Note: you may quote from the textbook, online reading assignments, and lecture notes. However, remember that it is easy to quote basic material; to make advantageous use of your quotes, try to limit them to just the most important points relevant to each essay topic. In order to do well on this take-home exam, you should show critical thinking by writing carefully organized and well-argued essays.
Citations: If you use direct quotes, any citation format is acceptable as long as you provide enough information for the reader to look up the quotation. Any space you use at the end of your paper for citations will not count toward the 15 page limit.
Page limit: 15 pages, double-spaced, 12 point type, for the entire exam, excluding citations at the end. You may allocate more space to one or the other essay if you like. However, keep in mind that each one counts equally (i.e., 50% of your final exam grade). Please be sure to clearly indicate where your answer to Essay #1 ends and where your answer to Essay #2 begins. There is no minimum page limit; obviously, to do well will require a substantial amount of space.
ESSAY #1 (50 points)
In the early part of this course you were told that the theory of American government led to a system which may not be very efficient but is excellent at preventing things we don’t want. As a result, we have a political system that maximizes input into the decision-making process. But the system is also one that minimizes the potential for policy change.
Write an essay explaining this state of affairs, focusing on why it is usually so difficult to accomplish anything in American government. Discuss how the branches must usually work with each other in order to make effective public policy, and then explain why this is so often difficult — with the result being frequent gridlock. Finally, explain how parliamentary democracy in most other established democracies is quite different from American democracy. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the American system as compared to well-established parliamentary systems, such as those in the UK, Canada, and Australia.
Essay #2 (50 points)
America’s three branches of government differ in many ways. Write an essay discussing how they differ in terms of accommodation, deliberation, and accountability. In other words: 1) How much accommodation has to be made for each branch to reach a decision? 2) How much deliberation goes into the making of decisions within each branch? and 3) How much input from the public goes into each branch’s decisions, and how can the public hold each branch accountable for its decisions?
(Note: Whereas Essay #1 is asking you to write about how the branches work in conjunction with one another, Essay #2 is asking you to compare and contrast the inner workings of each branch).
