political science 1101 Political Brief on Germany

Humanities

This assignment is similar to what is called a “briefing paper” in governing circles. A briefing paper provides accurate political data and information – in this case, of the governing system of an assigned country. To be effective, it must be succinct and well organized. The project assumes a more informed reader: it does not need to grab the reader’s attention with flair and rhetoric.

Your task is to provide background political data and information for your assigned country. The objectives are to learn about other countries’ governing systems, to gather reliable information and data, and to write an accurate and concise briefing report.

Format:

This assignment needs

at least six (6) different research sources

to be approximately 650 words (about two pages of double-spaced body text) excluding the bibliography

a separate title page (with a word count)

a 12-point font with double-spaced paragraphs (no tables, charts, images)

Students are to write this assignment in their own words. This means students are neither to directly quote from their sources nor simply copy and paste from the web sources (which is plagiarism). Plagiarised assignments will be dealt with as per course and college policies.

Content:

Students will find all the resources to get the basic information and data they will need for this assignment at http://guides.douglascollege.ca/POLI1101. The sources include online resources such as Country Studies by the US Library of Congress, globalEDGE by the University of Michigan, and the BBC News Country Profiles, and reference books such as The Statesman’s Yearbook (available at the library’s reference desk).

Basic information in your assignment will include, for example,

the country’s form of government (e.g., is it a parliamentary or a presidential system?) and its national political institutions (e.g., where do its representatives and officials make and enforce laws?);

the main governing and opposition leaders (e.g., who is president or prime minister?) and political parties (e.g., which party is the government?);

the outcomes of recent national or federal elections or other important changes in political leadership;

the national government’s key and current domestic and economic policies;

an overview of the country’s political conditions and environment;

and issues or challenges facing the government and country.

The assignment requires a bibliography (see the handout on the Chicago style of citation), but not citation within the assignment since the data and information you are providing should be based on well-known facts and thus should not need in-text citation. Each website you access for data and information must be provided in the bibliography, which is compiled at the end of the assignment.