1- How has the economic downturn impacted trends in protectionism and nationalization?
Answer:
As the fallout from the financial meltdown spread around the world in 2009, nationalist impulses gathered a storm as government maneuvers to take stakes in ailing industries were verging on partial or full nationalization though, for the most part, not forcing it. Japan, for example, took a cue from the United States in taking majority stakes in major banks; while in Russia, the Kremlin was exploiting the economic crisis to establish more control over industries that it had long coveted, such as energy.

2- Discuss examples of recent macro political risk events and the effect they have or might have on a foreign subsidiary. What are micro political risk events? Give some examples and explain how they affect international business.
Answer:
An event that affects all foreign firms doing business in a country or region is called a macro political risk event. In many regions, terrorism poses a severe and random political risk to company personnel and assets and can obviously interrupt the conduct of business. The increasing incidence of terrorism around the world concerns MNCs. In particular, the kidnapping of business executives has become quite common. In addition, the random acts of violence around the world have a downward effect on global expansion, not the least because of the difficulty in attracting and retaining good managers in high-risk areas, as well as the expense of maintaining security to protect people and assets and the cost of insurance to cover them. Companies that go ahead and invest in those high-risk areas do so with the expectation of a higher profit premium to offset risk. An event that affects one industry or company or only a few companies is called a micro political risk event. Such events have become more common than macro political risk