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Introduction:

The western world including Europe, once leading the world economically and politically, 
is still in 2013 suffering from the economic crisis, which started in 2008. Most European 
countries have little or no economic growth, high unemployment, somewhere dramatic cuts 
in public spending etc. Today Europe suffers the most. Outside the western world the 
economic crisis has also had an impact, but in a much smaller scale, and a significant 
decrease in economic growth in e.g. the BRICS countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China, 
South Africa, has not shown until the previous year. The BRICS countries are the leading 
economies on their respective continents. 
 
The emerging markets in the former poor part of the world have been able to compete on 
the world market with lower costs, less regulations and lower standards for the 
environment and working conditions, besides an ability to find and take advantage of the 
niches in the global production. A lot of especially labour intensive productions have been 
out-sourced from the industrialized countries to the BRICS countries and other countries in 
the poor world. There are some signs of that this kind of industrial production returns to the 
industrialized world. It seems that there is a necessary link between the production part 
itself and the innovative, creative part of the manufacturing process. The rich world needs 
the production part to keep innovative, and parts of the poor world have benefited from the 
out-sourced productions and have become innovative and competitive. 
 
No matter the location of the productions most of it is still owned by the big global 
corporations. It still seems that Europe, and the rich part of the world, will in the years to 
come be challenged in their now dominant and favoured position on the world market. The 
big corporations allocate production and investments wherever it may be the most 
beneficial for them. The economic growth in especially Asian, but also some African 
countries, are significant higher than in Europe and also the US. Whether this will lead to 
more general equal conditions globally between people and societies is still an open 
question. 
 
A growing competition, maybe also corporation, is thus to expect in the relations between 
Europe and the former Third World. It could be a perspective as partners in global 
economy on a more equal level than today. Probably it will depend how strong economies 
the BRICS countries and others will develop and thus eventually diminish the economical 
gap to the rich world. Other issues have been a part of the relations, like good governance, 
the question about democracy, human rights etc. These issues are often a part of the work 
of the various organizations, NGO&acute;s, working in this field and to some extent European 
governments. They are relevant for the poor world as well as the rich world, but usually the 
money has a big say when it comes to mutual, economical relations. The situation for 
Europe today &hellip;?

Directive:

Read the introduction and the questions and make sure you understand the overall aim of 
the task. 
 
Read ALL the files. 
How to use this task: 
 
Variant 1.
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">You can solve the task individually by answering all the questions in the form of a 2-page 
text.</div>
 
Variant 2.

<div style="margin-left: 40px;">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.</div>
 
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. 
The issues to work with: 
 
&bull; File 1: The EU and emerging economies
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">&bull; What could be the implications of the emerging economies to have more say in 
e.g. the World Bank? 
&bull; Why does Europe fear protectionism from the emerging economies? What is it, 
and how does it affect eventually Europe? 
&bull; Why does the EU pay specific attention to tourism? What is the economy 
involved? 
&bull; What is the background for the growing out-sourcing process? What are the 
implications for Europe as well as Middle East and Africa? 
&bull; What are the background for the rapid changes in the relationship between the 
EU and Russia?</div>
 
&bull; The EU and China
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">a) Describe with examples and data the significance of the relations between the EU 
and China. Why are there signs of a slowing down?</div>
 
&bull; The EU and Russia
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">&bull; Describe the main causes for the problems in the Russian economy today? 
What would this imply for the relations EU and Russia?</div>
 
&bull; The EU and India
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">a) Due to the articles: Why should Europe and India have a closer relationship? How 
will India benefit from this? How will Europe?</div>
 
&bull; The EU and Brazil
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">a) According to the article: What will the Brazilian government have to do to restore 
the Brazilian global competitiveness?</div>

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