PS101 Modern World Government Spring 2015

Discussion Paper Instruction Paper Topic: The main purpose of this paper is to explain political reality through different political features. In this paper, you are required to produce a complete and accurate report on a current political issue in one of the countries we studied in class. A current political issue could either be domestic policy issue or foreign policy issue. For example, you could look at the Scottish independence referendum in the UK, the development of nuclear power in Iran, etc. You are going to address some of the questions that political scientists typically entertain: How has historical development influenced this political issue? How does the institutional framework of that country shape political interaction and political activities in this issue? The Structure Of Your Project: Introduction (1page): Introduce the political issue and explain why you choose this current political issue. Why is it important to the country? What kind of issue is it? Briefly introduce what you are going to tell us in the rest of the paper. A Brief Summary Of The Political Issue (1page): Summarize a current political issue this country has. Describe why the issue arises, and follow the news and developments of this issue by collecting news resources. Historical Background (1-2 pages): Discuss how this political issue relates to the historical development of a country in detail. This part needs to address questions such as how and why political/cultural/geographic factors are related to the emergence of this issue. Institutional Features (1-2 pages): Discuss how and in what way political institutions are able to influence the political issue, analyze the strengths and weaknesses these institutional features may have in addressing this political issue. Conclusion (1page): After completing your review on a political issue, you will learn some valuable lessons: summarizing them and presenting them to the reader in a concise way. You will need to recapitulate the main findings of your study in this section. Length And Format: 5-7 pages, not including title page and bibliography. Paper must be in the following format: Times New Roman, 12pt font, double-spaced with normal (1 top, bottom, left and right) margins. Include page numbers on each page. Make sure you spell check and proofread your paper before turning it in. Please print your papers double-sided to save paper. Deadline And Submissions: Papers are due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, May 27 2015. You must submit both a physical copy and an electronic copy. The electronic copy needs to submit on Blackboard through Safe Assign to check for plagiarism. To submit your paper on Blackboard, go to Assignments and find the Discussion Paper link, click on the button to submit. Citation And Bibliography: The project requires you to engage different sources. You need to include at least 3 sources outside of our class (academic journals or newspaper articles. Do not cite Wikipedia). You must cite the sources you use. You can use citation style of your choice, but must be consistent through the paper. Late Paper Policy: Late papers will be accepted for up to one week (7 days) after the paper deadline. Late papers will be downgraded half a letter grade (5 points off the total grade) for each day that they are late.