THE WORLD S ENERGY SYSTEM MUST BE TRANSFORMED COMPLETELY Susana IELTS

ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF ENERGY DEAR MATES AND TEACHER I Found this article on the ECONOMIST Below I have included the link in case you want to read the whole article The world’s energy system must be transformed completely It has been changed before, but never as fast or fully as must happen now May 23rd 2020 Share For more than 100,000 years humans derived all their energy from what they hunted, gathered and grazed on or grew for themselves. Their own energy for moving things came from what they ate. Energy for light and heat came from burning the rest. In recent millennia they added energy from the flow of water and, later, air to the repertoire. But, important as water- and windmills were, they did little to change the overall energy picture. Global energy use broadly tracked the size of a population fed by farms and warmed by wood. The combination of fossil fuels and machinery changed everything. According to calculations by Vaclav Smil, a scholar of energy systems at the University of Manitoba, between 1850 and 2000 the human world’s energy use increased by a factor of 15 or so. Already have an account?Log in Get the full story https://www.economist.com/schools-brief/2020/05/23/the-worlds-energy-system-must-be-transformed-completely?utm_medium=cpc.adword.pd&utm_source=google&ppccampaignID=19495686130&ppcadID=&utm_campaign=a.22brand_pmax&utm_content=conversion.direct-response.anonymous&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwps-zBhAiEiwALwsVYUFjOjXmbzrLWOnR1Yr7evvucq1TlbP5df-hHfMrx5UHFkT8VrWeCxoC15QQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

MODERN TRANSPORTATION SERVICES

READ THE FOLLOWING AND : EXPLAIN WHO AND WHY HAVE SENT THIS MESSAGE THROUGH THE INTERNET WHO IS THIS AIMED AT ?, https://www.centroingles.com.ar/https://www.centroingles.com.ar/ Since 1987 Modern Transportation has served numerous material and chemical providers, energy producers and industrial manufacturers. We have built, among all of them, a reputation for being a carrier of choice – for implementing supply chain solutions that work, successfully, in mission-critical production environments. Our ability to serve sophisticated customers in high-demand environments is a result of our commitment to safety, our understanding of our customers and their needs, our application of technology and innovative operations, and our culture of honesty and respect. HOW IS MODERN TRANSPOIRTATION DEFINED ¿ What is modern transportation? Technology in transportation - the ancient and modern forms ... The modern forms of transportation are: Air: The use of aeroplane, jets, spaceship, rockets, etc to transport people and goods from one place to another through air. Land: All big cities use vehicles and other motors for transportation from one part to another or from city to city. What are the modern days means of transportation? Examples of the means of transport include automobile, airplane, ship, truck, and train. Each mode of transport has a fundamentally different set of technological solutions. Each mode has its own infrastructure, vehicles, transport operators and operations. COMPARE WITH THE PREVIOUS LISTING Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipelines, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations. Transport enables human trade, which is essential for the development of civilizations. Main modes of transportation: air, land, water, and space. WHAT IS THE SPECIFIC WORD FOR TRANSPORTATION CHANNELS AND DISTRIBUTION ? LOGISTICS The four primary modes of transportation in logistics are shipments by truck, ship, train and plane — also known as road, maritime, rail and air shipments. While each of these modes of transportation has unique benefits, knowing which method is right for your business requires careful consideration.24 abr 2020

GENERATION Z CHARTS BY ASTRID ( IELTS )

Generation Z is unprecedentedly rich Millennials were poorer at this stage in their lives. So were baby-boomers Illustration of a girl leaning back on a chair with her feet up on the desk. On her feet are a pair of crocs with money-themed jibbitz on them. Illustration: Vincent Kilbride Apr 16th 2024|Kalamata and New York Generation Z is taking over. In the rich world there are at least 250m people born between 1997 and 2012. About half are now in a job. In the average American workplace, the number of Gen Z-ers (sometimes also known as “Zoomers”) working full-time is about to surpass the number of full-time baby-boomers, those born from 1945 to 1964, whose careers are winding down (see chart 1). America now has more than 6,000 Zoomer chief executives and 1,000 Zoomer politicians. As the generation becomes more influential, companies, governments and investors need to understand it. Chart: The Economist Already have an account?Log in Unlock your free trial to continue Explore all our independent journalism for free for one month. Cancel at any time

TRAVELLING AND SUSTAINABLILITY BY PROF ANA LOVATO

How to travel to the mountains sustainably #TeamMontane professional alpinist and mountaineer Rebecca Coles is most at home in the mountains. In support of International Mountain Day (11 December) she shares her advice to help more of you access these special natural spaces as sustainably as possible. The allure of the mountains can be strong. Few of us are lucky enough to live near enough to them, meaning travel from afar is inevitable. As we spend time amongst peaks and passes, we care about the impact we have on this environment, and become torn knowing that our carbon footprint from travel is damaging. Climate change is causing the glaciers to melt. This, in turn, negatively impacts a steady water supply for huge populations and wildlife. As a result, ecosystems break down as they can’t adapt to this change fast enough. Permafrost, the mortar which holds rock walls together, disintegrates, causing dangerous rock falls and landslides. Not only does this affect the people who live and rely on these mountains, it ultimately has an impact on our ability to undertake the activities we love here too. These are just a few of the major impacts being seen in mountain environments as a result of climate change. Ultimately, our travel to these places is the most carbon-consuming part of any trip. Once there, it’s easier to make choices that help us to tread lightly in these delicate places. However, taking a flight is an environmentally impactful form of transport, not only from a carbon consumption perspective but also because it fires emissions into a part of the atmosphere where the effect is amplified. Beyond stopping all travel or cutting ourselves off from our fossil fuel-dependent society, how can we reduce our environmental impact when traveling to the mountains? Here are three mountain journeys I have made which are not only possible by public transport, the lowest of carbon-emitting travel choices, but I believe they are enhanced by it. Himalaya mountains | Montane Munros from Corrour Station, Scotland There are few places where a train line diverges from the main road, taking its own path. The West Coast line, which cuts through the Scottish Highlands across Rannoch Moor, before its eventual destination being Fort William to the north, or Glasgow far to the south, is but one. Halfway along this lonely part of the West Highland line the train pauses at a station. This station is unique in the British Isles, because it has no road access, you either get there by train or on foot. At 408m, it is also the highest rail station in the UK. Stepping off the platform one snowy February day, the train sliding smoothly away, we’d been transported into the still whiteness of a magical Scottish winter day. From here, multiple easy Munros are accessible, either for a circular walk or a linear journey finishing at Rannoch Station. It is worth knowing the train times before setting out as they aren’t particularly regular. After misjudging the snowy conditions, we missed the train at Rannoch Station and had a long wait. I had anticipated that this could have been an outcome and had packed a slim paperback in my rucksack. My partner accused me of betrayal as he read and reread the interpretation boards about the construction of the West Highland railway in the cold darkness of our wait. Despite this unintended end to our day, this journey through the mountains is so unique in the British Isles that I’m glad I’ve experienced it, and Tunnocks teacakes paid for via an honesty box in the waiting room made up for the delay! Traversing the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland Sat at the train station, our skis were leant against the waiting room building. Boots slung over day packs, lightweight trainers on our feet, and ski salopettes rolled to our calves, we wondered if we’d make all five train connections which the online journey planner had created for us. Of course we did. This was Switzerland, where everything is on time. We’d left our vehicle where we’d taken the first train, which would be the end of our journey on the south side of the Bernese Oberland. We traveled via Interlaken and then high into the mountains via the Eiger, to the Jungfraujoch at 3571m. Now 4000m peaks and a network of mountain huts were in reach, either on foot in the summer or by skis in the winter and spring. From the Jungfraujoch we could, if we chose, ski downhill on the longest glacier in mainland Europe, the Aletsch glacier, to where we’d left our vehicle six trains ago. However, we planned a bit more of an interesting route. Staying in the bustling huts overnight we ski mountaineered several 4000m peaks, including the Grosses and Hinteres Fiescherhorn, as well as Grosses Grünhorn, over several days. Switzerland is not known as a budget destination and, although much of the public transport is affordable, the train through the Eiger to the Jungfraujoch is eye-wateringly expensive. The tiny chocolate bar given out on the train does not come close to easing the pain of the purchase, however, there is a cheaper way to do it. Swiss Rail has a large selection of railcards which aren’t dependent on age. We bought the demi-tariff card which, after an upfront cost, gave us 50% off all travel including the train to the Jungfraujoch, the card paying for itself with this one journey. The unbelievably good public transport connections in Switzerland make it a very friendly place to travel to the mountains using this method of travel. Another significant advantage of using public transport in Switzerland (and elsewhere) is that it enables linear journeys such as the one we did in Oberland. The Himalaya Once on continental Europe, the landmass is continuous until eastern and southern Asia, and there are some pretty big mountains in between. Traveling overland to the Greater Ranges of Asia is not done for convenience, or as a cost efficient way to travel, it is done simply for the adventure. Slow travel such as this creates connection to people and place, it deepens understanding and despite the trials and tribulations which will no doubt be encountered, the achievement in making such a journey can be affirmative and even life-changing, which is deeply satisfying in itself. In 2011, after trekking in the Manaslu and Annapurna regions in Nepal and climbing a 6000m peak, I traveled from Kathmandu back to the UK overland using public transport. We made a proper trip of it, taking the time to explore Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus en route, and the opportunity to visit friends on our final leg through Europe. In total, we traveled through 20 countries. It showed me that the world is smaller and more connected than we imagine, but also full of wonderful diversity. The ancient traders of the Silk Road knew this, a route we loosely followed. It would be possible to do this journey in less than 3 weeks if your logistics were seamless and you did some long, hard days of travel, but we took months to make the most of it. After our time in Nepal we explored the mountains of the Hindu Kush, Pamirs and Caucasus. It remains one of the most epic journeys I’ve taken, and led to opportunities I’d never have had if I’d not put this one crazy idea into action. Top tips for using public transport to travel to the mountains It’s easier than you think to travel by public transport. Sometimes I find it much more difficult in the UK than in out-of-the-way places. Allow more time (but if getting to airports, traffic jams, security etc. is taken into account, it may not be as long as you think) and prepare by bringing your own entertainment. Embrace the adventure. Relax and enjoy the journey. Watch the world go by or strike up conversations with people you meet along the way. Don’t have time to travel overland both ways? Do it one way and take a single flight; you’ve just halved your flight emissions of a return flight by doing this. Feeling inspired? This article was brought to you by #TeamMontane alpinist and mountaineer Rebecca Coles, who is also a mountain guide. Find out more about Rebecca on her dedicated website, or hear more from her on our Montane podcast. At Montane, we are passionate about exploring mountains responsibly. In addition to Rebecca’s ideas featured above, there are several other means of public transport you could look into to help you access the mountains more sustainably. This includes the Caledonian Sleeper Train from London to Scotland, The Man in Seat Sixty One is also a really helpful resource to help you plan journeys by train further afield Share on You may also like Discover more stories Stay up to date with our latest adventures Be the first to know about new stories, offers and product launches from Montane. 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DO WE CHERISH OUR LEISURE TIME OR ARE WE TOO OVERKORKED ? ALEX FUINOS

The way we view free time is making us less happy 16 September 2021 By Aysha Imtiaz, Features correspondent Share Getty Bored woman on beachGetty (Credit: Getty) Some people try to make every hour of leisure perfect, while others hate taking time off altogether. Have we forgotten how to enjoy free time? Leisure is the prize, right? We work hard, so we want to play hard; we look forward to our time off, believing that the more leisure time we have, the better life will be. Enjoying that time – or savouring that coveted end goal – should come naturally. However, research shows that both having and deciding how to spend leisure time can be very stressful. Some people feel enormous pressure to maximise their downtime with the best choices: researching more, anticipating and spending more money. But, as data prove, this pressure to maximise our fun might get in the way of our enjoyment of leisure itself. Additionally, some people struggle to view leisure as worthwhile at all. These individuals – often in high-stress, high-paying jobs – prioritise productivity to the extent that they can’t enjoy time off, often to the detriment of their mental health. However different their problems with leisure, both groups struggle with enjoying time off for the same reason: the way we perceive and value leisure has changed, problematically. Understanding this evolution, and finding ways to change our attitudes, could be beneficial for everyone – and help people to start enjoying themselves again. The changing concept of leisure “Leisure has dramatically evolved over the centuries and across cultures,” says Brad Aeon, assistant professor at the School of Management Sciences at the University of Québec in Montréal. “One thing that’s consistent about leisure, however, is that it has always been contrasted with work.” Two-thousand years ago, concepts of work and leisure were associated with servitude and freedom, respectively. In Ancient Greece, explains Aeon, most of the labour was outsourced to slaves, while wealthier parts of society pursued other activities. “Leisure was an active state of mind. Good leisure meant playing sports, learning music theory, debating qualified peers and doing philosophy. Leisure was not easy, but it was supposed to be gratifying.” Today we’re seeing yet another transition: a lack of leisure time now operates as a powerful status symbol Aeon believes that a shift occurred when the Romans started viewing leisure as a way of recuperating in preparation for more work, a transition that accelerated significantly during the Industrial Revolution. By the 1800s, the kind of leisure that signified status had shifted, too; the wealthy led overtly idle lives. A popular example is philosopher Walter Benjamin’s description of the fashion, around 1893, to walk through arcades with a turtle on a leash. Anat Keinan, associate professor of marketing at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, has conducted extensive research on the symbolic value of time. She explains today we’re seeing yet another transition: a lack of leisure time now operates as a powerful status symbol. “On Twitter, celebrities ‘humblebrag’ about ‘having no life’ and ‘being in desperate need of a vacation’,” she points out. In the workplace, being part of the long-hours working culture is still seen by many as a badge of honour. In fact, those with the most money to spend on leisure are most likely also putting in the longest hours. “Highly educated people (think surgeons, lawyers, CEOs) often go for well-paid jobs that require highly productive candidates willing to work long hours,” explains Aeon. “This means that those who complain the most about not having enough free time are wealthy and educated.” That fuels the idea that we must maximise leisure’s ‘hedonic utility’, or enjoyment value, when we actually do get some time off – and make every hour count. The leisure maximisers Economists call the idea that we must maximise our time off the intensification of the value of our leisure time. In his book, Spending time: The Most Valuable Resource, US economist Daniel Hamermesh explains that “our ability to purchase and enjoy goods and services has risen much more rapidly than the amount of time available for us to enjoy them”. This pressure manifests in our decisions. “We feel like we want to have the best bang for our buck and minutes,” explains Aeon, “So we invest more money in leisure. Better hotels, better movie experiences – like IMAX or Netflix in 4K – better everything.” Getty For some people, leisure has come to represent collectible experiences that convey status, often on social media (Credit: Getty)Getty For some people, leisure has come to represent collectible experiences that convey status, often on social media (Credit: Getty) All this can lead to hours poring over reviews diligently planning leisure activities. That might not necessarily be a bad thing, researchers have found, as pre-trip anticipation greatly accounts for vacationers' happiness. But too much anticipation might set us up for a seemingly zero-duration holiday. New research shows that we judge future positive events as both farther away and shorter than negative or neutral ones, leading us to feel like a holiday is over as soon as it begins. Equally, the way we chase top-notch leisure experiences has made recreation more stressful than ever. High expectations may clash with our experienced reality, making it feel anti-climactic, while trying to concoct the best vacation or leisure experience ever can fuel performativity. In her 2011 research paper, Keinan first posited that some consumers work to acquire collectable experiences that are unusual, novel or extreme because it helps us reframe our leisure as being productive. By working through our experiential checklist instead of seeking simply to enjoy the moment, she writes, we build our “experiential CV”. And just like a traditional resume, where we show off our best selves, this experiential CV can become a breeding ground for competition. Keinan believes social media exacerbates our focus on productive leisure. Referencing a 2021 research paper, she suggests people are pivoting to signal their status and accomplishments in alternative domains – in this case, the use of their free time. “Users post carefully curated slide shows of themselves crossing marathon finish lines and climbing Machu Picchu. Conspicuous consumption used to be a wayfor people to display their money through scarce luxury goods. Now, they flaunt how they spend their valuable time only on activities that are truly meaningful, productive or spectacular,” she says. The people who hate leisure Some struggle to enjoy leisure at all. Some try to ‘hack’ leisure by applying productivity techniques, says Aeon, like listening to a podcast while jogging or watching Netflix shows at twice the regular speed. Others may not truly take time off at all. For example, only 14% of Americans take two weeks' vacation in a row, a finding in keeping with the overwork culture. The same study reports that as of 2017, 54% of American workers didn’t use up their vacation time, leaving 662 million days reserved for leisure unused. Part of the problem, new research shows, is how comprehensively we internalise the message that leisure is wasteful. Selin A Malkoc, associate professor of marketing at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University and co-author of the study, says certain people perceive leisure as lacking value, even when it doesn’t interfere with their pursuit of goals. These negative beliefs about leisure are associated with lower reported happiness and greater reported depression, anxiety and stress. Certain people perceive leisure as lacking value, even when it doesn’t interfere with their pursuit of goals Malkoc describes two types of leisure: ‘terminal leisure’, where the activity and the goal are ‘fused’ together, like attending a Halloween party just for fun, is immediately rewarding and an end goal in itself; and ‘instrumental leisure’, like taking a child trick-or-treating and thereby ‘checking off’ parental duties, which is a means to an end and feeds a long-term goal. The ability to enjoy terminal leisure is a stronger predictor of wellbeing than enjoyment of instrumental leisure, the study showed. In one of the study’s experiments, Malkoc and her co-authors wanted to see if they could manipulate participants’ beliefs about leisure and get them to enjoy it more. Each group was presented with a different version of an article that framed their understanding of leisure, either as wasteful in terms of goal-achievement, unproductive or as a productive way of managing stress. Participants were then asked to evaluate how well-written the article was. But researchers were more interested in what came afterwards. They offered participants a break and gave them a funny cat video to watch to see how much they enjoyed it. Unfortunately, priming our beliefs about leisure only works in one direction, the researchers found – the wrong one. Those who read the articles framing leisure as wasteful enjoyed the experience 11% to 14% less than the baseline (the control group, who read about coffee makers), while those cued to believe it is productive did not experience bolstered enjoyment levels. In other words, trying to prime participants’ receptivity towards enjoying leisure more was about as effective as having them read about coffee, suggesting that our attitudes are deeply entrenched. It’s a sobering finding. “We had this group of undergraduate students in the lab doing a series of mostly mind-numbingly boring studies – there’s nothing enjoyable about it,” says Malkoc, “And then, we offer them a mental break to watch a fun video. The fact that even though they couldn’t use those brief moments for something better, they still couldn’t enjoy themselves... attests to the strength of their belief.” Getty The view that leisure is wasteful can be deeply entrenched – meaning some people really struggle to enjoy time off (Credit: Getty)Getty The view that leisure is wasteful can be deeply entrenched – meaning some people really struggle to enjoy time off (Credit:

HOW MANY FORMS OF GOVERNMENTS EXIST ?

Reading from Democracy & Government What Kinds of Governments Exist? And what do we learn by categorizing them? Last Updated May 02, 2023 The U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C. at dusk. The U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC at dusk. Source: Stephen Emlund/Reuters Share One of the world’s earliest known works of literature is a poem about a king named Gilgamesh, who ruled a civilization in ancient Mesopotamia. King Gilgamesh oppressed his people, and in turn, they appealed to the gods for help. He was supposed to be their “shepherd” and “protector,” but they claimed he was falling short. Almost four thousand years later, all governments continue to share the same basic traits: they aim to lead and protect their people. But identifying what, exactly, they are protecting their people from is where the differences start to emerge. Do they consider foreign invasion or internal violence to be the bigger threat? Are they more interested in eliminating poverty, creating safeguards against state oppression, or merely holding on to power? How governments interpret, prioritize, and grapple with pillars of modern society—for instance, security, freedom, and prosperity—determines the kinds of policies they enact. Those simple-sounding ideals belie big concepts; terms like prosperity mean different things to different governments. Some define prosperity as creating conditions where individuals are free to maximize profits; however, that scenario can result in a less equal society. Others understand a society to be prosperous when every person is entitled to a certain share of resources—such as wages, health care, or shelter. In that version, inequality is tightly controlled. However, some citizens can decry the lack of individual freedom. Those various priorities manifest in different kinds of governments. By thinking about how we categorize those governments, we can better understand what kind of society they aim to govern. Because governments are multidimensional, it’s useful to ask a series of questions. Who leads the government? King Gilgamesh was accountable to no one but the gods. Other leaders answer to the entire citizenry. This accountability exists in the form of regularly scheduled democratic elections. Those types of votes happen in democracies, in which citizens determine who will govern them. At its core, democracy simply means that the people make decisions, often through representatives whom they elect. Democratic governments create laws and institutions to protect people's ability to express their will: they guarantee free and fair elections, free speech, and the right to assemble and protest. Certain measures ensure power remains dispersed. Democracies typically feature checks and balances among multiple branches of government and a free press. Most democracies are also associated with political equality with each citizen entitled to one vote. This is known as universal suffrage. In authoritarian governments, meanwhile, power is concentrated in the hands of the few—often one political party or even a single leader (this is known as an autocracy). Authoritarians go by many names: monarch, dictator, and even prime minister or president. What distinguishes those governments are not titles but practices. Graphic using icons to compare authoritarian governments to democracy governments. For more info contact us at world101@cfr.org. Share An authoritarian government is interested, above all else, in preserving its power. Because civil disorder can lead to revolt, such governments tend to emphasize order. Individual freedoms such as free speech (including protests) and the right to privacy are often curtailed in the process. Authoritarian governments entertain few or no checks from elsewhere in government. Leaders are not constrained by a legislature, the court system, the media, or civil society (organizations and businesses outside government). Those practices play out in authoritarian governments around the world. The Chinese government violently suppressed the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests because it believed they endangered Chinese Communist Party rule. In 2020, China passed a law restricting protests in Hong Kong. Couched in the language of security and stability, the law likens some forms of protest to terrorism. The government also monitors online activity, censoring any mention of the Tiananmen massacre. China also has an extensive track record of removing online content deemed too critical of the government. Authoritarian countries like China often defend their form of government by arguing that they can efficiently provide sustained economic growth. They suggest that democratic governments can guarantee certain freedoms but struggle to pass laws and promote economic growth due to political gridlock. Although authoritarian governments can generally enact economic policies more easily than democracies, their lack of political accountability can slow their ability to correct failing and harmful policies. China, for example, took over three decades to end its highly criticized one-child policy. Democracies, meanwhile, are often self-correcting and tend to move away more easily from misguided or unpopular policies. Many democracies like the United States have also created unprecedented economic growth. What is the relationship between the government and the economy? Some people believe a prosperous country is one in which everyone shares in the benefits. Others believe the government’s responsibility is to leave each individual to pursue maximum prosperity—even if that means some are left behind. An economy in which the government makes all economic decisions owns the largest companies and allocates the country’s resources would be at one end of the spectrum, one in which the government stays out of the economy entirely and leaves everything to the private sector would be at the other end. The first can be considered a communist system (though that label also carries political, not just economic, implications). The latter is a capitalist system. Graphic highlighting how there are only five communist countries left: China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. For more info contact us at world101@cfr.org. Source: CIA World Factbook; Reuters. Share In a communist system, the government exerts maximum control. Private property is eliminated in favor of equal public ownership of the means of production (such as factories), natural resources, and more. In a purely capitalist system, private citizens—not the government—control production. This means that individual citizens own businesses, factories, and farmland for agriculture. They trade in a largely unregulated economy in which market forces—the laws of supply and demand—rather than the government set prices. Socialist systems fall somewhere between these two poles, but they can be notoriously difficult to define. Many socialist systems have public control of production and extensive government welfare programs. However, such public control often exists alongside elements of a free market, including ownership of private property. Put simply, those systems envision different kinds of societies based on who controls production—businesses, factories, and agriculture—and property. Governments that lean toward more control tend to emphasize equality. Maybe they guarantee everyone a job, set salary caps for the highest earners, or ensure a minimum wage for all workers. Governments that leave more economic decisions to citizens emphasize freedom, imposing few restrictions on how much (or little) money people make and how they make it. In reality, most governments fall somewhere within that range rather than at either pole. None is purely capitalist; even minimally, all governments are involved in economic decisions. That involvement can take the form of providing unemployment insurance. Government intervention also occurs when regulating competition (such as with antitrust laws) to ensure no single company can establish a monopoly. The United States, for example, is considered a capitalist country, but the government is responsible for constructing roads and other infrastructure that allow businesses to function. The U.S. government also designs regulations to create safe workplaces. Similarly, few governments are fully communist. China features an economic model that blends private entrepreneurship with government influence over many industries. Cuba, another famously communist country, relies on foreign investment from capitalist countries to sustain its economy. In 2019, the Cuban government reformed its constitution to legalize private businesses. What is a government’s political ideology? Political ideology is another way of characterizing how a government views its role in society. Left-wing, also known as liberal, governments work toward achieving social equality. They view the government’s role to be providing more people with prosperity (whether that means more money, protections, or opportunities) to make society more equal. Many such governments today support strong social safety nets. These programs, including government-provided health care and unemployment insurance, exist to protect society’s most vulnerable citizens. In theory, left-wing governments support large and often rapid changes to society. However, such an approach rarely plays out in reality. Right-wing or conservative governments prioritize individual freedom over government intervention in society. For example, they tend to believe that a free market is critical to economic efficiency. Conservatives believe that excessive government regulation can stifle innovation and competitiveness. These governments focus on identifying and preserving things that are good about the present society. In turn, they often support smaller and more incremental changes rather than aggressive policies that could upend systems and invite unrest. But once again, the real world is complex. Many right-wing governments—such as those run by Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and Viktor Orbán in Hungary— have supported sweeping changes to society. Those terms—left wing and right wing—date back to the French Revolution, when defenders of the monarchy sat to the right of the king and the radicals to the left. Back then, those on the left tended to favor change, and the right believed in preserving the status quo—or, indeed, returning to a previous political era. Chart comparing the ideologies of countries political parties on a left/right scale. Of the countries compared, South Africa and Japan have relatively left-leaning parties, while U.S. and Hungary are rightwing. For more info contact us at world101@cfr.org Source: Manifesto Project. Share While political ideologies describe the way governments think about their role in society, political parties are institutions—groups of people in a country that seek to advance certain social, economic, and foreign policy goals. In the United States, the Democratic Party is generally associated with left-wing positions and the Republican Party with right-wing ones. But left wing and right wing are relative terms and mean different things in different places (and, indeed, have meant different things at different times). Although the Democratic Party is the United States’ more liberal party, its positions have traditionally been more conservative when compared to liberal parties in Europe and Latin America. Liberal leaders on those continents tend to advocate for greater government involvement to achieve social equality than their American counterparts. Governments are dynamic Governments are complex and can be described in several dimensions. Describing a country as just “democratic” or “socialist” doesn’t tell the full story. Norway, for example, is a democracy falling somewhere between capitalism and socialism. And China, often described as an authoritarian government, implements a version of capitalism. Those aren’t contradictions: governments perform various roles and are not all neatly packaged the same way. Understanding the choices governments make—how they structure their leadership, interact with the economy, and prioritize different social goals—is essential, as those decisions shape the lives of everyday citizens. Learn More Reading What Is the National Security Council? Learn how the president’s advisors protect U.S. national security and help with foreign policy decision-making and coordination across the executive branch. Reading Politics: Europe Europe’s claims on liberal, democratic traditions date back centuries. Interactive Convene the Council This free online game prompts students to make decisions about foreign policy challenges faced by the leaders of fictional countries. ©2024 Council on Foreign Relations. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Social Footer

THE MIND ANDSHRINKS

Many mental-health conditions have bodily triggers Psychiatrists are at long last starting to connect the dots Two back to back woodcut illustrations of a person's side profile with red circles overlayed Illustration: The Economist/Getty Images Apr 24th 2024 THE TICS started when Jessica Huitson was only 12 years old. Over time her condition worsened until she was having whole-body fits and being rushed to hospital. But her local hospital, in Durham, England, was dismissive, suggesting she had anxiety, a mental-health condition, and that she was probably spending too much time watching videos on TikTok. Her mother describes the experience as “belittling”. In fact, Jessica had an autoimmune condition brought on by a bacterial infection with Streptococcus. The condition is known as Paediatric Autoimmune-Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcus (PANDAS). When the infection was identified and treated, her symptoms finally began to improve. Ms Huitson is not alone in having a dysfunction in the brain mistaken for one in the mind. Evidence is accumulating that an array of infections can, in some cases, trigger conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, tics, anxiety, depression and even psychosis. And infections are one small piece of the puzzle. It is increasingly clear that inflammatory disorders and metabolic conditions can also have sizeable effects on mental health, though psychiatrists rarely look for them. All this is symptomatic of large problems in psychiatry. Already have an account?Log in