Your assignment is to compare 2 nation-states, both of these must be our case countries (U.K, Germany, China, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Iran). The outside sources must be peer reviewed sources. You must properly cite this material using Chicago style (this means including parenthetical references and a bibliography). Failure to properly cite your sources is plagiarism, please use a writing guide for citing sources and your bibliography.
Your paper will be graded on the following criteria:
-You must answer all of the questions and provide reasons for your choices;
-You must demonstrate an understanding of the concepts and ideas we have covered throughout the course;
-You must support your arguments with evidence/examples
Good grammar and spelling will impact your grade. Likewise, the organization and clarity of your writing will impact your grade significantly. For each nation-state you should include the following information:
1) Political Culture: What kinds of political cultures do your nation-states have? Briefly explain the reasons behind these facts. Are the citizens participants, subjects or parochials? Do they adhere to any particular ideology more than another?
2) Managing Political Conflict: What kind of party and electoral systems do your countries have? How many, and what kind of parties? How are people able to organize and express their opinions?
3) Political Structures: Is there a presidential or parliamentary system? Is the political structure federal or unitary, how does this impact the citizenry?
4) Legitimacy: What kinds of cleavages and conflict exist in the nation-states? Are there problems with legitimacy as a result of any of these cleavages?
Once you have outlined the basic information about your states you should begin to make some comparisons.
5) Comparison: What kinds of similarities or differences have you noticed by examining these two nation-states? Do these similarities or differences speak to any of the major issues we have outlined in the course, including the relationship between legitimacy and force as well as level of democracy? How is the comparison between these two countries useful or illuminating?
A good answer will include the following:
1. An introduction in which you outline the way in which your paper will proceed.
2. A clear, concise statement of your basic arguments. State this in general terms, using concepts outlined in the question.
3. Examples from your issues and discussion should support your argument. These should be used to support and demonstrate your argument to the reader,
4. A conclusion in which you summarize the main points that you discussed in the body of your paper.
Focus on writing which is clear and concise; assume that you are writing for a reader that is unfamiliar with these concepts, therefore, clearly define the concepts which you use. Use subheadings when possible to break up the material and to assist in organizing your paper.
Your paper must be written in Times New Roman font style and include page numbers and top and bottom of page margins of 1 inch and right/left margins of 1.25 inches.
