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...
The struggle for democracy: An analysis of false flag terrorism in post-war Italy and its contemporary relevance
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
To analyze politics is to attempt to understand the evolution and application of ideas in circumstances that are seldom clearly defined. These ideas are formulated into ideological structures that become the governing principles of specific political philosophies. Words such as morals, culture,...
The roadmap of 'The Republic'
Book review - 6 pages - Political science
When tackling a text of great literary merit, it is important to remember to approach it in the right way. For instance, if we look to the New Testament of the Bible, while masterfully written, it is not a verbatim moral or ethical code of human behavior. Likewise The Analects of Confucius,...
Economic and political transition in Bahrain: Strong Rentier States and Strong Rentier Societies
Essay - 18 pages - Political science
Bahrain, often overlooked in both academic and media analyses of the Middle East, has a strategic importance hidden by its small size. As home of the American Fifth Fleet, Bahrain hosts a deterrent against Iran from blockading the Straits of Hormuz as it has recently threatened to do. As such...
Conflicting Zionisms in the context of George Orwell's "Notes on Nationalism"
Essay - 6 pages - Political science
I begin this essay with an anecdote: when I read the headline announcing the resignation of Fidel Castro, I asked several American friends their instinctive reaction to Castro, regardless of their views on his forty-nine year rule. While the reactions were not as visceral as one might expect...
The developmental state in pre-revolutionary Iran
Essay - 8 pages - Political science
The oft-repeated maxim of Italian politics, that when Mussolini was in power, “at least the trains ran on time,” while probably inaccurate, summarizes well the widely popular belief that authoritarianism serves for (sometimes brutal) efficiency in government. Indeed the opposite saying...
Stephen Colbert: Truthiness of the times
Essay - 12 pages - Political science
By any historical standards, the last decade has been an extremely eventful and difficult one for America. With the flawed and still-debated 2000 presidential election we witnessed a fault line in our democracy and the election of a politically radical president; September 11th forced many...
Guatemala and the Spanish conquest
Essay - 6 pages - Political science
Spain mercilessly imposed it control over the territories that today encompass Central America. Enslavement and European diseases severely depopulated the indigenous civilizations, and the territories that made up New Spain became heavily Iberian in nature not by influence but rather by force....
Race, immigration and changing U.S. - Cuban relations
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
United States - Cuban relations over the last century have been rocky to say the least. Just 90 miles South of Florida, the U.S. has always liked to think of the island as within its sphere of influence. In the long Cuban war for independence from Spain the United States sheltered leading...
