Saturday, 16 May 2020

Revision questions and two more videos

Watch these two TED talks by a Harvard law professor, who analyses the American democracy. 
Lawrence Lessig Equal we are not

Our democracy no longer represents the people. Here's how we fix it | Larry Lessig

And here are the questions that refer back to what we talked about this term. We're going to discuss them when we meet next time.


  1. Who votes for Donald Trump and what are their motivations?
  2. How is the American south different from the north? What are the historical causes of this divide?
  3. Throughout the history of the USA, what has been the attitude to immigrants and immigration? Have the consecutive waves of immigrants managed to integrate well?
  4. Why didn’t the abolition of slavery solve the problems of black Americans? What could've been done to make the emancipation of African Americans faster and smoother?
  5. What ethnic groups in the USA are currently discriminated against? What forms does this discrimination take and who inspires / implements the discriminatory legislation and activity?
  6. What surprising facts concerning various federal elections (president, senate, congress) have you discovered about the US voting system?
  7. Every American citizen has the right to vote. Correct?
  8. Why is it so hard to remove a president from office, even though they can be impeached?
  9. What was the significance of the 1960s in shaping American society and mindset?

Voting in the US

Here are a few videos and an article related to voting rights in the USA.

Why American voter registrations are disappearing 

How Your Vote Might Be Blocked in 2020

Voter suppression and the 2018 midterms | Pod Save America

theguardian/voter-suppression-2020-democracy-america

You can also check the meaning and tactics of 'voter suppression' on Wikipedia.

Also, get to know a concept without which it's hard to understand some election results in the US - gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering explained

Friday, 3 April 2020

More stuff on Trump


Here is a fact sheet on Trump from Igor. 
The links below also come from Igor's selection - I took them out of the fact sheet to make them easier to access.
And we didn't really address the question: Who votes for Donald Trump and why? We need to try to answer it next time.

Thursday, 19 March 2020

US Presidential Elections - questions

Make sure you can answer the questions below. Most of the answers are included in the videos but in some cases (e.g. funding or individual candidates) you need to do your own research.


Questions
1.       How are presidential elections in the US organised: how are the candidates selected, who votes, how are votes counted?
2.       Are presidential elections in the US democratic, i.e. does every vote count?
3.       What are presidential primaries? What is their aim? How are they organised?
4.       Why is Iowa an important state in Democratic primaries?
5.       What is Super Tuesday? Why is it an important day?
6.       What can you say about the candidates who have so far taken part in the run for the Democratic nomination: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elisabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg? Who are they? What are their political views?
7.       How do presidential candidates in the US fund their campaigns?
8.       What is impeachment? When can a president of the US be impeached? What does the process of impeachment look like?
9.       Which presidents have been impeached after World War II? On what grounds were they impeached? Why was none of them removed from office?

Wednesday, 18 March 2020

US Presidential elections

While the school is suspended, let's keep up with our programme on US politics.
Below are a few videos you should watch with short descriptions of what you'll learn from them. 
Tomorrow I'll upload a list of questions that I expect you to be able to answer. You can use the people responsible for the relevant presentations to become your experts. 

1. Videos explaining how presidential elections are organised: how the candidates are chosen, how the votes are counted and who wins
Electing the president in the US
Electoral College
2. Videos about how the primaries (the process of selecting the candidates by political parties: Democrats and Republicans) work
US Primaries by Vox
US Primaries by The Economist
3. A video explaining when the president of the US can be impeached and how the process looks and gives some historical examples of impeached presidents
Impeachment by Vox

Also, get acquainted with the main candidates who still count in the 2020 Presidential Elections: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. Find out what programmes they have, what their views are on social matters, economy, foreign policy and what chances thay have. Use YouTube to find interviews, debates and expert opinions about them.
Donald Trump (the Republican candidate) will be dealt with separately.

Thursday, 23 January 2020

English Humour

Read this chapter from Watching the English by Kate Fox and learn in what ways the English sense of humour is special. 
We'll discuss the text on Friday 31 January.
English Humour