Political science

Instructions You are a lobbyist for an issue that you find important. For example, you would like to see the banning of smoking in federal buildings (Note: This policy has already been enacted.) You are going to make an informational pamphlet to highlight your points to prominent members of Congress. Research members of Congress that you will target in your lobbying. Explain why these members are critical to your goal. Make a plan of action and produce a pamphlet supporting your cause. Who will you be reaching out to? Why? Write a cover letter to a Congressional member and include your reasoning for reaching out to them in particular in the letter. Remember a lobbyist is only as good as the information they provide. A lobbyist who provides incomplete or unreliable information will soon be unemployed, or lose access to officials. Cover letter should: Follow a standard business format Correctly address your Congressperson Use the correct postal address Explain your choice to write to this representative in particular, and provide your pamphlet. For example, maybe your research showed that this representative sponsored legislation on this issue in the past. Pamphlet should: Define the problem. Tells us exactly what the problem is. Detail its urgency and provide data. Be objective. Analyze the problem. Provide relevant data. Tell us how to make sense of the data. Provide any findings Offer a recommendation. Do not generalize. Be specific. Must be persuasive. Cite four scholarly sources Submit your cover letter and pamphlet for grading. Writing Requirements (APA format). Length: Cover letter to Congressman should be only 1 page Pamphlet should be 5 pages in length 1-inch margins 12-point Times New Roman font Reference page (minimum of 4 scholarly sources)

Drawing on the work Nietzsche, Fanon, Rawls, Dworkin, hooks, Butler, Phelan, Anzaldúa and Sokoloff, create and design an ideal political order (Students may not write a defense of the current American political system). Please be sure to provide reasons to back up your claim. Please be sure to refute counterarguments. You may only draw on the authors from this class to design your ideal political order. The key to this assignment is to be creative, take risks, and design a political order that in your view would be perfect or near perfect with the help of the authors we have read in this class. Creative, imaginative, and well-argued essays will be rewarded. Students may not write a defense of the U.S. political system. Thesis must be written in format: The best political system combines x, y and z. These aspects constitute the best moral system because it allows q, r, and s to happen. Please use in text Citation; When you quote an author, you must provide the page number after the citation. Example: According to Plato, “an unexamined life is not worth living” (Plato, p. 14).

Provide two essays answer two of the following questions. Your answers should be in an essay format with proper paragraphs and sentences. Font size 12, 1inch margins all around. It should be at least 3 pages long, single space. (worth 50 points each)   A)        Compare the strengths and weaknesses of the single member plurality electoral system with those of one other system. As part of your answer you must explain how the two electoral systems work. Which do you think is the best system?   B)        Developing countries face many issues when it comes to economic and political development. Explain the barriers that these countries face when it comes to such development. Discuss in detail two of the models of development such countries have used to develop their societies.    C)        Define “democratic consolidation”. Explain in detail, the challenges that developing countries face to consolidate democracy in their respective societies.   D)        Discuss the role of foreign intervention in creating the political problems in many Third World countries.   E)        Is the common good better served by two parties with a broad appeal or by a multiparty system in which a variety of different societal interests and ideological perspectives are represented?

Instructor: Dr. Jonasson Format: Take-home, open-book, online (all must do it) Time: (24 hours) – QUESTIONS WILL BE POSTED IN OWL-RESOURCES at the start of the chosen exam date (Wednesday, August 5th at 7PM) (the file will be called final exam questions) DUE DATE: Thursday, August 6th at 7PM – the typed (it must be typed) answer in Word or PDF format only must be submitted to OWL-ASSIGNMENTS – exam Study on-line notes and readings. The notes are most important. 2 (Two) Essay questions (5 essay questions will be given as choices) – each of the 2 answers are worth half of the exam mark The material covered will be all material on the course outline. Value: 40% (each question worth 20% of course grade) Sample question: (this will not be on exam) 1/ Describe the workings of the following electoral systems: runoff and proportional representation (STV). Describe the strengths and weaknesses of each system. In your view, should Canada adopt any of these electoral models? Why or why not? Answer all parts of the question. Write as much as possible without going off topic or repeating yourself. Write in proper paragraph and sentence form. No citations or bibliography are needed (do not include these). A proper structure (i.e. introduction, conclusion) is required but no formal thesis statement is needed. All questions will involve no more than 2 topic areas on the outline directly. Length: I would suggest a target of 3-5 pages double-spaced per question (6-10 in total), but answering the questions properly is more important than strict page lengths. However, please give me no more than 12 pages double-spaced. Please double-space and do not create a title page. Make sure you last name is on your e-file and your full name is on the top of the answers. Again, the answers must be typed. Grading: Expectations will have to be higher on the grading, given the format of the exam, but these will not be unrealistic (see bold notes below). Style will also be graded more carefully since you can more easily correct grammar and spelling. Questions of the instructor during the exam period: I will endeavour to answer emergency e-mail questions only during the period, but if the questions are answered by this document, I will refer you back to it. The questions cannot be about whether the responses should involve certain information or whether if information is correct etc. Use common sense here. I will not be looking over any draft work or final submissions before the due date. Do not ask questions in the last 2 hours before the due date (this gives you an incentive not to wait to the last minute to submit). Late: even one minute past the due date will require you to get AC approval to avoid a zero. I WOULD NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTES TO SUBMIT THIS I WOULD NOT PROCRASTINATE – in general, computer problems will not be accepted for late answers, so get things in early If you have submitted the wrong file to OWL, you can e-mail the updated one before the due date only – if after, the late situation applies. Therefore, carefully upload the correct version. Missed exam: if you have valid reasons for missing the exam in the 24 hour period (sick with a virus comes to mind but there may be other issues), please contact Academic Counselling, and we will have to arrange an online make-up at some point. You will need to go through some formal institutional process to get a make-up. The 24 hours is to help avoid a plethora of make-ups, so please do not get approval for frivolous reasons. I realize these are crazy times but I am trying to give you a decent window for completion of this exam. That you might have other exams in the 24 hour period is possible, so do not use these as an excuse to get a make-up (you do not need to –see below in bold).. NOTE: You really do not need even remotely close to 24 hours to do this well (it is just a long time frame for you to have so you can do the exam properly if you have other exams, normally require SSD accommodations etc.). For most of you, likely only several hours are required (although more than 2 is likely, maybe 2-4 hours is realistic – NOTE: all people are different here in what they might need). Some of you (often very good students) have a tendency to take the maximum time you are allotted in an exam so that you feel you are doing everything you can to get a good grade – for this exam, such thinking may be counterproductive if you overthink the material, rush to hand it in at the last minute etc. Give yourself a certain time frame in the 24 hours (again, I am suggesting something like 2-4 hours for most of you) and complete it and hand it in (and again, why not early?).

The 2 main things your paper should do are the following: Have a clear thesis – I.e. what is the main claim your paper is arguing for? Provide a clear set of reasons for why the thesis is true.   If your paper does those two things it will be pretty good.  Of course you need 5 peer-reviewed sources in your argument, and it helps to respond to an objection to your thesis (I.e. identify a weakness or counter-argument, and tell me why it doesn’t defeat your argument).

Write 5 separate essays that answer the 5 questions listed below. While you are writing a separate essay for each question, you must include all 5 essays in 1 document.  Compose each essay with at least 3 paragraphs. Make sure each paragraph is in the 8–10-sentence range. (That means that each essay must contain between 24–30 sentences, with about 400–500 words.)  Additionally, you must include at least 3 references with appropriate citations, both in-text and in a list of sources cited at the end of each question. You may use the same source for all 3 references in a question, but strive for bibliographical diversity whenever possible.  Exam Questions: 1. What is Political Theory? Include an account of its subject matter, methods, and purpose. 2. What is Classical Political Theory? Give at least 2 examples of classical political theorists and describe how they do political theory. 3. What is Christian Political Theory? Give at least 2 examples Christian political theorists, one medieval and one Reformed, and describe how they do political theory. 4. What is Modern Secular Political Theory? Give at least 2 examples of Modern Secular political theorists and describe how they do political theory. 5. What is the Body Politic? Give a brief account of the Classical, Medieval and Reformed Christian, and Modern Secular Bodies Politic.

Write a dialogue from the perspective of some of the authors we have read. Have them debate and discuss the relationship between race, art, and politics, with specific references to the text. Choose 2-3 pieces of pop culture and have the authors discuss them, drawing on the ideas and topics we have read. How do the artists weave race / politics into the art? How might some of the authors we’ve read respond to the artwork(s)? What themes or concepts appear? Is the piece of pop culture is flawed in someway? What are its shortcomings? Cite the sources as well so make sure you put the page number of the text you find the dialogue in. A good paper will demonstrate that you have read the material and understand the ideas; an excellent paper will show the command of these ideas.  The Authors we can Use are…. For example have diaglouge between Malcom AND hamilton regarding black power and what’s ie means now, etc and have them disagree.   Malcom X and the source “The autobiography of Malcolm x. Ballantine bOOKS, 2015″ Hamilton, Charles V., and Kwame Ture. Black power: The politics of liberation in America” Conover, Pamela Johnston. 1988. “The Role of Social Groups in Political Thinking.” British Journal of Political Science 18(1): 51-76.  Gay, Claudine. 2004. “Putting Race in Context: Identifying the Environmental Determinants of Black Racial Attitudes.” American Political Science Review 98(4): 547-562. Use these authors and make a dialogues about them about race, art and politics regarding these readings.  Example Essay:  (Kwame Ture, Charles Hamilton, Vince Hutchings, Kimberle Crenshaw, and Timothy Lukes sit in a coffee shop discussing Beyonce’s Homecoming.) Ture and Hamilton: Notice her use of the Black Panther party iconography. She is delivering a message of Black Power to her audience. Lukes: It is indeed a powerful example of post-modernism! Art at its audience! Crenshaw: Perhaps, but notice that she uses pink and yellow colors in her uniforms. She is being ironic by gendering the traditionally machismo look of the Black Panthers. This is an example of intersectionality. Beyonce’s message is not merely one of Black Power but of female Black Power.

Attention All Students: Once again both Lesson # 3 and Lesson # 4 are mandatory, and you cannot skip them. All students must post at least one long post and two short posts for each of these two lessons. by their due dates. Once again you cannot skip this assignment. All students must read the following reading assignments very carefully. Chapter 6 on “The News Media” from the Struggle for Democracy by Drs. Greenberg and Page, and Chapter 13 on the “Mass Media” from the Democracy for the Few by Dr. Parenti. Scholarly research shows that the mass media help set the political agenda for ordinary citizens. But there are two kinds of mass media in the United States: The Mainstream media owned by giant corporations, like the CNN, L.A Times, N.Y. Times, the Wall Street Journal, Times Magazine, Newsweek, CBS, NBC, ABC… And the Non-Mainstream media which run no corporate commercials /advertisements and are publicly owned (mostly supported by donations by their subscribers /the public.) Examples of Non-mainstream will be Pacifica Radio (KPFK in Los Angeles Area F.M. 90.7), NPR F.M. 89.3, the Nation Magazine, The Humanist, Z magazine… In this assignment, you must compare nonmainstream and mainstream media coverage of current pressing domestic and global political issues in a scholarly fashion. You must also answer the 5 questions at the bottom of this post. To accomplish these tasks, you must first read chapters on the mass media from both Democracy for the Few and the Struggle for Democracy. Furthermore, you must listen to KPFK radio station, F.M. 90.7, or go online http://www.kpfk.org or http://www.kpfk.org/programs and listen to one of Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now” program on that radio station. You can also navigate through that cite and obtain a hard copy of the same program. There are several other important programs at KPFK like “the Middle East Focus”, “Beneath the Surface”, “Nation Magazine”, “Lawyers Guild” or weekday’s 6:00 p.m. news that you can use. Listening to KPFK, F.M. 90.7, or reading its programs online is mandatory. This is not optional. You must cite specific examples from that radio station. You cannot cite just a few simplistic headlines information. You must cite specific, detailed information from KPFK programs and your detailed responses to them. You should also access the web site of the nation magazine by clicking “www.thenation.com” and read a couple of articles on one or two current major foreign and domestic policy issues/ crisis like the war in Iraq, the Palestinian Israeli conflict, International Economic Crisis or Global Environmental condition /crisis. You must also read a couple of articles on at least one of the following current major domestic issues/crises: The Patriotic Act and its restrictions of Civil Liberties in the United States or the current economic crisis and meltdown in the United States. Furthermore, you must watch a couple of CNN or CBS news programs and read a couple of articles from the L.A. Times or the Wall Street Journal or any mainstream media of your choice on at least one current major foreign policy issue/ crisis AND at least one current major domestic issue/ crisis. Please read the examples provided above. This is also a must. This is not optional. Then you must compare and contrast the coverage of those issues by both the Mainstream media; (CNN, L.A.Times,…), and the nonmainstream Media; KPFK F.M. 90.7, the Nation Magazine. After that you must answer all of the following questions: 1) What does Dr. Parenti mean by “He Who Pays the Piper” and by “the ideological monopoly”? Based on your research which media (mainstream or nonmainstream) is guilty of those charges? (Manifests ideological monopoly the way described by Dr. Parenti.) 2) Which one, the mainstream or the nonmainstream media deals with the root causes of current issues or crisis like the Palestinian Israeli conflict, the global climate change, the crisis of gun violence in the United States, the U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, the Russian Interference in the American Election, the restrictions of Civil Liberties in the United States especially for women and the LBGTQ community? 3) What does Dr. Parenti mean by the “official manipulation?” Based on your research did you see more official manipulation in the mainstream media or the non-mainstream Media? Which one feeds us the official line of the current U.S. administration and why? In other words which one of the two media: mainstream or nonmainstream, feeds us the official line and which one is doing a better job to play its role as the watchdog? 4) Focus on the section on “Prevailing Themes in Political News” and “Limited Fragmented, and incoherent political information.” The struggle for Democracy.) Which one of the two: Mainstream or Nonmainstream is guilty of those charges? 5) In your essay, you must include KPFK’s programs comparison with either CBS or CNN news programs. If you live in an area that you cannot get that radio station you can go online and listen to that station online. The online address of that station is http://www.kpfk.org/ or http://www.kpfk.org/programs/ these two links both give you access to KPFK and give you the option of listening to or reading the programs of your choice online. The following are required: You must write a scholarly essay. Please try your best to restrain your emotions and construct them in a logical scholarly essay. Your position is not the issue here. How scholarly you do your research and how well you support your position is the main focus of this exercise. You must post at least one long post and at least two short posts. Your long post must be at least two and a half pages single-spaced. You must answer the entire question.

Why is our Constitution vague? What are the pros and cons of having a constitution that is written vaguely? Pick a “vague’ portion of the US Constitution. Has this vagueness in terminology been problematic or helpful? Provide historical examples. Use evidence (cite sources) to support your response from assigned readings or online lessons, and at least one outside scholarly source.

1. What is stereotype threat? How might stereotype threat be applicable to you?