Lesson video

Hi everyone and welcome back to this unit, exploring how do others govern.

I'm Mr. Humphrys and I'm one of the citizenship teachers here at the Oak Academy.

And today we are going to be looking at lesson five and we're going to be exploring the role of leaders.

So kind of for today's lesson you will need your exercise book or some paper.

And if you've done the previous lessons in the unit it will be a very good idea to have those notes in front of you as well.

and you will also need a pen so a black or blue one.

and then preferably a different coloured pen then to do some self-assessment.

And kind of you need to get one of those things, please pause video now and go and get them.

Make sure that you're in a quiet place where you can concentrate kind of on today's lesson and let's begin.

So we're going to look at four things today.

So the lesson is all about kind of the role of the UK, the elected leader compared to kind of other leaders around the world.

So we're going to do some comparisons and contrasts between the UK Prime Minister, the president of the United States and the King of Saudi Arabia.

And then we're going to look at a possible exam style question on this unit.

Okay, so before we start today's lesson I think it will be a good idea to do a kind of quick bit of revision.

If you haven't done kind of lesson one, kind of this unit.

I would strongly recommend that you go back and you do that because that kind of sets the scene for the whole kind of unit.

But there's kind of these two kind of definitions should help you get basic understanding.

Okay, so there are two systems of government explained on the screen, okay? So there is a system of government where there are kind of many different political parties.

Where kind of citizens have many freedoms which are protected by law.

And the government in those kind of countries who are in power, kind of elected by kind of via free and fair elections.

However, it can kind of on the contrast we have some different systems of government where they have very few political parties, if any.

So there's kind of maybe only one or none.

Kind of citizens, kind of have their freedoms denied and the laws don't protect them and those in power are often due, kind of are often there due to that kind of power of there family, okay? Can you remember the difference between these two systems of government, okay? Kind of what words would you associate with them both? So hopefully, you got the words kind of democratic and non-democratic okay? And kind of, this is a really good way to kind of think about the role of leaders around the world.

Well, because they're going to be different in democratic and non-democratic countries, okay? Especially with the powers they have and how they use that powers.

So Kind of our first quick question for today, is what is the role of the prime minister, okay? So what's the role of the UK Prime Minister.

So, here it's the current prime minister in kind of February of 2021? That's is Boris Johnson and he is the leader of the Conservative Party and who won the most seats at the 2019 general election.

And therefore he became prime minister, okay? So kind of as a country we don't directly elect a prime minister.

We elect MPS in local constituencies and the party who win the most seats, kind of the ones who kind of have at that place in government, okay? On the leader of the party typically then becomes the prime minister.

So, in this case, it is Boris Johnson and we have to have election at least every five years although we can have them sooner.

If a government called them on they can get some support in the House Commons.

And kind of Boris Johnson as well as being prime minister, as well as leading the whole country.

He is also an MP so a member of parliament for his constituency, in case so he also looks after their needs as well.

Maybe some of you watching in this video and have Boris Johnson as your MP.

So, what do you already know? So you may have been put in kind of citizenship some time or kind of this may be your first introduction, but you know I'm kind of hoping you kind of watch the news and have an interest in kind of current affairs.

So what do you know about the role of the prime minister? Okay, so role is just another word for functional or part played.

So what would like to do is kind of pause the video, take a minute or two and list or mind-map everything you can remember about the role of the prime minister.

And when you've done that comeback and we'll have a look and see what you've got.

Okay, well done.

Hopefully you found that, okay.

And now I'm going to give you some of my ideas but I'm sure you've also got some kind of fabulous ideas too.

So the prime minister is kind of first and foremost he's the leader of the executive branch of government.

Okay, so you might remember back to your other citizenship lessons where we have kind of three branches of government the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary.

The prime minister is a leader of the executive branch.

I'm actually the technical way of saying he is responsible for the overall governance and running of the countries.

So he's the person in charge.

He direct kind of government policy and goals.

So as the leader of the kind of Conservative Party, he directs kind of policy in line with conservative values and ideas.

So when he was elected kind of in the party were elected.

They set out a manifesto and in that manifesto they pledge to do a number of things.

So when they're elected in the power, they must ensure that they kind of follow through on these promises.

He is open to scrutiny.

So the kind of government and prime minister personally must be accountable for their actions.

So for example, you may have seen on TV that the prime minister will attend PMQs Our Prime Minister's Questions on a Wednesday where kind of met members of the kind of opposition or other governments own MPS, will question the prime minister about what's been happening that week.

Kind of what policy has been introduced, what policy is needed.

So there are accountable to kind of other than government and also to the systems of the country, 'cause we elect those in a kind of the House commons, to represent us.

The prime minister can also appoint all the key members of the government, okay? So at the cabinet are the closest and most senior MPS that's about 20 or so.

And these are people who will look after, get different kinds of government departments.

So they kind of sector of health, the sector of education, defence.

You also have the kind of leader of House commons in there you'll have the kind of attorney general and all these MPS, as well as kind of take on that cabinet responsibility as well and the prime minster kind of appoint them.

And he provides kind of national leadership.

So, just day-to-day leadership or execute a crisis or kind of an event that the kind of prime minister will lead the country.

And also they will represent the UK internationally.

So they will go to meetings with all the world leaders, they will go to like into government meetings for example, at the United nations or the World Trade Organisation and kind of represent the the UK, kind of on the international stage.

So kind of well done for getting those and hopefully your understanding of the UK is prime minister has improved though to.

Okay, so moving onto the second question of the lesson.

We are going to explore, what is the role of the president of the United States? So here is the president of the United States.

Kind of currently in February, 2021.

It is Joe Biden and he is part of the Democratic party.

And the presidential elections in the USA take place every four years and kind of unlike in UK the U.

S.

vote directly for their presidential candidate.

So they will select on the ballot paper that they want kind of who the president to be.

And then this goes through a kind of process known as the electoral college.

And then the president is selected.

So different to the UK in that they vote directly put the person in charge.

And then there was also another really important position which is voted for, which is the vice president.

And again currently that is Kamala Harris and kind of unlike in UK, we don't have a kind of formal vice kind of prime minister that is kind of decided amongst the cabinet if you know that needs to happen.

Okay, so what is the role then of the president of the United States? What could the president do? Now you may have already done this in citizenship.

You may know this kind of from the media or just your own personal reading but we'll just have a look at some key things.

So number one, the constitution of kind of the USA.

So the kind of document which outlines the kind of rules, procedures, how America is governed formerly sets out the roles and powers of the American president.

Okay and that again, unlike for UK, cause we don't have a what's call a codified constitution but we don't have a constitution which is in one place.

It's made of a lots of different sources.

So there, isn't a really clear formal outline of the role of president like there is in America.

So the constitution states that the president is the leader of the executive branch of the kind of government just like the UK they take overall responsibility for the kind of running of the country.

But kind in America, they have a federal system.

So a lot of power is given to States in America but the president has overall control.

Then they're also the Head of State and kind of this isn't a role the prime minister does kind of in the UK.

So it kind of as Head of State.

They take on a symbolic and kind of sometimes kind of a ceremonial role where they will be present the USA around the world and they will welcome foreign visitors, et cetera.

The president also acts as a Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

Do you know who the Head of State is kind of in the UK? Well, I mean, must say kind of Monarch.

Kind of so the Monarch is Head of State kind of in the UK.

They propose legislation to the Congress or the legislature.

So the legislative branch of the American government kind of is Congress and the president can kind of suggest legislation.

However, the president isn't part of the legislator unlike they are kind of in the UK and prime minister so kind of the prime minister would go to the house of commons, kind of, that will take place, kind of take part, kind of in debates, et cetera.

Kind of the vice president access to Congress is very limited and it only happens a few times a year.

they will sign legislation when it's been passed.

So there's normally quite kind of an elaborate kind of signing or a voter opportunity, especially if it's a big piece kind of legislation.

They will also kind of nominate federal judges or the judiciary to those who interpret the law.

And this is unlike the prime minister of the UK.

There is a total separation of the kind of judiciary to the executive kind of in UK what happens in the USA.

It's all kind of very, kind of well linked.

There has been some very high profile cases over the last few years about the kind of president on the choosing of the kind of federal judges.

Then they will appoint the cabinet.

And this again, kind of looked at kind of the prime minister.

These are the people who kind of oversee government departments and they'll help the president make decisions.

However, kind of in America, they are not typically drawn from kind of those in government.

They're drawn from outside the government, they're drawn from outside of Congress and on the meetings, on a regular it's kind of not as structured but they're there to kind of help president kind of run the country.

And finally, just like the prime minister of the UK well the president will represent the United States of America kind of internationally.

So they will go to conferences, they will visit kind of other countries.

And you may have seen kind of sample photo opportunities of the kind of UK prime minister and the United States President.

Okay, so kind of now you have an understanding of the UK kind of prime minister and the president of the United States.

I would want you to have a go at activity where you compare that two.

So kind of as you can see on the screen there is a table with three columns you've got unique PM role, you've got shared roles and you've got a unique President of United State role.

And what I would like to do is using the information that we looked at in the previous two sections is complete the table.

So jot down some information about the role that are unique to kind of UK prime minister, jot down some information about the roles that are unique to the president of the United States and think about what roles they might share, okay? So pause the video now and have a go at that.

And then when you've done that come back and we we'll go through the answers.

Okay, so well done for given that ago I'm sure you've got lots of ideas and this is just kind of some of mine.

So if we look at unique to the kind of prime minister, we've got it kind of they can be a member of the Executive and the Legislative branch.

So the branch of government, which have overall control and make a new legislation.

We've got the kind of UK Prime Minister is the head of government but he's not the Head of State.

And they also fulfil a representative role of being an MP in addition to being a leader of the Executive.

And we skip to the president of the United States role.

They can appoint cabinet members outside of elected officials.

So that kind of most kind of people in charge of cabinet departments don't have to be kind of from the government and kind of, in fact they're often not.

They are the head of government and Head of State.

So they take on this kind of leader of the Executive role and this kind of sensitive role where else kind of for the UK that's Queen and they nominate the federal judges.

Whereas the UK, isn't the kind of prime minister doesn't have kind of anything to do with that.

And in the middle, we've got some shared understandings they both lead the executive branch.

They both the ones in charge of the country.

They both represent the country internationally and they can both proposed legislation to the legislative branch.

But the UK Prime Minister will have more of a role in debating and scrutinising that as opposed to the president of the United States who kind of just propose it and kind of has very little involvement in the kind of legislature.

So it must've well done given those ago.

And if you want to jot anything of mine down please pause the video and make note of them and then come back.

Okay, so we're going to go and look at a different role now.

Now, we look at the King of Saudi Arabia.

So this is a non-elective role.

So that might kind of start thinking about what kind of country might Saudi Arabia be.

So the Saudi Arabia is the currently King Salman bin Abdulaziz and that's in February, 2021.

And has been the King since 2015.

They have a King Prime Minister and the custodian of the two Holy Mosques in Saudi Arabia.

So mosque is a place of worship and kind of Islam.

So if that a custodian of these two Mosques, that's quite a big role.

So what might that tell you about the nature of kind of Saudi Arabia? So the contemporary Saudi state can be traced to 1932.

Okay, so the Al-Saud family and kind of from here power has been passed down kind of since then.

So kind of power is inherited.

So there's no elections to kind of the person in charge and it's an Arabic Islamic State.

Okay, so Islam is a really important piece of the country, of its culture, of its history.

I mean, it's where Islam begun.

So it is governed along religious lines.

So very different to the UK and the U.

S.

The King of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia is a monarchy and therefore ruled by the King.

So we don't have any elections to appoint the ruler.

Rulers are descendants and power is therefore hereditary, power is passed down in the Al-Saud family.

So it's non-democratic.

So it is an Islamic State, so it's governed by the Quran and the Sunnah.

So the Quran is a Holy book of Islam.

And this kind of Sunnah of is the example of the prophet Muhammad is a really important figure in kind of Islam.

So they will govern and they will do things in accordance with Islamic law or kind of Sharia law.

So kind of kind of human rights are protected in accordance to Islamic law.

So kind of Islamic law has to support the actions of the government on what right, kind of attack, et cetera.

And so the King does have some advisers and they're some people who support the country running.

So they have a Council of Ministers who are in charge or kind of things again, there's like an education one, there's a health.

Kind of some of these are Al-Saud kind of royal family.

Well kind of some of them are, so inside the royal family.

There are similar actions.

So for me, kind of Municipal Councils but they don't have a great deal of power.

These elections then now allow kind of women's vote whereas they never did in the past.

And the country is criticised quite heavily internationally because of its lack of democratic process.

And especially with its kind of ability not to let people take part in protests.

So people are not allowed to protest in the streets.

So this kind of raises big questions about, it's kind of democratic processes and parts of leadership.

So what I would like to do is using the grid above I would want you to write me a paragraph to explain how Saudi Arabia is led, okay.

So explain the leadership of Saudi Arabia.

So pause the video now and kind of give that go and then come back and I will share my answer with you.

Okay, kind of well done.

Thank you for giving that ago.

I'm sure your paragraph is great.

And this is my kind of example or my model.

So kind of Saudi Arabia is a monarchy and this means power is inherited from previous kind of generations.

It's currently ruled by King Salmon bin and kind of Abdulaziz.

Kind of a country is based on an interpretation of Islam.

Kind of many of the laws and customs are derived from Sharia an Islamic system of law.

And just as a side note here so there are different systems of Islamic law.

There are different kinds of schools of thought, not all muslims who agree, so kind of their will be a difference of opinion on how things are interpreted.

In Saudi Arabia the power is concentrated within the Royal family, kind of the needed highest government officials are kind of held by members of the Al-Saud family.

There are very few elections.

Well, there are signs of change.

So kind of women being allowed to vote, et cetera.

And younger members of royal family are kind of getting more and more important positions in the country and there are some signs of change within it.

Okay, so our final task for today that is you're going to see what we know I'm going to see we can apply it to an examination style question.

So we're going to look at this question here.

So we've got to look at the question, examine how a country's leadership differs between democratic and non-democratic countries.

So then come back to the first task, okay? In your answer, you may refer to the process of becoming a leader.

Power is held by the leader and holding those power into account, okay? And you must make references to specific country examples.

So we looked at three countries in this lesson.

If you've done previous lessons you have looked at countries like North Korea and China.

So you can use those as well, if you want to.

And what I'm suggesting is a three paragraph structure, okay? With kind of answering that question, okay.

So it's an or a questions that is purely knowledge, there's another evaluation, it's just kind of what do you know, okay? And you're probably looking for maybe around half a page-ish, depending on your handwriting size.

So pause the video now kind of give that ago and I will share my answer with you when you come back.

Okay, huge well done, for giving that ago.

And as you can see, I have also written a model answer.

Now you may have some slightly different ideas and that's absolutely fine, but this is what I wrote.

So in democratic countries, such as United Kingdom the leader, the Prime Minister is decided through a democratic process.

Kind of in the UK, kind of elections must take place at least every five years.

This process kind of gives citizens an opportunity to voice their opinion and how the country is run.

Yet in so non-democratic countries, countries like Saudi Arabia, kind of leadership is hereditary passed through generations in kind of royal family.

Here very few elections are held.

So if you did a previous lesson, you can imagine use China or North Korea there's your contrast.

Can do in the UK the prime minister kind of has the power to introduce new laws.

But all laws must be subject to scrutiny by parliament.

So we can remember that talks about kind of Prime Minister's Question time.

So it says kind the prime minster must be open to kind of scrutiny.

This means that some laws may not pass despite the Prime Ministers wishes.

So, law need to be voted on in the UK, by parliament.

And if they don't get a majority vote then they won't pass.

And all laws are secular.

So this means they're non-religious.

However in Saudi Arabia, the King holds ultimate power to introduce new walls and these faces little scrutiny, okay.

All laws must be compatible with Islam.

So it's kind of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic country, is a religious country, okay.

And finally it kind of many democratic countries allow citizens to hold leaders account, both through formal political institutions kind of in terms of social elections but also through other means such as protests and demonstrations, for example, BLM protests in the USA.

Yet in many non-democratic countries these are banned and punishable by imprisonment.

So that is a case in Saudi Arabia.

So huge well done for giving that ago.

And that was our final task for today.

Okay, so that brings us to the end of the lesson.

And hopefully you now feel a bit more confident in answering these questions.

So you can explain the role of the UK prime minister.

You can explain the role of president of the United States.

You can explain the role of the King of Saudi Arabia and you can kind of recognise some kind of key, kind of similarities and differences between them.

And then you can apply your knowledge to an examination style question.

So as the lesson is over please don't forget to share your work if you can, with Oak.

So ask your parent or care actor to kind of tweet your work.

And I do like kind of having a look through and see if kind of any lessons I've taught kind of feature there.

And of course, don't forget to do the exit quiz after you have left the lesson.

And thank you very much for all your hard work and have a good day, bye.