Government Federal Political Parties and Party Ideology I Basics for the Teacher I Overview See Activity Sheet 4-2: Political Ideologies Discussed for the basics for This lesson is focused on devel- this lesson. oping knowledge of and understanding about the core political ideologies as they I Student Handouts evolved in the 20th century. The lesson is not intended to Activity Sheet 4-1: Your Political Compass create significant depth on Activity Sheet 4-2: Political Ideologies Discussed each ideology but to expose Activity Sheet 4-3: Political Ideologies Chart students to the range of politi- cal ideas that have some cur- Activity Sheet 4-4: Town Hall Meeting rency in modern politics. The lesson is also expected to aid in the refinement of existing polit- Instructions for the Teacher ical thought held by the stu- The curriculum you will teach is contained in the various handouts dents in your class. and answer keys contained in this lesson. Activity sheets provide background details, knowledge components, directions and assigned work. The materials developed for this lesson use a vari- ety of strategies but emphasize active learning and listening and I Objectives presentation skills to help prepare students. Access to a computer, at home or at school, will be an important component of these les- Students will: sons. However, materials have been provided to allow the teach- • Identify and understand ing of this lesson without classroom computer use - with the excep- the political platform of tion of some extension activities. each major federal party. • Understand the funda- Activity 1: Your Political Compass mental tenets of each fed- • This activity is designed to introduce the concept of political eral party’s ideology and ideology to the students and have them recognize that they place each party within have already formed a core of beliefs related to a political ide- the political spectrum or ology. Provide each student with Activity Sheet 4-1: Your Politi- compass. cal Compass and have them complete the questions on the sheet • Understand how to get and calculate a personal score. Once each set of questions is involved in a political party. completed and calculated, have them plot the scores on the grid. Where the two points meet will indicate a broad political position. Have students present the scores or conduct a quick tally and debrief the meaning of each position. This is a good time to discuss why students might find themselves bordering on two different ideological positions. Ask the students why the compass emphasizes personal and economic issues. Steer the conversation into a discussion about the basic purpose of polit- ical ideologies. • Alternatively, you could use the political compass quiz found at http://www.politicalcompass.org for the same purpose. It has more detailed questions but only takes about 5 minutes to com- plete. It could be assigned for homework. It also You may also want to have them debate among shows a number of famous people and where themselves by targeting solutions that are in they sit on the political compass which will be of opposition or conflict and then questioning the interest to you and your students. different approach taken by each student. Activity 2: Political Ideologies I Assessment • In this activity students will explore five common In Activity 1, use the scoring grid on the Political th ideologies from the 20 century. Have the stu- Compass to review the scores with the students. You dents complete Activity Sheet 4-3: Political Ideolo- may want to assign participation marks to students gies Chart by using the key terminology and the that volunteer answers during the debriefing stage. notes that are provided in Activity Sheet 4-2: Polit- ical Ideologies Discussed. You can provide addi- In Activity 2, use the answer rubric provided (Activ- tional resources or have your students do some ity Sheet 4-3: Political Ideologies Chart Answer Key) to additional research. It is advisable to review the review the student chart. Charts can be graded on chart and terms prior to moving to the next activ- a completion basis or by correlating student answers ity. with Activity Sheet 4-2: Political Ideologies Discussed if this is the only source used to complete the chart. Activity 3: Town Hall Meeting In Activity 3, use Activity Sheet 4-5: Political Ideolo- • Students will now apply the knowledge and gies Brochure Evaluation Rubric for the brochure and understandings gained from the first two activi- assess the town hall debate using established pres- ties to a specific ideology and set of issues. This entation/public speaking guidelines. For reference is a group activity and you may want to assign see the general rubric provided at the end of this les- students to groupings to create some diversity son. and challenge in the presentations in the ‘town hall meeting’. I Extension Activities • Begin by providing students with Activity Sheet 1. Conduct Internet research on an extremist 4-4: Town Hall Meeting after they are arranged in political party (e.g., British National Party) groups. Review the guidelines in some detail and and prepare a summary of its core beliefs. allow for some questions from the student What is the appeal of such a party? Who groups. You may choose to assign an ideology might support or vote for a party with to each group or have the student groups pick extreme social, racial, economic or religious one. Explain to the groups that they will adopt beliefs? http://bnp.org.uk/ the ideology and use it to tackle the issues at the town hall meeting. It is important that each ide- 2. Research one of the Canada’s federal politi- ology is applied authentically in order to stimu- cal parties and draft a comparison chart late maximum discussion and debate during the between the beliefs of the party and the prin- presentation. ciples you have learned while studying ide- ologies. Consider that Canada has Conserv- • Allow student groups one to two classes to pre- ative (Conservative, Bloc Quebecois), Liber- pare the brochure and organize representatives al (Liberal), Socialist (New Democratic Par- for the Town Hall Meeting (you may want to ty) and Communist (Communist Party of allow one more day to hand in the brochure). It Canada) parties at the federal level. is important that only one student of the group http://www.politcswatch.com is assigned to each issue and that this individual be the one to present the issue and solutions at the meeting. The presentation should be approx- imately five minutes in length for each topic I Get Involved (multiply by five teams for about 30 minutes to Volunteer with a political party of your choice. complete the presentation). At this point the Usually, they have opportunities for youth. See moderator (teacher) will direct questions at each http://www.politicswatch.com for more infor- student to probe how well the student has mation. applied the ideology to the issue and solution. Activity Sheet: Your Political Compass Activity Sheet: Political Ideologies Discussed Name: _______________________________ Block: ________ Date: _______________ Fascism Fascism evolved in the post-World War I instability of Italy. Benito Mussolini harkened back to the days of Italian glo- ry, power and empire during Imperial Rome. The fasces were a symbol of imperial authority - an axe bound by 12 rods symbolizing the Law of 12 Tables. Mussolini, Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco implemented the ideology in various forms during the turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s. The state directs the econ- omy towards the production of military hardware but allows for individual econom- ic inequality. The state imposes severe censorship and intellectual control; intellec- tual equality is gained through media manipulation and education. Cult of the leader is prominent in all fascist states and dictatorship is the common form of gov- ernment. Conservatism Conservatism evolved out of the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution that shaped and changed most European monarchies and caused considerable social unrest. Edmund Burke, Thomas Hobbes and Joseph de Maistre contributed key ideas to the ideology. The system believes in a free market economic system that allows for each to attain what his or her ability and means will allow. Censorship is common on issues of morality and anything deemed harmful to society. Religious institutions, while separate from the state, have considerable influence on values and the moral fabric of society. Conservative states tend to look to the past and tra- dition when faced with social unrest. In this, conservatives and fascists are similar - harkening back to better times as a means to cope with social, political or econom- ic change. Early conservatives favoured the authority of a monarchy but this view changed in the 19th century and most conservatives support a democratic form of government. Communism This ideology came out of the economic changes and social political thought of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Work- ers (proletariat) suffered intolerable exploitation in wages and working conditions while industry owners (bourgeoisie) reaped the economic gains. Karl Marx, an economist, and his col- league Friedrich Engels are often given credit for the develop- ment of communist thought because of the publication of the “Communist Manifesto” in 1848. However, in the 20th century, revolutions lead by V.I. Lenin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro and Ho Chi Minh applied Marxist theory to the creation of communist states. All communist states employ a command econ- omy in which the state redistributes and regulates all resources. Intellectual equal- ity through state-sponsored education and state-controlled media creates restric- tive censorship of media, education and public protest. The communist experi- ments of the 20th century relied upon force, censorship and one-party politics to maintain power.