Political science

I need a mid-term written on these three questions.  For sources I need them to be from  Plato- The Republic, Allegory of the Cave, Crito Sophocles- Antigone What does Plato’s cave allegory tell us about the truth and realities that we perceive in our political system, society and news media. Is the news fake? How is it possible that people see illusion daily and perceive it to be reality? Why did Plato hate democracy (in the Republic)? What does Plato mean when he says “the unexamined life is not worth living.” What is the structure of the ideal society defined by Plato in the Republic? America is practically the anthesis of Plato’s ideal state, yet on many levels it is successful. Does this mean Socrates was wrong?  Socrates says that as money and wealth become central to society the constitution will change to serve and privilege those who have wealth and money. Is this evident in America today? Do the material desires of capitalist society today and the decay of democracy mean that America is heading toward tyranny?

Using only the sources above, our class discussions, and your own reasoning and logic, please write an essay in which you wrestle with the question of how people’s voting and party identification are related to their policy attitudes and beliefs, and how this has changed over time. A central question of this essay is the question of realignment: when, how, and why did people change their patterns of voting and party identification, and what did this have to do with their issue attitudes or beliefs? Explain in detail in your own words what the authors claim, including the causal mechanisms they say were at work, explain the evidence they bring to support their claims, compare their positions to each other, and weigh in with your own evaluations of the logic and evidence their adherents bring to support their claims. In the process or at the end, give your evaluation of which of these descriptions and explanations are compatible with each other and which are not. Throughout, please be sure that when you use the authors’ terms, you always explain them thoroughly in your own words so as to demonstrate your own complete understanding. Note that this will require you to wrestle with the question of what the racial resentment scale is really measuring.

It’s not every semester we get an election like this in the middle of our government class! This week, there’s no chapter to read. There’s no quiz to take. All I want you to do is pay attention to the election results on Tuesday. write four numbered well-written paragraphs – one on each of these four topics, with your thoughts: 1. What happened in the national Presidential election and why do you think that happened? Be sure to give the national popular vote (numbers and percentages) and electoral vote for each candidate. 2. What was the popular vote in the Presidential election in Texas? (numbers and percentages) Who received Texas’ 38 electoral votes, and to what do you attribute this? 3. What was the (unofficial) voter turnout (number and percentage) in Harris County for this election, and how does that compare to the primary election turnout you studied for your political participation assignment? What do you think explains the huge difference? (The precinct-by-precinct canvass report won’t be available yet, so don’t worry about that part) 4. What was the result of the Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 4, race? Do you think your virtual client pursued a strategy similar to the one you outlined for him? Did it work? Submit in Word. Cite your sources. (Note: A lot of the numbers you’re using will be preliminary numbers as mail-in ballots drift in and various election irregularities are settled. Don’t worry about that. Use what you can get and do the best you can.) Additional Resources https://www.270towin.com/ (Links to an external site.) is a great place to compare what’s happening election night to what the polls predicted. https://harrisvotes.com/ (Links to an external site.) will have all the election night returns for Harris County, including the results of the Precinct 3 Commissioner race. The Texas Secretary of State will have statewide election results as they come in from Texas’ 254 counties:

According to Acemoglu and Robinson, what do rich nations have in common? List the three arguments they propose and discuss providing examples. Do you agree or disagree and why?

you are to find an article from a REPUTABLE news source that discusses an issue related to federalism. You will then answer the following questions: -What issue is your article discussing and why is it an example of federalism? -What problems have arisen, or could potentially arise, as a result of the state-national policy interaction discussed in your article? -In your opinion, is United States federalism an efficient method of governance, or does it create more problems than it solves? Why? ***Be sure to use as many examples from the readings as possible. Show me that you understand what you are writing about -Include a work cited page. -Your chosen article should be from a credible source, if you are not sure please ask the professor in advance if your source is credible. -Your article should have been written within the LAST 24 MONTHS. -Your essay should include citations from your chosen article in MLA format.  -Use a standard font and margin spacing (Times New Roman, Calibri). -Include a title. -Be sure to cite when you quote or paraphrase. -You may use internal citations, footnotes, or endnotes. Please MLA style of citation

B. Creating Topic, Thesis and Methodology Statements • 10 marks • Choose ONE of the questions below • For the question,wWrite a Topic sentence (2.5 marks), Thesis Sentence (5 marks), and Methodology sentence (2.5 marks) 1. How is John of Salisbury’s conception of political power consistent with the Great Chain of Being? 2. How can George Frederickson’s investigation of the history of racism in the early modern period be related to the Great Chain of Being? Does racism belong to the GCB or does it show that it has been dismantled? C. Introductory Paragraphs: • 20 marks • Choose ONE of the topics below; 2 • For the topic you choose, you must write an introduction to a hypothetical essay 1 – 1.5 pages (single-sided, 12 pt font, double-spaced, 1” margins). • Your introduction must include: a description of your topic, a thesis statement, and a methodology. Your description of your topic should provide sufficient background for why the topic is even an issue in general and help to make sense of your particular thesis. Your thesis can be one to three sentences long. Your methodology should be fairly specific; don’t just say “I will discuss Blake and Kant,” say what ideas or passages in particular you will discuss; • You may use first-person singular (i.e., “I”) 3. In what ways does Shakespeare’s presentation of social class, revenge, and forgiveness in The Tempest overthrow the Great Chain of Being and adopt a modern sensibility? 4. How are (1) Galileo’s claims that physical events should be studied by means of the senses and reasoning and (2) Da Vinci’s representation of the human body related to each other? How are both of these different from the form of thinking in the Great Chain of Being?

Respond to each of the four questions (or prompts) below (each worth 25 points). Your answer to each question should not exceed 600 words (or roughly 2-3 paragraphs). This does not mean that you should write exactly 600 words and stop, expecting an “A” for the answer. It means that you will need to be pithy. Pithiness often requires revisions and rewrites. Shorter answers are welcomed. Your answer will be evaluated on a proper use and understanding of political economy concepts, use of citations, paragraph/sentences structure, and grammar. Please use a standard 12-point font (e.g., Times New Roman, Garamond, Arial). Do not “lock” your file and use that as an excuse for being tardy. Locked files that the teaching associates cannot access will be considered late and assessed the penalties above. In order to test who has done the reading and viewed the lectures, and to incentivize future reading and viewing, each answer must have at least two citations to either the reading material, the pre-recorded lectures, other videos, and/or podcasts (unless otherwise noted). Question 1= QUESTION 1: EVERYONE KNOWS ITS WINDY (25 POINTS) A giant windstorm has just ripped through the Pacific Northwest, cutting power to nearly 500,000 Puget Sound residences and commercial businesses. Given the extent of the damage, repairs will take up to a week to complete (and more in some places).2 Fortunately, many households have backup generators that run on gasoline. However, roughly half of the gas stations cannot run their pumps because of the power outage, and it is difficult to get shipments of gasoline in due to damage to roads in the area. Clearing the roads will be the first priority of recovery workers and most vehicle access will be restored within two days. With reference to at least two readings, podcasts, or lectures, discuss two ways in which gasoline can be rationed to those who need it. Your answer should include a discussion of how the price mechanism operates in a market and what the effect price controls will have on behavior (including the possibility of secondary [black/gray] markets). If price controls are put into place, how might gasoline be rationed?  Question 2= QUESTION 2: THE GREAT ROCK N ROLL WHODUNNIT (25 POINTS) Evaluate the following scenario using at least one political economy concept introduced in the first five weeks of class. Your answer must include at least two references (citations) to the readings, assigned videos, and/or lectures. It is Sunday evening at 10 p.m. and you are feverishly working to complete your POL S 270 midterm essay exam. At 10:05 p.m. the neighbors in the neighboring apartment begin playing their stereo very loud, rocking out to the latest release of AC/DC while you are trying hard to concentrate. You can clearly hear the music through the walls connecting the two units and it is difficult to work. You ask the landlord to tell the neighbors to turn down their stereo, but he refuses to do so. You then call the police to report a disturbance. Although there are no known laws in the area regarding noise, the police talk to the neighbors and get them to turn the stereo down. In evaluating this scenario, your response should address the following: What important political economy concept is at work here? Who is causing this “problem”? What other solutions could have been used to mitigate the problem? Briefly provide one additional example of the central concept at play in this scenario that is not discussed in any of the course readings or lectures. [WARNING: The answer to this question is not as easy as it seems. An “A” answer will shed sunshine (and not throw shadows) on to the deep lesson at work in this scenario.]  question 3= QUESTION 3: MORBID OPTIMALITY (25 POINTS) A political economist friend of Prof. Gill’s recently said, “The optimal number of deaths from the flu is not zero.” (This statement recognizes that illnesses occur exogenously in nature and are not released into the environment by intentional human action.) Evaluate this statement with reference to at least two different readings, lectures, or podcasts in class. Note that you are not required to agree with the above statement. Rather, you are to use the concepts introduced in class to understand why a political economist would say this. Question 4= QUESTION 4: WRITER’S CHOICE (25 POINTS) Choose one of the following concepts below and write a brief essay explaining it to a person who has not taken POL S 270. Use at least two (2) examples to illustrate the concept, one of which may come from the readings, lectures, videos, or podcasts. The other example should not be drawn from the readings, lectures, videos, or podcasts, but rather one that you think to which the concept applies. For this question, you need only cite one (1) reading, lecture, or podcast source from the class. • Moral hazard. • Pooling and separating equilibrium. • Principal-agent problem. • Unintended consequences. • Asymmetric information. • Thick and thin rationality  SOURCES (all books, should be able to find pdf forms)=  1. Winter, H. 2005. “Trade offs: An introduction to Economic Reasoning and Social Issues”. 2nd Edition Chicago: University Press. Chicago Press.  2. Leeson, P. 2009. “The invisible Hook: The hidden Economics of Pirates 3. Anderson,T.L and P.J Hill. 2004. The Not so Wild. Wild west: Property Rights on the Frontier 4. Hirschman, A.O. 1970. Exit. Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Declines in Firms. Organizations and States

In 1971, Joseph Nye wrote a book called Peace in Parts.  His theory was that if we developed more effective regional organizations, we might be able to prevent conflicts and address critical problems.  Do you think having more comprehensive regional organizations might be better than trying to reform the United Nations and make it more effective?

Should the Electoral College be abolished and replaced with a direct national vote?

The Question Part 1: “Research question: The Humanitarian Crises & the Humanitarian Action Operations in South Sudan:  Critically examine and analyze the humanitarian action operation on the ground. Present at least 3 challenges and dilemmas phased (Operational, strategic, programmatic, ethical). How were they addressed? What would you have done differently? Relate to the following points:  – Main characteristics of the crisis, the settings and wider context in which it evolved.  – Local needs, vulnerabilities & capacities. – Main actors, roles, collaboration & coordination, their efficiency.  – Challenges & dilemmas faced in different phases and levels.  – Potential Long-term impacts of the humanitarian program in different aspects.  – Lessons learned. Think of 3 recommendations for the future. Part 2  Shortly reflect on 2 of the following cross-cutting most burning issues of the humanitarian space:  1. The Humanitarian Principles’ role in modern humanitarian settings and action.  2. Localization (Capacity & resilience building)  3. Leadership & Civil-Military-Humanitarian Interaction  4. ‘Do No Harm’- Protection & Gender Mainstreaming  5. Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Humanitarian settings (Incl. ‘Cash-based programming’)  6. The Triple Nexus: Humanitarian-Development-Peace Building Nexus. Relate to the following guiding points: What role/significance do they play in humanitarian action of today? How can they impact people, programs, power dynamics? Can they improve/harm efforts to achieve some common goals? What possible challenges/risks do they bring along? Have we seen progress (failure/success) in this regard so far? Think out of the box. Analyze and present ideas in support/against, pros/cons- based on relevant examples and publications. IMPORTANT: Word limit 2000-3000 (excluding cover, reference list, appendices); Font size 11pt; Line spacing 1.5. Use at least 2-3 peer-reviewed publications. You may choose your preferred citation method to be used throughout