Forms of Government: Change
Learning Objectives
- Students will analyze various factors that influence revolutions.
- Students will analyze how governments can change in response to global issues like marriage equality, climate change, and income inequality.
Materials
Homework
- Students should have completed Part 1 of the guided reading handout.
Class One
- (5 Minutes) Homework Debrief: Ask students to share key takeaways from Part 1 of guided reading handout.
- Additional questions for discussion: What sorts of grievances lead to revolutions? Was the Arab Spring successful? Why or why not? What were some other major revolutions? Which of those revolutions were successful? What made those revolutions successful?
- (25 Minutes) Activity: Students will create mock propaganda in support of their group’s assigned revolution.
- Assign students to groups based on the revolutions listed as Revolution Case Studies from Part 1 of guided reading handout. NOTE: You may want to consider whether to include a country if you have students with family connections to that revolution.
- Group 1: Chinese Communist Revolution (1949)
- Group 2: South Africa’s Negotiated Revolution (1948-1994)
- Group 3: Cuban Revolution (1953-1959
- Group 4: Hungarian Revolution (1956)
- Group 5: Iranian Revolution (1978-1979)
- Group 6: Tunisian Revolution (2010-2011)
- Group 7: Syria’s Failed Revolution and Civil War (2011-present)
- Using notes from homework, each group will create a poster with a brief propaganda campaign in support of their revolution that includes the following:
- logos/ icons/ symbols to be used in support of their revolution
- slogans or phrases in support of their revolution that underscore both the grievances and specific demands for change
- Assign students to groups based on the revolutions listed as Revolution Case Studies from Part 1 of guided reading handout. NOTE: You may want to consider whether to include a country if you have students with family connections to that revolution.
- (15 Minutes) Presentations: Each group will share their propaganda campaign poster.
- After groups have presented, use the following questions to reflect as a class: Why do revolutions happen? Did your group’s revolution have some legitimate concerns? Which propaganda campaign seems to be the most effective?
Homework
- Have students complete Part 2 of the guided reading handout.
Class Two
- (5 Minutes) Homework Debrief: Ask students to share key takeaways from Part 2 of the guided reading handout.
- Additional questions for discussion: How do forces outside of government influence policy? Does one discussed force outside of government seem to be the most effective for pushing forward change? What kinds of forces outside of government are used during revolutions?
- (35 minutes) Jigsaw/Presentation Preparation: Each group will look at one reading and two videos about their assigned topic to discuss a key question. As students review the materials, they should work together to craft a 5-7 minute presentation on how their assigned topic highlights issues that have the potential to influence governments to change. Based on your classroom space and time constraints, students’ presentations could involve a poster, a slideshow, a Padlet, etc. Create three groups based on the following topics:
- Group 1: Marriage Equality - Marriage Equality Around the World
- Key Question (NOTE: Teachers may opt to assign Part 3 of the guided reading handout): Why does the global growth of marriage equality serve as an example of how governments can change according to popular support?
- Resources:
- Group 2: Climate Change Inequality - Climate Change Inequality
- Key Question: (NOTE: Teachers may opt to assign Part 4 of the guided reading handout): How can governments work to counteract the negative effects of climate change inequality?
- Resources (each student will choose 1 or 2 of the following):
- Group 3: Economic Inequality - What is Economic Inequality?
- Key Question: (NOTE: Teachers may opt to assign Part 5 of the guided reading handout): What forces outside of government can work to pressure governments to change in response to economic inequality?
- Resources
- Group 1: Marriage Equality - Marriage Equality Around the World
- (5 Minutes) Close: Remind students that they will present about their assigned topic in class tomorrow. Give students an opportunity to assign homework tasks to individual group members or create an online document that all students can access to continue to work on for homework.
Homework
- Groups will finish preparing their presentations to share in class tomorrow. Remind students that the expectation is a 5-7 minute presentation that highlights how their assigned topic has the potential to influence governments to change.
Vocabulary
- adaptation
term for the actions and strategies that aim to reduce the exposure of people and places to climate change’s effects.
- brain drain
a term, distinct from brain waste, that refers to the emigration of highly educated or skilled individuals from a home country, resulting in a “brain gain” in the receiving country.
- democratic institutions
the organized bodies associated with a democratic form of governance, like freely elected legislatures.
- foreign intervention
when one country interferes in the affairs of another, often referring to military operations.
- 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.
- GDP per capita
a measure of a country’s economic output determined by the value of goods and services it produces in a given year, or gross domestic product, divided by the number of people in that country.
- norm
commonly accepted standard of behavior. Because international law is not always binding, international relations is highly influenced by norms.
- referendum
a vote, typically organized by a government, in which participants approve or reject a certain policy proposal. This is a form of direct democracy, in which citizens themselves (as opposed to elected representatives) make a policy decision.
- surveillance
a type of intelligence collection that involves the systematic, and often concealed, observation of people, places, and things by visual, aural, electronic, photographic, or other methods.