Welcome to the Group Projects! To accomplish this assignment you will need to conduct research on the web and in the university library, develop a thorough, nuanced understanding the issues and points of view relevant to your topic, create a computer-designed large informational poster that presents the central ideas of your topic, create a handout for the class, develop and present a PowerPoint presentation to the class, lead a class discussion, organize a learning activity for the class, and administer a quiz to your classmates. For all the topics the key focus will be on democracy—what are the practical and theoretical implications for democracy?

Group Project #1: Compulsory Voting v. Voluntary Voting. What is the purpose of voting? What is the relationship between voting and democracy? What are the pros and cons of compulsory versus voluntary voting? Which countries use compulsory voting and which use voluntary voting? Why? What reasons do they give? What are the arguments for and against? How does compulsory voting impact the political process, e.g.., how does it change the behavior of the political parties, of the voters? Does compulsory voting allow the parties to focus more of their energy on issues and less on generating turnout? What are the practical and theoretical implications for democracy? (Do not organize your presentation by simply offering answers to these questions one by one. Rather, address all of these questions in a broader, in-depth consideration of the issues.)

Group Project #2: The Problem of Gerrrymandering/Safe Seats/Safe Districts. What is the nature of the problem? Why have electoral districts? What is the evidence from recent elections regarding safe seats? Should voters choose their representatives or should the representatives choose their voters (through the drawing-up of district borders)? Should every district be competitive? What are the pros and cons? How might the problem be solved? What has California Governor Schwarzenegger tried to do about the problem? What are the practical and theoretical implications for democracy? (Do not organize your presentation by simply offering answers to these questions one by one. Rather, address all of these questions in a broader, in-depth consideration of the issues.)

Group Project #3: Single Member District (Constituency) System v. Proportional Representation. What is the purpose of voting? How do each of these systems work? What are the pros and cons? Which countries use the SMDS (also called “first past the post”) and which use the PR system? Why? What reasons do they give? What are the arguments for and against? How does the SMDS and the PR impact the political process, e.g.., how does it change the behavior of the political parties, of the voters? How might politics in the U.S. change if it adopted PR--develop some scenarios? What are the practical and theoretical implications for democracy? (Do not organize your presentation by simply offering answers to these questions one by one. Rather, address all of these questions in a broader, in-depth consideration of the issues.)

Group Project #4: Indirect v. Direct Election of Presidents. All republics have presidents but there are many different ways that presidents are selected. Some choose their president indirectly—parliament may choose the president or there may be an electoral college that chooses the president. Other republics directly elect the president with all the voters in the country casting ballots for president. What are some of the different methods wherein presidents are directly elected? Give examples of methods used in several countries. What if no candidate wins a majority of the vote--how can majorities be "manufactured?"? What are the fundamental theoretical arguments for indirect and for direct election of presidents? What are the pros and cons? Which countries use indirect and which use direct election? What reasons do they give? What are the practical and theoretical implications for democracy? Evaluate some of the proposals made for the direct election of the U.S. president. (Do not organize your presentation by simply offering answers to these questions one by one. Rather, address all of these questions in a broader, in-depth consideration of the issues.)

Group Project #5: Appointment v. Election of Judges. What is the role of the judge in a political system? Are judges part of the government? Does justice demand that judges be influenced by the will of the people? How does each system work? What are the pros and cons? In what jurisdictions in the U.S. are judges elected? appointed? Why? What reasons do they give? What are the arguments for and against? What is the evidence—do judges in fact behave differently depending on whether they are appointed or elected? What has been the experience of other countries with the election of judges? How do other countries go about the election of judges? Many states—such as Pennsylvania—elect judges. How do they go about these elections? What are some of the arguments pro and con? Make an appointment to meet with a judge in the Clinton County Courthouse and discuss the pros and cons of elective judgeships with him/her. What are the practical and theoretical implications for democracy? (Do not organize your presentation by simply offering answers to these questions one by one. Rather, address all of these questions in a broader, in-depth consideration of the issues.)

Group Project #6: Should or should not the U.S. intervene in other countries to spread democracy. Should or should not any country intervene in other countries to spread democracy? Is democracy a thing or a process? What is the evidence—have previous interventions by the U.S. or other countries been successful or unsuccessful in spreading democracy? What are the arguments for and against? What are some possible methods whereby democracy could be spread? (Invasion and occupation, focused technical and economic assistance, setting a good example, etc.) What is democracy? Can it be spread (like jam) on other countries? Is it necessary that other countries be democracies for the U.S. to be safe in the world? Does forcing democracy on other countries make the U.S. more or less safe? How does democracy take root in a country? Does the U.S. want other governments (a) to do what the U.S. wants them to do or (b) to do what their people want them to do? Could democracy in other countries be an obstacle to U.S. foreign policy? What are the practical and theoretical implications for democracy? (Do not organize your presentation by simply offering answers to these questions one by one. Rather, address all of these questions in a broader, in-depth consideration of the issues.)

1. Sign up for a topic.
2. Research your topic thoroughly on the web and in the university library.
3. Meet with your teammates, create a leadership structure, set a weekly meeting time and place, and organize a division of labor.
4. Create a large computer-generated poster (using Microsoft Publisher and the poster printer in the library) that will convey the central ideas and controversies of your topic. (Your poster must be posted in the classroom one week prior to your presentation to the class.)
5. Create a one page handout that will convey to your classmates the central ideas and controversies of your topic. (This handout will be distributed to the class just prior to your presentation.) The handout must include discussion questions.
6. Important: At least one week prior to your presentation to the class pre-test your handout, PowerPoint presentation, your in-classlearning activity(s), and quiz on a small group of volunteers who are not in the class. Revise your handout, PowerPoint presentation, learning activity(s),and quiz accordingly.
7. Present a 12+ minute PowerPoint presentation to the class. Conduct the learning activity(s).
8. Lead a class discussion on your topic—make sure that every one of your classmates understands the main ideas and points of controversy.
9. Administer a written quiz to the class—testing them on the main ideas and controversies covered in your presentation. Make sure that your quiz discriminates between those who have learned more and those who have learned less. A quiz question that everyone gets right or everyone gets wrong does not measure differences in learning achievement. (The scores on the quiz will be evidence of how well and how clearly you educated your classmates--to an extent your grade will depend on how well your classmates do on the quiz.)