Development: Around the World
Learning Objectives
- Students will study the "two Koreas" and the Marshall plan in order to understand the role of development in geopolitics.
- Students will consider U.S. foreign aid policy and criticisms of it, then propose a policy and write an op-ed article supporting that policy.
Materials
Homework
- Students will complete Part 1 and 2 of the guided reading handout.
Class
- (10 Minutes) Debrief Homework: As a class, have students share their understanding of the importance of development through the lens of the “two Koreas.” Questions to Consider: How did North and South Korea develop differently? What main factors shaped the development of North Korea? How did U.S. aid contribute to South Korea’s path? Why was South Korea’s path so different from North Korea’s? What role does technology play in development?
- (5 Minutes) Watch: The Marshall Plan and have students complete Part 3 of the Guided Reading Handout.
- (20 Minutes) Jigsaw: Students will complete Part 4 of the guided reading handout in groups of 2-3 and share notes with each other.
- (10 Minutes) Introduce Op-Ed Assignment: Should the US consider significantly boosting foreign aid, as it did under the Marshall plan? If so, what priorities should it set? If not, why not?
- As a class: Have students brainstorm answers to the question.
- If students argue for an increase, possible choices of priorities to argue for include:
- Focusing efforts on a particular type of aid, such as
- humanitarian aid
- development aid
- military aid
- political and economic aid
- Focusing efforts on a particular country or region
- Focusing efforts on a particular type of country, such as
- only developing countries
- only democratic countries
- Assign students to write an opinion piece supporting their position for homework.
Homework
Students will write a one-page Op-Ed in which they propose how the United States could better administer foreign aid based on their class discussion. This paper can serve as the basis for a discussion during the next class.
Vocabulary
- bailout
funds provided to an entity, such as a country or corporation, to help it avoid serious financial trouble, often bankruptcy.
- communism
a political and economic system in which private property is eliminated in favor of common, public ownership of the means of production (such as factories), natural resources, and more, leading to the creation of a stateless, classless society.
- counterterrorism
the set of policies and actions—including intelligence collection and analysis, military action, and homeland security measures—designed to combat terrorism.
- cult of personality
the phenomenon in which a public figure, usually a political leader, is presented by their government as an idealized individual or a role model, often through propaganda.
- democratic institutions
the organized bodies associated with a democratic form of governance, like freely elected legislatures.
- gross domestic product
a measure of a country’s economic output determined by the value of goods and services it produces in a given year.
- industrialization
the process by which the balance of production shifts from agriculture toward manufacturing and industry.
- Industrial Revolution
a transition, beginning in the eighteenth century, from small-scale, largely agricultural economies to more industry-intensive ones.
- International Monetary Fund
a multilateral financial institution established in 1944 that exists to foster stability and growth in the international monetary system.