RESEARCH PAPER
POS4424
HEDGE
SPRING 2011
   

This semester your research paper will focus on how Congress relates to its external political environment.  Below I have outlined three  topics, any one of which you can choose as your research paper topic.  In each case, I’ve suggested some of the issues your paper should address.  That list of issues is only a beginning, not an ending, point for your efforts. 

    Your paper should be well documented and draw upon journalistic accounts, information provided by key players (congressional committees or think tanks, e.g.) and the relevant academic literature.  It should also be mindful of recent congressional history. Your paper should run ten double-spaced pages (not counting your bibliography or any tables or graphs).

# 1 - Partisan Gerrymandering – Although the U.S. Supreme Court has concluded that partisan gerrymandering is not a justiciable issue, many argue that gerrymandering is inherently undemocratic.  Assuming you agree with that assessment what can be done to prevent the partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts?  Among other things your paper should:

•    Make the case that partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional.  Your case against gerrymandering should include a review of the evidence on its electoral impacts as well as the larger arguments offered by the justices and judicial scholars.

•    Identify the standards the courts and others can use to determine if a partisan gerrymander has occurred and should be invalidated.

•    Identify and assess the alternatives that have been offered to partisan gerrymandering (including recent actions by individual states) both in terms of the guidelines used to draw districts as well as who should do that drawing.  What would you recommend as the ideal means of redrawing congressional districts?

# 2 – Revisiting the War Powers Resolution  -- Now that the cold war is over (we won) and given the nation’s current “war on terrorism,” perhaps it is time to rethink the respective roles of Congress and the president in formulating the nation’s foreign policy.  Toward that end, outline the major elements of a new war powers resolution that is appropriate to a changing global environment.  In doing that:

•    Provide a brief historical overview of how the power to wage war has evolved over the last two hundred years in the U.S.

•    Assess the Wars Powers Resolution of 1973 in light of presidential decisions to use force in recent decades. Identify and critique attempts by members of Congress and others to revise the resolution.

•    Outline and critique the changes you would make in the War Power Resolution.  What principles should guide the division of responsibility between Congress and the president?  What should be the respective roles of Congress and the president in this important area of foreign policy?  Illustrate how your revised War Policies Resolution would govern the current war on terror (including the military campaigns in Iran, Afghanistan and any subsequent military campaigns).

# 3 – Interest Groups and Congress  -- As you know interests and interest groups are a fixture on Capital Hill.   Profile and assess the efforts of a major interest group of your choosing (e.g. Philip Morris, the Electrical Workers Unions, the NRA, NOW, the Sierra Club) to influence the behavior of the U.S. Congress.  I leave the choice of group or interest to you, but I expect you to profile a group that play an active role in congressional campaigns as well as lobbying the Congress following elections. Among other things your paper should:

•    Describe the range of lobbying activities the group engages in to influence congressional decisions.  Who is involved in lobbying on behalf of your group?   How much does your group spend on its lobbying efforts?  What policy issues is your group most concerned with? What strategies and tactics does your group employ to influence the Congress? (You might want to describe the group’s efforts to influence a major piece of legislation before the Congress in the last year or so).  Who within the Congress is the primary focus of your group’s efforts?  How effective is your group’s lobbying efforts?

•    Describe the group’s involvement in the 2008 and 2010 congressional campaigns.  Document the group’s campaign contributions in terms of the kinds of members who receive support.  Did the group produce it’s own issue ads or run a parallel campaign for or against congressional candidates?



    Your paper is due Friday, April 1, 2011 and will be submitted via Turnitin.com.  Late papers will be penalized in grading. 

A Note on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty – Plagiarism is a serious violation of the student honor code and will not be tolerated.  Students who commit an act of plagiarism will receive an appropriate sanction and may be reported to the Dean of Students Office. Information on what constitutes plagiarism, UF’s honor code and other pertinent information can be found on the Dean of Students web page.