Your assignment:
Reading: Political Parties in the Legislature
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Quotations on Political Parties
Reading: Electoral Systems and Political Parties Briefing Paper
Reading: Political Parties, Elections, and Pressure Groups
Discussion Questions Concerning Political Parties
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Listen to Zakaria’s Interview on NPR
Fareed Zakaria on the Rise of Illiberal Democracy (in case your media player does not function)
The assignment: listen to (or read) Zakaria and offer a thoughtful and scholarly response. I want to keep this assignment open (for a change). However, if you are seeking parameters…
-demonstrate that you have listened to (or read) Zakaria
-1/2 page to 1 page single spaced
-post your response in the comments link below
-be ready to discuss this in class
Chip Hauss on Democratization (Hauss is the author of your textbook and a contributor to the AP curiculum)
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“Ask yourself what you need to know to make this the kind of world you would like to live in. Demand that your teachers teach you that.”
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CLUES Model to Thinking Critically. This Rocks!
Several Note Taking Strategies
Notes on Quality Presentations
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Advice on Processing Possibilities & Rubric
How to Organize and Conduct Interviews
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Contemplating the root of the word “idiocy” leads Dr. Walter
Parker to explore the challenge that democratic societies
face of developing public-minded citizens. The schools,
he argues, are the most likely institutions to succeed in
that task.
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Eugene V. Debs stated that, “years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on the earth. I said then and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. Whereas H.L. Mencken asserted that �the average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.”
Freedom House has set forth to gauge the state of freedom around the world. They have posted an interactive map which encourages the reader to gauge the state of relative freedom in the world. Naturally, measuring freedom is a complex and dynamic task, so feel free take issue with their methodologies or conclusions:
Read and examine interactive maps here
Your assignment is to compare and contrast the state of freedom in any two of the AP country studies using the data provided in the Freedom House index. Your essay should be one single spaced page and must use specific evidence. You are to post your essay in the comments link below. As always, you are encouraged to read and respond to the work of your classmates.
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In a recent dialogue with my beloved AP Foreign and Comparative Politics students I learned that, though they recognize and appreciate the power the internet to transform political culture, they are seemingly unaware of alternative media sources online. Thus, in an effort to wean them from CNN’s intellectual stultification, I offer the following alternatives to the mainstream:
From the Left:
CounterPunch: http://www.counterpunch.org/
Democracy Now: http://www.democracynow.org/
Harper’s Weekly: http://www.harpers.org/
In These Times: http://www.inthesetimes.com/
The Nation: http://www.thenation.com/
The Progressive: http://www.progressive.org/
Utne Reader: http://www.utne.com/
ZMagazine (The Spirit of Resistance): http://zmag.org/
Towards the Center, More or Less:
Economist: http://economist.com/index.cfm
Foreign Affairs Magazine: http://www.foreignaffairs.org/
Harvard International Review: http://hir.harvard.edu/
National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/
New York Times: http://nytimes.com/
Slate Magazine: http://slate.com/
Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/
From the Right:
American Conservative: http://www.amconmag.com/
National Review: http://www.nationalreview.com/
New Republic: http://www.tnr.com/
Spectator: http://www.spectator.co.uk/
Amusing Alternatives to “Real” News:
The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/
The Specious Report: http://www.thespeciousreport.com/
Bob From Accounting: http://www.bobfromaccounting.com/
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