Political Ideas - Second Exam Due date: Monday, December 6
Answer
three of the following questions.
Answer one question from Part One, one from Part Two, and one from in
Part Three. Answer each question with
an essay approximately 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pages long (typed, double-spaced). Try to express your ideas in your own words,
using only brief quotations from the readings, if any. When you do quote or paraphrase the ideas of
other authors, give them credit and indicate where you found the idea. (A page
reference in parentheses is sufficient for this purpose; formal footnotes are
not necessary.) Email your paper to
tomatchison@earthlink.net
1.
In
the Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels wrote, "The executive of
the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the
whole bourgeoisie." Less
dramatically, many on the left have argued that, in a capitalist society,
government cannot be genuinely democratic because capitalists (or ‘the rich)
will inevitably have disproportionate political power. What reasons can be given to support this
claim? To what extent do you think the
claim is true? What might be done to
make a capitalist society more democratic?
2.
Conservatives
and liberals sometimes argue that the historical record of so-called socialist
and Communist societies demonstrates that the basic idea of socialism/communism
is fatally flawed. Critically discuss this claim.
3.
What
do you take to be the central principles or ideals of socialism? What, if anything, do you find attractive in
the ideals of socialism? What problems
do you see in the idea of socialism?
How might people who are committed to the ideals of socialism try to
overcome these problems? Do you think
such efforts could succeed?
4.
Liberation
ideologies sometimes take the form of a ‘politics of identity’ or a ‘politics
of difference’ (sometimes also called ‘multiculturalism’). These ideologies reject the idea that a just
society should ‘treat everyone the same’ or be ‘color-blind’. Instead, they
say, justice requires respect for the different cultures and histories of
different groups, and this requires policies like affirmative action and group
representation. Discuss.
5.
Liberal
feminists have argued that women will be 'liberated' when liberal principles of
freedom and equality apply to women, too.
Is this liberal feminist vision of equal rights an adequate
understanding of what is involved in 'women’s liberation', or are other changes
needed as well (as radical feminists argue)? (Explain your answer and respond
to the opposing view.)
6.
Critically
discuss the following claim: gay and
lesbian people should have all the same rights and privileges as heterosexual
people, including the right to marry and the right to be free from
discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
Part
Three (Answer one question)
7. The 'Green' movement rejects both capitalism and
socialism on the grounds that they are equally committed to 'unsustainable' policies
of industrialism, consumerism and the pursuit of economic growth. Explain and critically evaluate the Green's
call for a reorientation of our society and politics towards 'sustainability'. Does this shift really require a new
political orientation? Or can
environmental concerns be adequately addressed by one or more of the ideologies
that already exist (liberalism, conservatism or socialism, for example)?
8. In many parts of the world
'Western' political ideals are being rejected in favor of one sort fundamentalism
or another. Islamic fundamentalists
reject liberalism in favor of Islamic law and traditional Islamic political
ideas. In the U.S. some parts of the
so-called 'Christian right' favor a restoration of the idea that the U.S. is
"a Christian country" and a rejection of the liberal ideal of the
separation of church and state. In part
these movements are based on the belief that social order can only be sound and
lasting if it is based on a common core of religious values. What do you think of these movements? (Explain.)