Essay and 3 Short Answer

LONG ESSAY:

A three-page essay (at least 900 words) that compares the experience of voting this year in the United States to the experience of what voting would probably look like in another democracy of your choice. Times New Roman, 12-point font, double spaced, with one-inch margins around all borders. Must include a bibliography with at least three news or academic articles that you used as sources to learn about a voting system outside the United States.

-In the first page, describe the experience of voting in the November presidential election of the United States. Write about what the experience was like. Was this your first time voting? Was it easy? Was it challenging? If so, what were the major hurdles? What did it feel like to cast a vote?

-In the second page, pick another democracy in the world that you are interested in learning more about and find out what voting looks like there. If this country has a president, you might want to focus on presidential elections, since you did research on a presidential election this year in the United States.

(Note that countries governed by dictators should not be chosen for this exercise. Remember that many dictatorships that pretend to be democracies hold elections, so consider the criteria for defining a country as a democracy before you choose your case!)

Questions to investigate include (but are not limited to):

-Are elections held on a weekday or a weekend? If on a weekday, is voting a national
holiday in this country, so that people do not have to go to work on the day they
vote? Why or why not?

-Is voting mandatory or optional in this country. If it is mandatory, what is the logic
they used to make it mandatory? What is the penalty for not voting?

-What is the typical voter turnout in this country? Is it higher than the average voter turnout for presidential elections in the United States or lower? If it is higher or
lower, what are some possible reasons why this could be?

-The third page of the paper should consist of an analysis of your two cases. Compare the experience of voting in these two countries, and analyze it through the lens of what the differences in electoral systems and their impact on political participation and political parties are.

-Think about the differences between the two countries that you observed in your election research, and then come up with some potential explanations for these differences.

-Examples include (but are not limited to) the following dimensions of analysis:

If Voter Turnout Is Higher (or lower) in the country you are comparing to the United States, what might explain this difference? Is the electoral system different, and if so, does this provide a plausible explanation for the difference in voter turnout? Do other factors also account for some of this difference—e.g. if voting is mandatory, or is a national holiday?

Similarly, if a large number of candidates (from a larger number of parties) are running for election in the comparison country you investigated as compared to the United States, think about why might this be? Can you trace this difference to the electoral system? To some other element of the political system?

SHORT ANSWER:

Each short answer should be at least 300 words and use as well as cite the article that pertains to it. For one of the questions, there is a link. For the other 2, I have attached pdf documents in the uploaded documents section.

#1

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a well-regarded Washington D.C. based think tank. How do they argue climate change is exacerbating the food insecurity challenge, and how do they propose to mitigate this disturbing trend line?

Source: CSIS Food Security pdf

#2

How does rancher Disque Deane’s plan connect to the environment? Do you believe it and similar plans hold promise for the future of water quality as well as water quantity. Or are you a skeptic?

Source: Water Quality lecture

#3

Should Scotland leave the United Kingdom and go independent?

Saying “I agree” or “I disagree” is not enough. You should say why you agree or disagree and support your statement with concepts from the article below

https://www.economist.com/briefing/2019/06/20/how-brexit-made-britain-a-country-of-remainers-and-leavers

https://issuu.com/desawqdeesa/docs/the_economist_usa_-_february_15_2020