FINAL ESSAY – PLSC 112 – INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
TESTING YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIG PICTURE: Download TESTING YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIG PICTURE:
Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to reflect on your understanding of how American government works to create public policy. Using social science concepts, you will review the complex relationships among social and government institutions and the people who are involved in them and the parts that they play to develop, pass, implement, and evaluate public policy. This essay assignment asks you to tie together some of the things we talked about all semester in a general way.
Criteria for Success: This essay should be 5-7 pages in length. The textbook, lecture slides, videos, etc. found in the course will provide all the information that you need to complete this assignment; you do not need to do any additional outside research. You must provide citations for any part of the essay that was borrowed from any other source. Do not submit an essay that is a patchwork of paragraphs copied from any source, including the textbook, even with quotations this is unacceptable.
Please use 12-point font, with normal margins, and double spaced. The essay must be submitted on or before the date listed in the syllabus. Please submit only .doc, .docx, .rtf, .txt, .wps, or .pdf files. Do not copy and paste your essay into the comments section.
Knowledge: Before you begin the body of the essay, think about:
The structure of government constructed by the framers. (Module 1 – Chapters 1-3)
The division of power into three branches (i.e., Congress, President, and the Courts) and the states. (Modules 1 and 5 – Chapters 3, 11-14)
The extra-constitutional institutions (i.e., political parties, interest groups, bureaucracy, and media) that influence government. (Modules 3 and 4 – Chapters 6-10)
What type of government did the framers create and for what purpose (Why is it structured the way it is?). (Modules 1, 2, and 6 – Chapters 1-4, 15)
The steps and actors involved in developing and passing domestic policy. (Modules 5 and 6 – Chapters 11-15)
Tasks: In essay format, briefly address each of the questions below. This essay should be 5-7 pages in length.
Introduction:
What were your views of government before you started this class?
If you did not think much about government, why do you think you never formed an opinion?
Were you cynical about government and if so, why?
Agenda Stage:
What is the agenda stage of the policy process and why is the agenda stage so significant?
What are the factors that help an issue get on and stay on the agenda?
How and why are presidents, interest groups, and the media primary policy engineers?
Policy Formulation / Decision Making:
What is Congress’s role in the decision-making process?
What are the types of policy Congress is likely to produce (hint: one is incremental) and why does congressional policy have those characteristics?
What role do the president and courts (e.g., Supreme Court) each play in the decision-making stage of the policy process?
How do interest groups and political parties influence decision-making?
Implementation & Evaluation:
What are the implementation and evaluation processes?
Why are policy evaluation and impact analysis so difficult?
What is the role of the executive branch and more specifically the bureaucracy in the implementation process?
How does federalism further complicate implementation and the policy process in general?
Real World Policy Example:
Briefly, by drawing generally from a real domestic policy example answer the following question: Did the framers create a government that is too fractured and too conservative or slow to act for modern society or not? Support your answer.
A real-world example could be any current issue – for example the budget, domestic violence, police reform, civil rights, federal government response to COVID, etc.
Support your answer by explaining how the current structure of government resulted in either appropriate results or how the structure of government prevented the necessary result based on what you now know about the policy making process and the structure of government.
*Extra 10 points – include a description of how you would change the current structure of government and what consequences – positive AND negative – could result from such a change.
Conclusion:
What is your point of view now concerning our government?
How has your view of your government changed as you have studied its constitutional and extra-constitutional components? Are you less cynical, more cynical, or just more informed?
