Middle East Unit Three Government

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Middle East Unit Three Government

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Title: Middle East Unit Three Government

1
Middle East Unit ThreeGovernment Economics
2
Part One Intro into Governments

A nations type of government refers to how that
states executive, legislative, and judicial
organs are organized.
All nations need some sort of government to avoid
anarchy.
Democratic governments are those that permit the
nations citizens to manage their government
either directly or through elected
representatives.
This is opposed to authoritarian governments
that limit or prohibit the direct
participation of its citizens.

3
COMMUNISM

a theory advocating elimination of private
property.
a system in which goods are owned in common and
are available to all as needed.
Typically a one party system in which all
political power rest with the party (i.e. China).

4
Theocracy
A form of government in which God or a deity is
recognized as the supreme civil ruler. Often
religious institutional representatives (i.e. a
church), replaces or is mixed into the civilian
government. Can be an Oligarchy, Representative
Democracy, and even a Monarchy.
5

Unitary government system the central
government holds nearly all of the power.
Local governments such as state or county systems
may have some power at certain times, but they
are basically under the control of the central
government.
Central government has the power to change the
way state or county governments operate or
abolish them altogether.
Some unitary governments have elected officials
who, once elected, may make and enforce laws
without taking the opinions of those at lower
levels of government into consideration.
In a monarchy (area ruled by a king or emperor),
the ruler and his advisors make most of the
decisions this is an example
of a unitary government
Saudi Arabia is a monarchy
and is an example of a unitary
government

Blue Countries are Unitary
6

Federal government system a political system in
which power is shared among different levels of
government.
The states have some powers that the federal
government does not have such as the right to
collect property taxes and determine sales taxes.
The national government (or central government)
also has some powers that the state does not,
such as the right to declare war and make
treaties with foreign countries
In the Middle East, Israel is an
example of a Federal government

7
Confederation Government

A confederation government system is one in which
the local governments hold all of the power and
the central government depends on the local
governments for its existence
The central government has only as much power as
the local governments are willing to give
The United Nations is a good example of a
confederation
The United Nations can only offer advice and
assistance when the member nations agree to
cooperate
This organization is a regional group organized
to help the member countries cooperate on
economic matters, encourage cultural
exchanges, and to help keep peace and
stability in the region
In the Middle East, the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) is an example of a Confederation
government

8
Autocratic Government

An autocratic government is one in which the
ruler has absolute power to do whatever he wishes
and make and enforce whatever laws he chooses
Individuals who live under autocratic governments
do not have any rights to choose leaders or vote
on which laws are made and put into practice
Some autocratic governments may allow the people
rights in certain areas like managing local
affairs, but the central governments keeps
control of all the most important aspects of the
countrys life
People usually have little or no power to
use against the government if they disagree
with decisions that government or
ruler has made
A monarchy such as Saudi Arabia, where
the king has ultimate power, is one example

An oligarchy means government by the few.
In this form of government, a political party or
other small group takes over a government and
makes all of the major decisions.
The people of the country have little choice but
to go along with the decisions they make
This sort of government can be very similar to an
autocratic government.
Iran could be described as an oligarchy,
because a small group of religious and
political leaders makes many of the
important decisions

In a democratic government system, the people
play a much greater role in decided who the
rulers are and what decisions are made
Democracy comes from the Greek word demos,
which means people.
In this form of government, a great deal of power
is left in the hands of the people
People who live in a democracy generally
recognize that there must be some rules to
organize society, but the goal is to leave as
much individual freedom as possible.
Decisions are often made by a majority of
votes, but there are also laws in place
to protect individual rights.
In the Middle East, Israel is a good example
of a democracy
Those organizing the new government of Iraq
are hoping to establish a democratic system

In a parliamentary form of democratic
government, the people vote for those who
represent the political party they feel best
represents their views of how the government
should operate.
The legislature they elect, parliament, makes
and carries out (enforces) the laws for the
country.
The leader of a parliamentary form of government
is usually chosen by the party that winds the
majority of representatives in the legislature.
This leader is often called a prime minister or
premier and is recognized as the head of the
government.
The prime minister leads the executive branch of
the government and must answer directly to the
legislature for the actions and policies
recommended.
In many parliamentary governments, a head of
state (president or king/queen) serves as
ceremonial leader

The actual work of the parliament is led by the
prime minister, who represents the leading
political party in the country.
He or she rules with the help of a cabinet, or
group of advisors.
A prime minister may be votes out of office if
the party he or she leads lose power
In the Middle East, Israel has a parliamentary
government
Its citizens elect representative to the national
parliament called the Knesset.
The political party that gets the most votes in
the Knesset gets to choose the Prime Minister

13
Presidential Government

A presidential form of democratic government has
a president, or chief executive, that is chosen
separately from the legislature
The legislature passes the laws, and it is the
duty of the president to see that the laws are
enforced
The president holed power separately from the
legislature, but he does not have the power to
dismiss the legislature or force them to make
particular laws
The president is the official head of the
government
The legislature does not have the power to
dismiss the president, except in extreme cases
when the president has broken a law
The president is BOTH the lead of state and the
head of the government

14
Iran
Section 2 Middle East Governments and Resources

In 1979, the Islamic, or Iranian, revolution
overthrew the monarchy that had ruled Iran
for centuries.
Today, Iran is a theocratic republic.
This means that the government is based on
religious principals (Islam) and the wishes of
its people.
The head of state is the Supreme Leader, who is
always an ayatollah, or recognized religious
authority.

The Supreme Leader is chosen by the Assembly
of Experts and holds the position for life.
The assembly consists of 86 religious scholars.
The people elect the assembly and the
president by popular vote.
The president governs based on the religious
guidance of the ayatollah.
The supreme leader has final say over many of the
presidents decisions.
The president can serve two terms of four years
each.
Irans legislature is called the Consultative
assembly.
Citizens 16 and older can vote for the 290
members of the Assembly.

16
Israel

Israel has a representative parliamentary
democracy.
The head of state is the president, who actually
does not have much power.
The Israeli prime minister is the head of the
government.
The legislature elects the president.
The president then chooses the head of the
largest political party to be the prime minister.
The prime minister must organize a coalition to
govern.
A coalition is a group of several different
political parties that have to cooperate in order
to make decisions.

This type of government is known as a coalition
government.
The Israeli legislature is called the Knesset.
The Knesset holds most of the power in the
Israeli government.
Israelis eighteen and older elect these officials
by popular vote.
While most of Israels Jewish citizens see
themselves as secular, meaning they do not feel
the countrys laws should be based solely on
religious beliefs, many Israeli laws are
influenced by the Orthodox Jews, those who want
government policy to be made according to
religious law
These people represent about 25 percent of the
Israeli population.
Elections are held in Israel every four years

18
Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's government is one of the few
absolute monarchies in the world today.
The government is a monarchy governed by Islamic
Sharia Law.(law based on the Quran)
In 2004, however, the Saudi government began
allowing men who are 21 and older to vote for
half of their local officials.
Men can also vote for one-third of the members of
the legislature.
The king has a cabinet called the Council of
Ministers.
The Council mostly consists of members of the
royal family.
The Saudi legislature is called the Consultative
Council.
The king chooses two-thirds of the members of the
Council.

Saudi Arabia is ruled by a hereditary monarchy,
which means the government is led by a king who
comes from a family that has ruled the country
for several generations.
The King of Saudi Arabia has been a member of the
al-Saud family since the 1920s.
The king and his advisors, many of whom are his
family members or influential business and
religions leaders in the country, make the laws
There is no written constitution, and the king
rules for life
The people of Saudi Arabia do not choose the king
When a king dies, the Saudi family announces who
the next king will be from among their male
family members
Conservative religious leaders also have a great
deal of influence in decisions made by the
monarchy

20
Religion and Southwest Asian Governments

In the United States and many western nations,
religion and politics tend to be separate.
In much of the Middle East, however, religion and
politics are often mixed.
Countries like Iran based their systems of govt
on religion.
Religion is important even in countries that
dont base their governments on religion.
Many political parties in the Middle East are
religious
Many parties represent different branches of
Islam.
Since the majority of the people in the region
are Muslim, religion also influences the way
people vote
Israel is a democratic state, but it was founded
as a Jewish homeland.

21
Section 3 - Basic Economic Systems

Every society must deal with providing goods and
services for its people
Each society must also develop an economic system
that can decide how to use the limited resources
of that society as well.
Three basic questions must be answered
1) What goods and services will be produced?
2) How will goods and services be produced?
3) Who uses the goods and services that are
produced?

In a traditional economy, most of the economic
decisions are made based on custom and on the
habit of how such decisions were made in the
past.
Goods and services are exchanged instead of using
cash as a payment in a traditional economy
This is known as bartering
As areas become more urbanized, however,
bartering gives way to cash as payment.
In the Middle East, traditional economies
can still be found in rural areas of many
countries in this region
No country today can be described as having a
traditional economy

A command economy is one in which government
planning groups make most of the economic
decisions for the workers
This group decides which goods and services
should be produces, as well as prices for the
goods and wages paid to the workers
No individual could decided to start a new
business
The government decided what and where to produce
the goods.
The government decides what jobs the workers do
and where the goods produced would be sold

The third basic type of economic system is a
market economy.
In a market economy, economic decisions are made
by individuals who decide what to produce and
what to buy
Other names for a market economy are capitalism,
free enterprise, or laissez-faire (French phrase
that means to allow them to do as they please)
Individuals who want to begin their own business
may do so - they take economic risk as they
invest in their new business
If new businesses are successful, the people who
organized and funded it will be successful and
make a profit
If the business fail, the investors will lose
money

Today, no countries in the world have economic
systems that are purely traditional, purely
command, or purely market systems
India is a good example of a mixed economy in
Asia
The government makes some decisions about
agriculture and industry, but free enterprise and
entrepreneurship are very common.
Nearly all countries today have mixed economies
they have characteristics of a free market and
free enterprise as well as some government
planning and control

26
Specialization

Not every country can produce all of the goods
and services it needs
Because of this, countries specialize in
producing those goods and services they can
provide best and most efficiently
They look for others who may need these goods and
services so they can sell their products
The money earned by such sales then allows the
purchase of goods and services the first county
is unable to produce
In international trade, no country can be
completely self-sufficient (produce all the goods
and services it needs)
Specialization creates a way to build a
profitable economy and to earn money to buy items
that cannot be made locally

Some countries in Southwest Asia are very rich in
oil and natural gas, but they lack farmland and
the ability to produce enough food
Saudi Arabia is able to specialize in the
production of oil and natural gas and sell these
products at great profit on the world market
The money earned in this trade can then be used
to purchase food and the technology needed to
make their agriculture system more efficient
Israel has little in the way of oil wealth, but
they have become leaders in agricultural
technology even though they have a limited supply
of land suitable for farming
They can sell this technology to earn the money
to supplement their limited production of food

Israeli Desert cabbage
28
Trade Barriers

Trade barriers are anything that slows down or
prevents one country from exchanging goods with
another
Some trade barriers are put in place to protect
local industries from lower priced goods made in
other countries
Other times trade barriers are created due to
political problems between countries
Trade is stopped until the political issues are
settled
A tariff is a tax placed on goods when they are
brought into (imported) from one country to
another country
The purpose of a tariff is usually to make the
imported item more expensive than a similar item
made locally
This sort of a tariff is called a protective
tariff because it protect local manufacturers
from competition coming from cheaper goods made
in other countries

A quota is a different way of limiting the amount
of foreign goods that can come into a country
A quota sets s specific amount or number of a
particular product that can be imported or
acquired in a given period of time
A third type of trade barrier is called an
embargo
An embargo is when one country announces that it
will no longer trade with another country in
order to isolate the country and cause problems
with that countrys economy
Embargoes usually come about when two countries
are having political disputes
Embargos often cause problems for all countries
involved
The US currently has embargos against Cuba, Iran,
North Korea
An example is when OPEC launched an oil embargo
in 1973 against nations that supported Israel in
the Yom Kippur War

30
Currency Exchange Rate

Most of the countries in Asia have their own type
of currency (money).
In order for them to pay for goods as they trade
with each other, they have to establish a system
of changing from one type of currency to another
This system is know as an exchange rate
They also have to be able to exchange their
currencies with those used by other countries
around the world

31
Human Capital

Human capital means the knowledge and skills that
make it possible for workers to earn a living
producing goods or services
The more skills and education workers have, the
better they are able to work without mistakes
and to learn new jobs as technology changes
Companies that invest in better training and
education for their workers generally earn more
profits
Good companies also try to make sure working
conditions are safe and efficient, so their
workers can do their jobs without risk
Companies that have invested in human capital
through training and education are most likely to
have profitable businesses and more satisfied
workers than companies that do not make these
investments
Countries where training and education are easily
available often have higher production levels of
goods and services, therefore higher gross
domestic product, than countries that do not
offer these opportunities

Israel has wide access to education and an
economy that depends on technology industries to
make up for the countrys lack of natural
resources
Many Israelis work in industries related to
medical technology, agricultural technology,
mining, and electronics
They also have highly developed service
industries (businesses that supply the needs of
the rest of the working population)
Israeli GDP is very high because they have
invested heavily in their human capital
Saudi Arabias main industry is as an exporter of
oil (petroleum)
The technology involved in the oil industry is
complicated and requires well-trained and
educated labor force
Saudi Arabia also has enormous building projects
which require investment in human capital
By contrast, some Saudi citizens still practice
traditional economic activities such as farming
and herding animals
Because oil is such an important part of the
worlds economy, the Saudi GDP is high

33
Capital Goods

Capital goods (the factories, machines, and
technology that people use to make products to
sell) are important to economic growth.
Advanced technology and the organization of this
technology into factories where many workers can
work together increases production and makes the
production more efficient
Producing more goods for sale in a quicker and
more efficient way leads to economic growth and
greater profit
This greater profit leads to a higher GDP
Middle Eastern countries have invested heavily in
Capital Goods in such areas as oil
production, communications, and the
defense industry.

34
Natural Resources

Distribution of natural resources throughout Asia
plays a major part in determining the type of
work people do and how comfortable they are able
to live
A natural resource is something that is found in
the environment that people need
Water, trees, rich soil, minerals, and oil are
all examples of natural resources
One of the most valuable resources in this part
of the world is rich farmland

35
Literacy

Literacy, or the ability to read and write, has a
big effect on the standard of living of a country
Those who cannot read or write have a very
difficult time finding decent jobs
Lack of education also prevents many young people
from becoming the engineers, doctors, scientist,
or entrepreneurs that modern economies need in
order to bring improvements to their countries
In many parts of the world, education is only
available to those who can afford to pay for it
themselves
In those countries, the literacy rate is often
quite low
Countries that have stronger economies usually
make money available so that anyone who wants an
education can go to school

36
Gross Domestic Product

One way to measure the standard of living is the
Gross Domestic Product, or GDP
The GDP is the value of all goods and services
produced within a country in a given year and
converted into US dollars for comparison
When divided into a value per capita (or per
person), it can be used as a measure of the
living conditions in a country
The higher the GDP value, the better the living
conditions in the country

37
Part 4 - Middle East Economics

There are many different types of economic
systems in the Middle East.
Many countries have mixed economies with
different levels of government control.
Some countries are less developed than others in
the region.
Middle Eastern countries have thrived on
producing exports to other countries.
Cash crops have included grain, silk, and cotton.
For the last sixty years, the regions main
export has been oil.
The region imports much of its food and other
essential products.

38
Oil

Oil is one of the most important and valuable
natural resources in the Middle East
Oil and Natural gas are called fossil fuels,
which mean they were created when plants and
animals that lived centuries ago decayed
underground
Oil and natural gas are also considered
non-renewable natural resources, meaning they
cannot be replaced once they are taken out of the
ground
Most of the world's industrial nations depend on
a steady supply of oil and natural gas
The US has to import nearly half of all the oil
it uses, almost 18 million barrels every day
Many countries of the Middle East have become
very rich over the past 50 years as the world
demand for oil and gas has increased
Over half of the worlds known oil reserves come
from the Middle East

39
Israel

Israel has a mixed economy that is also
technologically advanced.
The Israeli government and private Israeli
companies own and control the economy.
Israel does not have many natural resources.
Israel has to import grain, oil, military
technologies, and many other goods.
The country is a producer of high-tech equipment,
electronics, biomedical industries, and cut
diamonds.
The service industry accounts for much of
Israels economy areas such as insurance,
banking, retail, and tourism account for over
half of it.
Israel relies heavily on US economic and military
aid.

40
Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia also has a mixed economy but
leans toward government control..
Saudi Arabias main export is oil.
The oil industry has made the Saudi royal
family quite wealthy.
In fact, several members of the royal
family are among the wealthiest people in
the world.
Oil accounts for well over half if the
countrys economy.
Oil funds the countrys education, defense,
transportation, health, and
housing.
The government is trying to encourage more
private businesses to boost the economy and
decrease the countries dependence on oil.

41
Iran

Iran has great oil wealth, like Saudi Arabia,
through there is also a more mixed economy that
has grown in spite of government attempts to keep
tighter control
Irans command economy has not
been very efficient in recent
years
Even though there is oil wealth, many
Iranians do not share in the
money as much of it goes toward the
military

42
Turkey

The government of Turkey controls the
countrys economy.
Turkeys economy, however, is not entirely a
command economy.
A large part of the countrys economy is
based on farming.
The Turkish government has had many disputes
with other countries over its use of natural
resources, such as the Euphrates River.
Clothing and textiles are the countries major
industries.
The service industry makes up about half of
Turkeys economy, as it does Israel's
economy.

43
Economic GrowthIsrael

Economic growth has been difficult to achieve
for many Middle Eastern countries.
War is a major threat to the regions
economies.
For example, both war and a large number of
immigrants present challenges to the Israeli
economy.
The Israeli government has taken control of
certain economic activities in order to address
these problems.
The Israeli government controls most activities
related to agriculture.
This helps the nations economy because the
countys natural resources are so limited.

44
Saudi Arabia

Some gulf countries invest money to make
their economies more diverse.
In the last few decades, Saudi Arabia has
begun encouraging the development of
industries other than oil in order to
make its economy stronger.
In 1976, the Saudi government crated the Saudi
Basic Industries Corporation.
The SBIC invests in capital goods.
These capital goods have made the country a
steady producer of steel, industrial gasses,
plastics, and petrochemicals.

45
Iran

Wars can also influence a countrys economy by
influencing what the country decides to produce.
Irans war with Iraq led Iran to put more money
into its military industries.
The number of people without jobs is Iran is
high.
The country provides less protection for its
human capital than other countries do.
For example, Iran does not have private
labor unions to protect workers.
It is a mixed economy on the side of
government control of oil and
major industries.

46
The 1973 Oil Crisis

Some trade barriers are political.
Sometimes governments limit trade with other
countries because they disagree with the actions
or policies of those countries.
This is a trade barrier designed to purposefully
hurt the economy of another country.
The 1973 oil crisis is one example of such a
trade barrier.
The 1973 oil crises began on October 17, 1973.
OPEC announced that its member nations would no
longer ship oil to countries that had aided
Israel in its recent war with Egypt.
Those countries included the US and many in
Europe.
OPEC raised the price of oil 70.
As a result, the price of gasoline in the US
quadrupled over several months.

These actions had a large impact on
industrialized nations because of their growing
dependence on oil and gas.
Western countries had been used to cheap and
plentiful oil resources before the crisis.
Oil consumption had doubled in the US.
At the time, the US was using about 1/3rd of the
worlds energy.
The crisis caused the value of the US dollar to
drop.
It also had a widespread negative impact on
the world economy.
OPEC started shipping oil to Western nations
again in 1974.
Western economies began to get stronger again.

48
Now that you are an expert on the Middle East,
can you describe why the cartographer made
changes to this map?

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