There are at least four major dimensions of a host country's political environment of concern to the international firm:
* the political system and ideology
* the role of government in the economy
* political instability
* and the country's international political relationships.
The legal environment for protecting information is developing slowly along with the adoption of IT. As of December 2000, no statistics on piracy rates were recorded in the sources reviewed for this report. The Bahamas is a signatory to the Paris Convention. The country is not a signatory to the Patent Cooperation Treaty. On July 17, 2000, The General Council of the WTO granted the Bahamas' request for WTO observer status.