When National Interests Mean Making a Nation

Today, we started talking about how national interests can be used to create a new nation-state. This action is called self-determination.

Now, one of the first quotes that we went through in the notes was how it is a force of convergence and  divergence, which is completely true. While a new nation is being formed and a group who identifies with each other is converging or joining together, this comes at the expense of the disintegration of already existing nation states. As much as one may joke that they don't care if Quebec separated from Canada, what would a Canada without Quebec really be like?? Not only is our Canadian history full of French influence in the discovery of our country, but without Francophone explorers and traders, it is uncertain for how western Canada was explored and settled. So the question comes: Who has the right to pursue self-determination?

But, is there are reason to stop a country from pursuing self-determination? That's what we are going to be looking at - the different ways in which a state can pursue self-determination and what are the intended and unintended consequences.

Today, we looked at a current example of a group attempting self-determination: Catalonians in Spain. There are many other groups that seek to pursue this as well. Here are some examples:

Catalonia's Independence Movement

Scottish Independence Movement 2014

Kurdish Independence Movement 2017

Monday: 

• Notes on Self-determination
• Ethnic divisions and how that leads to division of countries
• Case Study: Catalonia
• Start looking at Kosovo's Independence Movement

Then....

....and now.

Tuesday: 

• Genocide Projects
• Work on research
• Individually explain your World War I flow chart

Wednesday: 

• Compare articles with partners from Monday
• Should Kosovo been allowed to achieve an independent state?
• What criteria should the UN make for independence to occur?
• Continue going through notes on Self-Determination
• Decolonization and the Vietnam War

Thursday: 

• Rants by Paola, Harrison, and Deprise
• Practice writing - next essay(s) for marks will be done a week after the break!
• 20-1: Interpreting a source for Assignment 1
• 20-2: Describing characteristics for Assignment 1

What is a National Interest?

Love him or not, Donald Trump has got one thing going for him: a clear national interest for the United States of America.

As we discuss and examine nationalism over the course of the semester, we look at the factors that have created nationalism. One of the things that truly can unite a group of people is a shared goal and interest - that's what a national interest is.

Last year, you focused on focused on globalization; the pursuit of globalization is often to achieve national interests. There are many goals focused on economics, military protection or cultural promotion that we cannot just achieve independently - we can't do it alone. BUT, what if our national interests don't always see eye to eye with another nation's  goals? What happens then?

The first part of this unit will focus on how pursuing national interests can lead to conflict, which ultimately means war. Before we start analyzing World War I and World War II, we will look at some common conflicts that are currently affecting our own country in pursuing national interests.

What our week will look like:

Monday:

• Test

Tuesday: 

• Partner test - essentially you are re-taking the test with a partner, that will also be taken in for marks. Sometimes discussing the questions helps you understand where you made a mistake.
• Start looking at what national interests actually are
• Hand in your Magazine projects

Wednesday: 

• Game: which national interest is it??
• Current Issues for Canadians
• NAFTA Renegotiations
• Arctic Sovereignty
• Federal Tax Reform
• Tide Water Access for Oil
• Threat of Nuclear War
• Reduction in Carbon Emissions
• Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
• Refugees Entering Canada
• To go through these topics, you will be assigned to a particular topic through Google Classroom (done completely randomly)
• You will build a case study on what the issues are. In Google Classroom, there will be relevant links that you can use to help gain an understanding of the issue that you are looking up. There will be a combination of text and visual sources for you to use.
• Your goal in this class is to collect information on your topic, so your devices are a necessity!

Thursday: 

• Rants by Jesse and Chelsea
• Social 20-1 - working on Analysis of the Source for Assignment 2
• Social 20-2 - working on Analysis of the Issue for Assignment 3

Friday: 

• Review your case study
• Work in small groups and partnerships to go through the other 7 case studies that other students looked at to create a bank of examples you could use for essays

The End of Unit 1

This week, we are wrapping up looking at how nationalism begins and what brings particular groups together. Which means, you'll be having a test soon!!! 🙌 But, before that test, you will have some time to review. Your test will be MONDAY, OCTOBER 16 and will be completely multiple choice.

That means that we will be finishing up our last part of Canadian Unification and start on our next unit. The next unit we will cover will be about something call national interests and how those affect our nations decisions when dealing with other countries. We will look at some current issues, such as the re-negotiations of NAFTA, as well as historical examples, such as World War 2 and how national interests can lead to things like genocides (which will lead to your next major project).

What's happening this week?

Tuesday: 

• Writing Assignment for marks to be completed in class
• Go directly to the computer lab

Wednesday: 

• Work on group projects as presentations will be TOMORROW

• Review game for your test next week. Don't worry, it's not too lame 😉

Thursday: 

• Rants by Jesse and  Kaylin
• Group presentations

Friday: 

• Complete group work peer assessments
• Canadian Unification worksheets and videos
• Review notes
• Start with National Interests in the News

How does nationalism ACTUALLY develop?

This week, we will be finishing our discussion of what loyalties are by having a little "quiz."  This is not an actual quiz for marks, but competition between you and your class mates to see how well you understand what nationalist and non-nationalist loyalties are. Yes, you will get to play with the noise makers.

So far, we have gone through what makes a nation - whether it is an actual nation-state (aka: country)

or a different type of belonging, which were the 6 different types of nations we discussed in class.  It is the different ideas of belonging that start to create a devotion or loyalty to the nation.  Depending on what that loyalty is focused on, nationalist loyalties being a devotion to the group or country, while non-nationalist loyalties are devotions to things that are more focused parts of your individual identity, will determine how strong the nationalism of a nation-state can become.

To look at nationalism and the good and bad parts of it, we also need to understand how nationalism is developed - you will be doing a major project on this topic.  In class, we will study the French Revolution to look at the main factors that helped develop nationalism for France and why it was such a significant time in history.  Here is a good video that highlights the main ideas of the French Revolution:

So what are we up to this week?

Monday: 

• Quiz, noise makers, fun. You'll love it 👌👌👌👌
• Start with the basics of what forms nationalism
• There are 5 main factors
• Go through those factors
• Pick them out of an example video
• Pick groups for your first major project

Tuesday:

• The beginning parts of the French Revolution

The French Revolution is an extremely important historical event, especially when looking at the development of nationalism.  Along with the American Revolution, the French Revolution incorporated ideas from the Enlightenment, particularly that the government should be responsible to its citizens and that all individuals have worth, in an attempt to create a state that was more reflective of the people living in that state.  This was the shift away from having empires and monarchies with strict social classes, to a system of representative government and a country based on the people, not their royalty.

The French Revolution was extremely volatile and bloody, yet managed to, in the end, create a sense of belonging for the French people.  What we will be covering in terms of this class is how this shift in French politics, as well as the subsequent rise of Napoleon, affected the growth of nationalism in France, and which of the five factors covered yesterday were the most significant.

Another Video to Watch

Nationalism and the French Revolution - Good article to read

Wednesday:

• Finish the French Revolution
• Cause Event Effect Chart of what happened
• Link the French Revolution to the Factors of nationalism
• Napole-who?

Thursday:

• Rants by Cale  and Auorora
• Practice Writing
• 20-1 will be working on the second part of Assignment 1
• 20-2 will be working on the second part of Assignment 2

Friday:

• The life and times of Napoleon Bonaparte
• Begin on Napoleon

Who was Napoleon and why should we care?

Finishing Loyalties and how that leads to nationalism

To start things off, there's a little housekeeping issue.  If you would like to get "Remind" notices, click on the photo to get the download instructions to be part of the list.  Any reminders for projects and deadlines, as well as to let you know when the new blog will be posted will be on that site.  

So what exactly is loyalty and what does it have to do with nationalism? This week, we will start looking at that topic specifically.  

Last week, we looked at the conflict between nationalist loyalties - those are the loyalties that you have towards a particular nation that could have been, was or is a current nation. Here are some review videos about the two case studies that we looked at:

• Oka Crisis

Video about the Oka Crisis

• Quebec Sovereignty and the FLQ Crisis

Video about Quebec Sovereignty

So what can we expect to cover this week?

Monday

• Non-nationalist Loyalties
• Notes
• Examples:
• NEP in Canada 1980s

Click on the picture for an explanation

• Flat vs Progressive Taxation in Alberta

• ISIS

Tuesday

• The Supreme Sacrifice - is it a necessity in a nation-state?

• Wrap It Up - Notes on dealing with conflicting loyalties
• Questions and Videos on Loyalties

Wednesday

• Activity - identifying the loyalty
• Notes on Factors that Develop nationalism
• Start first project 
• Pick case study and groups
• Pick a due date
• Go through what needs to be done on the assignment

• Factors of nationalism and the American Revolution

Thursday

• Rants by Kelsey and Adam  
• Read the exemplar that was picked from the class with the rationale for why it would have gotten the grade it did
• Practice Writing
• 20-1 Interpreting text sources from Assignment I
• 20-2 Interpreting images from Assignment II

Welcome to Social 20!

Hello Kidlings!

Social 20...that wonderful course that you have anticipating for the summer is finally here! In all actuality, I love Social Studies, and this year you will really be looking at Canada and pride for this wonderful country, among other monumental events in history.  Yes, I know. Canada is your favourite topic. It is a great course to get into, if you want to, and can really help you understand the positives and negatives of having pride in your country.

I link to run somewhat of a Flipped Classroom, where there will be opportunities for you to deepen your understanding of the course content on your own time. What that means is that each week, I will try to put a new blog posting up by Sunday night to outline what we will be doing in the coming week. I will put links to powerpoints, slides, videos, websites, updates into DropBox and so on that, over the course of the week, you can look at to enhance your learning of the content. Ideally, the large portion of the intricate content would be what you look up on your own. Now, I know that looking up history is not everybody's cup of tea. However, by doing the background knowledge at home, it allows us to use the time in class to work on your skills to understand the knowledge = you will practice skills that will help you to be successful, rather than focusing on knowledge. This is not to say that there won't be specific knowledge presented in class; it simply means to gain a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the course, I will provide you with information to help better prepare you.

This blog will also let you know what we will be doing for the week, so it will be an agenda for what we are to get through.


Recap of Last week
Last week, we started by looking at what nationalism is and what a nation is.  Really important concepts to remember is that a nation does necessarily mean country.  So, keep in mind that when we speak of nation or having nationalism for a nation, it does not necessarily mean that we are speaking of an independent country, such as Canada, the United States, France, etc.

There were nine different understandings of nation that we looked at.  The idea behind a nation is that people have something in common that they identify with that brings them together, and they attempt to achieve goals or interests together.  The different nations are:

1. Linguistic - people  are brought together based on a shared language
2. Cultural - people are brought together based on shared culture, tradition and ways of life
3. Ethnic - people are brought together based on a shared ancestry and ethnicity
4. Spiritual - people are brought together based on shared spirituality, whether it is belief systems or a particular place or object that has meaning 
5. Religious - people are brought together based on a specific belief and faith system
6. Relationship to the Land - people are brought together based on locations that have meaning to them religiously or for their specific way of life
7. Geographic - people are brought together because natural divisions, such as oceans, mountains or vast landscapes, have caused them to develop their own identity
8. Political - people are brought together because they have a politically independent nation AKA: A COUNTRY
9. Civic - people are brought together because they choose to live in a specific way

 
This Week in Social 20...

Tuesday

• Compare your pie graphs from Friday - what do you focus on as your sense of pride?
• Discussion - should Edward Snowden be considered a hero or a traitor?

For Conservatives, Snowden Is Hero and Horror

• Start notes on factors of nationalism

Wednesday

• Loyalties - who gets your loyalty? 
• Your nation or your country?
• Notes, debate and discussion

Thursday

• Rants by Trayden and Kelsey
• Practice Writing Paragraph #1
• 20-1: Assignment I interpreting a source paragraph
• 20-2: Assignment I picking out characteristics

Friday

• Notes on factors of Nationalism
• Which factors were prevalent at the beginning of the American Revolution?
• Case Study: The Patriot
• First Project: Research article on the development of nationalism
• Pick your groups
• Pick your topic
• Combined research, individual projects

The Dangers of Internationalism

For the past couple weeks, we have looked at why we need to pursue internationalism, and how it helps solve national and global issues. However, by participating in the international community, at some point on some issues the needs for your country will come second to the world. In essence, by being an active member of the international world means you give up a little bit of your sovereignty and put the needs of everybody else before your own national interests. While most countries understand that there is a balance to pursuing national and international interests, there are those who feel like we should be moving more towards a one-world government. Essentially, the idea of having an independent nation state would cease to exist - we wouldn't have independent countries or borders anymore; we would all live as one.

So what's up this week?

Monday: 

• One world government - What it is, how would it function, is it reasonable
• Article and debate
• Work on infographs for approximately 20 minutes of class

Tuesday:

• What would a borderless world look like:
• Case Study: North American Union

• Discuss: Benefits and drawbacks to the formation of North American Union
• Practice interpreting sources
• Work on infographs, time permitting

Wednesday: 

• Notes: Issues with internationalism
• Work on infographs

Thursday:

• Rants by Robyn, Shelby, Keaton and Vanessa 
• Review for Exam

Friday:

• Ultranationalism and Internationalism Unit Exam :)