Opening Activity  Get with your group members from yesterday and review your 5 proposals. Choose 3 that will be presented to the class for a vote.  Choose one person to present these proposals.

Cultural Characteristics Nations and Governments

What is government?  Government: a groups’ political system.  Since each culture is different, so are the types of government that exist today.

 Democracy: rule by the people. People govern.

 Republic: the people elect representatives to make and enforce the laws for them.  This is sometimes referred to as a Representative Democracy.

Barack Obama Joe Biden

 Monarchy: rule by a king or queen.

Queen Beatrix

 Constitutional Monarchy: the country has a monarch, but that person has little real power. Instead, most of the power rests with the elected lawmaking group.

Queen Elizabeth II Gordon Brown

 Dictatorship: rule by one person or a small group of people.  Most dictators seize power in some capacity.  Monarchs are hereditary, dictators are not.

 Anarchy: the complete absence of government.  While this may sound nice, no government interference, what problems could arise because of it?

 Theocracy: country in which the head of government is also the head of the state religion.

Developed vs Developing  Before we get into the differences, we have to understand some key terms.

Developed vs Developing  Standard of Living: measures the quality of life based on available material goods.  Basically, how much stuff can you get if you wanted to?

Developed vs Developing  Industry: a business that produces goods or services.  Subsistence Farming: farming what you need for you and your family to survive.  Commercial Farming: growing food to sell.

Developed vs Developing  Gross Domestic Product: refers to all the annual production within a country.

Developed vs Developing  Industry  Commercial Farming  High Standard of Living  High GDP  Quality Formal Education  Quality Health Care  Subsistence Farming  Low Standard of Living  Low GDP  Little Formal Education  Little to no Health Care

Developed vs Developing  Low Birth Rates  Low Infant Mortality Rate  Many Luxuries  Stable Governments  Pollution from industrial waste  Low Population Growth  High Birth Rates  High Infant Mortality Rate  Few Luxuries  Unstable Governments  Pollution from too many people  High Population Growth