PERIOD 3: AP COMPARATIVE GOVERNMENT (SPRING ONLY)

Class Introduction:

This course will study government political and economic systems of Britain, Russia, China, Mexico, Iran, and Nigeria. The countries studied may vary according to the text material available and the contemporary issues to be compared. This course is designed to allow the student to understand how these political and economic systems are similar and how they might differ.

Course Goals:
Through this course students will :

Understand the physical, cultural and political geography of selected nations.
Understand the differing governmental political systems of nation states.
Understand differing economic systems.
Understand what makes a government legitimate.
Understanding and differentiate between cultures (including political cultures).
Understand and compare Most Industrialized Nations (MICs), Newly Industrializing Nations (NICs), and Less Developed Nations (LDCs) in their levels of economic development.
Understand and compare domestic and global pressures on the state.
Understand the origins of the democratic state.
Understand and compare what makes a Great Power and a Weak Power
Course Objectives:
The student will:

Identify the absolute and relative locations of the nations studied.
Identify and describe physical and cultural (including political and economic geography) characteristics of the nations studied.
Identify major physical and cultural regions within the nations studied.
Identify and describe examples of human/environment relationships existing within the nations studied.
Describe what comparative politics represents.
Differentiate between differing / competing economic systems: Capitalist, socialist, mixed, import substitution (nationalistic protective barriers), nationalization, privatization.
Identify and describe differences between democracy, authoritarian, totalitarian.
Identify and describe different forms of government: Presidential, Parliamentary, Presidential-Parliamentary, Communist (Party-State), Military, Monarchy, Unitary, Federalism.
Identify and describe the roles that judicial systems have in different countries.
Describe and give examples of the significance and importance of traditions and precedence in establishing political culture.
Describe how governments gain legitimacy in the eyes of the governed.
Identify or describe the role of differing civil services and bureaucracies in government.
Describe the role of global economics in helping shape today's governments and describe the roles of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in helping to create more advanced economies.
Describe colonial imperialism and its legacy.
Explain the increasing role of political union and trade treaties (European Economic Union, North American Free Trade Agreement, GATT, and other regional political unions and agreements).
Define sovereignty and describe how national sovereignty is affected by treaties and international agreements.