Name______Period______
Directions: Select any of the options below, by the beginning of class on Wednesday you must complete 100 points worth of activities. Please circle the title of those activities you complete.
Government Comic Strip (50 points)
•Choose the type of government that you would like to represent in your cartoon: Autocracy, Oligarchy, or Democracy.
•Create a comic strip that represents the leadership of the government and the citizen participation (who votes) in the government.
• Comic needs to be at least four panels long and in color.
•Your characters & countries may be fictional, but you need to make sure that your cartoon includes realistic information about how your government type actually works.
Who am I (25 points)
Create a “Who Am I?” riddle for each of the vocabulary words. Each riddle should have a minimum of 3 lines. (Autocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy)
Acrostic Poem (25 points)
Create an acrostic poem for each of the vocabulary words. (Autocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy)
Simile (25 points)
Create a similefor each of the vocabulary words. A simile is a comparison of two things or ideas using like or as. It is not enough just to write the simile, you must explain it too.
Selfie (10 points)
Create facial expressions for each of the vocabulary words to summarize how a person would feel living under that government. (You only need to draw the heads.)
The type I like (20 points)
Which type of government do you prefer to live under? Write a paragraph explaining your position.
Close Reading (25 points)
Read this article and create a visual representation showing the advantages and disadvantages of a Parliamentary system.
Advantages & Disadvantages of a Parliamentary System
Advantages of a parliamentary system
One of the commonly attributed advantages to parliamentary systems is that it’s faster and easier to pass legislation. This is because the executive branch is dependent upon the direct or indirect support of the legislative branch and often includes members of the legislature. Thus, this would amount to the executive (as the majority party or coalition of parties in the legislature) possessing more votes in order to pass legislation.
In a presidential system, the executive is often chosen independently from the legislature. If the executive and legislature in such a system include members from different political parties, then stalemate can occur. Accordingly, the executive within a presidential system might not be able to carry out laws and keep campaign promises. It could be said then that the will of the people is more easily instituted within a parliamentary system.
In addition to quicken legislative action, Parliamentarianism has attractive features for nations that are ethnically, racially, or ideologically divided. In a presidential system, all executive power is concentrated in the president. In a parliamentary system power is more divided. The prime minister seldom tends to have as high importance as a ruling president, and there tends to be a higher focus on voting for a party and its political ideas than voting for an actual person.
Parliamentarianism has been praised for producing serious debates, for allowing the change in power without an election, and for allowing elections at any time. Additionally, scholars point out that since World War II, two-thirds of Third World countries establishing parliamentary governments successfully made the transition to democracy. By contrast, no Third World presidential system successfully made the transition to democracy without experiencing coups and other constitutional breakdowns.
Criticisms of parliamentarianism
One main criticism and benefits of many parliamentary systems is that the head of government is in almost all cases not directly elected. In a presidential system, the president is usually chosen directly by the citizens. However, in a parliamentary system the prime minister is elected by the legislature, often under the strong influence of the party leadership. Thus, a party’s candidate for the head of government is usually known before the election.
Another major criticism of the parliamentary system lies precisely in its purported advantage: that there is no truly independent body to oppose and veto legislation passed by the parliament, and therefore no substantial check on legislative power (seetyranny of the majority). Conversely, because of the lack of inherent separation of powers, some believe that a parliamentary system can place too much power in the executive entity. However, parliamentary systems may be bicameral, with an upper house designed to check the power of the lower (from which the executive comes).
Although parliamentarianism has been praised for allowing an election to take place at any time, the lack of a definite election calendar can be abused. In some systems, such as the British, a ruling party can schedule elections when it feels that it is likely to do well, and so avoid elections at times of unpopularity. Thus, by wise timing of elections, in a parliamentary system a party can extend its rule for longer than is possible in a presidential system.
Critics of parliamentary systems point out that people with significant popular support in the community are prevented from becoming prime minister if they cannot get elected to parliament since there is no option to “run for prime minister” like one can run for president under a presidential system.
Just a couple of questions please (10 points)
Memory Clues (15 points)