Tuesday, December 18, 2007

3 Week Mini

For prospective 2301 students, I've posted my syllabus for the 3 week mini.

Note that we will be reading selections from Plutarch's Lives. These will be assigned the first day of class.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

TBA Finals

Here are the final exam questions for my TBA GOVT 2301 and 2302.

Write at least 500 words for each, but feel free to write more.

Final 2301 TBA

I want you to try to tie in all of what you have read this semester by analyzing the current state of the presidential race in terms of the concepts and topics covered in each section. Please note that this will require you to do a little of reading from newspapers, magazine, or online.

You may want to think of the following:

-What constitutional issues are at play?
-Are civil liberties or civil rights central to the campaign?
-What do we know about the primary election schedule?
-Will it have an impact on the eventual winner of either party’s nominee?
-What are we learning about both parties given who is running and how competitive each is?
-What are the polls telling us about each candidate and what the public thinks about them?
-Have any interest groups lined up behind any of the candidates?
-What media strategies are they using and how is the media treating each of them?

Those are just my ideas. Add whatever questions you think appropriate. You will be evaluated by the length, depth and comprehension of your work, as well as your ability to answer the question in terms of each of the topics covered in this semester's readings.

500 word minimum.

Final 2302 TBA

I want you to try to tie in all of what you have read this semester by analyzing how the national and state institutions are likely to be affected by the upcoming elections in 2008. What shifts might occur not just in who occupies each institution, but how will the behavior we note in each be affected? What might change? What might stay the same?

You will be evaluated by the length, depth and comprehension of your work.

500 word minimum.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

A Meritocratic Corporacy

That's how David Brooks describes the evolution of China's government. The Harvard Alumni Association with an army.