University of California Berkeley The Island President Documentary Essay “The Island President” illustrates challenges presented by globalization. Your tas

University of California Berkeley The Island President Documentary Essay “The Island President” illustrates challenges presented by globalization. Your task is to think critically about the institutions and systems that regulate global interconnection and interdependence presented by the film.

Your response should be 500-750 words in length (about 2pp, double-spaced; 12pt font, 1in margins) and do the following:

(1) Summarize the thematic content (should not take up more than 1/3 of the total paper length.)

(2) Consider how and in what ways the film reveals complex relations of and questions about globalization (offer 1-2 observations with reference to course materials and specific references from the film – this is an expectation for most academic writing, and it shows me that your opinions are rooted in and informed by a close engagement with the course material.)

(3) Offer your own opinion of the film’s contribution/challenge/elucidation of a key issue relating to globalization

Grading will focus on your grasp of the material, the clarity of your writing, the presence/absence of typographical errors, and your adherence to these guidelines.

Here is just a summary of “The Island President”:

The Island President tells the story of former president Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a man confronting a problem greater than any other world leader has ever faced—the survival of his country and everyone in it. After bringing democracy to the Maldives after thirty years of despotic rule, Nasheed is now faced with an even greater challenge: As one of the most low-lying countries in the world, a rise of three feet in sea level would submerge the 1200 islands of the Maldives enough to make them uninhabitable.

The Island President captures Nasheed’s first year of office, culminating in his trip to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009, where the film provides a rare glimpse of the political horse-trading that goes on at such a top-level global assembly. Nasheed is unusually candid about revealing his strategies —leveraging the Maldives’ underdog position as a tiny country, harnessing the power of media, and overcoming deadlocks through an appeal to unity with other developing nations. When hope fades for a written accord to be signed, Nasheed makes a stirring speech, which salvages an agreement. Despite the modest size of his country, Mohamed Nasheed has become one of the leading international voices for urgent action on climate change.

In February 2012, the military and police ousted Mohamed Nasheed as leader of the Maldives. Since the power shake-up that put President Mohammed Waheed Hassan and the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) in control, Nasheed has led protests and begun campaigning for an election scheduled later in 2013. However, the current government has other plans. They’ve accused Nasheed of illegally arresting a judge during his time in office, and if Nasheed is convicted, he will be ineligible to run. So far, Nasheed refused to appear at his trial. He was arrested briefly for defying the court order, but returned to the campaign trail in the southeastern Meemu Atoll. But in March 2013, a court in the Maldives banned Nasheed from traveling abroad and he was subsequently arrested and imprisoned.