Content Areas - GED Social Studies

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the population of the world was less than one billion. It would pass one billion early in the nineteenth century, but would not reach two billion until early in the twentieth century. Since the massive improvements in public health, medicine, technology, and farming practices of the twentieth century, the world population has risen to over seven billion. So the correct answer is easily the twentieth century.

More than half the people on the planet live in the continent of Asia: the majority of these living in China and India. Of the more than seven billion people on Earth, at least four billion live in Asia.

More than half the people in the world live in Asia. After Asia, the next highest is Africa, which is the only other continent to have more than a billion people living there. After Africa comes Europe, then North America, then South America. The population of Europe is projected to remain approximately the same for several decades, so by the end of the twenty-first century it will have likely been overtaken by all the other continents, except Oceania and Antarctica.

The term, "diaspora," is used to describe a group of people, or a nation, who have been evicted from their homeland and forced to live among other societies. In recent history this has been used to describe the community of Jewish people who lived in various European societies throughout much of history.

The Amazon rainforest, and the Amazon River, are both found in Brazil, which is a country in South America. Central America is not a continent..

In the American two-party system politicians often adopt broad opinions on a wide variety of issues to appeal to the largest number of people as possible. This generally ensures that both political parties are quite moderate when compared to the liberal or conservative parties in countries with a multi-party system.

A realignment election takes place when many votes switch their political-party allegiance. Often, a realignment election sees the rise of a third party or a previously unknown party into the two-party system. Other times it sees voters switching which of the two major parties they support. A realignment election often reflects widespread voter dissatisfaction with one or both of the two major parties.

A presidential candidate must win a majority of the Electoral College in order to become the next President. This is a slightly tricky question. Many people are under the incorrect assumption that a candidate must win a majority of the popular vote in order to become President. In reality, becoming the President requires a majority of the Electoral College-- which does not necessarily require a majority of the popular vote (due to the way that we count votes).

Political patronage is the term used to describe the granting of favors, passing favorable legislation, or making government appointments in exchange for financial support during a campaign. Meritocracy is fairly close to being the opposite, as it is a system whereby only the most qualified and skilled person is able to get a job.

Of these answer choices, only the Liberal-Democrats (a British political party) have never existed in United States political history.

The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed by the Federalists in 1798 during the presidency of John Adams. The stated reason for passing the Alien and Sedition Acts was to provide greater security for the young nation in the wake of rising tensions with the French. The Alien Act made immigration more difficult for people from certain nations, and the Sedition Act made it illegal to speak out against the government or to incite rebellion against the government. The Acts were heavily criticized by Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans.

The traditional political spectrum (from left to right) goes like this:

Radical - Liberal - Moderate - Conservative - Reactionary

So, the furthest to the right would be a reactionary. Someone who holds reactionary ideas passionately (and sometimes violently) opposes some kind of political or social change. Reactionaries may even want to return to a previous social or political order.

The traditional political spectrum (from left to right) goes like this: Radical; Liberal; Moderate; Conservative; Reactionary. So the furthest to the left would be a radical. A radical would support complete, dramatic, and immediate overhaul of existing social or political norms. Radicals might resort to violence in order to achieve their goals.

For many Americans, party loyalty is the least pronounced it has ever been. Recent elections have seen a greater and greater number of voters who would declare themselves independent. This mirrors another contemporary trend in the American political landscape: more and more Americans are voting based on the candidate and his orher policies rather than simply voting along party lines; however, it is worth nothing that the majority of voters still vote very consistently for the same party.

The correct answer is "2." Currently, those two parties are the Democrats and the Republicans (and have been since the Civil War). That's not to say that there are NO other parties in the US, simply that there are only two major parties. This is partially due to our electoral system (that is, the way that we vote).

A totalitarian government, also called an autocracy, is defined by an extremely centralized government in which one person, or one group, wields complete and unchallenged control over the rest of the state. Totalitarian governments are increasingly uncommon around the world, but certainly far from nonexistent.

"Rule by the few," an oligarchy is defined as a system of government in which a small group of people have complete control over all functions of government.

A system of government ruled by religious leaders and where law is established according to religious codes is called a theocracy.

Apartheid was a social policy of racial segregation in South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s. It was enforced by the government, which reduced the economic and political rights of black people in the country.