PS 204
Intro to Comparative Politics
Hanson
Spring 2021
RESEARCH PAPER
Points Possible: 100 Points
Due date: Turn It In analyzes your paper for originality and plagiarism, as well as grammar and spelling. I will be grading your research paper in conjunction with Turn It In and your emailed copy.
Requirements:
Research papers must be a minimum of seven pages of content , not including the work cited page; Times New Roman, 12 point font, double spaced is the required format. Research papers should not exceed twelve pages in length. The page content requirement does not include graphs, pictures, charts, footnotes, large spacing and introductions, etc. Content is type-written information.
Use Modern Language Association (MLA) Formatting and Style Guide, with proper parenthetical citations and a works cited page. On your works cited page, include the URL address of any WEB source. (This is an instructor requirement, as MLA allows an instructor’s choice on this matter.)
If you need an MLA guide, use: Purdue Owl MLA Style Page at:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_general_format.html
On citing your sources:
• When you put another person’s ideas into your own words, you must still indicate your source.
• When you directly use another person’s words or mix them in with our own words, you must use quotation marks for the other person’s words and indicate your source.
• When you integrate brief quotations (usually fewer than three lines) insert them into the normal sentence format.
• When using longer quotations, indent and single-space them. Be careful with this; do not plagiarize.
• Any academic information you discovered in your research, and are using the information in the paper, you must cite the source.
• Copying, cutting and pasting, and printing large sections of material in your paper, even with a citation, is not acceptable. This is considered plagiarism, and will not be tolerated.
A minimum of five separate sources of information are required to be cited and referenced in your paper. Only one of your sources can be an encyclopedia. Wikipedia may be used as a source only ONE TIME.
Topic and Required Content
You are to examine the political system of a nation-state in the world today using the techniques of analysis implemented by the study of comparative political systems. The paper must include an analysis of the political system and institutions of the nation as it applies to modern decision making, as well as an analysis of a current issue of domestic or international importance to that nation today.
The paper must contain two levels of analysis:
1) Conduct a thorough examination of the political institutions that govern the nation. You must include a description and analysis of how decision-making and implementation of government policies are made. The analysis must include an examination of three branches of government (legislative, executive, judicial), any separation of powers, and any checks and balances between them. Include a discussion and examination on the form of government the nation takes: unitary, confederacy, or federalist. An examination of political parties, methods of voting, methods of representation, and public input must also be included. The paper must analyze the economic system that the nation utilizes in regulation and protection of its land, labor, and capital (including free market, command, mixed market and elements of capitalism, socialism, communism, and fascism.) (This part of the paper will be worth 70% of the grade.)
2) Conduct a thorough examination of a current domestic or international dispute, conflict, problem, or challenge facing the nation today. What is the nature of the conflict? How is it currently being addressed by the nation in its resolution? What forces and factors are making the decisions in resolving this conflict? What are the various possible decisions the nation may make in resolving this issue? What steps are being taken to address the issue? This may include any economic, environmental, political, international, or constitutional issue of importance to that nation today. (This part of the paper will be worth 30% of the grade.)
