Texas has been a “Red State” for the last twenty-plus years. But in reality, Texas is a “Purple State” that is increasingly turning “Blue”. Will that happen? When will that happen? Why will it happen? Why won’t it happen? What’s involved in a “red” turning “blue”? Is it about political culture changing? Are people changing? What’s the story? Are parties changing? What role do interest groups play? What do you think and why?

Answer the following three essay questions separately.

Each answer should be one to two pages long. 

The goal is to show me that you learned and understood the course material by doing readings. (Attached below)

The paper will be graded and judged by how effective your use of specific references to appropriate readings and the correct use of vocabulary and application of course concepts.

Answer all three questions.

1.  How democratic is our Constitution today? Does our government measure up against an ideal democracy? How does our government measure up against other democratic governments? Is it more democratic? Less democratic? In what ways?

2. What makes a social movement like #BlackLivesMatter more likely to achieve its goals?

3. When do we expect members of Congress to pay attention to the median voter in their district? When should we expect them to pay attention to interest groups? What do these two dynamics tell us about the outcomes we should expect from the American political system?

Compare and contrast these regions: what are their main similarities and differences? In your view, what explains these similarities and differences?

(1)THE AMERICAS

Read Haass, pp.143-153; read short articles by Zovatto and Chatzky, McBride and Sergies
Read Daniel Zovatto, The rapidly deteriorating quality of democracy in Latin America, Brookings Institution, February 28, 2020, available at:  https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/02/28/the-rapidly-deteriorating-quality-of-democracy-in-latin-america/.

Read Andrew Chatzky, James McBride, and Mohammed Aly Sergie, NAFTA and the USMCA: Weighing the Impact of North American Trade, Backgrounder; Council on Foreign Relations, 1 July 2020, available at:  https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/naftas-economic-impact.

(2)AFRICA

Read Kofi Annan’s speech, “Africa: Too Big to Fail,” 4 September 2015, available at:  https://www.kofiannanfoundation.org/speeches/africa-too-big-to-fail-2855/.

Watch The Economist, “The New Scramble for Africa,” 8 March 2019, available at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV61lqlLnds.

Read International Crisis Group, “Eight Priorities for the African Union in 2020,” Africa Briefing No. 151, 7 February 2020, available at:  https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/african-union-regional-bodies/b151-eight-priorities-african-union-2020.

THE WORLD  (a brief introduction) Richard Haass

ONLY USE THE SOURCES I HAVE PROVIDED

–Research Project: This project, which will take the form of a research paper with minimum length of 15 (fifteen) double-spaced pages, counts for 30% of your course grade (the initial submission, due at the end of Week 11, is worth 5%, and the final submission is worth 25%). The paper will include a properly formatted bibliography chiefly utilizing sources other than ones listed on the syllabus. While course readings may be referenced in the writing of your paper, they are not to constitute more than 25% of sources used.Your topic is the National Security Strategy of a US Administration of your choice in the post-Civil War era. A complete, A-grade paper, will have all of the following components:

–Description of national security threat(s) the administration is seeking to address, domestic and foreign
.–The role of the armed forces in addressing that threat, including the type of forces deemed required.
–The role of the intelligence community
–Presence or absence of allies, and their motivations for supporting/not supporting the US
.–Domestic policies in furtherance of the national security strategy
–Assessment of the strategys effectiveness/success, including reasons for success or failure. Which of the above proved the weak link?
Which of the above was more than up to the task?
–Last but not least: Discussion of relevance to the current US national security…predicament.
What are we doing better? Worse? Lessons to be drawn from past mistakes or triumphs?

Each student is asked to post questions or short comments for discussion on our discussion group on Canvas by midnight before the relevant class. These can be questions of clarification or critical comments. The postings are not designed to test you, but rather, to enable you to organize your thoughts and prompt some critical reflection on each reading.  Please use your name as the title for your posting.

Review the four short articles below published by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) [a non-partisan research institution in Washington DC that publishes research work and data analysis on U.S. and International patterns].
Although these articles are not the traditional academic journal articles, they still fall under the same type of writing and analysis. Write an essay and focus on whatever interests you about the articles. Stay focused on a few points taken from the articles. Develop the ideas and explain well. Feel free to include charts and graphs from the articles (copy and paste or create your table by using data from the articles make sure to use references).
    Review the PowerPoint and the PDF file on how to understand academic journal articles (both placed on Bb).
    Again, write an essay and focus on whatever interests you about the articles. Stay focused on a few points taken from the articles. Develop the ideas and explain well.
    Format: single spaced, at least 5-7 paragraphs or more. I encourage you to write more and focus on the quality and content of your essay.
    The same rule applies here as before [Your paper should be well written, formal writing, should be focused and organized].

Below is the list of the 4 short articles:
1)    Why Muslims are the worlds fastest growing religious group in the world. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/06/why-muslims-are-the-worlds-fastest-growing-religious-group/
2)    By 2050, India will be the home to the largest population of Muslims and Hindus in the world. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/21/by-2050-india-to-have-worlds-largest-populations-of-hindus-and-muslims/
3)    The Countries with the 10 largest Christian populations and the 10 largest Muslim populations. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/01/the-countries-with-the-10-largest-christian-populations-and-the-10-largest-muslim-populations/
4)    Sub-Saharan Africa will be home to growing shares of the worlds Christians and Muslims: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/19/sub-saharan-africa-will-be-home-to-growing-shares-of-the-worlds-christians-and-muslims/

WEEKLY RESPONSE JOURNAL: Every week you are expected to write four pages,
at least 1000 words, of reflections and thoughts about the reading for the week. I will
provide reading questions each week to help guide these reflections, but whether you
stick to mine or develop your own is up to you. The purpose of these reflections is
first to help prepare for the class discussion; second, to work through the text, open it
up and; third, to connect it to larger questions you have about American politics,
particularly contemporary ones. One expectation is that you cite from the readings
each week and that you develop questions or problems in the text that youd like to
develop further in class. A second, expectation is that you bring in, either directly
connected to the reading or not, an issue of contemporary politics that you have been
thinking about that week. These responses should be uploaded no later than 10pm the
night before class on Blackboard, as I would like to have read them before we meet. I
will discuss this in class, but this journal is to be taken seriously as it comprises the
majority of your grade. PLEASE READ CHAPTER 9 TO CHAPTER 13TO MAKE THE SUBMISSION.

Different Types Of Government Contracts-There are several types of government contracts, and the differences between them are not trivial I will give a in depth understanding of the different contracts. Each requires a unique approach to bidding and a unique approach to performing the work I will explain the process. I will provide a understanding of the distinct challenges and opportunities of each contract and how it is  vital for a business  to succeed as a government contractor.