The following assignments are due for this course.
Three Short Papers
The short papers are designed to prepare students to write the long paper. They should be between 1,000 and 1,250 words in length (around four double-spaced pages). Each assignment is designed around a particular skill.
The first paper assignment asks students to analyze a piece of political rhetoric in light of the themes covered in Part I of the course.
The second paper asks students to apply a theoretical framework to a set of facts.
The third paper asks students to adjudicate between competing theoretical frameworks as accounts for a specific political phenomenon.
| SHORT PAPER # | PROMPTS | RELATED READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Short paper 1 prompt (PDF) |
"Obama's Second Inaugural Speech," New York Times, January 21, 2013. "Transcript: Mitt Romney's Faith Speech," npr.org, December 6, 2007. |
| 2 | Short paper 2: Apply a Theory to a Particular Case prompt (PDF) |
Lizza, Ryan. "As The World Burns: How the Senate and the White House Missed their Best Chance to Deal with Climate Change." New Yorker, October 11, 2010.
|
| 3 | Short paper 3: Comparative Analysis prompt (PDF) |
Martin, Andrew D., Kevin M. Quinn, Theodore W. Ruger, et al. "Competing Approaches to Predicting Supreme Court Decision Making." Perspectives on Politics 2, no. 4 (2004): 761–7. Graber, Mark A. "The Nonmajoritarian Difficulty: Legislative Deference to the Judiciary." Studies in American Political Development 7, no. 1 (1993): 35–73.
Bartels, Larry M. "Homer Gets a Tax Cut: Inequality and Public Policy in the American Mind." Perspectives on Politics 3, no. 1 (2005): 15–31.
Downs, Anthony. "An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy." Journal of Political Economy 65, no. 2 (1957): 135–50. Quattrone, George A., and Amos Tversky. "Contrasting Rational and Psychological Analyses of Political Choice." American Political Science Review 82, no. 3 (1988): 719–36. |
Oral Presentation
Students are required to deliver a short oral presentation on the topic of one of their short papers. These presentations will be delivered in recitation.
Long Paper
The course culminates in a longish (3,000–3,500 words) paper, in which students will take and defend a normative position on one of the substantive debates in Part V of the course. (See the Calendar section.)
In preparation for the long paper, the following assignment was given:
