Please respond to five of the following six short response questions posted below. Your answers should be short, focused, and complete, ranging from two to three paragraphs. Please make sure to answer each specific part of every question. Successful answers will reflect your own thinking and understanding of the material.These answers will provide details and context that support your arguments and explain your position to the readers. You may also want to provide real world examples taken from the readings, lectures, group discussions, or your own independent thinking. Only the first five responses you enter will be graded (there is no benefit to answering all 6 questions).
1. Why do we have parties? What roles do they play in a representative democracy? How can these roles be beneficial? How can they be harmful?
2. a) Why does the US have only two major political parties? Make sure and describe Duverger’s law and strategic behavior on the part of voters, politicians, and parties. b) Explain why it would be hard for a third party to be electorally successful. c) What institutional/electoral reforms could be made to create more viable opportunities for additional parties in American politics? d) Would these reforms be helpful? Why or why not?
3.a) ) How does the desire for reelection shape the behavior of members of Congress? b) How do these electoral incentives help explain what elected officials do while in office and what they want to avoid? c) How do electoral incentives make individual Congresspeople individually responsive but Congress as a whole collectively irresponsible? d) How does the leadership in Congress help overcome the problems of collective action to make Congress work?
4. a) What are the benefits of the Congressional committee system? b) What are the possible downsides? c) How do the parties use this structure to their advantage?
5. a) In your view, what are the most important factors that contributed to the rise of presidential power in modern American Government? (for this question, please choose two or three factors from the readings and lectures that you personally found most interesting/persuasive). b) Do you think the Presidency is too powerful today? Why or why not? What reforms (if any) would you recommend to address presidential power?
6. Neustadt & Kernell both describe ways in which a President can deal with Congress & others outside of the executive branch. a) What are their central arguments? b) How does Kernell’s theory update Neustadt’s idea? c) Are they compatible?
rule:
- Use terms from class. Many of you used great examples, but never connected things to concrete details from class. If you were getting B’s and C’s on an answer, it is likely because you left out key terms/ideas you needed to incorporate from our models or textbook.
- Please use the correct names for things. The Supreme Court is not called the High Court, the Confederate Regulations are not the Articles of Confederation, and so on. Some of these terms are appropriate in other nations’ contexts but use the names given by this class if you are unfamiliar with the U.S. system.
- If you give an example, cite where it is from. Too many students gave examples (something like a state law) where they didn’t relay where they came from. If they are from the book great, cite the book. If they are not cite your other source.
- Proofread for typos, to reduce redundancies, and condense. These are not full five-paragraph essays, and they aren’t meant to be three paragraphs with each paragraph being a whole page long. It’s an incredibly useful skill to be able to find the most appropriate answer and convey that as efficiently as possible without distracting information.
- Have a friend or family member read over it before you turn it in. Utilize your community!
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