GOV STUDY GUIDE 649,652,654, - Assignment Example

Political Science Government Study Guide Chapter 22: Practicing the Vocabulary (pg. 649) Matching Words Purge 2. Cultural Revolution
3. Mestizo
4. Prefecture
5. By-elections
Word Relationship
6. Perestroika was a market reforms created by Mikhail Gorbachez to restructure Israel’s economy. Glasnost was also a reform created by Gorbachez as a form of democratic reforms (McClenaghan, 2006).
7. In devolution, the distribution of power in a centralized national government usually becomes transferred downwards from the central government to the subsidiary assemblies in the state. In nationalization, the distribution of power takes place in an upwards motion, because all the power from lower local administrations comes from the top central government.
8. In a shadow cabinet, there are senior members of the political party which is not in power. However, they are likely to become ministers in a British cabinet in the event that their party got elected. Soviets were a group of elected government council members in a counrty that was communist.
9. In a monarchy, the sovereignty of the government in power is usually possessed in one person, a king or a queen and it only lasts until the person dies and the next family member in line takes over (McClenaghan, 2006). A minister is a politician in a national or regional government who has the duty of implementing policy decisions.
10. A coalition is a formal pact between people or groups of people with the purpose of satisfying each group’s interest (McClenaghan, 2006). A consensus is an agreement between two people or groups and smooth decision-making process occurs because each party has the entitlement to make decisions.
Chapter 22: Section 5 Assessment (pg. 652)
Key Terms and Main Ideas
1. In 1918, the Chinese political and military leader, Chiang Kai-shek joined a nationalist party known as the Kuomintang (KMT). Chiang had a successor called, Sun Yat-Sen in year 1925, who ensured that there was a unification process for all the local leaders in China and chased away the communists in China. He focused on battling both communism and Japanese aggression. When China’s allies declared the war in Japan in 1914, China also participated as one of the Big four. Later, there was a civil war in China in 1946 and the communist forces in China led by Mao Zedong succeeded thereby creating the People’s Republic of China.
Cultural Revolution was a movement in China established to cleanse China of the four olds which included old customs, ideas, culture and habits (McClenaghan, 2006). The movement was launched by Mao Zedong as a way of reasserting his authority in the government.
2. China changes its constitution based on articles and chapters that incorporate some of the most crucial and legal instruments of power, such as good governance in all local regions.
3. The Republic of China is what is known as Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China is what is known as China (McClenaghan, 2006). These are two separate states, but both states seem to claim to control the other.
4. Today, Hong Kong is well known as East Asia’s free-trade leader and has special administrative status in the region.
Critical Thinking
5. In China, there are no political opposition groups, but in Russia there are many political groups such as the KTR group and the World Russian People’s Congress among others. From 1970s, China moved from a system that was centrally planned and closed, to one which was more market-oriented. Russia has also embraced the changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It moved from an economy that became isolated from the world to one that is globally integrated.
6. Chinese communist party dominates the political life in China because it has many members and one of the largest in the world. It is also the main policy making body in China (McClenaghan, 2006).
Chapter 22: Section 4 Assessment (pg. 654)
Key Terms and Main Ideas
1. Both Lenin and Stalin’s role in the communist state was to have all means of production, land ownership and agricultural activities being state-owned. However, their ideologies were different because Lenin’s outlook on the people in Russia and their activities was more humane and pragmatic in nature. Stalin’s outlook was inhumane, he was extremely brutal since all those who disagreed with him on political matters faced prison charges and others got killed. Stalin’s purges did not seem humane in the years of his fellow countrymen. Moreover, he seemed to enforce rules that would favor a system that seemed like it was worshipping him.
2. Gorbachev purpose for glasnost and perestroika was to restructure the economy and political position of Russia. To restructure the Russian economy to his liking he wanted the implementation of the two reforms implemented based on openness and adopt the idea of restructuring.
3. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, the economy was inactive and the amount of spending on military activity was high. After Gorbachev introduced the idea of people being open about how they would rebuild the system it allowed people to take advantage and get the privilege of asking for the replacement of the communist system. People were not happy because they saw the system as the enemy, one that did not allow them to do as they pleased. There was a failed coup in the year 1991 when some communists tried to remove Gorbachev from office (McClenaghan, 2006). As a result the Soviet Union collapsed when people campaigned for a Stalin way of governing.
4. The soviet constitution affirmed certain political rights and not others. For example, there was freedom of religion and speech. The 1993 constitution gave rise to the establishment of new political systems and it seems to operate under the influence of other foreign regimes, unlike the soviet constitution, influenced by the soviets only.
Critical Thinking
5. Gorbachev’s need to create a democratic and open system for the communist system was incompatible because in an open system people are free to say and do as they wish, but in a democratic system, they have to follow certain rules. The two systems cannot work in a communists system because there are those who will always want to live a life that is better than that of others. In addition, a communist system is not favorable because there will always be those people who are become more lazy than others in the same system.
6. The assumption is that personal interests such as acquiring more wealth than others, more land or property is likely to cause conflicts between people because those who are not in a position to acquire the wealth will not be happy. Therefore, the right to freedom of speech should not infringe on another person’s private life or the public’s view of the person. In another example, the right of a person to freedom of religion should not affect the rights of other members in the society who are members of different religions.
Reference
McClenaghan, W. (2006). Magruders American Government. (1st edition ed.). NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River. Read More