Political and Economic Change

Introduction

Political scientists are not only interested in the process of change, but the form and causes of change as well. Generally, political and economic changes occur together and influence each other. This unit will look at such changes in the six core countries, in terms of types of change, to include reform, revolution, and coup d'états. Also, those who promote change have strong attitudes that influence the type of change. Such attitudes are radicalism, liberalism, conservatism, and reactionary beliefs. Finally, this unit looks at three trends that affect everyone in the contemporary world, democratization, the move toward market economies, and the revival of ethnic or cultural politics.

" A confidence problem exists on the part of the people of the region who desire democratic rule in principle. but remain suspicious of both the fashion with which democratization is presented and the purposes of the democratic world."

-Recep Tyavip Erdogan, Prime Minister, Turkey

Please make sure to read the chapters in your e-text that discuss these issues.

Module Key Terms

Before you begin your studies, make certain you are familiar with the vocabulary.

Reform - a type of change that does not advocate the overthrow of basic institutions.
Revolution - change at a more basic level, and involves either a major revision or an overthrow of existing institutions
Coup d`etats - Replace the leadership of a country with new leaders
Radicalism - belief that rapid, dramatic changes need to be made in the existing society
Liberalism - supports reform and gradual change rather than revolution
Conservatism - much less supportive of change in general than are radicalism and liberalism
Reactionary Beliefs - goes further to protect against change than do conservative beliefs.
Bourgeoisie - middle-class professionals or businessmen
Command economy - government owns almost all industrial enterprises and retail sales outlets
Market economy - Private ownership of companies and little interference from the government
Mixed economy - a mix of both state-owned and private-owned industry
Marketization - the state's re-creation of a market in which property, labor, goods, and services can all function in a competitive environment to determine their value.
Privatization - transfer of state-owned property to private ownership
Fragmentation - divisions based on ethnic or cultural identity
Nationalism - identities based on nationhood

Now that you have reviewed the module key terms, you are ready to complete the Political and Economic Change Key Terms Activity below.

At the end of this unit, you should be able to answer these essential questions:

What are the characteristics of democracy?
Does Democratization lead to a market economy?
How will the revival of cultural politics emphasize differences among nations?

Module Lessons Preview

In this module, we will study the following topics:

Types of Political Change: In this lesson, we will look at types of change, including reform, revolution, and coup d'états, as well as attitudes that promote and influence change, such as radicalism, liberalism, conservatism, and reactionary beliefs.

Types of Economic Change: This lesson will trace how democratization affects a nation's economy and how economies in all nations are measured.

Globalization and the Clash of Civilizations: This lesson will define globalization and explore innovations that have led to an increasingly connected world. It will also take a look at the effects of those connections.

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