Summer Reading Assignment: It's Even Worse Than It Looks

Wood and Waterman (1991) argue that amongst all tools of political control (e.g. budget cuts, legislation), political appointments appear to be the most powerful and influential tool accessible to some executive officials, such as the President and Congress in the US. The issue of political control might arise, for example, when newly elected officials take over the government - they might face a problem of distrust and disloyalty from the appointees of former government (Allern et al., 2011). Therefore, to gain back

The Next Government of the United States: Why Our Institutions Fail Us and How to Fix Them by Donald Kettl discuss and analyze the current government, its twentieth-century solutions and increasing overmatched by twenty-first century problems. The book demonstrates how the process of governance has fallen out of sync with the problems that government is trying to solve. It covers domestic concerns such as waging a war, protecting our food supply and boarders, providing healthcare coverage for the population or relief after a devastating hurricane.

First released in 2012, the book uncovers the extremism of the Republican Party. The tandem of Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, experts in their respective studies are keen to issues that plagued American politics. Mann and Ornstein are two individuals who beliefs fall on opposing sides of the political spectrum in America. In particular, Ornstein is a resident scholar of the American Enterprise Institute, a powerful conservative think tank and writing contributor to Roll Call, a conservative newspaper. In the event of critics, Ornstein gives a refreshing take on the issues in contemporary American politics. During the past several decades the Republican Party has taken a sharp right turn without looking back. It did not help that the constant comparison of Republican actions to their counterparts Democrats is wrong, as the latter is anything but like the former. Clearly, many, not all were blind to the fact that Republican leaders craved the comparison because it normalizes their reckless behavior. In fact, the coverage gave further credence in their plan and allowed for far more egregious acts under the “Republican spirit”. However, the authors correctly acknowledge the issues that are hindering the political system from reaching its maximum potential and offer solutions in the latter portion of the book to remedy

Factors like social grievances, economic woes and other similarities, give rise to violent extremist groups. Areas with lawlessness and desperation cause people to argue and bring terror (Does Terrorism,178). Extremist groups are often welcomed in such places because they may offer more of basic securities than the state itself. On the other hand, terrorism could be a weapon of the strong, not for the weak. Stronger states are able to disguise it as a legitimate violence

Home grown violent extremism, is a growing threat in today’s society. In this short paper you will learn of home grown extremist Gale Nettles, understand how home grown violent extremism are still an active threat here in the US and also how fusion centers help in combat this form of terrorism.

Additionally,Bolman and Deal(2013) continue to describe the political framework’s perspective as that of a “rolling arena that facilitate contests of individual and group interests” They argue that these individual and group interests collectively garner the ability to influence state and federal legislators to enact policy that reflects the interests of the

This topic is important and relevant to modern society: because it discusses how law enforcement addressing of civil liberties pertain to adherents of domestic extremism. The reason for its importance is because it gives law enforcement the tools that are needed and the ability to address civil liberties issues regarding adherents that are involved in domestic extremist activity.

These political extremist groups were made from polarization. As I said before political polarization is not just a buzzword to create fear, these phenomena have real world effects and it will only get worse if we as a nation don’t approach this issue head on. A solution that has been brought to attention is the concept of “ranked voting.” Which is essentially means voting in a hierarchy, which would allow for more political parties and candidates to have a fair shot, even some states such as Maine have already implemented this system. This solution would help deter polarization by allowing more voices to be heard in government and this concept can be seen in action in Europe, where they have a multiparty democratic system. In the 2016 election, Donald Trump partially won because he appealed to a group of people who usually don’t have their voices heard and he in return became a speaker for them. There should be further research done on different voting systems in hopes of finding a solution to political polarization. With our two-system system, there cannot possibly be full representation for the 318 million Americans, but, if we eventually move towards more political parties, Americans across the country can finally have their voices heard and we can finally bridge the gap that divides the United

In the United States, left-wing extremism still exists, although their threat is decline. According to Karl A. Seger, “left-wing extremists are also active and have several objectives”. They pose and espionage threat to the United States interest. The left-wing group is responsible is for three-fourths of the terrorist activities in 1980 toward American. Therefore, the challenge to allow an individual to express their belief requires the United State to balances the need to implement security and protection from terrorism and espionage. It seems that the left-wing extremist's power has diminished due to the loss of support from that was affiliated with the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the United State has not received any threats the left-wing

The government is built to take care of the basic needs of the people that they govern. The people understand that “administrators and other officials make decisions that have large-scale, long-term implications and decisions of more

However, the terrorist turn adopted by ETA was not an effective strategy to have their voice heard in a democracy. As argued by Furlow and Goodall, a way to understand the political rhetoric of any extremist group is to analyse their core narrative techniques. “Linking enemies to historical villains of the past” is a common strategy for extremist groups to justify their actions. Reminding the historical repression of the Basque identity is actually the strategy adopted by ETA to justify its actions. Such as strategy turns out to be inefficient in democratic Spain.

Counter-terrorist analysts argue on the real causes of terrorism, being against or in favor to negotiate with terrorist groups in certain circumstances. But, is there any reason or special moment when it is fine to make a deal with terror groups or individuals? Governments should have a clear idea that this kind of negotiations will always bring terrible consequences, therefore, the importance to follow the principle of zero government negotiation with terrorists. People debating whether or not to give up on terrorist’s claims, might remember that terrorism means the pursuing of control by provoking terror and violent acts, whose purpose is to infuse fear, coercing governments to impose their claims. One argument proving the above statement

Ball’s and Dagger’s chapter on Radical Islamic Fundamentalism has changed my views on how religious groups influence politics, by fulfilling the four function of an ideology. The aforementioned is supported by Ball’s and Dagger’s conclusion where they state that “Like other ideologies, radical Islamism guides and inspired its followers by performing the following four function in its own distinctive way.”(Ball et al, 2004. Pg. 309). In addition, I have learned that the religious belief ideology, deserves equal attention like any other political ideology. I state this because relevant information can be overlooked, since they are more associated with religious doctrines and spiritual practices. Therefore, we must keep this in mind when we attempt

In question though, is whether we have become more of an oligarchy than a republic. Defining oligarchy as “a government by the few.” As Gilens and Page are concerned “the few” would be “economic elites and organized groups.” They argue that “public policy generally reflects the outcome of struggle among organized interest groups and business firms.” Their argument being that lobbyist’s influence in Washington is far too great to be ignored. They show considerably significant evidence and data to claim credibility for their arguments.

Throughout Europe—i n the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, and most recently, the Netherlands (Dutch Election) along with others—there has been an undeniable rise of extreme-right parties (ERPs) in government. From the presidential election is the United States to the upcoming election in France, these parties are gaining more mainstream popularity (Coffe, Heyndel, and Vermeir). Yet this is not a new movement; there has simply been more social awareness and political success for these parties. This rise has occurred over many decades, from the inception of many current day European countries after World War I, World War II, and the Cold War (Jackman and Volpert)—most notably since the 1980s (Coffe et al.).