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Description Political Science 21A: Question Set #1

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Political Science 21A: Question Set #1.

Collective Action, the American Constitution, Federalism, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Please respond to four of the five short response questions posted below. Your answers should be short, focused, and complete, ranging from one to three paragraphs. Please make sure to answer each specific part of every question. Successful answers will provide details and context that support your arguments and explain your position to the readers. You may also want to provide real world examples taken from the readings, lectures, group discussions, or your own independent thinking. Only the first four responses you enter will be graded (there is no benefit to answering all 5 questions).

For example, in your answer on collective action you may find it useful to talk about specific examples of collective action problems that governments solve. In your response to the questions on federalism you may wish to identify and discuss historical examples of conflict or cooperation between the national and state governments. These illustrations can be from the course materials or your own ideas. Providing this context and being able to apply the material to YOUR OWN understanding of politics really shows us that you have mastered the material.

Each answer will be worth 25 points, for 100 points total. The Question Set is due on Canvas at 11:59 pm on Monday August 16th. You should write plan on uploading your response as a docx file or PDF to this Question Set #1 assignment tab. We will be using Turnitin for the assignment.

1. A core theme of this class is that constitutions create rules and powers that enable governments to solve problems of collective action. 1) How do constitutions (and political institutions and rules) help resolve common collective action problems? 2) What important tradeoffs must the architects of constitutions consider when they think about how they will empower government to solve problems of collective action? 3) Why can governmental efforts to resolve problems of collective action be controversial? [As you answer this question please feel free to draw on examples from the Articles of Confederation, the US Constitution, or your own understanding of the course material]

2. Why did the Articles of Confederation fail to produce a stable government for the new United States of America? 2) How did the failures of the Articles of Confederation influence the design of the Constitution of the United States of America? 3) How did the need to forge a compromise between large states (that could gain power) and small states (that could lose power) influence the design of the Constitution? 4) How (if at all) has this compromise shaped the way the United States government functions today?

3. What are some benefits of having a federal system? 2) What are some drawbacks? (In addition to the logical arguments, provide an example of federalism being beneficial, and an example of it being problematic). 3) Drawing on these arguments, do you think a stronger national government would be better or worse? (Be clear about what you mean by “better” or “worse” and why).

4. Baron v Baltimore established a concept of dual citizenship. How did this view of dual citizenship shape civil liberties/civil rights protections for early citizens of state governments? 2) Why and how did so many of the civil liberties protections come to be nationalized or incorporated? 3) What are the benefits and drawbacks of incorporating civil liberties protections to extend to citizens of United States regardless of their state of residence?

5. What were the goals of Jim Crow laws? 2) How were these largely remedied in the 1960s, and what are the Constitutional justifications for these remedies? (Make sure and note the difference between de facto and de jure segregation in considering the effectiveness of these remedies.) 3) In 2021, many states have introduced legislation that will make it harder for many Americans to vote. Should we be concerned about a return of Jim Crow voting restrictions? Why or why not?