essay prompts04

Practice outline prompts.

1)Presidents are Generally thought to have advantages over Congress in Conducting foreign policy because of the formal and informal powers of the presidency.
a. Identify two formal powers of the president in making foreign policy.
b. Identify two formal constitutional powers of Congress in making foreign policy.
c. Identify two informal powers of the President that contribute to the President’s advantage over Congress in conducting foreign policy.
d. Explain how each of the informal powers identified in © contributes to the President’s advantage over Congress in conducting foreign policy.

2 Different interest groups will choose different techniques to achieve their objectives based on their resources, characteristics, and goals.
a) describe each of the following techniques and explain why an interest group would choose each technique.
Litigation
Campaign contributions
Grassroots Lobbying / mass mobilization.

b) Select one of the following groups and identify the primary technique it uses from the list in part (a). Explain why the group you selected would employ that technique over the other two techniques.
American Medical Association
Sierra Club
NRA
NAACP

3. Minor (Third) Parties have been a common feature of US politics.
a) Identify and explain how two rules of the United States electoral college act as obstacles to candidates winning elections.
b) Minor parties make important contributions to the United States political system in spite of the obstacles to their candidates' success. Describe two of these contributions.
c) Is a vote for a third party candidate 'throwing away' a vote?

4) Trust and confidence in government have declined in recent decades.
(a) Explain how divided government has contributed to the decline in trust and confidence in government. Be sure to include a definition of divided government in your response
(b) Explain how the increased cost of election campaigns has contributed to the decline in trust and confidence in government.
(c) Explain two specific consequences of the decline in trust and confidence in government for individual political behavior.