How the World is Run
Ever wonder why some countries have kings while others have presidents? Learn how different societies make big decisions and how you can spot the ideas that shape our daily lives.
Like Duolingo, but for How the World is Run. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A deep dive: 88 levels across 5 sections, about 176 minutes end to end, roughly 35 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Taking Charge and Making Rules, Spotting Big Ideas in the Wild, Navigating Real-World Arguments, Protecting the People, and The Machinery Under the Hood. It starts from scratch.
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Key ideas in How the World is Run
- Hereditary lineage as a source of power
- Political legitimacy vs total power
- Religious authority as a source of power
- Stability and the sense of fairness
- Different systems justify power through different sources
- Social order relies on a shared agreement of who is in charge
- Broadening power usually increases individual influence on law-making
- When trust in the 'rules' breaks, the system eventually fails
- Shifting to public rule requires more civic participation from everyone
- Legitimacy depends on the public's acceptance of the power-transfer process
- How daily life changes when power shifts from an elite few to the general public
- Historical context and cultural values shape how a country picks its leaders
- There is no single 'default' system that every country naturally gravitates toward
- Legitimacy is the bridge between holding power and being 'rightfully' in charge
- Without this quality, leaders must rely on force rather than consent
- In direct systems, the citizens themselves vote on laws
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives How the World is Run the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
If a leader claims the right to rule simply because they were born into a specific family, what is the source of their power?
Get it right to open this lesson and 87 more in the app.
Where How the World is Run takes you
- 1
Taking Charge and Making Rules
- Who gets to decide?
- The power of the vote
- When one person has all the say
- Sharing power between groups
- 2
Spotting Big Ideas in the Wild
- Individual freedom vs. the group
- Tradition and keeping things the same
- Pushing for fast change
- How money and politics mix
- The dream of a perfect society
- When the state controls everything
- 3
Navigating Real-World Arguments
- Left, right, and the center
- Why people disagree about taxes
- The role of religion in law
- 4
Protecting the People
- What are human rights?
- The rules that even leaders must follow
- How courts keep things fair
- Free speech and its limits
- Protest and making your voice heard
- 5
The Machinery Under the Hood
- How a bill becomes a law
- The difference between states and nations
- Why we have borders
- How international groups work together
5 sections · 22 units · 88 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
How the World is Run is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start How the World is Run today.
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