...POLITICAL SCIENCE/INTERNATIONAL STUDIES 360 Western European Politics Fall, 2015 Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:30-3:45 pm Mundelein 620 Lake Shore Campus Dr. Vincent Mahler Coffey 327 (773) 508-3067 E-mail: vmahler@luc.edu Office Hours: TTH: 10:00-11:15 am, M: 5:30-6:45 pm, and by appointment This course begins with an introduction to the comparative politics of developed democracies, focusing on political culture and attitudes; interest groups and political parties; political institutions; and public policy. We will then go on to discuss a (lively) overview of contemporary Western Europe by longtime reporter and commentator T. R. Reid. Next, we will explore political institutions, processes, behavior and policy in three major Western European countries, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Four times, spaced throughout the semester, I will offer brief factual comparisons of Western Europe and the United States in important areas, including public policy, the economy, education, social policy, and moral issues. If time permits, the course will conclude with a brief examination of the institutions and policies of the European Union, a regional organization linking twenty-eight European countries. In an effort to enliven our discussion, at the beginning of most classes I will introduce an unusual fact, song or comedy sketch that in some way deals with Western Europe, with a particular focus on the smaller European countries. READING ...
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...Four Main Differences between the healthcare systems in Nigeria and the USA. After living in my native country, Nigeria for nearly twenty years of my life, I had the opportunity to relocate to the United States of America to live with my Dad while pursuing a career in Nursing. On getting to the United States of America or the USA as it is commonly called, I discovered how lovely and different the country really is. The USA was a lot different from what I had heard from stories back home in Nigeria. The previous three years, since January 2009 to be precise, has provided me first-hand experience of some major differences between my country of origin and the United States of America. In comparison, there are four main differences between the lifestyle of the United States of America and Nigeria. First, one of the many significant differences between the United States of America and Nigeria is its political institutions. The United States of America has two major political parties while Nigeria has a multiple party system. Though both practice some form of Federalism, the United States of America utilizes a system whereby the individual States have a high measure of autonomy or political control of their region. On the other hand, Nigeria has a strong central government that imposes law and rules that the state governments have to abide by. Furthermore, in the United States of America, the States provide most of its own resources, while in Nigeria the federal government...
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...American society witnessed a great change during the 19th century from an agricultural economy to the industrial one. However, this change imposed great challenges for farmer in the United Stated, and they formed a political party called the Populist Party. This paper will investigate what problems the Populist encountered and what solutions they offered. The Populist Party, as the third party in the United Stated, was aimed to put the interest of farmers in the public arena. This party was formed as a response to the industrial revolution and improvement of production that resulted in excessive supply of food and a dramatic reduction in the price of crops. The deflation in price led farmers to grow as much as they could, since they were taught...
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...loss in the current Republican Party. Specifically, the loss would be seen most prevalently in the business conservatives, who hold strong anti-aid sentiments. For instance, a steep 89 percent believe that the government today can’t afford to do much more to help the needy, which is much greater than the 51 percent of the general public who support that statement. In general, however, this change would still do more to aid the party than hurt it. This is due to a multitude of reasons. Firstly, like most issues, this one is also evolving as time progresses. Of the young people, most of whom belong to the left-leaning groups, a significant proportion (50 or more percent) believe that government...
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...1 Comparative methodology and statistics in political science |CONTENTS | | |1.1 Introduction |3 | |1.2 The Comparative Approach to Political and Social Science: | | |Theory and Method |6 | |1.3 Comparing Data: Selecting Cases and Variables |8 | |1.4 Developing Empirical-Analytical Comparative Analysis |13 | |1.5 How to Use This Book |15 | |1.6 Endmatter |16 | |Topics highlighted |16 | |Questions |16 | |Exercises |16 | |Further reading |17 | 1. Introduction Almost everyone watches daily TV, regularly reads a daily newspaper and often discusses what goes on in the world. These activities shape our views on society and, in particular...
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...PROJECT 2010 India and China: A study in comparison [pic] Neetika Chakraborty Roll number-818 Economics (H) Third Year Acknowledgment I would like to thank my third year teachers- Ms. Nandini Kumar and Mrs. Meeta Kumar for their superior reaching capabilities and constant support. They have always been there to answer every query and help me out with research material whenever I required it. This project would not have been possible without them. This project would also not have been possible without the vast amount of data which was made available through the database of the reserve bank of India and the central bank of the Republic of China. Furthermore, I am indebted to the huge quantity of information available on the internet which was an important part of my initial research. INDEX 1. Introduction 2. Political Evolution ❖ China ❖ India ❖ Drawing a comparison 3. International Trade ❖ China ❖ India ❖ Bilateral trade between India and China 4. Population Trends ❖ Drawing a comparison 5. Conclusion 6. Bibliography Introduction China’s and India’s rapid growth and economic policies, as well as their role in International trade and capital markets, have generated a large amount of interest and research. Much of the attention focuses on their growth prospects and on their faculty to influence global governance. Two salient characteristics of China...
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...TO WHICH EXTENT DOES PARTY-LIST PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION PROVIDE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF MINORITIES IN BENIN, GUINEA-BISSAU AND NAMIBIA? Pavel Pylypcuk, Alexandra Sidorova Aalborg University 2014 Table of contents 1. Introduction 3 I. PART 5 2. Electoral system 5 2.1. Types of electoral system 6 2.2. Proportional representation 6 2.3. Party-list proportional representation 7 II. PART 8 3. Structure of case studies 8 4. Benin 9 4.1. Historical introduction and the electoral system 9 4.2. Elections to National Assembly in years 1991-2007 10 4.3. Political parties in Benin: profile, electorate and interactions 11 4.4. Conclusion 12 5. Guinea-Bissau 13 5.1. Historical introduction and the electoral system 13 5.2. Elections to National People's Assembly in years 1994-2008 14 5.3. Political parties in Guinea-Bissau: profile, electorate and interactions 15 5.4. The electoral process in Guinea-Bissau 16 5.5. Conclusion 17 6. Namibia 18 6.1. Historical introduction and the electoral system 18 6.2. Elections to National Assembly in years 1989-2009 19 6.3. Political parties in Namibia: profile, electorate and interactions 20 6.4. The electoral process in Namibia 21 6.5. Conclusion 23 7. Final conclusion 24 8. Bibliography 26 1. Introduction Electoral systems are considered as an instrument, which can relatively quickly and effectively...
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...How powerful is the UK Parliament? The Westminster Parliament is the UK’s highest political institution, making decisions on issues important to citizens throughout Britain. The Houses of Commons and Lords are responsible for passing legislation, scrutinising the government and debating issues. Retaining a high level of sovereignty despite devolution, seating dominating majority governments and possessing unprecedented constitutional flexibility, the UK Parliament wields a great deal of power. Political scientist Arend (Lijphart, 1999) first branded democracies as ‘consensual’ or ‘majoritarian.’ The UK parliament is said to be majoritarian, with a strong governing party and Cabinet, a lesser presence of small parties, minimal decentralisation,...
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...The Dirty Thirties and the Emergence Of Canadian Social Assistance Grade 10 Academic-CHC2D Dec. 12, 2011 By: Kate Raatzs, Archana Selvaragan and Jennifer Joseph Table of Contents Task Page Design Plan Statement 1 Course Outline 2-5 Unit Overview 6 Unit Calendar 7-8 Enduring Understandings/Essential Questions 9-10 Lesson Summaries: a) Causes of Economic Troubles 11 b) Population Changes and Immigration 12-14 c) Technology of the 1930s 15 d) Life in the 1930s 16 e) On-To-Ottawa and Social Unrest 17 f) Social Assistance Programs 18 g) Then and Now Review Lesson 19-21 h) Then and Now Round Table Assignment 22-23 Appendix A: Round Table Discussion Handout 24 Rubric for Round Table Discussion and other Assessment ideas 25-28 Topic Organizer 29-31 Speech Planner 32 Design Process Statement Our group initially decided to work together because each of us was specifically interested in developing lessons for Grade 10 Canadian History – Academic. Some of us wanted to develop our understanding of the curriculum itself, while others wanted to focus on working with students of this age. After reviewing the curriculum...
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...Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way have comprised an article on the persistence of revolutionary regimes in comparison to other authoritarian governments. Countries like Cuba have remained resistant to democratization and other challenges that existed during the post-Cold War period. Levitsky and Way set to explain this occurrence through four factors that enhance the ability for revolutionary regimes to persist. They are as following: 1) the destruction of the independent power centers; 2) cohesive ruling parties; 3) tight partisan control over security forces; and...
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...In 1956 three professors of communication-Fred S. Siebert, Theodore Peterson and Wilbur Schramm-brought out their Four Theories of the Press which went a long way in establishing a typology in the minds of journalism educators and students. Siebert, Peterson and Schramm discuss journalism philosophy presenting four theories (or concepts): 1. the authoritarian theory, 2. the libertarian theory, 3. the communist theory and 4 the social responsibility theory. Very briefly, here are the main characterstics of each of these theories. Authoritarian: The state, as the highest expression of institutionalized structure, supersedes the individual and makes it possible for the individual to acquire and develop a stable and harmonious life Mass communication, then, supports the state and the government in power so that total society may advance and the state may be viable and attain its objectives. The State (the elite that runs the state) directs the citizenry, which is not considered competent and interested enough to make critical political decisions. One man or an elite group is placed in a leadership role. As the group or person controls society generally it (or he or she) also controls the mass media since they are recognized as vital instruments of social control. The mass media, under authoritarianism, are educators and propagandists by which the power elite exercise social control. Generally the media are privately owned, although the leader or his elite group may own units in...
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...HISTORY……………………………………………………..…………………………..3 POLITICS…………………………………………………..……………………………..3 FOREIGN RELATIONS…………………………………………………….……………5 FOREIGN RELATIONS WITH THE U.S………………………………………..………6 FOREIGN POLICY DECISION MAKING………………………………………………7 DEMOGRAPHICS……………………………………………………………..…………8 RELIGION…………………………………………………….…………………………..9 HEALTH………………………………………..………………………………………..10 INFRASTRUCTURE……………………………………………………………………10 ECONOMY……………………………………….………………………….……… …11 2. ECOPETROL S.A. COMPANY OVERVIEW…………………………….…………… …12 BACKGROUND………………………………………………………………… ……..12 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE……………………………………..…… ………12 MERGERS AND AQUITITIONS………………………………………………………14 COMPETITORS……………………………………………………….……… ………..14 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS…………………………………………………….. ………..15 RIVALRY COMPARISON…………………………………………………… ……….16 FUTURE GOALS…………………………………………………………..… ………..17 3. CAPITAL MARKET OVERVIEW…………………………………………………………18 INFLATION …………………………………………..………………….……………..18 CURRENT RISK……………………………………………………….………………..18 FINANCIAL CRISIS……………………………………………………..……………..19 INVESTMENT RECOMMENDATION………………………………..………………19 4. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………….…….…………………..20 5. BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………..………………………………..21 COLOMBIA HISTORY During the pre-Colombian period, the area now known as Colombia was inhabited by indigenous societies ranging from hunters and nomadic farmers to the highly structured economy of the Chibchas, who are considered to have been one of the most developed indigenous groups in South America. Santa Marta...
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...Four Main Differences between the healthcare systems in Nigeria and the USA. Paul Fortune College of Nursing After living in my native country, Nigeria for nearly twenty years of my life, I had the opportunity to relocate to the United States of America to live with my Dad while pursuing a career in Nursing. On getting to the United States of America or the USA as it is commonly called, I discovered how lovely and different the country really is. The USA was a lot different from what I had heard from stories back home in Nigeria. The previous three years, since January 2009 to be precise, has provided me first-hand experience of some major differences between my country of origin and the United States of America. In comparison, there are four main differences between the lifestyle of the United States of America and Nigeria. First, one of the many significant differences between the United States of America and Nigeria is its political institutions. The United States of America has two major political parties while Nigeria has a multiple party system. Though both practice some form of Federalism, the United States of America utilizes a system whereby the individual States have a high measure of autonomy or political control of their region. On the other hand, Nigeria has a strong central government that imposes law and rules that the state governments have to abide by. Furthermore, in the United States of America, the States provide most of its own resources, while...
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... Electoral System in Slovenia An electoral system has a significant influence on the structuring of the party system within a country. In 1991, for a newly established democratic republic, Slovenia, the question of selecting the right electoral system was on top of the political agenda. Slovenia, that just had socialist period of the past, when there was “voting without elections”, looked for ways to obtain a stable political system and chose the model, used by the developed countries of Western Europe. The choice to use proportional system has lead to multi-party system and effective governance. According to the reports by Freedom of House, the country is placed very highly with respect to its overall level of democracy, while the level of competition is above the global average. This proves us once again the validity of Lijphart’s theory, that claims that proportional electoral systems lead towards greater long-term democratic stability in deeply-divided plural societies. To begin with, the electoral system concerns multiple aspects of electoral law and its most basic characteristics, defined clearly in Patterns of Democracy, are the ballot structure, determining how voters can express their choices, the electoral threshold, or the minimum votes needed by a party to secure representation, the electoral formula, determining how votes are counted to allocate seats, and the district magnitude, referring to the number of...
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...1 Introduction After the financial crisis of 2007 almost the entire European countries now has to deal with a great debt crisis. Governments of countries in the west have to use fiscal adjustments in order to get their public finances straight. In this paper we want to establish which lessons can be learned from the past when it comes to conducting successful fiscal adjustments. While not looking at the factors which contribute to the appearance of a fiscal adjustment, we will focus on the factors which influence the success of the adjustment. Examples of these factors are revenue increases, cuts in government spending, the debt-to-GDP ratio and some political variables. In general, each factor accounts for one hypothesis. The paper which comes closest to ours is the one of Alesina et al. (1998). It deals with the success of fiscal adjustments. The authors found that expenditure cuts are more effective than an increase in government revenues. Papers as for example the one of McDermott and Wescott (1996) also focus on this aspect and investigate the question whether fiscal adjustments result in periods of small or even negative economic growth. However, the prevailing research has only been focusing on one type of fiscal adjustments. We think that the distinction between rapid and gradual fiscal adjustments can be of important use to prove existing research findings or even indicate new insights in the topic of the fiscal economy. De Haan et al. (2007) took the aspect of gradual...
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