WHAT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT ARE OUT THERE?Exploring Governments Throughout the World

Should the people rule?

Wing Station or Penn Station?

Reflect

◻ How do you feel if you were outvoted?◻ Is voting like this a fair way to choose the

actions of all?◻ What problems do you think this system

might have?

Where did the Founders get a model for government?

The Founders modeled our government based on the Roman Republic.

“Republic” comes from the latin “res publica” which means thing or property of

the people.

So, a republic is a country that has a government in which power is held by the

people. FLREA © 2012

What is a “Democracy”?

◻ Democracy is literally defined as “rule of the people”

◻ This means that a government that takes the form of a democracy is one in which all citizens can exercise some kind of political power

⬜ What are some examples of “political power” citizens can exercise?■ Voting

■ Running for office

■ Contacting public officials

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What kinds of republican government are there?

◻ Direct Democracy

⬜ Based on the definition of “democracy” how would you define a direct democracy?

◻ Representative Democracy

⬜ What is a “representative”?■ An elected person to act and speak on behalf of

others

⬜ Based on the definition of “representative” and “democracy”, how you would define representative democracy?

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What is direct democracy?

◻ Direct democracy is a government where the people have an individual voice in government.

Government

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What are examples of direct democracy? Why do you think this works?

What would you say…

◻ The advantages are to direct democracy?

⬜ Every individual has a voice in government

⬜ Works well in small communities.■ If we take a vote in the

classroom, we are acting as a direct democracy.

◻ The disadvantages are to direct democracy?

⬜ Too many voices at once

⬜ Only works in small communities

⬜ Not efficient■ What do you mean?

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Let’s Discuss Direct Democracy

◻ How fair (or otherwise) is a system in which the majority of people have no say in the waytheir lives are ruled?

◻ Do you think that the system of direct democracy in Ancient Athens was fair?

◻ Give reasons for your answer. Think about responsibilities as well as rights.

◻ How do you settle disagreements?

Common Good

◻ Common good – good of the community as a whole

◻ When do we act in favor of the common good on a daily basis? ⬜ For example, if I were ordering pizza for the whole

class, would I just order my favorite (and we will pretend my favorite is anchovies with pineapple)

or would I get something that the class as a whole would enjoy (like plain cheese or peperoni)?

⬜ Acting in favor of the common good puts the group before the individual. ■ Why is this a good thing?

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What is Representative Democracy?

◻ Representative democracy is a system where individuals have a voice in government through elected representatives

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What would you say…

◻ The advantages are to representative democracy?

⬜ Representatives are elected to represent the common good instead of individual interests

⬜ Representatives make the system more efficient – it’s their job to know the laws and the system

⬜ People get a say in government through someone elected by the people

⬜ Works well in large areas with diverse populations

◻ The disadvantages are to representative democracy?

⬜ Individuals must set aside their private interests and personal concerns for the sake of the whole – some people are not comfortable with this

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Answer this question:

What do you think is more important:

Individual interests or the common good?

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So we learned about representative governments….

What other kinds of governments are out there?

• Direct Democracy• Representative

Democracy• Communism • Monarchy• Oligarchy• Autocracy• Theocracy

Saudi Arabia

Vietnam

North Korea

The economic system game

◻ Each person per group will be given candy.◻ Each person per group will have different

amounts of candy.◻ The aim of the game is to play

rock/paper/scissors with your partner in the group.

◻ Every time one person wins, you take one of your partner’s pieces of candy.

◻ If you run out of candy, you have lost and cannot play.

You have TWO minutes.

This is capitalism!

•Belief in individual ownership and competition.

•To make as much profit as possible.

•Wealth is not evenly distributed.

•Where one small group of people- the business owners or “capitalists” make a lot of money from running factories or other businesses. They rely on a large group of workers.

•These workers often get exploited.

Game 2

Put all candy in the middle.Number yourself 1-4. Number 1 take 4 pieces.Number 2 take 3 pieces.Number 3 take 2 pieces.Number 4 take 1 pieces.Rock/paper/scissors for two minutes.Put your hand up if you run out of candy.

This is Socialism

•The workers (through a new government) take control of the country and industry.

•Industries are run to benefit everyone not to make profits for individuals.

•Wealth is shared more equally

•Not completely equal!!

•All people benefit from education and health.

Game 3

Put all the candy in the middle of your group.REMEMBER you cannot play without notes.

Another 2 minutes to play….

This is Communism

◻ In a Communist society, all wealth is shared equally.

◻ There is no private property or land ownership.

◻ A doctor is worth the same as a sales clerk.◻ The government runs everything on behalf of

the workers- not for their own profit.

What is Communism?

Karl Marx with Frederick Engels wrote the ‘Communist Manifesto’ in 1847. It’s a short book – but billions of people have read it….

Communism

◻ In a communist government, the government believes in owning all means of production and eliminating private property

⬜ This means that all things are owned by the government and shared by the people.

⬜ The intention of this system is to ensure that everyone has equal access and property■ However, this system can become corrupt

quickly with the government removing all rights of the people

Vietnam

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Communism

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Socialism

◻ Socialism is an economic system and political theory ⬜First, what is an economic system? ⬜A system of production and

consumption of goods and services of a community■ This includes the wealth and

resources of a nation■ The government’s role (or absence of

a role) in the regulation of business and production.

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◻ Socialism is an economic system which 1. Promotes collective or governmental ownership2. Administration of the means of production and

distribution of goods by government or collective groups

1. This results in no free, competitive, private businesses

Activity

•In pairs sort out the cards into three columns.

•Which cards describe Capitalism, Communism, Socialism?

•Challenging question: what are the advantages and disadvantages of each system?

Copy and complete the table in your notes:

Discuss

1. Which type do you think wealthy business owners would like?

2. Which do you think poor people would like?3. Middle class?

Socialism/Communism Probs

◻ Government may not run industries well – no competition = no incentive to make services good

◻ In Communist countries, there is a lot of government control. People have fewer rights

◻ People are not allowed to speak freely ◻ Without incentives (money or similar), people

may not work as hard ◻ People are selfish- they want to work to

benefit their own lives

Monarchy● A monarchy has a king, queen,

emperor or empress.

● The ruling position can be passed on to the ruler’s heirs.

● In some traditional monarchies, the monarch has absolute power, like in Saudi Arabia.

● But a constitutional monarchy, like the United Kingdom, also has a democratic government that limits the monarch's control.

Queen Elizabeth II

King Abdullah of Saudi

Arabia

Image from the New York

Post

Constitutional Monarchy

Government

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Monarchy: Rule by One

◻ Read the article and answer the questions on your graphic organizer!⬜ What is a monarchy⬜ Positives⬜ Negatives

◻ Complete Vocabulary activity… yes, it is a grade.

Trading Cards

◻ Each person will receive a monarch baseball card

◻ Read your card!◻ Create an argument for why your monarch is

the best! Use evidence from your card!◻ March Madness Style to see who is the best

monarch!

What makes a successful monarch? An unsuccessful monarch?

Oligarchy

● A government in which control is exercised by a small group of individuals whose authority generally is based on wealth or power

● This power may not always be exercised openly. Oligarchs sometimes prefer to remain the “power behind the throne.”

● A modern example of oligarchy

could be seen in South Africa during

the 20th century where oligarchy was

based on racism.FLREA © 2012

Oligarchy

Government

Government

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Autocracy

● A government ruled by a single leader who has unlimited power and denies peoples’ fundamental rights.

● In a military dictatorship, the army is in control. One person is in charge and often takes over by force.

● Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Sadam Hussein were examples

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Autocracy, Dictator, Totalitarian

Government

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What else is there?

◻ Another type of government is anarchy.

⬜ Anarchy is when there is a complete breakdown of government and the people fall into a start of chaos. There is no organization or control.

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Theocracy

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◻ a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god.

◻ No separation of church and state

◻ Often times citizens of other faiths are expelled or excluded

Assignment: Who Rules?

◻ Read the Who Rules? article and add to your notes!

◻ Complete the questions on the back!◻ You will turn this in as a GRADE but will get it

back to keep with your NOTES!

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Representative Democracy: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.American Democracy: The government promises to give you two cows if you vote for it. After the election, the president is impeached for speculating in cow futures. The press dubs the affair "Cowgate." The cows are set free.Bureaucracy: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. After that it takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.Anarchy: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to kill you and take the cows.Capitalism: You have two cows. You lay one off, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when she drops dead.Totalitarianism: You have two cows. The government takes them and denies they ever existed. Milk is banned.

Cows describe governments

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Socialism: You have two cows. The government takes one of your cows and gives it to your neighbor. You're both forced to join a cooperative where you have to teach your neighbor how to take care of his cow.

Fascism: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk.

Pure Communism: You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk.

Communism: You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk. You wait in line for you share of the milk, but it's so long that the milk is sour by the time you get it.

Dictatorship: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.

Pure Democracy: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.

Revolutionary

An overthrow of the established gov’t by the people governed in order to establish their own government

Directions

1. Make sure you have a definition for each type of government

a. You may need to look some up in the book but should be in your notes

2. Research an example of 3. Illustrate that type of government4. Answer the 8 questions on a separate sheet

of paper