Politics/Power/Influence

Politics, Power, and Influence

Alliances

Embassies: Headquarters that represent the homeland within a foreign country
- Help citizens living or visiting in the foreign land
- Helps people of foreign country to visit the homeland
- An attack on an Embassy is counted as an attack on the country of the Embassy
- The buildings architecture can reflect that of the homeland

International Alliances: Alliances between countries that benefit the participants in some way
- Trade alliances such as the NAFTA(North American free trade agreement) benefit countries economically
- Military alliances protect all participants and if one is attacked then the others will protect said country
- Environmental agreements create rules for countries to follow based on a particular biome or environmental issue
- Land treaties, an excellent example would be the ATS(Antarctic Treaty System) that protects Antarctica from being claimed by other countries, it also protects the resources and wildlife

Other
- Entangled alliances can lead to grave consequences, an excellent example would be World War I
- Alliances help unite countries under a common goal
- Countries have military support
- Today the pros and cons of international alliances haven't changed to drastically, if anything they may have just taken different forms as the social climate between countries changes

Map of a few non-overlapping alliances

Open borders: Open movement of people through countries with little to no resistance
- Open borders pose a threat to citizens, mostly concerning job security
- Open borders would cause the globes gross worldwide product to increase by 67%- 147%
- Open borders have led to more terrorist attacks in European countries
- New cultures introduced can lead to a loss of cultural identity for other country
- “Open borders create a race to the bottom” for social benefits

Closed Borders: Border that prevents or sets restrictions on movement between countries
- Closed borders cost more money, securing a border or ensuring immigration costs
- Causes immigration issues, especially concerning illegal immigrants
- Not only are many countries physically closed but many are socially closed as people of other cultures are not welcomed

Conflict in Today's Climate
- Today conflict consists of land, air, and naval forces but has added a layer of technological battle
- Today new technology as changed how the globe conducts war, going from physical fronts to internet and technological fronts

War and Architecture
- Rebuild what was already there
- Destroy the old and build new
- Build the new with the old
- Buildings adjust to post-war life
- War is expensive on infrastructure-ex. The large expenses that hurt France and Britain after the world wars
- For the future, find ways to protect against possible nuclear attack
- Rebuild residential and cultural buildings first
- Cultural buildings are often destroyed to destroy a communities sense of culture
- Some destruction is worth preserving, for history's sake

Effects of Conflict
- Global conflict has increased a lot in the last decade
- “Twenty years ago, 80% of humanitarian aid went to people affected by natural disasters. Today, 80% of aid goes to people who are threatened by violent conflict.” -world economic forum (WEF)
- “According to the UN, there are now 402 conflicts taking place around the world.” -WEF
- War causes the death of millions of civilians (In 2016, 70 percent of deaths and injuries resulting from explosive weapons were civilian. In populated areas, this figure was even higher: 92 per cent.) -OCHA

United in Diversity

Social Media
- Fake news has been a big issue recently and has influenced peoples view of their political leaders and countries policies
- Social Media allows free advertisements compared to traditional methods such as commercials
- Much like the newspaper social media has become a source of information for around the world events, along with other important things such as elections