Social Studies Curriculum

Area Studies Electives

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Adopted January 1999

AP Comparative Government and Economics

Course Description:

This course will study government political and economic systems of two first world nations (United Kingdom, France, Germany, or Japan), two socialist or former socialist nations (Russia, China), and three third world nations (India, Nigeria, Mexico, Egypt, or Iraq). 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.

The course title and description have been approved by the Anchorage School Board.  This course outline is meant to serve as an example of one possibility for organizing this class.  It does not represent the only way the course may be organized.  Each course outline has been written by a different teacher so there will be differences in the approach used from one course to another.

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.

Course Outline:

1. Introduction to Comparative Politics
   1. What is Comparative Politics
   2. Theories of Comparative Politics
   3. Strong and Weak States
   4. Pressures on the State: Domestic, Regional, Global
2. Liberal Democracies (Great Britain, France, Germany, or Japan)
   1. Physical and cultural geography
      1. Location
      2. Place characteristics (physical and cultural)
      3. Human/environment relationships
      4. Movement (physical and cultural)
      5. Regions (physical and cultural)
      6. Political and economic geography
   2. Evolution of the State
   3. Structure of Government
      1. Executive Branch
      2. Judicial Branch
      3. Legislative Branch
      4. Role of the Bureaucracy
      5. Role of the Monarchy (where applicable)
   4. Role of Political Parties
   5. Important Contemporary Political Personalities
   6. Political Culture
      1. Government Legitimacy
      2. Role and Significance of Pressure Groups
      3. Elitism in Government
   7. Economic Policy
   8. Foreign Policy
3. Communism
   1. Physical and cultural geography of Russia, China, and other selected nations.
      1. Location
      2. Place characteristics (physical and cultural)
      3. Human/environment relationships
      4. Movement (physical and cultural)
      5. Regions (physical and cultural)
      6. Political and economic geography
   2. Origins of Communist Regimes
      1. Socialism
      2. Marxism
      3. Marxism-Leninism
      4. Stalinism
      5. Expansion
      6. De-Stalinism
      7. The Crisis of Communism
      8. Remnant Communist Nations
   3. Russia and the Former Soviet Union
      1. The Causes of Breaking the Soviet Union into Russia and the Independent Republics
      2. Creating the Russian State
      3. Structure of Government
         1. Executive Branch
         2. Judicial Branch
         3. Legislative Branch
         4. Role of the Bureaucracy
         5. Role of the Monarchy (where applicable)
      4. Role of Political Parties
      5. Important Contemporary Political Personalities
      6. Political Culture
         1. Government Legitimacy
         2. Role and Significance of Pressure Groups
         3. Elitism in Government
      7. Economic Policy
      8. Foreign Policy
   4. China
      1. Creating the Chinese Party-State
      2. The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the State
         1. Maoism
         2. Important Contemporary Political Personalities
      3. Structure of Government
         1. Executive Branch
         2. Judicial Branch
         3. Legislative Branch
         4. Role of the Bureaucracy
         5. Role of the Monarchy (where applicable)
      4. Role of Political Parties
      5. Political Culture
         1. Government Legitimacy
         2. Role and Significance of Pressure Groups
         3. Elitism in Government
         4. Human Rights Controversy
      6. Economic Policy: Past and Contemporary
      7. Foreign Policy        
4. Developing nations (India, Nigeria, Mexico, Egypt, Iraq)
   1. Physical and cultural geography of selected nations
      1. Location
      2. Place characteristics (physical and cultural)
      3. Human/environment relationships
      4. Movement (physical and cultural)
      5. Regions (physical and cultural)
      6. Political and economic geography
   2. Colonial legacies of developing nations
   3. Creating the Nation State
   4. Structures of Government
      1. Executive Branch
      2. Judicial Branch
      3. Legislative Branch
      4. Role of the Bureaucracy
      5. Role of the Monarchy (where applicable)
      6. Role of Political Parties
   5. Political Culture
      1. Government Legitimacy
      2. Role and Significance of Pressure Groups
      3. Elitism in Government
      4. Human Rights Controversy
      5. Role of the Military
      6. Economic Policy: Past and Contemporary
   6. Foreign Policy
      1. Relations with the United States
      2. Regional Polices
      3. Global Policies

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