Political/ Economic systems of the world
Monarchy
A rule of absolute power where one person, which is the ruler of the country has all power.
-Absolute Monarchy
This is a form of monarchy where one person isn’t limited by the laws. The ruler has all control no matter what. Brunei, Oman, and Saudi Arabia are countries that have an absolute monarchy. Russia had one until 1905 and Nepal had one until May 28, 2008.
-Constitutional Monarchy
This is a form of government that is limited by its laws. In this form the monarch is more like a figure head and doesn’t really do much. The parliament of the country makes up all of the rules and laws.
Democracy
-Representative Democracy
A representative democracy is a type of democracy where people elect representatives to make decisions for them. Places in the world that have representative democracy include: the Philippines, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and Germany.
-Direct Democracy
A type of democracy where people make decisions as a whole instead of having someone to make the decisions for them. Examples in the world of direct democracy include: Switzerland, Colonial America, and Ancient Athens.
Communism
A theory or system of social organization where all private property is gone and everyone shares everything.
-Theory of Communism
Karl Marx was the guy that came up with the theory of communism. He wanted everyone to share everything equally and not have possessions. Karl thought that the wealthy people had more power over everyone else and that this wasn’t fair. His theory was never practiced and was more like and idea that he just came up with. He thought that everyone could share everything and it would work out perfectly. In order for this to happen though someone would have to step up and take responsibility/be in charge. If this didn’t happen then nothing would ever get done. So it would be more like a dictatorship.
-Practice of Communism
The actual practice of communism is far different than the Karl Marx’s idea. It is more like a dictatorship. In the practice common people are to be lead by a leader that tells them everything they have to do. There are some places in the world that have this kind of government including China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, The Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is the main people that practice communism.
Dictatorship
This is a form of government that has one leader that controls everything and has complete power of a country. Hitler and what he did to Germany is an example of a dictatorship.
Anarchy
Anarchy is when a country has no form of government and doesn’t have anyone that is running the country. Usually this is what third world countries and developing countries have. It’s not a type of government because it’s not government at all.
Capitalism
This is both a economic and a political system which businesses are privately owned and everyone controls their own business. The United States and Canada are two countries that have Capitalism as their system.
Socialism
In socialism businesses are run by the government instead of run privately. This system is designed so that people can be treated more equally. In the country we live in, things like the post office, schools, and banks are run by the government. This is sort of like socialism.
Differences between the major political parties in the United States
Liberal and Conservative
Democrats are liberal and they believe that the government should stay out of one’s personal/ social life and not get involved in it. They think that our society should be different and favor changes in it. Most Democrats are ‘green’ or ‘tree huggers’, they love the environment and want to protect it. Republicans are conservative. They are more for the economy than the environment and believe in keeping our economy strong. Republicans favor low taxes and want to try to keep them low. Most of the Republicans believe that people shouldn’t go to the government if they are in need of help and should learn to help themselves. They want government to have a small roll in everyone’s life.
Views on specific topics
-Abortion
Democrats: They think abortion should be legal and the mother should get to choose what she wants to do because it’s her right to her own body.
Republicans: Abortion should be illegal. The fetus is still a human and killing it would be the same thing as murder.
-Flag Burning
Democrats: People should be able to burn flags because it’s freedom of speech and it’s protected by what’s written in the constitution.
Republicans: Burning a flag is disrespect for our country. It should be illegal and is protected from what is written in a constitutional amendment.
- Our Natural Environment
Democrats: They care a lot about the environment and think that rules and laws need to be made to protect it.
Republicans: The environment doesn’t need to have strict laws protecting it. If it does than the economy might be harmed because of it.
- Gun Control
Republicans: They oppose gun control and believe it isn’t needed. Republicans believe that gun control is unconstitutional.
Democrats: They favor gun control and believe it is needed because not everyone should be aloud to have a gun.
-Minimum Wage
Republicans: Minimum wage shouldn’t be raised. If it is some small businesses won’t be able to afford the change. This could cause some businesses to fail and will only worsen our economy issues. They think it won’t do much to help anything.
Democrats: Minimum wage needs to be raised. It can help the economy by benefiting workers with a larger salary. They are in favor of minimum wage going up.
-Healthcare
Democrats: The government should supply healthcare to everyone because right now there are too many people without any. If the government supplies it, then many people will be healthier and get by easier.
Republicans: Private insurers should supply all health care. People need to pay for it their selves and not rely on the government. A government supplied healthcare system will take money away from the government which could be used for other needs.
-Race Relations
Democrats: Affirmative action is needed so that there is equality in businesses and no race issues occur. Anti-discrimination laws should be made and are needed to keep people from feeling discriminated.
Republicans: They believe affirmative action won’t help because people still won’t be treated equally. All businesses don’t need discrimination laws. This doesn’t happen much these days and people/businesses need to be trusted.
-Taxes
Democrats: They believe that more money should be cut from the rich than the middle class.
Republicans: Taxes should be cut equally from everyone. It’s unfair to cut taxes unequally. Everyone needs to pay the same amount.
-Gay Marriage
Republicans: Being gay isn’t right and is against some religions. A marriage should be with a man and women only. This will keep the style of a traditional family.
Democrats: You can’t change your sexuality and it’s your own right to be gay. Gay marriage and gay rights are civil rights.
-Death Penalty
Republicans: They are in favor of the death penalty. If people see that death can be a punishment for a crime they might think twice before doing it. The death penalty can also keep people out of prison and save time, money, and room.
Democrats: The death penalty isn’t right. It’s an incorrect form of punishment for prisoners. Some criminals can learn from their mistakes and start a new life but they can’t get that if thy are killed. Also some people that aren’t guilty are being killed.
-Military
Republicans: The amount of money the government spends on the military needs to be increased because the military needs it for important supplies and training for war. They also think that veteran’s benefits are unnecessary and need to be reduced.
Democrats: Military spending is unnecessary and the money used for it could be helpful if used for other reasons. Spending money on military supplies and training will just increase the amount of war. Veteran benefits should be increased.
-Prayer in School
Democrats: Church and state ideas should be kept separately. They believe having prayer in school isn’t right.
Republicans: Prayer in school is a religious right and people should be aloud to express their own beliefs.
Understand global warming
Global Warming - the gradual increase of earth’s average temperatures
-Causes
Volcanic emissions go into the air after a volcano erupts and this can make the worlds atmosphere get hotter. Surface reflectivity (the green house effect) can heat up the earth by sunlight being pulled back into the atmosphere and absorbed by green house gasses. The overpopulation of earth and the pollutants we use are said to be another cause of it. Natural causes is one of the big reasons of it. They have to do with things like methane in Earth’s ground going into the atmosphere.
-Effects
The sea levels are starting to rise and will continue to rise because of the thermal expansion of the sea. Sea temperature are rising which can cause thermal pollution. Also the earth’s temperature is obviously increasing. In cold areas, some animals are slowing dying out because they’re body temperature are meant to stay cool. The sheets of ice are gradually melting causing there to be too much water in the seas. Heavy droughts are also occurring more often than they ever have.
-Countries most affected
Caribbean
Siberia
Australia
Tuvalu
Sudan
Bangladesh
Understand overpopulation
Overpopulation - a condition where the amount of living things in one area exceeds the amount of carry capacity in that area.
-Causes
There are many reason why overpopulation happens such as an increased number of birth rates. If a large amount of babies are being born then it’s hard for the world to adjust. All of the new advances in medicine are making the death rate decrease. This leads to more people in the world because not as many are leaving and more are coming in at the same time. Sometimes there isn’t enough resources for everyone and the stuff that is available can be limited. So not everyone is getting the amount of necessities they need. People immigrating into different places is also leading to overpopulation.
-Effects
Some animals have become extinct because of this and others have had to live in environment that aren’t right for them. A lot of American’s use cars and the more cars we have adds up to more pollution produced. Earth’s wetlands are over half gone because there is so many people overusing it. Our resources that we use are gradually fading because everybody is using so much of them. Crime rates, poverty, and unemployment rates are increasing more quickly than ever before.
-Overpopulated Countries In Our World
There is a lot of overpopulation in our world and the numbers are still increasing. The following place are over populated now: Pakistan, Niger, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Malawi, Madagascar, United States, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Netherlands, and United Kingdom.
The impact of globalization
-The “flat world”
This means that the world is coming together and is getting smaller than it really seems. It’s bringing the whole world closer together and letting everyone talk to people, buy and sell things, and see stuff from all over the world.
-Globalization 1.0
It lasted from the 1492 to the early 1800’s. The earth shrunk from size large to medium. During this time people traveled to other countries for resources, colonization, and other things to earn money for their country back home. All countries were starting to go mobile. They were discovering more with all the new technology and were now able to see a lot of the world from one place.
-Globalization 2.0
It started in the early 1800’s to the year 2000. This shrunk the earth from size medium to small. At this time people started globalizing from their companies and businesses can be managed and controlled from one country.
-Globalization 3.0
This is the type of globalizing that is going on right now. It will flatten economic globalizing and shrink the earth from size small to tiny. Globalization 3.0 will flatten the global economic scale and will cause individuals to start globalizing personally. It is built around small groups and individuals that are all different types of races and religions.
Understand current events in the world
-Iraq
In the 1990s Iraq invaded Kuwait and the US along with some other countries were going to help and send troops over. We decided to invade them a couple years ago because we thought they were making nuclear weapons. So we sent over some troops to help that and try to save the country from being under the power of Saddam Hussein.
-Afghanistan
This country has a history of many wars and invasions. Al-Qaeda used to be the leaders of this country and they are now a terrorist group there. They don’t like our country and how we do things. The Al-Qaeda have a strong hatred towards us and that’s why they caused the 9/11 terrorist attack (which leads into Iraq). We are over there trying to help them because the government they have isn’t strong enough yet. If we backed out now and stopped fighting then there is a chance they could have a terrorist group controlling their country. We have a problem with them now because the Al-Qaeda group crashed into the twin tours causing a lot of destruction. We decided we needed to do something about that. So we took troops over to fight for our country. The name of the invasion was called Operation Enduring Freedom.
-Iran
They have a lot to do with the activities in Iraq. Also some of the people were being trained to fight in the war and helped make weapons. Right now this country has a crazy leader who’s name I’m not even going to try to spell. I’ll remember it for the test though. He thinks the holocaust never happened, Israel should be kicked off the face of the Earth, and that the 9/11 terrorist attack was planned inside the US by our government.
-Darfur
This is an area in western Sudan, Africa. It borders eastern Chad. Sudan’s land is becoming very dry and is mostly dessert. A group of Arabs known as the Janjaweed is trying to get Africans of the land of Darfur so they can get access to the water and rich farmland. A few years back two groups of rebels gained control of weapons and turned against the government. Janjaweed means “devils on horseback”. It’s a good name for them since they’ve done some pretty devilish things. This group would line men up and shoot them and rape the women in the country. They attempted to take all the good farmland that was left by killing off the people that lived on that land. There was over 400,000 people who died in this conflict and many are in camps/shelters that have a very scarce food supply. The United States has declared this an actual genocide and some people have pledged money to try and help.
-Rwanda
There was a large genocide that broke out here in 1994. The country used to be part of Belgium. Rwanda had three main ethnic groups: Hutus, Tutsis, and Twa. The Tutsi’s were favored by the Belgium people because they’re physical appearance looked more European to them than the others. Later the country became independent and the Tutsis and Hutus broke out into a big fight. Name cards were made to determine what group you were and sometimes these cards meant life or death. So when the president of Rwanda (which was Hutu) died in a plane crash in 1994, the Hutus blamed the Tutsis. This is when the huge massacre started. People were beating each other daily, bodies were laying out on the streets, and machetes were being used to kill people out in the open public. Nobody really wanted to get involved in this fight. The United Nations sent some troops over but they backed out. 800,000 dead bodies and 100 days later a cease fire was called and ended the war.
-Somalia
This is the number one failed state on the Earth. It’s suffering from piracy, terrorism, and a huge lack of government since it’s an anarchy. Most of the country has been destroyed, there isn’t any security, and people there are living a pretty terrible life. Jihadis is a big terrorist group in Somalia that is responsible for many massacres there. The pirates there have are a big threat to international shipping and trading. They are now targeting oil tanks there.
*I'm so happy to finally have this acomplshed after working so hard on it! It's so organized and beautiful :) This class was pretty fun and not as hard as everyone made it seem. I'll miss CWI!!!
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