Essays in Political Theory

Length: One essay of six (6) pages or 1,500 words, or two essays of three pages each or 750 words each.

First draft is due: Tuesday, April 15th

Choose one of the following topics for your essay. I am open to other suggestions or a modification of one of the topics, but you must speak with me about it. (Office # Morgan 422, in-class, or over e-mail: c-helm@wiu.edu)

• A) In the book and movie Lord of the Flies William Golding presents a dramatic picture of human behavior (We have the film and book in the library. If you select this topic, I would definately suggest that you view/read either or both.] Using the work as a backdrop, develop your own account of human nature and social behavior. What are we really like? Does evil "lurk in the hearts of man/woman?" Does it matter if it is lurking there? That is, should such findings about human nature affect social policy? What factors influence social behavior: gender, race, intelligence ( a la The Bell Curve, upbringing, religion etc.? What are the political implications of all of this?

• B) Over the past eight years we have been witness to a series of dramatic events in the former Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union. The Soviet Empire has collapsed, but, more importantly, the former states with command-style economies and one-party dominance in Eastern Europe are shifting to a democratic system with multi-parties and a form of market capitalism. Imagine yourself as an advisor to one of these countries and you are asked to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a democratic society and/or a Western-style capitalist sytem. Write such a report to the President of Poland, Hungary or the Czech Republic. At the University of Chicago law school there is the Center for the Study of Constitutionalism in Eastern Europe This is a link to a gopher site. Just click on the highlighted area which you might find useful.

• C) We have discussed Hobbes' theory of Political Obligation and differentiated between a regime based on fear and awe of the sovereign and one based on consent. We also have discussed some of the problems with the notion of consent in Hobbes. In our own political system: What is the basis for social order and stability? Is it correct to say that we have consented to our system? If so, how? Are we under any political obligations to our political system or community or to our neighbors?

• D) On July 30, 1932 Albert Einstein (Not the same fellow portrayed by Walter Matthau in I.Q.), gravely concerned about the danger of a second world war, wrote a letter of inquiry to a distinguished contemporary. In it. he raised the following question.

  "Is it possible to control man's [sic] mental evolution so as to make him proff against the psychoses of hate and destructiveness? Here I am thnking by no means only of the so-called uncultured masses. Experience proves that it is rather the so-called 'Intelligentsia' that is most apt to yield to these disastrous collective suggestions, since the intellectual has no direct contact with life in the raw, but encounters it in its easiest, synthetic form -- upon the printed page."

  In September of 1932, Sigmund Freud replied. His letter contained this passage. " Thus we may define 'right' (i.e. law) as the might of a community. Yet it, too, is nothing else than violence, quick to attack whatever individual stands in its path, and it employs the selfsame methods, follows like ends, with but one difference; it is the communal, not individual violence that has its way. But, for the transition from crude violence to the reign of law, a certain psychological condition must first obtain. The union of the majority must be stable and enduring....

  So far I have set out what seems to me the kernel of the matter: the suppression of brute force by the transfer of power to a larger combination, founded on the community of sentiments linking up its members. All the rest is mere tautology and glosses." (emphasis added). Comment on this exchange between Freud and Einstein. What do they see as the root of violence in modern society? Are their differences in their positions? Offer your own reflections on the momentous question they are raising.

• E) What would Machiavelli have to say about the U.S. war against Iraq? Would he have advised President Bush to go to war? Were the objectives -- both stated and unstated, public and private -- the sorts of justification for war that Machiavelli would have supported? What would his advice to the US army been with respect to the leader of Iraq?

• F) "Furthermore, I believe that political ideas at their most mature and serious, are still childish and frivolout as compared with those ideas or conceptions which attempt to work in, to perceive, and to illuminate, the bottoms of the souls of human beings." James Agee Comment on this assertion as it does or does not apply to one or two political theorists you have read this semester.

• G) In a market society, a capitalistic society, what sorts of values are fostered by its economic institutions? Does the character of economic man/woman which is fostered tend to "carry over" into the political sphere? What are the strengths and/or weaknesses of the character traits which are fostered? Are capitalism and democray reinforcing value systems?

• H) Analyze the Contract with America as an outline for a political theory. What are the implicit assumptions about state authority and power in the Contract? What does the contract see as the role of the federal government viz a viz the states and local government? What philosophical tradition (liberalism, ananrchism, conservatism?) does the Contract derive from?

• I) Patrick Buchanan clearly added a heightened level of interest to the 1996 presidential primaries. What are the main elements of the political theory/ideology that he is espousing? (What is the difference between a political theory and a political ideology?) What role does he see the federal government performing? Extra credit: He is frequently classified as a populist. What does that mean, and does he belong in that tradition?

1. Where appropriate you should relate these questions to your own experience and situation.

2. All answers should be typed.

3. Even while this is a first draft turn you should turn in as polished as paper as you can. You should not submit a rough draft. Writing is an extension and reflection of ourself. You should revise and revise again your paper. Tip: One suggestion on writing that I have found useful. Read it aloud and listen to how it sounds. If it doesn't sound coherent to you it won't "read" as coherent to someone else. It is also quite appropriate to ask a colleaque to read your paper and make suggestions.

Research Paper Your paper can cover any topic broadly within the history of Modern political thought. You need not focus on a figure, period, concept etc. that we have or will discuss in the course. (See below for suggestions of how to link the research paper to the Internet.) If you choose to write a research paper you should e-mail or submit a one page typed outline and bibliography on Thursday, March 13th. The outline should include the following:

1. The topic of the paper. What is the topic or problem that you are focusing on? What is the question that you are trying to answer?
2. A short bibliography (At least four sources)
3. A brief outline of how you will proceed in the paper
4. Paper Length: 6 pages or 1,500 words

You should turn in a preliminary draft of the research paper on April 15th. I will comment extensively on the first draft and return it to you. The final draft is due the day of the final exam.

The Research Paper and the Internet

1. Budget Reform--We are in the midst of a wrenching debate about our budget priorities. The Republican congress feels that it has a mandate after the 94 and 96 election to balance the Federal Budget by 2002. To that effect they are working to pass a balanced budget amendment and are engaged in reconsideration of almost all sectors of the federal budget. The only area where there appears to be a clear consensus not to cut the federal budget is Social Security and even here key Republicans feel it will eventually be on the table. The budget debt for this year is in neighborhood of 110 billion, but that in fact understates the debt in that the excess collected for social security is being used to lower the "true" debt figure. The debt will also start ballooning again after the year 2000. Several years ago the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform attempted to make a series of proposals to the US Congress confronting the issue of the budget debt and entitlements. In the end they were unable to come up with a consensus. The budget deficit and how to confront it goes to the very heart of our policy priorities and what we consider are basic welfare rights or a minimual safety net. What entitlement rights do we have as an Americans? The commission, cited above, which has now been disbanded has a home page with a great deal of relevant material to develop a research paper in political theory around the budget debate. Better yet they develped a Budget game that runs in Windows called Budget Shadows which allows the player to make budget choices and make trade-offs. The game has the present entitlement costs and budget prioritites built into and projects the expenditures over the next twenty years. The player is given a series of options and their budget skills are evaluated at the end. The game is available on the computer in the graduate student office #409.

2. Campaign Finance and Representative Democracy-The issue of money in American politics raises fundamental issues about the functioning of our democratic society. Analyze those issues and suggest possible reforms. The C-Span gopher and C-Span Ftp site offer a wealth of information on the financing of campaigns in America.

3. Community (Virtual) and the Internet--Some have argued that the Internet can be, and is for many, an electronic community. Is that a meaningful usage of the term Community--ie. The Well (A virtual Community?) There are two addresses for the Well: 1) The Well telnet address (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link) and WWW Well home page. See also the following sites for more on Community networking: 1) O'Reilly and Associates forum and Free-Net Working Papers. On the following page I have provided a number of links to Newsgroups that illustrate various dimensions of community.

4. Computers, Internet and 1984--For many the Internet and Computers suggest a closing off or threat to our liberties and freedom rather than a grand new information highway, examine the arguments pro and con on this. There are really a host of questions that one might ponder here. For example, one famous site on the Internet is the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Their concern is that the Federal Government poses real threats to our liberties though a kind of electornic surveillance over the Internet. David Hughes in "The Electronic Public Interest versus the Private Good,", warns, in contrast, that there are dangers to us all if the government leaves it solely to the marketplace over who gets access to the information infrastructures. Are the threats to those becoming wired or to those being denied or...? Is there a bit of paranonia here?

5. Computers, Modems, and Totalitarianism--Are computers by their very nature a threat to authoritarian or totalitrarian societies? In the coup in the former Soviet Union in the early nineties, it has been argued that one mistake, amongst many, of the coup leaders was the failure or inablity to close off computer links over the Internet to the larger world. Why are such governments frightened by computers, modems and the Internet?

6. Democratic Participation and Usenet/Newsgroups--There are thoudands of news groups or bullentin boards on the Internet where people regularly post their thoughts on a plethora of topics. Monitor some of these political newsgroups and ponder their meaning for participation in a democratic society. I have listed a number of the relevant Newsgroups with links on the following Newsgroup page.

7. Computers and De-Humanization--- Are computers by their very nature a threat to our humanity? Are we dehumanized by our absorption into a world of virtual realty? This has been the theme of a number of recent films ie. Johnny Mnemonic, Hackers, the Net.

8. Electoral Turnout and Democratic Participation--Why is electoral turnout so low in America and, more importantly, why is it a seminal issue in a democratic society? This would require some familiarity with Setups 92 and the interpretation of election data. P.S. 240 is the relevant training ground here. If you are interested in this topic I can get access to the IPSR (Inter-University Consortorium on Political and Social Research) data sets.

9. Free Speech, Pornography and Internet-- The Internet has a considerable store of pornography at the level of Newsgroups//BB's where every imaginable theme is pondered, to sites that house every form of porographic image. One standard norm that the court has used in the regulation of pornography is to ask whether it violates some community norm? What is the community here? Is it possible to regulate access to the Internet? Should we? (As a cautionary remark here, I am not suggesting that you should examine such newsgroups or sites but rather the question of free speech and community norms.)

10. Property and the Internet-- For Locke, the classic liberal, property is a basic value. Property--in the broadest sense-- is a basic right, a right prior to the state, and a check on the power of the state. Computers and the Internet pose fundamental questions about property and the question of ownership. In Mid February, 1995 one of the most famous cyberthief's Kevin D. Mitnick was caught in Raleigh, N.C. He had "stolen" thousands of of data files and at least 20,000 credit card numbers from computer systems around the nation. He apparently did not, however, use these credit cards for his own personal gain (See "A Most Wanted Cyberthief is Caught in his Own Web," N.Y. Times, pp. 1, 13, Thursday, February 16, 1995.) What does property and theft mean here? What sort of rights are being threatened?

11. Free Speech and Pornography-- Many on the Internet are greatly concerned about the recent effort to regulate pornography and more broadly the exposure of children to sex on the Internet. Analyse the law as to whether it is a reasonable to a real problem. Why do so many groups on the Internet see this change in the communication law as such a threat to free speech? Is this merely profit hiding under the rubric of the first amendment? One excellent source for the Internet perspective is the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

(I have provided a quite extensive --bibliography,

(and Modern Political Theory links-- to the Web

(and Political Science links-- to the Web, (and also to numerous usenet newsgroups.

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