Is Russian political culture a serious obstacle to democratization?
Essay - 7 pages - Political science
From the end of the Cold War to nowadays, Russia has endeavored to reform itself so as to exit from a situation of crises. Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to give a new start to the economy of the Soviet Union, to reform its plethoric administration and take steps towards a more democratic,...
Parties and party systems in contemporary democracies
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
Laver and Schofield wonder what makes length of a government's life through the examples of Italy and Germany, but also of other countries. Firstly, is the number of parties of the political system related to cabinet stability? This is right in Italy, Belgium and Finland. They have a higher...
The political role of the judges in law and politics
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
My presentation is concerned with the relationship between law/the judiciary and politics. The laws relating to civil and criminal wrongs are indeed made either by Parliament in the form of Acts of Parliament (also called statutes) or by the judges themselves (then called the common law). The...
Explain Marx's conception of communist society and assess critically in comparison and contrast with the social ideals of Rousseau
Thesis - 5 pages - Political science
"A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of Communism." This is the prophetic opening line of The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, one of the major and most well-known work of Marx and Engels, dealing with their ideal of a communist society. However, The Communist Manifesto is not a...
Cultural relativism or universalism ? An essay in political ethics
Essay - 10 pages - Political science
This is an essay on cultural relativism in the field of political ethics. Yesterday confined to anthropological studies, the idea infiltrated the domain of international morality after the Second World War. It developed from its original virtues of tolerance and understanding to more defensive...
The employers' organizations in Britain: The case of the CBI
Thesis - 4 pages - Political science
I decided to speak about employers' organisations in Britain because of a personal and very simple interrogation: I was actually wondering what the equivalent of the French MEDEF in Britain was. At first sight, I discovered quickly that this equivalent is the CBI, The Confederation of British...
Niccolo Machiavelli
Thesis - 5 pages - Political science
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) is one of the most ambiguous political scientist of the history. Some used to qualify him as being immoral because of his promotion of force and deception to protect a State. However, according to the researchers that have analyzed his works, he is “the...
Why did Clinton Health Security Act of 1993 failed despite the opportunity to reform?
Thesis - 6 pages - Political science
Reforming the US health care system was one of the top priorities of the presidential battle in 1992 and William Jefferson Clinton managed to appear as the most competent candidate to deliver a comprehensive plan to solve this problem. Since the late 1970's, the country was facing problems...
Assess the significance of the Watergate scandal
Thesis - 4 pages - Political science
Born in 1913 in California, Richard Nixon became the 37th president of the United States in 1968, after being governor of California in 1950, then vice-president at the side of Eisenhower. This republican president earned a big success at the beginning. He indeed managed to end the war in Vietnam...
The relationship between the different types of suffrage and the creation (or construction) of democratic institutions in France from 1789 to 1870
Thesis - 5 pages - Political science
From 1789 to 1870 in France, not less than eight constitutions and twelve regimes followed one after another. France also experienced all types of suffrages, from the most restricted one of the Ancient Regime, to the universal manhood suffrage. This period is undeniably crucial to one who aims to...
To what extent is Belgium a sui generis federation?
Thesis - 6 pages - Political science
Only 25 countries out of the 193 world-wide existing operate with a federal political system . If we look at the ones situated in Europe, there are very few: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain , and Switzerland. I am here interested in the newest one: Belgium. The reforms starting the...
Democracy in Nigeria at the dawn of the 21st century
Thesis - 6 pages - Political science
“« Democracy is good, » says Godwin Eweye, a video-store owner, « but Nigeria is not yet fully democratic. »” A few days only after Nigeria's 2003 parliamentary elections, this local comment illustrates the enduring difficulties that the country faces in its attempt to consolidate its...
What is the function of representation in Hobbes conception of political power as presented in the Leviathan?
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
The notion of Representation is a key feature in democratic regimes. More stable than the direct participation of the people into political life, it supposes that the institutions of the State reflect the composition and the wishes of the people. A simple look at the title of the book-the...
Should illegal immigrants be legalised in the USA?
Thesis - 3 pages - Political science
While the Spanish government legalised 600,000 undocumented workers in May 2005 and the French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy is currently trying to get his bill reinforcing control over illegal immigrants passed through the French National Assembly, the United States, traditionally...
'Prime ministers are already 'presidential', and are becoming more presidential': examples of United Kingdom, Italy and France
Thesis - 4 pages - Political science
In most European countries, Prime ministers are the major figure of the political game. They have a wide interface, with the media (both at a national and international level), and with their population, even if they are never called the “head of states”. Many political scientists have...
Account for the failure of Clinton's health care reforms
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
In the United States in the early 1990s, both public opinion and political actors agreed that healthcare system did not work properly anymore. The American system is based on employment, i.e. those who work can benefit from a healthcare insurance, but unemployed people and half-time workers...
How can the "crisis" of the Welfare States affect the policy of fight against poverty?
Essay - 3 pages - Political science
Since the end of the XVIIIth century, the disastrous consequences due to the Industrial Revolution and to “savage capitalism” on working conditions has been underlined through the rising resentment of the working class. That is why, in order to avoid social implosion and to control...
What role does the media play in the political process?
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
Since its beginning, about five decades ago, the mass media have been intertwined with political processes of every type, ranging from coverage of major political events and institutions to effects on campaigns and elections. In our liberal democracies, the media are central for the public:...
Domestic Politics and American Foreign Policy: American & European political culture, an unsolvable misunderstanding?
Essay - 6 pages - Political science
The end of the cold war with the collapse of the Soviet Union enabled the emergence of the United States as a hegemonic power. At this time Realist Theories in International Relations predicted that a counterbalancing coalition should soon be organized. The European Union appeared as the most...
Where would you place New Labour on the ideological spectrum?
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
Since its foundation in 1900, the British Labour Party has been in power eleven times, and has had five Prime Ministers. It was founded as a social-democratic party, close to the unions and advocating the rights of the working class. On June 2001, led by Tony Blair, it won its second General...
United States versus democracy
Thesis - 10 pages - Political science
Throughout history individuals have discussed the term democracy, which has its origins in ancient Greece, and is derived from the words demos and kratos. The literal definition of this term is “rule by the people.” However, this definition is ambiguous and has allowed scholars to...
Transition of Croatia
Essay - 20 pages - Political science
According to Linz and Stephan, five interacting areas need to be in place before a consolidated democracy can exist in a state. First, there must be a free and lively civil society. A civil society is the arena of the polity where self-organizing groups, movements and individuals can express and...
Is there a distinct American political culture?
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
We often assess that some behaviours are “American” and some “European”. Doing this, we mean there is a distinct American culture. Does it match for political culture? Political culture could be defined as a set of behaviours and habits towards the political system of one's...
Comparative analysis of the political parties and the party systems: the case of the Czech Republic and Slovakia
Case study - 6 pages - Political science
Although sharing institutions for over seventy years, and the transition pathways from communism, the two successor states of the former Czechoslovakia have faced different challenges in the state-building process and adopted distinct economic policies over the past thirteen years since Slovakia...
History of Russia: A look at the Russian political gravity
Essay - 8 pages - Political science
Autocratic rule in Russia initially evolved at odds with the interests of the landed gentry before finally undermining their power via the establishment of a service gentry, loyal to the state, and appeasing them with the slow institutionalization of serfdom. The primary ingredients of early...
The presidency: Where foreign policy and domestic politics collide
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
Political scientists have long sought to discover where the foreign and the domestic spheres of the presidency connect. Presidents, it is assumed, must balance military needs with political needs, whether those political needs entail gaining domestic support for the president's agenda or...
Appropriate and necessary: The U.S. Supreme Court's need to intervene in Bush v. Gore
Essay - 6 pages - Political science
The presidential election of the year 2000 will be the source of controversy for years to come. Since its conclusion on Dec.12, 2000, in the U.S. Supreme Court, volumes have been written criticizing the court's decision in Bush v. Gore - which stopped hand recounts of ballots in Florida and gave...
Breakdown of election 2004: Bush v. Kerry
Thesis - 5 pages - Political science
On November 2, 2004 almost 120 million voters cast ballots for President of the United States. Just fewer than 60% of the population let their voices be heard in one of the most controversial and closest elections in history (Electoral Results). The phrase characterizing this election, “too...
Japanese military independence
Essay - 7 pages - Political science
The Japanese Self-Defense Force (SDF) was developed as a provisionary force during the Cold War and is restricted under Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. The SDF has been under much scrutiny over the most recent decade. Debates regarding the amendment or abolition of Article 9 itself,...
International political sociology
Essay - 10 pages - Political science
Political sociology is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry developed by sociologists and political scientists to study the dynamic relationship between society (a complex web of social institutions and social behavior) and politics. Much of the impetus for the development of the field grew out...
