January 11-15

Main topics we covered this week in class:

-Reviewed The Cuban Missile Crisis

-Review on Brinkmanship

-The Korean War:

The Korean war started in 1950 between North Korea and South Korea as a civil war which         soon became international. June 1950 is when North Korea (who was supplied and advised by the Soviet union), invaded South Korea. Later on the United Nations and the US joined the war as supporters of South Korea. The People's Republic of China also joined the war but they came in as North Korea's aid. The war ended in 1953 with following negotiations in 1954 stating that they would return to the “status quo ante bellum” (the way things were before the war), that left  Korea still divided into two states and brought the cold war into Asia.

Other work done in class

-watched Defcon 2 documentary

-watched Cold War on ice documentary

Assignment

-Cold War Conundrums:

 For this assignment you had to choose one of seven Cold war problems and perspectives and  

define the root causes of the problem. Once that was done you had to create as many solutions  to that problem as you could then select one solution to the problem. Then you had to research and find out what solution was actually used.

Additional Resources

(watch till 4:20)

December 14 - 18

The main topics we covered this week:

• Expansionism: When a nation increases/expands their territorial or economic boundaries

-JAPAN

1. They wanted to expand because it had few natural resources and needed raw materials, markets and land from other nations to sustain their large population. Also, the government believed Japan had the obligation to liberate other Asian nations from European and American domination.
2. They expanded into East Asia, first invading the Chinese province of Manchuria then attacking all of China.
3. The world did not react due to the ongoing Great Depression, even after the League of nations confirmed Japan was the aggressor in the attacks. {Only the U.S. put diplomatic pressure on Japan to withdraw from China}

-ITALY

1. They wanted to expand because the pursuit for colonies overseas would bring prestige, wealth & prosperity. In addition Italy wanted an empire in Africa for economic reasons, in order to compete with other European powers.
2. Occurred overseas (areas in Africa).
3. The world did little (too busy with the Great Depression). However, this served as a green light for Hitler, confirming weakness in his foes.

-GERMANY

1. Hitler wanted to expand in order to recover territories lost in WW1, gain lebensraum (living room), strategic advantage (sufficiency in food, oil + other raw materials) and total domination of Europe in the early stages and world domination in the long term.
2. Germany expanded into the new states of Poland and Czechoslovakia, as well as the rhineland.
3. Britain and France appeased Hitler by allowing his troops to march into the rhineland, then agreeing to hand over the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia under the condition that Hitler would stop expanding. When Hitler then invaded all of Czechoslovakia, France & Britain declared war on Germany--starting WW2.

• Schindler’s List:

-This is the true story of a member of the Nazi Party, Oskar Schindler, who was a greedy businessman who does not hesitate to use Jewish slave labour in his new factory. However, over time, he becomes deeply affected by the cruel treatment of Jews and begins to take steps to protect the 1500 or so people who work for him. By the end of the war, Schindler has lost everything but has saved the lives of over 1000 of his employees.

• A quick review of WW1 and WW2 as well as why Germany rejected Liberalism. This is information we should already be familiar with.

Additional Resources:

- This video summarizes most of the concepts we have covered this week, such as expansionism, Hitler, the treatment of Jews, and a detailed description of WW2.

Week 6 Nov 16-20

The Significant Concepts of this week
-How do they respond to Classical Liberalism?

• Luddites
• Chartists
• Utopians
• Classical Conservatives
• Socialists
• Marxists

-Progressivism

-Welfare Capitalism

-Welfare State

-Socialism

-Demand Side Economics

Assignments Due

-How do they respond to Classical Liberalism Graffiti Project 

Week 5 Nov 2-6

Materials we went over this week:

The Industrial Revolution

The idea of Classical Liberalism

Capitalism (Free-Market)

Work done in class:

Explanation of Capitalism Sheet, Grants an explanation of capitalism and how it work.

Video of The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Showed everything wrong with the building and how exactly the fire happened and the consequences.

Classical Liberalism: A political ideology that values the freedom of individuals, including the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and markets, as well as limited government. It developed in 18th-century Europe and drew on the economic writings of Adam Smith and the growing notion of social progress.

Industrial Revolution: The process of change from an agrarian, handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture. This process began in England in the 18th century and from there spread to other parts of the world.

Capitalism (Free-Market): A system of economics based on the private ownership of capital and production inputs, and on the production of goods and services for profit. The production of goods and services is based on supply and demand in the general market (market economy), rather than through central planning (planned economy). Capitalism is generally characterized by competition between producers. Generally with little to no involvement from the government. A free market has some positives and negatives.

Positives: There is a better production from private companies, companies can provide competition for other businesses, increased wealth.

Negatives: There is a higher chance of companies starting a monopoly

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: A massive fire which could have easily been avoided if the owners put in proper safety methods. It was a true sweatshop, employing young immigrant women who worked in a cramped space at lines of sewing machines. Nearly all the workers were teenaged girls who did not speak English and made only about $15 per week working 12 hours a day, every day. In 1911, there were four elevators with access to the factory floors, but only one was fully operational and the workers had to file down a long, narrow corridor in order to reach it. There were two stairways down to the street, but one was locked from the outside to prevent stealing and the other only opened inward. The fire escape was so narrow that it would have taken hours for all the workers to use it, even in the best of circumstances.

Invisible Hand: The invisible hand refers to the self-regulating nature of the marketplace in determining how resources are allocated based on individuals acting in their own self-interest.

Assignments:

Changing Adam Smith Quotes, A worksheet where we had to change things Adam Smith said in 1776 to a more common, up to date speech.

Concepts Learned:

A basic understanding of capitalism, and how it affects the economy.

How the economy works.

The dangers of capitalism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulyVXa-u4wE

WATCHED

1:21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejJRhn53X2M

6:44

Created by Nick Dunbar, posted by B.Plastow

Works Cited

"Capitalism Definition | Investopedia." Investopedia. N.p., 18 Nov. 2003. Web. 10 Nov. 2015. <http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/capitalism.asp>.

"Chegg.com." Definition of Classical Liberalism. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2015. <http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/definitions/classical-liberalism-53>.

"Fire Kills 145 at Triangle Shirtwaist Factory." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2015. <http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fire-kills-145-at-triangle-shirtwaist-factory>.

"Industrial Revolution." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2015. <http://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution>.

"Invisible Hand." Definition & Example. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2015. <http://www.investinganswers.com/financial-dictionary/economics/invisible-hand-771>.

October 26-30 2015

Material we went over this week:

• Analyzed three sources in class
• Defined status quo  and anarchy
• Discussed Karl Marx
• Did unit 2 (chapter 1-2) test on October 30th

Work  done in class:

• Analyzed two quotes and a cartoon in preparation of the test.  
• Status quo- To keep things the way they are currently.
• Anarchy- the absence of government, complete individual freedom.
• Karl Marx is known as the father of communism, he is an extreme revolutionary and believes that violence can solve issues, he is far left on the spectrum.

Assignments:

• Which is more significant in shaping your identity, nationalism or ideology? (Wrote a brief paragraph stating whether nationalism or ideology is more important in forming your identity.)
• Created your own ideology (In order to sum up what we learned about ideologies we created our own and placed them on a spectrum in order to connect them to other ideologies)

I believe everything we worked on this week majorly helped in preparing for our exam Friday as well as the writing assignment is helping improve our writing skills. Analyzing the cartoons and writing the paragraph on Ideology/Nationalism will also be beneficial for other writing assignments as well as the diploma.

Main topics discussed this week?

• Tommy Douglas
• Economic Spectrum
• Political Spectrum

Some Questions that got answered this Week

• What is a spectrum?- A spectrum is used to classify something, oer suggests that it can be classified in terms of its position on a scale between two extreme or opposite points.
• Who is Tommy Douglas?-He's a Canadian politician, Who brought universal health care to Canada.
• What kind of things did Tommy bring to Saskatchewan?- He built roads, allowed women in bars, paid vacation, built sewers and got paid vacations. He also put in electricity all around Saskatchewan and came up with the human bill of rights which is close to the charter of rights and freedoms we have today.

I believe that understanding the different elements of a economic and political spectrum will greatly benefit us throughout this course. And that we need to understand the difference between the two but remembering that the right and left end of  these spectrum's can work together to help make up one's view. Keeping in mind that the political spectrum = change.

Additional Resource

We studied these main topics this week:

1. We learned that ideologies are systems of beliefs and values
2. Different circumstances and factors influence your ideology 
3. Two basic ideologies are Individualism and Collectivism 

Principles of Individualism:

• Rule of law
• Individual rights and freedoms
• Private property
• Economic freedom
• Self-interest
• Competition

Principles of Collectivism:

• Economic equality
• Cooperation
• Public property
• Collective interest
• Collective responsibility
• Adherence to collective norms

I believe knowing the factors that contribute to Individualism and Collectivism will benefit you for future reference.  I think knowing where you are on the spectrum, right (individualism) or left (collectivism) will give you an advantage in the future for assignments and tests.

Assignments:

"Are humans Inherently good or evil" essay

Additional Resource: