Unit 2: Power and Government

Governments must find a way to gain and maintain their power over their people. This is related to the concept of...

• governmental legitimacy

• Printing Press

• Enlightenment

• Revolution

Absolute Monarchs tend to use this as one way to provide their governments with legitimacy?

• Social Contract

• Constitution

• Divine Right Theory

• Merit and Education

Brazil is led by a president who is elected by the citizens. Citizens in Brazil elect a new president every four years. Citizens also elect representatives to serve in two different legislative bodies.

• Direct Democracy

• Representative Democracy

• Dictatorship

• Oligarchy

Japan is led by a Prime Minister, but also has an emperor whose role is largely ceremonial much like England. However, Japan is unique because its emperor is seen as a descendant of the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu and thus plays a role in religious ceremonies as well.

What form(s) of government does this represent?

• Monarch and Representative Democracy

• Theocracy and Representative Democracy

• Dictatorship and Plutocracy

• Constitutional Monarchy and Theocracy

What are the three laws of power?

What is one positive thing about absolute monarchy as a form of government?

What is one negative thing about absolute monarch as a form of government?

Which Enlightenment thinker believed that absolute monarchy was the best form of government because people are the worst?

• Locke

• Hobbes

• Wollstonecraft

• Rousseau

The printing press could be considered one of the most important inventions of all time. Why? Give at least one consequence of the creation of the Printing Press.

Imagine that you and all of the other students in your grade are going on a class trip to China. All of the students board a plane, but your teachers have to take another flight. When you’re flying over the middle of the Pacific Ocean the plane’s engines malfunction and you crash on a deserted island. The pilot and crew parachuted out of the plane before it landed, but miraculously all of the students survived.

The island has enough food and fresh water on it for everyone, but after a week of waiting it is clear that no one is going to come and rescue you. The lack of rules have created tension between your classmates and you decide that a government is needed.

1. Why do you need a government?