Reference no: EM133700925
Assignment:
For this assignment I would like you to analyze the health of US democracy. After the January 6 attack on the capitol, it has become clear that our democracy is not as stable as we once thought. So what are some of the underlying problems with our democracy and are there things that we can do strengthen it? For this assignment I have a list of different articles. The first article provides an introduction to some of the theories about what the problems are facing our democracy. This is is the one article that everyone must read for their essay. Next there is a list of five essays and a video. You will need to pick three of these to base your mini-essay on. You are free to use more than three, but you must use at least three.
INITIAL SOURCE (All essays make use of this article)
What Ails American Democracy and What to Do About It (Harvard Faculty)
ADDITIONAL SOURCES (Choose three)
Our Democracy No Longer Represents the People [video] (Lawrence Lessig)
Political Sectarianism in America (Science Magazine)
It Happened in America (Pippa Norris)
Our Radicalized Republic (Maggie Koerth and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux)
The GOP Is at a Turning Point. History Is Watching Us (Liz Cheney)
American Democracy at the Start of the Biden Presidency (Bright Line Watch)
As with the previous essay, your essay should be at least three pages long double-spaced. It should address the question of what the most important challenges are to American democracy, with supporting examples and evidence from the readings. In your essay you should identify and explain the main challenges to democracy that were identified in the three articles/video that you chose. Then you should have a paragraph (or more) that presents a case for what the main challenges are to American democracy based on the sources that you chose. Your introduction and your conclusion should be very specific in identifying the main themes of your essay. You can use more than three of the additional sources of you would like, but you need to use at least three.
Your essay should demonstrate that you have understood the main points of the three sources you have chosen. You should do this by explaining the main points and using appropriate quotations (these quotations should be enough to support your points, but not so much that they significantly replace your own writing).