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PS360 - Parties and Elections                                                                                                                                                                     

Friday, 22 September 2000

 PS360 Exam No. 1 - Essay Section
Professor Russell Renka

 Essay is worth 100 points.  Choose one of the following topics.    The essay should be a paper of approximately 2 and ½ to 3 normal, honest pages in length.  Be sure to properly cite all source material, including regular class readings.  Due date:  Wednesday, September 27 by class time.  If you cannot avoid missing the class, send paper to me via email to rdrenka@semo.edu or FAX to me at 573/6512695.

  1.  There was a major change in the status of political parties within American political life, starting about 1893 (according to Silbey).  Specify what this change was, citing the factors that brought this about.  Of those factors, specify which among them had the greatest impact.

 2.  Herrnson says both national party committees have become firmly institutionalized since the 1970s.  Herrnson, Bibby and Maisel all say the power relations of local, state and national organizations in each party have fundamentally changed in that same period of time.  What is the nature of that change?  And in what way do the Democrats and Republicans differ from each other with respect to that change?

3.  America is supposed to have a civic culture, but American voter turnout is among the lowest of all democracies.  What are the fundamental reasons cited for this in the readings you have seen?  What solution or solutions would be effective in raising turnout to higher levels?

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