Good Guys and Bad Guys...Hard to Tell the Difference?

We all like to think that we know who the "good guys" and "bad guys" are. In most movies, it's pretty easy to figure out who they are, unless there is some sort of bizarre plot twist near the end. In sports, the good guys are teams or athletes we cheer for and the bad guys are the opponents. In international relations, "we" are the good guys, of course. Who "we" is, of course, depends on your own frame of reference, but most of the time Americans view the United States as a good guy and Canadians view Canada as a good guy and so on. This is not always the case, but as we discussed in Chapter 4, our sense of nationalism promotes positive feelings among members of a particular nation and often within its associated state.

But if we look at the Amnesty International Web site, the distinction between good guys and bad guys becomes less clear. Take a moment, either by yourself or in a small group of your class members and make a list of ten countries that you consider "good guys" in the international system and ten countries that you consider "bad guys." Also, list at least one reason why you and your peers think a particular country goes on one list or the other. You may have the same country on both lists, if that's what you have decided in your small group discussion. After completing your list, enter the information in the form below.

Good Guys

1		Country # 1 and your reason for this choice:
2		Country # 2 and your reason for this choice:
3		Country # 3 and your reason for this choice:
4		Country # 4 and your reason for this choice:
5		Country # 5 and your reason for this choice:
6		Country # 6 and your reason for this choice:
7		Country # 7 and your reason for this choice:
8		Country # 8 and your reason for this choice:
9		Country # 9 and your reason for this choice:
10		Country # 10 and your reason for this choice:

Bad Guys

11		Country # 1 and your reason for this choice:
12		Country # 2 and your reason for this choice:
13		Country # 3 and your reason for this choice:
14		Country # 4 and your reason for this choice:
15		Country # 5 and your reason for this choice:
16		Country # 6 and your reason for this choice:
17		Country # 7 and your reason for this choice:
18		Country # 8 and your reason for this choice:
19		Country # 9 and your reason for this choice:
20		Country # 10 and your reason for this choice: