SOCIOL 2 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Nationstates, Global Governance, Autocracy
Document Summary
Three main trends in our wave of globalization. Number of nation-states in the world increased a lot because of decolonization. Nation-states increasingly took the political form of democracy. Recall that european countries maintained colonies until well into the 20th century. These colonies became independent sovereign nation-states over the second half of the 20th century. Colonialism became seen as ever less legitimate. Today, formal colonies have mostly ceased to exist. Vast majority of world territory is made up of national states. In addition to being nation-states, many countries today also share a common form of government: democracy. Let"s take a few minutes to discuss: Definitions of democracy vary, but here are some key features of a democratic country: 4) the right to run for office; 7) associational autonomy (right to organize etc. ) Examples of democracies: mexico, us, germany . The opposite of a democracy is an autocracy. In an autocracy most or all of the elements of democracy are absent:
