World Governments and Mapping Activity

A look at the political leaders of the world, and the styles of political systems.

Democratic Political Systems

USA, Germany, Mexico, India, Canada, Russia, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Republic
--A political order whose head of state is not a monarch and in modern times is usually a president. --A nation that has such a political order. --A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them. --A nation that has such a political order. *Examples: Mexico

Constitutional Republic

A constitutional republic is a state where the head of state and other officials are elected as representatives of the people, and must govern according to existing constitutional law that limits the government's power over citizens. In a constitutional republic, executive, legislative, and judicial powers are separated into distinct branches and the will of the majority of the population is tempered by protections for individual rights so that no individual or group has absolute power. *Examples: United States

Constitutional Monarchy

A monarchy in which the powers of the ruler are restricted to those granted under the constitution and laws of the nation. There is still a king, queen, prime minister, and parliament. *Examples: Great Britain

A federation is a form of government wherein the state is comprised of several smaller, semiautonomous political units such as states or provinces. Federations are often a way to create consensus among geographically distinct groups with competing political and economic interests or ethnic, linguistic, and religious identities. These groups submit to an overarching, central government only so long as they can retain some of their autonomy, and may threaten to break away from the country if their demands are not satisfied.

Federation

Non-Democratic Political Systems

North Korea

China

Cuba

Autocracy/Dictatorship

1 : the authority or rule of an autocrat (dictator) 2 : government in which one person possesses unlimited power 3 : a community or state governed by autocracywith a self-sufficient economic system.

Oligarchy

1: government by the few2: a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes; also : a group exercising such control3: an organization under oligarchic control

Communism

Communist state (oligarchy) is a term used to describe a form of government in which the state operates under a one-party system and declares allegiance to MarxismLeninism.

Activity

Pass out copies of a blank world outline map. Have students make a map legend, at the bottom left-hand corner of their map, with one icon that represents each of the following styles of government: constitutional monarchy, constitutional republic, federal republic (republic), monarchy, autarchy, and oligarchy, federation. Go to the CIA website (click CIA). Go to each of the following countries, using the drop box, and look for government type. Allow students time to color in the outline map accordingly. Countries: USA, Mexico, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba, India, South Africa, and Iraq.