteration that U.S. troops [estimated at 70,000Links to an external site. in 2020] will remain in the Middle East for IsraelLinks to an external site., that the U.S. will remain a steadfast partner to Saudi Arabia to ensure Israeli interestsLinks to an external site., that Israel would be in big trouble without Saudi ArabiaLinks to an external site., that the Saudi king wouldn’t last two weeks without U.S. military backing, that the Gulf states will pay for the war on Syrian because without the United States the Gulf states won’t exist, and that Israel literally owned Congres; (f) President Biden has reversed his campaign promise to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” [for killing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi after placing the Israeli Pegasus spyware on the cellphone of his wife months before he was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul], Turkey. Israeli Pegasus spyware sale to Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council played also “a critical role.” in “negotiating the so-called Abraham Accords”] when he (Biden) said that Israel’s security and not oil prices is the key reason for his scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia. (despite the murder of the journalist, Israel opposes any destabilization of Saudi Arabia); and (g) Iran’s Supreme Leader’s depiction of Saudi Arabia as a “cow being milked”. by the United States, based on all your learning from computing the 10 figures and from the additional documented points, you should describe, explain, and evaluate the comparative wealth and power of the TWO GROUPS of countries (G7 and OPEC7) in light of the dynamics of confrontations between FOUR main adversaries operating within TWO coalitions of states or geopolitical axes.
Step 4. Last but not least, based on the Axis1-Axis2 geopolitical divide and based on the following FOUR observations, discuss concisely why for decades the six Saudi-led Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council are still unable (a) to secure a full-fledged security treaty with the United States. akin to the ones the United States has with Japan and South Korea that ensure America; or (b) to build a national armed force [instead of enlisting U.S. retired military personnel to defend themselves by themselves as their Iranian neighbors had successfully done over the past 40 years once they nailed down Article 146 of their 1979 Constitution stipulating clearly that “The establishment of any kind of foreign military base in Iran, even for peaceful purposes, is forbidden.” Here are the FOUR observations: (i) According to the CIALinks to an external site., the six Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) have a total population of 56 million in 2022 and a total GDP of $1,655 billion in 2019; and Iran has a population of 86 million in 2022 and a GDP of $581 billion in 2019. (ii) According to US President ObamaLinks to an external site., the “combined defense budget” of the six Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council “is ten times Iran’s defense budget.” (iii) According to Business Insider, Saudi Arabia has the best military equipment money can buy — but it’s still not a threat to Iran. (iv) According to a recent paper titled “Oil Resource Abundance in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: A Curse or a Blessing?” and published by Montenegrin Journal of Economics, “oil abundance on its own does not behave as a curse in the GCC countries… and resource abundance by itself has been a blessing for the growth and development of the GCC economies.”
Step 6: The student should explain honestly and sincerely the extent to which his/her OWN learning, analysis, and critical thinking did or did not construct, reconstruct, or deconstruct his/her OWN worldview about the contemporary global North-South economic and development divide between the TWO GROUPS of countries (the natural resource-rich ‘developing’ countries and the powerful ‘developed’ countries). Keep in ind that we saw in Essa1 that “culture” is often at the service of geopolitics (not the other way around). In Essay2 see if “economics” too is often at the service of geopolitics.
Make sure to address directly, separately, and in sequence each one of the questions asked based EXCLUSIVELY on the assigned slides/videos/links (shared with all class members) and format and document your answers according to the detailed sample page format of the syllabus.In your essay you should cite ONLY the 10 figures to support your analysis. You should NOT have any tables or listing of countries or comparison of individual countries or any other figures that you may have computed or come across while computing the 10 figures. Remember always that you are comparing TWO groups of countries, NOT individual countries.
