Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, January 07, 2008

Introductory questions

What is a constitution? What is socialism? What do political scientists call those "divisions along racial, economic and geographical lines?" What does it mean to "centralise" power? This report is full of references to basic ideas in comparative politics.

Basic questions for beginners in comparative politics to consider.

How many basic concepts would your students identify in this report from Al Jazeera?

Cracking constitutional change

"Latin America moved towards socialism in 2005 and 2006. Towards the end of 2007 the next move seems to involve constitutional change...

"It is the greatest number of Latin American countries to attempt such reform simultaneously since the continent's independence from Spain more than 170 years ago.

"However, the moves are not taking place smoothly...

"But a simple majority is not enough to provide the consensus needed for such a fundamental issue as a constitution. And without consensus, the only thing that is guaranteed is more division and instability in the new year."

Labels: , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home