Created by Mr. C Wright, Dulwich College Shanghai

Dictatorships, Democracy and the ‘left-right spectrum’

Objectives today:•Learn the key features of dictatorships, democracies and left wing/right wing.•Work out where you fall on the ‘left-right wing spectrum’ and how you compare to the class.

The World in the 1930’s

• A world divided, some countries are ‘democracies’, some are ‘dictatorships’ and some claim to be democracies but aren’t really!

• To further confuse matters governments are being described as ‘left wing and right wing’ as well!

• All these things still exist today: it is important to understand what they mean!

Can you name any dictatorships & democracies?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a

‘dictatorship’?

Cause of WW2: Dictatorships and Democracies

1. Put the title above

2. Neatly stick in the grid

3. Now circle in pencil the point of view for each category (foreign affairs, tax etc) that you agree with most.

4. Remember to refer to the word definitions below the table if you don’t understand something.

Now attempt questions 2+3 from the

sheet you have been given. Question 2 is

a group discussion, question 3 should be

written as a full sentence answer and you

will need to explain how you reached your

conclusion

Questions 4+5 from the sheet

4. How can we work out a method to show the political profile of the class as a whole? Could there be more than one way of doing this?

5. Now we should use these methods to work out whether we are a ‘left wing or right wing’ class!

Problem…

• Once it was simple, you had one spectrum and that was it…

• Now no one seems able to agree and its got a whole lot more complicated…

As a group discuss:

1. What ‘causes’ people to become left or right wing in their beliefs?

2. Is it possible to be both left and right wing in your beliefs?

3. Typically (though not always) University students & young people have a reputation for being more left wing and older people tend to be more right wing. Why do you think this is?