Lesson 21
Look at the United States's concepts of democracy and individual rights, explain how developments in other nations affect the United States, and describe the role of the United States in International Organizations
In the last lesson you looked at a few International Organizations. NATO and the UN in particular. What role does the United States play in these organizations?
Remember when we talked about the Executive Branch and how it is made up of the President the Vice President and the Cabinet? Well one department in the Cabinet is the Department of State.
Part of what the Department of State does is manage foreign affairs. And the Secretary of State (the leader of the Department of State) has the job of informing the President about other countries. Our current Secretary of State is John Kerry:
Remember when we talked about the Executive Branch and how it is made up of the President the Vice President and the Cabinet? Well one department in the Cabinet is the Department of State.
Part of what the Department of State does is manage foreign affairs. And the Secretary of State (the leader of the Department of State) has the job of informing the President about other countries. Our current Secretary of State is John Kerry:
Read about the Department of State here: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/dos/436.htm
Alright now that you've learned a little more about foreign policy, let's look deeper into how it works.
Do you remember when you learned about Economies ? I talked about Communism and Capitalism ? It can get a little confusing, because Communism can be an economic or a political system. And POLITICS is basically a discussion about how government should work. So economics and politics are kind of tied together. Because you can't run a government without goods and services, and ECONOMICS is all about goods and services.
So when I talk about Communism I'm talking about the ECONOMIC mentality that everything should be shared equally among the citizens of a country, and the POLITICAL Communism, where one political party controls the distribution of everything. That one party makes all the decisions and doesn't allow the people to vote. Why? Because Communism says that the individual doesn't matter. Things should be done for the good of the group.
This stuff should sound familiar to you. Remember the assignment where you listened to the PODCAST about Steve Nash? And how he played like a Communist, because he wasn't interested in being the star of the team ? Steve was more interested in the whole group succeeding.
Do you remember when you learned about Economies ? I talked about Communism and Capitalism ? It can get a little confusing, because Communism can be an economic or a political system. And POLITICS is basically a discussion about how government should work. So economics and politics are kind of tied together. Because you can't run a government without goods and services, and ECONOMICS is all about goods and services.
So when I talk about Communism I'm talking about the ECONOMIC mentality that everything should be shared equally among the citizens of a country, and the POLITICAL Communism, where one political party controls the distribution of everything. That one party makes all the decisions and doesn't allow the people to vote. Why? Because Communism says that the individual doesn't matter. Things should be done for the good of the group.
This stuff should sound familiar to you. Remember the assignment where you listened to the PODCAST about Steve Nash? And how he played like a Communist, because he wasn't interested in being the star of the team ? Steve was more interested in the whole group succeeding.
What does this have to do with foreign policy ? Well different nations have different types of government. In the United States we tend to believe that democracy is the best form of government. The United States is a powerful country, but one country who is almost equally as powerful is China.
You might have heard the United States is pretty deep in debt. Guess who we owe most of that money to?
You might have heard the United States is pretty deep in debt. Guess who we owe most of that money to?
The United States currently owes China more than 1 TRILLION dollars. The United States has more than 16 Trillion dollars in debt, so China only owns approx. 1/16th of our debt, but that's still a lot of money. It's hard to fathom how much money a trillion dollars is.... this website tries to do that. If you were to start in the year 1 AD and spend $1 million dollars every day, you still wouldn't have spent 1 trillion dollars. If you're interested in looking more into the United States debt, look at this website.
Now let's get back to foreign policy...
Now let's get back to foreign policy...
So we can't really talk about foreign policy without talking about China. China is a communist country. They don't hold elections, and one party is in charge of the whole country. The government makes rules for it's people- there are certain things that you aren't allowed to talk about when you're in China.
In the past, the United States has hated Communism. Both the Vietnam and Korean Wars were started mostly because the United States didn't want Communism to spread. Now the United States depends on China, a communist country.
I want you to watch this TedTalk which explains in more detail what China's political system is like. The speaker is Eric X Li. He argues the the system in China is a good system. Before you watch the talk, he mentions MERITOCRACY a lot, so you need to know what that means. It means that the government leaders achieved their status based on MERIT, they earned their position and they weren't born into it.
Eric makes some interesting points that I want you to think about:
#1 near the end of the video he says that 'China's system cannot be exported' meaning that Eric thinks Communism and the One-Party system is a good thing for China, but it's not a good system for the whole world. He argues that just because it's different from the United States doesn't mean it's wrong.
#2 He mentions a few of China's problems (pollution, corruption..) but he doesn't ever mention government control and personal freedom. The government of China controls the media. There are certain things they don't want their people to see and hear so they censor what their citizens can view. Many websites like the New York Times and Facebook are blocked (though Facebook is allowed in Shanghai). They even recently added restrictions to how people can access their e-mail. For a list of websites blocked in China you can look at this website.
#3 Eric mentions that he's a Capitalist. If you remember from the economics lesson, Capitalists depend on a free market economy. They make their own decisions without government control. Eric lives in Shanghai, which is on the Eastern coast of China. He is a Capitalist that is living in China. How does that work? How can a market economy exist in a Communist state?
#1 near the end of the video he says that 'China's system cannot be exported' meaning that Eric thinks Communism and the One-Party system is a good thing for China, but it's not a good system for the whole world. He argues that just because it's different from the United States doesn't mean it's wrong.
#2 He mentions a few of China's problems (pollution, corruption..) but he doesn't ever mention government control and personal freedom. The government of China controls the media. There are certain things they don't want their people to see and hear so they censor what their citizens can view. Many websites like the New York Times and Facebook are blocked (though Facebook is allowed in Shanghai). They even recently added restrictions to how people can access their e-mail. For a list of websites blocked in China you can look at this website.
#3 Eric mentions that he's a Capitalist. If you remember from the economics lesson, Capitalists depend on a free market economy. They make their own decisions without government control. Eric lives in Shanghai, which is on the Eastern coast of China. He is a Capitalist that is living in China. How does that work? How can a market economy exist in a Communist state?
The answer to this question is a little complicated.
A. The government owns a large part of the companies in China. So they control the economy by owning a large percentage of companies. These Chinese government owned businesses are called SOE (State Owned Enterprises) The SOEs in China own 43% of businesses in China. Look at the chart of American state (government) owned businesses → |
B. Also the government still puts a lot of restrictions on what private companies can do. So you might argue that China is not Capitalist, or you could argue that China is not Communist. Both arguments have been made. Some say that China's economy is 'STATE CAPITALISM', which is kind of an oxymoron when you look at the definition of Capitalism. That's the problem with words. We make up words and then things happen that we don't have words for. So we try to fit what happens into a category that it doesn't fit into. You could only argue that China is Capitalist if you change the definition of what Capitalism is.
#4 at the end of the talk Eric is asked questions about how the government isn't responsible to anyone. If they become corrupt there is no one to stop them. There's no system of 'checks and balances'. He answers by saying that the Chinese government conducts 'public opinion surveys' all the time and they care about the government.
So I mentioned that China and the U.S. are tied together because the United States owes China a lot of money, but the United States and China are connected in other ways too:
-China makes 80% of all toys sold in the United States
-The 1.35 Billion people that live in China use up resources like FUEL making it more scarce, and thus more valuable. Because more people want fuel, the prices goes up (supply and demand).
-Because labor is cheaper in China, many jobs are being moved to China. That affects the U.S. economy.
And these are only a few of the ways that China and the United States affect each other.
-China makes 80% of all toys sold in the United States
-The 1.35 Billion people that live in China use up resources like FUEL making it more scarce, and thus more valuable. Because more people want fuel, the prices goes up (supply and demand).
-Because labor is cheaper in China, many jobs are being moved to China. That affects the U.S. economy.
And these are only a few of the ways that China and the United States affect each other.
We've already talked about how the President has a lot to do with how our country interacts with other nations. Remember when we talked about implied, inherent, and expressed powers? You're going to use that knowledge to understand how the President uses foreign policy. The Constitution says the President is in charge of 'enforcing the laws'. That's an expressed power. It's written in the Constitution. The President can also appoint ambassadors to other nations. Again this is an expressed power.
The President has the power to make treaties. BUT the treaties have to be approved by the Senate (checks and balances). Again an expressed power because it's actually written in the Constitution.
INHERENT POWERS are considered 'powers are not specified in the Constitution, but needed to get the job done right'. This is an opinion. Remember when we talked about loose and strict Constructionists? Strict Constructionists would say, "Um, NO! If it's not written in the Constitution it shouldn't be legal" while Loose Constructionists would say, "Sure, it makes sense that he should have the power as the leader of our nation so he can do that if he wants"
The Constitution says that only CONGRESS (House of Representatives and Senate) has the power to declare war. In the last 50 years of our nation's history Congress has not declared war. Ever heard of the Korean War? The Vietnam War? Congress did not declare war. The President used his power to control the Armed Services and sent troops to those countries. This is an example of the President using a power that's not in the Constitution. Or an INHERENT power. The last time Congress declared war was World War II and that ended in 1945.
Declaring war isn't a really good example of an inherent power, because 'Declaring War' is written/expressed in the Constitution, but the power is given to Congress and not the President. The President has given himself that power and since no one has stopped him, he continues to do it. This is a pattern that has been going on with many presidents for many years.
The President has the power to make treaties. BUT the treaties have to be approved by the Senate (checks and balances). Again an expressed power because it's actually written in the Constitution.
INHERENT POWERS are considered 'powers are not specified in the Constitution, but needed to get the job done right'. This is an opinion. Remember when we talked about loose and strict Constructionists? Strict Constructionists would say, "Um, NO! If it's not written in the Constitution it shouldn't be legal" while Loose Constructionists would say, "Sure, it makes sense that he should have the power as the leader of our nation so he can do that if he wants"
The Constitution says that only CONGRESS (House of Representatives and Senate) has the power to declare war. In the last 50 years of our nation's history Congress has not declared war. Ever heard of the Korean War? The Vietnam War? Congress did not declare war. The President used his power to control the Armed Services and sent troops to those countries. This is an example of the President using a power that's not in the Constitution. Or an INHERENT power. The last time Congress declared war was World War II and that ended in 1945.
Declaring war isn't a really good example of an inherent power, because 'Declaring War' is written/expressed in the Constitution, but the power is given to Congress and not the President. The President has given himself that power and since no one has stopped him, he continues to do it. This is a pattern that has been going on with many presidents for many years.
For the assignment I want you to take a quiz. The quiz is 4 questions and assesses what you would be like if you were in charge of a country and were faced with foreign policy problems. Take the quiz here.
Once you've taken the quiz answer these questions:
1. What result did you get?
2. What kind of answers did you choose, Peaceful? Aggressive? Cautious? What does this say about you and the future of your country?
3. Do you think you would have a good foreign policy if you were in charge of your own country? Why or why not?
4. How would your decisions on foreign policy affect the citizens of your country?
5. WRITE A PARAGRAPH on how the United States affects and is affected by other countries around the world.
You can use outside sources but make sure you cite them!
Now go to this website:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/games_quizzes/electiongame/game.asp
This is an online game where you pretend you are the president and you pick your advisers and then explain your financial decisions to the press. After you go through each of the steps it will say 'Click here to see what the newspapers say'. Click there. You will be taken to a screen where they've created a newspaper showing some of the quotes you just typed. I want a copy of that newspaper uploaded below for the second part of the assignment. You can take a screen shot (Ctrl + Alt + PrtSc). Do not 'Save As' because it will save it as a webpage that I won't be able to open.
Once you've taken the quiz answer these questions:
1. What result did you get?
2. What kind of answers did you choose, Peaceful? Aggressive? Cautious? What does this say about you and the future of your country?
3. Do you think you would have a good foreign policy if you were in charge of your own country? Why or why not?
4. How would your decisions on foreign policy affect the citizens of your country?
5. WRITE A PARAGRAPH on how the United States affects and is affected by other countries around the world.
You can use outside sources but make sure you cite them!
Now go to this website:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/games_quizzes/electiongame/game.asp
This is an online game where you pretend you are the president and you pick your advisers and then explain your financial decisions to the press. After you go through each of the steps it will say 'Click here to see what the newspapers say'. Click there. You will be taken to a screen where they've created a newspaper showing some of the quotes you just typed. I want a copy of that newspaper uploaded below for the second part of the assignment. You can take a screen shot (Ctrl + Alt + PrtSc). Do not 'Save As' because it will save it as a webpage that I won't be able to open.
Standard 6 Objective 3: A. B, & C
Standard 6 Objective 2: A & B
Standard 6 Objective 2: A & B