Aug 28

The United States and Canada

The head of state is who represents that nation to the world
Government is the practical body where lawmaking happens
Canada is a separate country from the United States
The leader of the Canadian government is not a president, but a prime minister

Canada does not choose a leader using a democratic system like the United States
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau
Canada holds elections to choose members of their legislature

They vote for someone in their district and take all the members of the parliament
You pick who is in parliament and parliament picks the prime minister

A parliamentary system

The United States is a Presidential system

The head of the country is independently chosen

Canada is not a country that ever experiences presidential campaign seasons
All power rests with the lawmakers in Canada

Canada has a fusion of power

Everything that parliament passes is final

The United States operates with a separation of power
A political system has a nation
The nation refers to the people living within the political system

Not all, but most nations have states
Within the political system are also institutions of government
There are people who make demands within the political system and support those who they think can address their demands
Political systems cannot maintain stability if they do not have support
Support only happens with demands are met sufficiently

Government makes decisions and actions within the political system to generate an output that will change and affect the population and environment create a new input based on demands and support, or lack thereof (feedback loop)
Without support, events such as protest can occur

Civil Society

The way people organize themselves to make demands

Connects the individuals within the nation to the government

Voluntary organizations

Faith based
Issue based

Poland

Once ruled by communist party
Ruled by a dictatorship
Catholicism created a tie between individuals and the government
The labor movement
Laborers that worked for the communist party for nothing in return

Political Culture

The prevailing values (beliefs) and norms (ways of behaving) in politics
The beliefs that people have about what government should do for them

Canada

One way they define rights is medical care
They believe that medical care is a right

France

Protesting
Former president of France suggested to raise retirement age from 60 to 62

Billions of people flooded the streets of Paris
The pension system is expensive hense the desire to raise the retirement age
The protest got the President to rid of the idea

Political Parties

Political systems do not function without political parties
They occupy seats in government
Parties create competition

Politics

The authoritative allocation of values

Authority distributes values
Authority decides to give a priority to a certain value
From those values are all the goods and services that we either get or don’t get from government
Without value, there is no demand

Ex. Roads exists because we value commerce and trade.

Dystopian and Utopian features of Political Systems

Dystopian

Modern Slavery

Slavery and Slavery-like practices
Forced labor
Trafficking

G20

Twenty countries that are of the most developed countries in the world
Twenty most influential countries in the world
Democratic countries

Supply Chain

A networks between a company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product, and the supply chain represents the steps it takes to get the product or service to the customer

Slavery in the Supply Chain

Computer related technology Industry
Clothing Industry
Fishing Industry
Cocoa and Sugarcane Industries
These industries accounted for $350 billion of imported goods to the G20 countries

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Aug 30

Laws

Compare the characteristics of countries
Numbers allow us to learn things about countries
Only 7 of the G20 countries have policies to reduce the risk of imports that are tainted by forced labor
Not many countries implement concern through laws
Why don’t some countries have policies?
The United States has government contractors
Consuming countries do not necessarily incorporate forced labor into their economy, but they encourage it by importing the goods that are produced with forced labor

At Risk Goods

Sugar Cane and Cocoa
Clothing
Fishing
Technology
The United States spends more money on imports than all other G20 countries combined
The United States is a large consumer

Gross Domestic Product
Allows for a measurement of all goods and services produced by a country

If an economy is productive, the people in the country are consuming and producing goods and services
The United States has a very high GDP per capita relative to the other G20 countries

PPP

Purchasing Power Parity
Rates of currency conversion that equalize the purchasing power of different currencies by eliminating the differences in price levels between countries
Not just working with exchange rates
What can a dollar really buy you?

Population

The United States has the 3rd largest population of the G20 countries
Graph does not account for per capita
India and China are the two largest country, but do not consume as many goods that require forced labor because they are poor countries and their people cannot afford goods

China and North Korea

Imports $1 billion worth of coal from North Korea
Coal miners in North Korea inherit the job, you do not choose it
China needs coal because they are a rapidly growing country that needs A LOT of energy
China is sustaining, on its own a practice that is an affliction on North Korean citizens

Turkmenistan

Country in Central Asia
Authoritarian country (opposite of democracy)
18,000-25,000 forced to pick cotton and fulfill official quotas
Dystopic feature of their government

Christiania Freetown

One of Europe’s longest running Utopian experiments
Not an independent state within Denmark
In the city of Copenhagen
Its own district
Its own rules and laws
Live under their own legal code and system
Self-governing, hippie commune in the middle of Copenhagen
It is a political system
Sanctioned by Denmark
Tolerant people (political culture)
Abandoned military base in 1971
Squatters that broke down the barricades, and began to occupy 84 acres of land

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Sep 4, first set of notes

Christiana Freetown

Only 900 permenant residents
One of the largest tourist attractions in the Scandanavian region
Located in Copenhagen Denmark
Transformed from a closed-down military base
Squatters that were left alone and settled and govern themselves
Define themselves as a self-governing society of artists and free-thinkers
Everything they sell, all income goes to everyone equally
Everyone “feeds out of the same trough”
Do not want to encourage consumerism
Denmark allows the commune to exist
It exists in a country that has property and drug laws
Christiana Freetown has done everything to violate, property, planning, and drug laws
None of the laws apply to them
Schools do not have to adhere to educational laws
A living monument to Danish tolerance
Live a very modest existence
Very unlikely that parents would be accepting of higher education
Expected to adhere to the lifestyle
“Like an Amish village without strict morals”
Manage to be self-regulating
Very strict ban on violence
People are not jailed, they are ostricized
Very strict ban on hard drugs: meth, heroine
Uneasy equilibrium: drug dealers, residents of the commune who have the power to remove the drug dealers
- Both have a common adversary: the police
- No police is attractive to drug dealers
All decisions are made by consensus
- Everyone has to agree
They hold assemblies, and clap to express support
The commune has a doctrine that states that everyone is allowed to speak
Christiana Freetown is within a nation that can afford to have it

A Story

When police cross into Christiana Freetown
Urgent shouting
Camoflauge lumps of hashish and bags of marijuana
By the time the police arrive on Pusher Street, the scent of hashish is covered by the scent of cinnamon rolls
Half the population is missing
After the police leave, the bustling drug market resumes

Danish Political Culture

Well known for a tolerant political culture
Expressed irritation and did not know what to do
Lots of discussion in the parliament
They did not want to use violence toward the squatters
Squatters likely would have resisted law enforcement
Aversion to sending coercive instruments is a sign of Danish gentleness and kindnes; everyone is polite
Peaceful
Denmark passed a “burka ban”: face covering law
- Tolerant, but deviant
Legislation bans all face coverings in public
- Includes many face coverings to avoid targeting specific groups

France, Germany

Would not have been accepting of Christiana Freetown
Military would have been called in and people would be put in jail

United States

Police would have taken action

Coercion

France, Germany, United States rely on coercion
Coercion helps
No one usually minds coercion
Every political system has a form of decision making

GDP Per Capita

The whole world has gotten richer
1960-present, the world has gotten 2.5x wealthier

Denmark

$51,000 per household
The wealth of a country does not get at the opportunity and happiness of country

Human Development Index

GNI
- Measures what households take in as pay
Healthcare/Live expectancy at birth
- Nutrition
- Exercise
- The balance between work and leisure
- Not just about access to doctors or medical care
- Many variables
Education
What is invested into human beings by government and society
Human development index gives a well rounded view of the well being of people in society
“A money can’t buy happiness measure”
Highly correlated to GDP

What’s the difference between the US and Denmark?

United States
- .920 Human Development Index
- Homicide Rate of 3.9/100,000 people

Denmark

.925 Human Development Index
Homicide Rate of 1/100,000

The homicide rate of the United States is 4x higher than that of Denmark
Less poverty?
Weapons regulations?

Soren Pape Poulsen

Justice minister in Denmark
- Like the autourney general of the United States
Deemed Islamic clothing is not compatible with Denmark’s secular and democratic values
62% of all Danes support the ban
It carries a fine of $157
Only .2% (150 women) in all of Denmark wear any Islamic clothing
It is not unreasonable to suppose that it is about sending a message, rather than solving a problem

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