Lesson 22
Explain how the President uses the Constitution in Foreign Affairs, and look at factors that affect foreign policy
More foreign policy! But we're going to go into a little more detail...
Remember when I mentioned NATO a few lessons back? You looked at their website and learned a little bit about their mission statement. Here's a little bit of history behind the organization:
Remember when I mentioned NATO a few lessons back? You looked at their website and learned a little bit about their mission statement. Here's a little bit of history behind the organization:
Before when we looked at NATO we looked at it as a group of nations promoting WORLD PEACE. But NATO is a bunch of countries that are allied together. And they decided to become allies when they feared that Russia/Soviet Union was becoming too powerful. So although their mission is peace, they started their alliance to combat Russia's power.
And as you saw at the end of the video they are still dealing with Russia.
The United States is part of both NATO and the UN. The United Nations was President FDR's idea and it was originally established to fight against the AXIS powers of World War II (the AXIS powers were: Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, & Bulgaria) Though the UN has developed into a 'world peace' organization.
And as you saw at the end of the video they are still dealing with Russia.
The United States is part of both NATO and the UN. The United Nations was President FDR's idea and it was originally established to fight against the AXIS powers of World War II (the AXIS powers were: Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, & Bulgaria) Though the UN has developed into a 'world peace' organization.
You learned a little bit about NATO and the UN before, but do you see how learning about the HISTORY of both of these organizations helps you understand them better? History is awesome.
So there's a deeper picture of something you already learned. Now let's look deeper at things the U.S. does specifically to help the world.
To do this I want to talk about a little movement called KONY 2012. Do you remember that ? It was a movement started by Jason Russell. He traveled to Africa and noticed how children in Uganda were being kidnapped and forced to join the army of a man named Joseph Kony. Jason Russell made a video informing the public about what was happening. His goal was to get enough people aware and involved to make a difference:
So there's a deeper picture of something you already learned. Now let's look deeper at things the U.S. does specifically to help the world.
To do this I want to talk about a little movement called KONY 2012. Do you remember that ? It was a movement started by Jason Russell. He traveled to Africa and noticed how children in Uganda were being kidnapped and forced to join the army of a man named Joseph Kony. Jason Russell made a video informing the public about what was happening. His goal was to get enough people aware and involved to make a difference:
And the video did make a difference. It made a huge difference. The video received over 100 million views.
The public has a strong power on foreign policy. Because of the attention this issue got, the government was forced to pay attention to what was going on and to make changes. So if you thought that all you could do was write a letter to your Senator and hope that they listen, you were wrong.
When people learn about our nation's foreign policy they form opinions. And if they don't like how our nation is dealing with these issues then they can form interest groups and let our government know their opinion on the policy. The more support an interest group has the more likely the government is to listen to their opinion.
More recently you might remember the ALS Ice Bucket challenge trend. This is another example of how the public can get involved and make a change. Since last July the ALS Asoociation has raised over $115 million dollars. That's money that wouldn't have been raised if it weren't for social media.
The Kony 2012 campaign died out a little. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but if you're interested in what happened you can do your own research. That's one of the problems with trends, they die out. And when it's a movement that is humanitarian it is something that works better if the support keeps coming in.
The public has a strong power on foreign policy. Because of the attention this issue got, the government was forced to pay attention to what was going on and to make changes. So if you thought that all you could do was write a letter to your Senator and hope that they listen, you were wrong.
When people learn about our nation's foreign policy they form opinions. And if they don't like how our nation is dealing with these issues then they can form interest groups and let our government know their opinion on the policy. The more support an interest group has the more likely the government is to listen to their opinion.
More recently you might remember the ALS Ice Bucket challenge trend. This is another example of how the public can get involved and make a change. Since last July the ALS Asoociation has raised over $115 million dollars. That's money that wouldn't have been raised if it weren't for social media.
The Kony 2012 campaign died out a little. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but if you're interested in what happened you can do your own research. That's one of the problems with trends, they die out. And when it's a movement that is humanitarian it is something that works better if the support keeps coming in.
I also mentioned how one of the departments in the President's cabinet advises him on foreign affairs. The Secretary of State. You might say his most important job is diplomatic relations. You can find Secretary Kerry's activities on this website: http://www.state.gov/ and near the bottom of the page you'll find links that lead you to videos and articles of what Secretary Kerry has been doing lately.
The Federal State Office also oversees economic relations with other countries. This means they oversee trade policies with other countries. They try to make it easier for private companies to do business oversees. If you look on the state.gov website you'll find specific examples of how the State Office deals with economic relations.
The Federal State Office also oversees economic relations with other countries. This means they oversee trade policies with other countries. They try to make it easier for private companies to do business oversees. If you look on the state.gov website you'll find specific examples of how the State Office deals with economic relations.
assignment 22
1. The first thing I want you to do is write a 1 paragraph response to the KONY 2012 video you watched. Tell me what you thought, the impact it had, and how public opinion shapes foreign policy.
2. What are the benefits of having these types of foreign policies:
humanitarian ?
economic ?
diplomatic ?
2. What are the benefits of having these types of foreign policies:
humanitarian ?
economic ?
diplomatic ?
Standard 6 Objective 2 A & B