KEY
Government and Economies Station activity sheet
Station #1- Representative democracy
1. What are three other countries that are considered democracies? Or Republics?
Greenland, Japan, Constitutional monarchy-Australia, New Zealand, Canada
2. What type of economy do most democracies have?
Most democracies have a market economy, with free enterprise, and based off of supply
and demand.
3. The president isn’t the only one who can make laws in the U.S. Who also has power to make laws?
Our legislative branch has the power to make laws (House of Representatives and senate)
4. What type of power does a democracy have? Limited or unlimited? How do you know? How do you
know? Who is able to control the power (be specific)?
Limited power, we know because there are checks and balances in most governments. In ours it is the
three branches of government, legislative, executive, and judicial.
5. What is the difference between a representative democracy and a direct democracy?
In a representative democracy people vote for legislators to vote and make decisions for us. In a direct
democracy people vote on all issues and do not have representatives.
Station #2- Market economy
1. Who decides what you can buy from a store?
The people (or consumer) decide what they can buy.
2. What are different services in the economy that you can buy?
You can get your car serviced (oil change, tire change), you can build a building a hire
construction workers to build it, getting your hair cut etc.
3. Why do you think people who live in market economies enjoy living with a market economy? Why?
I think people living in a market economy like it because each individual is able to make
their own decisions about what they want to buy or produce (make).
Station 3- Autocracy (autocratic government)
1. Who has power in an Autocracy?
The supreme leader, in many cases it is the Dictoator.
2. What type of laws do they have to follow?
The leader does not have a set group of laws that they have to follow. The leaders make decisions
not according to the laws, but by what they think is right.
3. Do you think people living under an autocratic leader have many freedoms? Why or why not? Give at
least 2 examples.
People living under an autocratic leader do not have many freedoms. The government owns the
land and all of the resources and tells them what they can buy and how much it will cost.
4. In what north african countries did their used to be autocratic governments, but now there are new
democracies? (use your book) Egypt, Libya
Station 4- Theocracy (Theocratic government)
1. Who has power in a theocracy? A religious leader
2. In what countries or regions can you find a theocratic government of the past?
Ancient Egypt, Incan civilizations, Ancient Greece (before democracy), Some native
American societies, The Vatican, and smaller cultures throughout Africa and Asia.
3.Why do you think there are very few Theocratic governments left?
Most countries who used to have traditional economies and theocracies have changed over
to a more democratic or republic style of government,
Station #5- Monarchy
1. What is the difference between a constitutional monarchy and an absolute monarchy?
A constitutional monarchy you have a monarch (king or Queen) but they do not hold any
political power, most if not all the power is controlled by a legislature (congress or
parliament) and elected officials.
In an absolute monarchy the King or Queen rules and has unlimited power. There are no
laws standing in their way.
Monarchy Map
1. What countries have a constitutional monarchy in the Eastern Hemisphere? (name at least 3)
Japan, Spain, Greenland.
2.
Do some constitutional monarchy countries control other lands? (ex: like does a king or queen rule, but not live
near that country or that land they control. The monarchy may not have control over the politics of the country).
Give an example of the monarchy and a country or other land they control?
The queen of England also is the monarch for Australia. It is called a common
wealth realm. The Monarch has little to no power at all, but is still a representation
of the realm and is often shown on their money.
3. Why do you think some countries moved away from monarchies and are now a republics or democracies?
People wanted to be represented in government. Not told what to do all of the time. Over
time gov’ts have changed into constitutional monarchies as to not get rid of the monarchy
all together.
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3.
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Station #6- Type of Government Chart
In a dictatorship, who makes the decisions in the government? Do the people have a say in the gov’t?
The leader or dictator makes the decisions. The people have little or no say in the Gov’t.
In a constitutional monarchy who makes the laws?
The legislative body, a Parliament or congress makes the laws.
How do decisions about government and laws get make in a direct democracy? Who makes those decisions?
The people make decisions and vote directly for the laws and changes in the government.
What is the name of the leader of most representative democracies?
The leader in representative democracies is a president or prime minster.
Station#7- Communism (Communist government)
1. What type of economy would a communist government have?
A communist government would have a commaned economy.
2. What parts of a countries economy would a communist government control? (example: prices of food) give
at least 3 examples.
The government would control the land, the resources, the factories, most machinery.
3. The leaders of communist governments are often called what?
Leaders are often called dictators
Station #8- Communist map 1970’s (You must do station 8 before station 9)
1. Name 3 countries from Africa that between 1970s’ and 1980’s were led by communist governments.
Mozambique, Madagascar, Somalia, Ethiopia, Angola.
2. Name 3 countries from Asia that between the 1970s’ and 1980’s were led by communist gov’ts
China, Mongolia, USSR (aka former soviet union today is called Russia), Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia.
Station #9- Communist Map 2012
1. Name 3 communist countries from this map.
China, North Korea, Cuba Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia.
2. Why do you think there so many less countries now that are communist than in the 1970’s and 1980’s?
There have been wars fought, and the people have stood up for their rights. Many gov’ts have
been overthrown, others the people demonstrated and told the gov’t what they wanted.
3. What is the difference between a democracy and a communist government?
In a democracy there are elected officials, the people have a say in the gov’t. In a
communist government, all of the power is concentrated to one person or party, the
people have no say in what happens.
Station #10- Political cartoon
1. What is this cartoon describing?
The cartoon is describing how there used to be a lot of communist countries in the world,
now there are only a few.
2. Give examples to support your answer from question 1. (at least 3 examples)
You can see how many steps there used to be with the names of the countries on them,
but there are no leaders there. Germany, Hungry, Poland, USSR (soviet union)
3. Name the three people depicted in the cartoon, what type of leader they were, and what
country they led
Mao Zedong former Communist leader of China, Kim Jong Ill- former dictator of
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Fidel Castro- former
military dictator of Cuba.
Station #11- Economic Systems
1. What countries have a command economy?
China, North Korea, Former USSR
2. Of those countries, what is their form of government?
Communist, or used to be communist
3. What is a market economy?
An economy where the people not the gov’t make decisions about what to make or buy
4. In a mixed economy, individuals own most resources and determine what to produce. What are some of
the examples of the resources people own, and what are two examples of what they could produce?
Any natural resource, land, food products. Someone could own fields of corn and create fuel.
Station #12- Colorful Map (you can take the map and key back to your seats to complete)
1. Where are the majority of presidential republics or Democracies found?
North and south America, central Africa, west Asia
2. What are two countries that are colored red?
England, Canada, Australia, Spain, Japan
3. Describe the red government.
There is a monarchy (king or queen) but they do not participate in politics. Like the royal
family in England.
4. Do you know why the monarch doesn’t participate? (just take a guess on this one)
They used to hold political power. Now they are there for tradition and ceremony. Often
times their purpose as leaders has run out. Now people want to vote for their leaders. Most
monarchs are born into the position not voted in.
5. What countries have an absolute monarchy? What color?
Saudi Arabia, Oman. They are purple.
6. Why do you think people would get frustrated with the governmental system in the
brown countries?
People only have one choice for who they vote for. You really don’t get a chance to have a
real vote or a real say in what you want to have in your government.
7. Which type of government is most predominant throughout the world?
Republic or democracy.