Chijioke Josiah Evoh

Social Studies

Theme: Economic System, Cultural Diffusion

Introduction

Could the new imperialism in Africa have been avoided?

Imperialism is the extension of sovereignty or control by one people over another. Following the industrial revolution in Western Europe, there was massive production of industrial goods. With the European markets flooded with such products, European factory owners looked outside Europe for markets for their products and also for raw materials for their factories. Africa and Asia became potential targets. Thus, this was the outward expansion of European powers over other continents. To accomplish their economic interests, Europeans invested large sums of money abroad, building railroads and ports, mines and plantations, factories and public utilities. Such utilities were needed to facilitate the exploitation of the needed raw materials from such remote corners of the world. Nationalism and belief in cultural and racial superiority and missionary activities were the other reasons for the new imperialism. It must be understood that imperialism was a public policy in most European countries at this time in history. Hence, it was not considered as a crime against humanity.

Source: http://www.fresno.k12.ca.us/schools/s090/lloyd/imperialism.htm

Task

You are an international lawyer at the international court at The Hague. You are to represent either the above European powers in the 19^th Century or the African nations during this period in history. To represent your client, you have to prepare a brief. Your brief as a lawyer is the facts you prepare that will be used to argue your case. This may include gathering of figures and evidences that can be used to convince the judges. Your job as a lawyer is to present your arguments to convince the judges of court that imperialism, as a public policy is either inhumane or justifiable based on the economic needs of the time. Use any available evidence such as pictures, economic statistics to make your point. As a public policy analyst you will do a report of 4-5 pages with references and pictures.

Process

Your brief can be prepared based on the following guideline:

1. Define and describe the problem (social conditions, players, public policy)

2. Gather evidence for this problem

3. Identify causes for this problem

4. Describe and evaluate the existing policy for this problem

5. Develop solutions/policies for the problems for this existing policy

6. Select the best policy for this problem.

Guidelines

Research the Internet sources in this WebQuest for materials that will help you to prepare a good brief f for the case.

Resources

The resources are the internet site students will go to. Give them the Internet site and what that would find there.

· http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch02.html

· http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/africa/africasbook.html

· http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/

· http://www.usd.edu/honors/HWB/1999/1999f/index.htm

· http://www.orecity.k12.or.us/ogden/link pages/imperialism.htm

Evaluation

The following rubric will be used to judge your presentation.

Objectives	Low Performance	Average	Exemplary Performance	Earned Points
Shows understanding of lesson through application of the Public Policy Analyst Model	15 points PPA not apparent in project.	20 points Only portions of the six step PPA is apparent in project.	25 points All six steps of PPA clearly understood and explained throughout project.
Vocabulary words are used correctly in display description.	15 points Most vocabulary words not used at all or used incorrectly.	20 points Some vocabulary words not used at all or used incorrectly	25 points All vocabulary words used and used correctly.
Following Directions	15 points Project completed without following directions.	20 points Most directions are followed in completion of project.	25 points All directions are followed correctly
Effort and Creativity	15 points Little or no effort or creativity is apparent.	20 points Some effort and creativity is apparent.	25 points Much effort and creativity is apparent.
Spelling & Grammar	15 Points 7-10 Errors	20 Points 4-6 Errors	25 points 1-3 Errors
			Score:

23-25 points A

20-22 points A-

17-20 points B

14-16 points B-

10-13 points C

5-10 points D

0-5 points F

Conclusions

You should have learned from this WebQuest that the new imperialism of the 19^th and 20^th Centuries was caused by the economic needs in Europe. However, the need to spread Christian religion played a secondary role. In some cases, the Christian missionaries were used a tool to accomplish the economic interests of the occupying power.

The students will have met the following New York State English Standards:

E1c Reads and comprehends information materials.

E2a Produce a report of information.

E3b Participate in group meetings.

E6a Critique public documents with an eye to strategies common in public discourse.

E6b Produce public documents.

E7a Critique functional documents with an eye to strategies common to effective functional documents.

E7b Produce functional documents appropriate to audience and purpose.

The students will have met the following New York State Global History Standards:

Standard 1: The study of world history requires an understanding of world cultures and civilizations, including an analysis of important ideas, social and cultural values, beliefs, and traditions. This study also examines the human condition and the connections and interactions of people across time and space and the ways different people view the same event or issue from a variety of perspectives.

Standard 2: Establishing time frames, exploring different periodizations, examining themes across time and within cultures, and focusing on important turning points in world history help organize the study of world cultures and civilizations.

Standard 4: The skills of historical analysis include the ability to investigate differing and competing interpretations of the theories of history, hypothesize about why interpretations change over time, explain the importance of historical evidence, and understand the concepts of change and continuity over time.