Article 1 (150-200 words):  The Melian Dialogue
1) What did you learn?
2) What was important?
3) How does this affect you and/or your country?

Article 2 (150-200 words):  The Thucydides Trap: Are the U.S. and China Headed for War?
1) What did you learn?
2) What was important?
3) How does this affect you and/or your country?

Video 1 (150-200 words): Is war between China and the US inevitable? | Graham Allison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XewnyUJgyA4&ab_channel=TED
1) What did you learn?
2) What was important?
3) How does this affect you and/or your country?

General requirements

    5 pages, double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman, 1-inch margins
   
Attention! The following sections are not included in the 5 pages
    Executive summary
    Appendix (optional section)
    Consulted or Recommended Sources


Guidelines

Some of the information reported below (and more) can be found here: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/policy-briefs/


Your policy brief must include the following sections:

    TITLE: A good title quickly communicates the contents of the brief in a memorable way

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: It includes an overview of the problem and the proposed policy action. This section is one to two paragraphs long. In any case, it should be no longer than half a page. This section is single-spaced. This section is not included in the 5-page count.

  &nb

1. Choose a current policy challenge in public budgeting. Pick a topic that concerns budgeting issues at the national, state, or local level.  You may write about a budgeting challenge that we addressed in class, but be warned: your memo should go beyond the class discussion for that topic. If you are not sure whether your topic is appropriate, feel free to run it by me via email or during office hours.
2. Explain the budgeting challenge and why it is important. Provide at least some background on the issue to help the reader (me) follow your argument. Make the case that this issue is important enough to warrant some action, even with all the other fiscal problems currently out there.
3. Provide concrete advice to a senior policymaker on how to meet this challenge. Address your memo to a specific senior policymaker in a government organization. Provide 2-3 policy options for meeting the challenge your memo describes, and make the case for your one preferred option. Only prop

1. Choose a current policy challenge in public budgeting. Pick a topic that concerns budgeting issues at the national, state, or local level.  You may write about a budgeting challenge that we addressed in class, but be warned: your memo should go beyond the class discussion for that topic. If you are not sure whether your topic is appropriate, feel free to run it by me via email or during office hours.
2. Explain the budgeting challenge and why it is important. Provide at least some background on the issue to help the reader (me) follow your argument. Make the case that this issue is important enough to warrant some action, even with all the other fiscal problems currently out there.
3. Provide concrete advice to a senior policymaker on how to meet this challenge. Address your memo to a specific senior policymaker in a government organization. Provide 2-3 policy options for meeting the challenge your memo describes, and make the case for your one preferred option. Only prop

Imagine that you have recently been appointed as a member of the President-Elect Bidens National Security Council.  You have been assigned to a task force that will be conducting a broad overview of U.S. national security policy for the incoming President.  The leader of your team has given you the following assignment.   

Write an essay (of 500 to 800 words) that:  identifies the primary national security threat facing the United States; and describes a policy response that the Biden Administration might adopt to limit the potential damages associated with this threat.  Your essay should answer the following questions:

What is the primary security threat facing the United States today? How does it threaten or weaken the national security of the United States?  As part of your answer to these questions, you may describe some of the costs that this threat could ultimately impose on the United States.
What policy responses should the B

Assignment 5: Write a letter to your California State Assemblymember or State Senator

1. Identify your State Senator and State Assemblymember (Links to an external site.), and the address and website for their legislative office in Sacramento.  Select one of them. (If you are not a California voter, you can still select a representative based on where you currently live in the state).

2. You have two choices for the topic of your letter:

a. Review their website and choose a piece of legislation that they are sponsoring or an issue they are focused upon.

Or
b. Choose another piece of legislation that you feel strongly about and that is currently being addressed in the California State Legislature (Links to an external site.).

3. Write a letter to your member, expressing your views on the issue and what you think should be done. Be sure to reference the specific bill number and title. Be sure to carefully review and edit the letter for clarity,

For these assignments, you will find an article pertaining to California, summarize the article, and then discuss the broader implications of the article. Applying the concepts from the readings will strengthen your analysis and even earn your a bonus point! You can use information from past article summaries if you want to focus on one topic throughout the semester. Each week you will have to use a different media source for the articles. Some weeks it will be your choice and other weeks will be set. My goal for these assignments is encourage you to learn about California politics through the lenses of different publications.



This week: Your Choice it just has to be about California



Tips for success: Many sites now use "pay walls" to prevent people from reading the news articles without subscribing. You can get around these paywalls by opening a second tab or window. These are called incognito tabs or windows and will allow you to look at more articles

The paper should be at least one (1) full page, double spaced, and in standard format (around 300 words).

A convenient way to think of this assignment as if it were an opinion article in mainstream print media (e.g. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal or The Washington Post, etc.).  However, it will likely be shorter than the average opinion article featured in such sources.  Reading such articles is valuable in itself and for the purpose of obtaining a good model for this assignment.

Use at least two sources, cited in footnotes or in another clear way the precise format of citations does not matter as long as I can easily track down your sources online. (However real opinion articles in newspapers generally do not cite sources in the academic fashion.)

Compose a clear thesis statement from which the subsequent paragraphs of the paper logically follow.

The thesis statement should be the first sentence, or even the title, of the paper. It i

The six basic principles of the US Constitution include Popular Sovereignty, Limited Government, Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, Judicial Review, and Federalism. Identify and explain one basic principle of the United States Constitution. Describe one specific example in United States history when this principle met the needs of American society.

Answer all questions. Some of the items come directly from The Lie Factory (see document attached) other items you will have to answer from your political science knowledge.

1- When and why did the era of modern campaign management begin?
2- Why did Whitaker argue for more partisanship?
3- Whitaker argued the "The average American doesnt want to be educated; he doesnt want to improve his mind; he doesnt even want to work, consciously, at being a good citizen,  For Whitaker what were the two ways you could get Americans interested in a campaign?
4- Who retained Whitaker and Baxter to fight Gov. Warren's comprehensive compulsory health insurance for the state of California?  What tactics did Whitaker and Baxter employ?
5- When did the era of pretesting public opinion to tailor candidate positions begin?
6- What is the import, purpose, and consequence of individuated subjective appeals in political messaging?  How do these subjective appeals undermin