What is more important to have in ensuring democratic consolidation in a state: democracy-as-structure (institutions), or democracy-as-practice (culture)? When considering the non-democracies, which of the two do you think is absent, or at least sufficiently weak, enough to perpetuate non-democratic government and inhibit liberal democratic growth?
The main criteria for evaluating your writing and critical thinking is described in the grading evaluation section of your syllabus and will be the primary basis for how your grade is reached.
In writing an effective political science paper, the primary task is to develop an argument and defend that argument through theoretical clarification and empirical examples. Do NOT simply give your opinion without backing up your claims with explanation. Sad but true, no one cares what you think. But if you can prove your point with evidence, then you’ve got the reader’s attention.
Your introduction, or at least your first page should tell me exactly what you intend to argue and write about in your paper. Then explain your argument throughout the body of your paper with specific examples. Your conclusion should tie in all of your points back to your original argument.
Be as clear as possible in explaining what you are writing. Assume the reader of your paper is not familiar with the material we’ve covered in class. Many times, students write with the assumption that everyone else agrees with his or her point of view and there is no further need for clarification. This is one of the worst problems with Poli-Sci papers.
Any and all materials from class are acceptable for this paper. This includes textbook, online articles, and class notes. Do NOT use the dictionary, encyclopedia, or Wikipedia. I will take points off for each if you do.
DOCUMENT YOUR SOURCES! I am impartial to either MLA format or footnotes, but a paper without any documentation will be an automatic F. All sources are properly referenced in your syllabus for footnotes and bibliography. If you have any questions on citing, please email me.
You will need to provide a complete bibliography at the end of your paper. This includes providing me the author, name of the source, and publication material. All proper citations can be found in the syllabus. Simply copy/paste if you are in doubt as to the correct format, and if all else fails, ask me for help. No bibliography will result in a 10 point deduction from your grade.
All the main terms you need to define for your paper can be found in your class notes and readings. Do NOT use the dictionary or any other outside reference source to define things like “democracy” or “civil society”. I will automatically deduct ten points from your overall score if you do. This should be your definition culled from class materials. The dictionary denotes laziness in referring to materials you had all semester to learn.
Please include both the whole question you are addressing and the Word Count. I will take off 5 points if either of them are missing. Neither will count towards your word limit. Depending on what you write and how you write, I can accept a paper with a word count slightly under 2,500 and slightly higher than 3.000 words.
Some suggested areas of focus that you may want to reference, depending on your topic:
Electoral systems, or lack thereof
Why a strong civil society may be considered essential to democracy, but may on occasion prove anti-democratic.
Why a predominant party system with freely competing political parties may prove less democratic than an alternating party system.
The importance of political institutions
The presence of absence of a stable economy.
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