Contrasts in Governing

 Everyone must obey the laws (even those in authority including the leader)  Constitutions and other laws define the rights

 Ruler has control and there are no limits to his/her authority Example  Iraq  Saddam Hussein

 In 1821, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua became independent from Spain.

 A union of groups or states under a central authority

 The Central American countries formed a federation.  The people of this federation argued about states’ rights.  Dictators often took control of the countries often in violent ways.

 An idea that individual states have final authority over the national, or central, government

 A member of a small group of soldiers who are not part of the regular army  Goal is to overthrow dictatorships

 A war where groups of people from the same place (or country) fight one another

 The 7 countries of Central America are all democracies.  Belize is a parliamentary democracy of Britain.  Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama are all republics, like the United States.  Panama became independent from Columbia in 1903.

 A written request for action, signed by many people

 Haiti became the first republic when it became independent from France.  Puerto Rico is a United States colony.  Dictators controlled Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.  Cuba is communist.  People in St. John, St. Thomas, and St. Croix are United States citizens.  Britain and France still have strong ties with some of the islands in the Caribbean.

 People in Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic are among the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.

 A governing and economic system in which all property and all means of production belong to the people as a group  Government runs everything   Fidel Castro

 People govern themselves

 An area and its people dependent (reliant on) upon another country