Today you will have the opportunity to work on your country case study. For some of you, this means that you will continue gathering data for the descriptive portion of the project. For those of you who have finished with the data-gathering portion, you should be starting to think about the analytic portion of the project.
Recall that for the analytical section, you need to identify TWO important differences for each section of the project (history/demographics/economics, legislative, judicial, executive). Below, you will find a series of questions to help you begin to identify these differences.
While they are not exhaustive, these questions should get you started! If you have completed your data gathering, today you should work on answering the questions below and turn those in to receive credit.
If you are still working on the data-gathering portion, please see data gathering descriptive portion below and work on answering those questions. Today, you should turn in whatever work you complete (whether data gathering or analytic) to receive points.
Analytical Section Potential Sources of Important Differences:
-Are there differences in the number of active parties in the legislative branch?
-Are there differences in term lengths or in term limits for elected officials (this could work for both the legislative and executive branches)?
-Does the highest court in your chosen country have judicial review power? If so, are there any differences be judicial review power in your chosen country and the US?
-How are legislators elected in your chosen country? Is it different than in the US?
-How is the executive chosen in your country? Is it different than in the US?
-What are the important economic differences between the US and your chosen country? Is the GDP different? Is your country industrialized or primarily agricultural?
-Are there any important historical similarities or differences? For instance, was your chosen country a colony? Did they also fight a war of independence? Were there any civil wars in your country? Do they have any history of racial tensions?
-Is the judicial branch organized differently or similarly to that of the US? How many Supreme Court justices are there? Are there powers different or similar?
-Are the powers of the executive in your chosen country different than in the US? How?
-What powers does the legislative branch have in your chosen country? Are they more or less than in the US?
-Do states (or provinces etc.,) have more or less power than states in the US?
-How is the bureaucracy organized in your chosen country and how does it differ from the bureaucracy in the US?
Descriptive Section/ Data Gathering Questions:
History/Demographics/Economics: Please answer the following questions and gather the following data for you chosen country and for the US.
What type of government is your chosen country (democracy, authoritarian etc.)?
When did the country become an officially recognized country-How did this happen (for those of you doing really old countries such as Ireland or India, you can limit this discussion to the 20th century)?
Were they a colony before gaining independence? Did they have to fight a war to become independent? If so, provide the details of their independence (including but not limited to what country they were a colony of and how long they had to fight for independence).
What major wars has the country been involved in-this should include civil wars or democratic revolutions as well as any external wars? Describe these briefly (ie., did they win, what was the outcome, why was the country a party in these wars). What impact do you think these had on the country?
Are there any other major events or historical circumstances that are an important part of the country's history? (for instance, if you were doing South Africa, you would want to talk about Aparteid and for the US, you would probably want to mention slavery).
Describe the demographics of the country including age distribution of the population, major ethnic group breakdowns, religious breakdowns, the number employed, death rates, birth rates and infant mortality rates.
Describe the economics of your country including major imports and exports, GDP, GDP per capita, levels of inequality (you can use the GINI index here), major industries (are they, for instance, primarily an agricultural economy, a service economy or an industrial economy?)
Is power split between the federal government and other units? In other words, is this a federal, a unitary or a confederate system?
If it is a federalist system, does the federal government tend to be more or less powerful than the smaller units?
Legislative Branch: Please answer the following questions and gather the following data for you chosen country and for the US.
Is the legislature bi-cameral or uni-cameral?
What powers does the legislative branch have? (are they more powerful than the executive?)
How many parties are represented in the legislative branch?
Who are the current leaders?
How many members are in the legislative branch?
Are there term limits?
How do they make law? (What is the process? Does it require executive approval? Can the courts strike the laws down?)
How long are terms?
How are members elected?
Who do members represent?
What are the requirements to be in office?
Are there any interesting demographic trends in the legislative branch? (are there many women and minorities, for instance)
Executive Description: Please answer the following questions and gather the following data for you chosen country and for the US.
What are the major administrative units?
Who is the head of the executive branch? (President, prime minister, king, etc.)
What are the powers of the executive? (Are they more powerful or less powerful than the other branches?)
How is the executive elected?
Are there term limits?
How long are their terms?
Who is the current executive and what is their party and policy platform?
How is the current leader viewed by the public, ie., do they approve or disapprove?
Is this a presidential or a parliamentary system or neither?
Is there a role for the first lady/gentleman?
What is the role of the vice president (is there one?)
Judicial Branch: Please answer the following questions and gather the following data for you chosen country and for the US.
How is the court system organized? (for instance, in the US, we have dual three-tiered system where states and the feds have separate courts).
What is the highest court?
How are justices selected for the highest court?
How long do justices sit on the highest court?
What powers does the highest court have (do they have judicial review? Does it compare to judicial review in the US, or is it different?)
How independent is the judicial branch?
Attachment:- Case Study Assignment.rar