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Introduction:

There seem to be some meta-tendencies influencing the over all political and economic picture at the present, probably also the nearest future, politically and economically. The world as a whole is more or less a part of the, still, Western dominated global market economy, having an increasing impact in all corners of the world. The market has an innate tendency to invest in the current profitable places, leaving other places out, and accumulating capital where it is most costless. A consequence will be widening economic gaps between rich and poor, both between countries and inside countries, likely leading to conflicts. 
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Meanwhile as these discussions go on there is a constant flow of capital, tax money, from the public sectors to private companies hiding them away in tax havens. The national state budgets need capital for investments and welfare, and as they are lost to the tax avoidance of big companies this creates problems for people and increases the gap between rich and poor sometimes leading to social unrest, like in Greece, Spain, Argentina, South Africa, the conflicts in Congo etc. Especially poor countries can get into local conflicts or wars, because of the local attempts to attract investments or exploit resources, like in East-Central Africa, West Africa and East Asia. We see epidemics with fatal impacts due to poverty among people and too little capital/tools in the public sector like HIV/AIDS, Ebola and malaria. We see victimizing of big parts of the population in especially poor parts of the world due to climate changes, mainly caused by the Western economies. 
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In many conflicts and wars we can trace the economic interests behind e.g. in Congo. The Middle East would not have been a centre for conflicts if it were not for the oil interests and the neglect of the political and social conditions in, e.g. Iran before Khomeini, Saudi Arabia, the Iraq before the wars.&nbsp; 
The conflicts between parts of the Islamic world and the West would not have been there, or only partly, if it was not for these economic interests. 
There is a, still little, power shift from Western political and economic dominance to a more multipolar world with those emerging economies which also have political power. Will this trend continue? Will it cut down on the number and character of the conflicts or the opposite? Will extended cooperation between non-Western countries and institutions lead to better solutions to important matters like poverty, conflicts producing refugee and climate changes causing migration. 
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At the big scale we see a growing conglomerate of money and politics, acting partly outside public attention. What if all this was public? What if people really knew? 
There are discussions of how to regulate the market and e.g. transnational companies, to secure the paying of taxes where they are earned, to avoid capital escaping to tax havens and maybe even regulation of the tax heavens, where the money is hidden. Will the international institutions continue with their corporate friendly rules, backed up by the big nation states? 
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We have the people around the world who adapt to or take actions in one way or another, trying to influence, to forward, hinder or rebel towards the political and economic circumstances. It is a political tendency that people do not accept to be denied access to a decent life, when they can see it would be possible to change government policies. They protest. Sometimes people are supported by civic society and the NGO world. Will this lead to more people empowerment, more democracy and more people&acute;s control over their daily life and over the politicians and even businesses who today influence the world very much?

Directive:

The task is set to 8 hours. 
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Read the introduction and the questions and make sure you understand the overall aim of the task. 
Read ALL the files. 
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How to use this task: 
 
Variant 1. 
You can solve the task individually by answering all the questions in the form of a 3-page text. 
In your text, consider with references to the directives:
<ol>
	<li>Likely future global political and economic developments in the world, and &nbsp;</li>
	<li>How they will influence and be influenced by Europe&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
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Variant 2. 
You can solve the task commonly, where your teammates and you share different parts of the topic among yourselves and present to each other in a form of a course. The whole course with all the parts shouldn&rsquo;t exceed 2 hours. 
Each one of you will end up with a 1-page text about your part of the topic and the conclusion from your part of the course. All the materials you used for your part of the course should also be send to your teacher. 
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Use additional sources if you find it beneficial, especially if you have chosen the variant 2. The origin of additional sources must be noted for control. 
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The issues to work with: 
 
1. Europe and the global economy
<ol style="list-style-type:lower-alpha">
	<li>The welfare state model is under pressure. What does the article have of perspectives of this?</li>
</ol>
The rest of articles: Sum up the main arguments from the various articles, e.g. compare them, what is a problem with the current kind of economy. What could be the solutions to this according to the various articles? 
 
2. Europe and war and peace
<ol style="list-style-type:lower-alpha">
	<li>There are 8 small articles: Note the pressing issues of each of them. Sum them up to a kind of political statement: These are urgent political issues! Is there a way out of it?</li>
</ol>
3. Europe and the say of people

<ol style="list-style-type:lower-alpha">
	<li>There are 7 articles: Note the main issues stated in each of the 7 articles.</li>
</ol>
What are people reacting against/towards? What are the perspectives? Sum up in a short notice: An agenda for people to have more influence. 
 
4. A new World Ordera.
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">a. Make a short summary of the main issues in the article</div>
 
 
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