Final Research Paper Topics: Note You may create a topic and submit it for my approval Note : 5 to 8 Pages

s , Typed Double Spaced, Justified Margins, MLA Format, Bibliography with 5 to 8 citations. Please use scholarly academic primary source texts, academic peer reviewed journals / periodicals and scholarly based web sites not Wikipedia or Google. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Why has the federal bureaucracy grown so incredibly in this century? What is meant by the term welfare state? What is the relationship between the welfare state and the federal bureaucracy? Welfare Reform. Discuss the evolution of the civil service system. Patronage / Spoils system etc. Andy Jackson, later Progressive Reforms Merit Based etc. Define and discuss the three functions of the federal bureaucracy. Define political socialization, and discuss the social factors that determine and influence it. Discuss the social factors that influence public opinion. What is the nature and state of American public opinion? Discuss the evolution of the American Party System. (6 Party Systems) Discuss the history of voting in the United States. Who participates?

10. Explain the operation of the Electoral College and its impact on the presidential contest. What were the original intentions of the framers of the Constitution in creating this strange entity? Were those intentions carried out? Should the Electoral College be abolished? Why or why not? 11. Discuss campaign finance reform. Will the legislation passed in 2002 make a difference? What loopholes remain? Discuss clean campaigns. 12. Discuss student protests of the last half-century. How do protests today differ from those of the 1960s? In what ways are they similar? Are student protests effective? Why/Why not? 13. What are the different types of interest groups? Analyze in detail. 14. Discuss the Enron case. What went wrong? Did the Bush administration involve itself in any of the wrongdoing? How can such a situation be avoided in the future? 15. Discuss the tactics used by interest groups to influence lawmakers.

Page 2 16. Analyze some common grass-roots activities. Use historical examples. 17. Discuss iron triangles and policy networks. Use Examples Research it. 18. Is the media biased? What is the myth of a liberal media? 19. Discuss the means by which the national Bill of Rights has been applied to the states. 20. Discuss the role of the Supreme Court in structuring the relationship between the government and religious organizations. 21. What limitations have been placed on the exercise of speech and press? 22. Discuss the history of gay rights in the courts. What protections/rights have gay persons in America been given? What protections/rights have they been denied? Does a double standard exist? Why/Why not? 23. Discuss the evolution and constitutional basis of civil rights. 24. Discuss America's history of legal segregation. 25. Discuss the Civil Rights Movement. achievements? Where has it failed? What have been its greatest

26. What has been the role of the Supreme Court in the advancement of civil rights? 27. What is affirmative action? How has it been received by the American public? 28. Discuss the future of civil rights in the United States. 29. What new challenges will the 9/11 attacks on America and the war on terrorism bring to race relations in the United States? Will there be an inevitable setback? Why/Why not? 30. Distinguish between regulatory policy and social welfare policy. 31. Describe and discuss the policy-making process. 32. Discuss the life cycle of policy making. 33. Discuss American social welfare policy. 34. Take a major current national issue and apply the life cycle model of the policy-making process. Explain how that issue has moved from being a condition to a problem to being placed on the public and formal agendas. 35. Describe welfare policies that help the poor as well as policies that benefit the general public. How does the Welfare Reform Bill change the welfare system?

Page 3: 36. Social Security is expected to run out by the year 2038. What are possible remedies for Social Security entitlements? 37. Analyze the struggle for power between the Congress and the president in the foreign policy arena. How has Congress succeeded in limiting presidential power? Why is the president at an advantage when it comes to foreign policy? 38. Explain the ABM Treaty. What is its history? What does it prohibit? What does it allow? 39. Define the major foreign policy themes in the history of the United States and indicate how each theme has influenced how nations in this hemisphere view the actions of the United States in regard to foreign policy. 40. Discuss the U.S.-Afghanistan War. How does the use of new military technology affect this war? To whom does it give the advantage? Why? 41. Explain the likely challenges the United States will face in the next several years with regard to foreign policy. Which areas will be of particular concern? Why? How do terrorism and nuclear proliferation figure into the challenges? 42. Ernesto Che Guevara a powerful revolutionary leader who struggled to emancipate the indigenous people in South America. How did he attain political consciousness? What does political consciousness mean to oppressed people? To analyze this question think of the parallel analysis of the impact Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had on helping Black Americans achieve more equality in America. 43. Develop and analyze a question based on the film Che The Motorcycle Diaries. You may watch other films that detail the later part of his life to add further analysis to your essay. 44. Policies of corporate apartheid and subsequent racial genocide have created dependency cycles and welfare nations which lead many third world countries in a constant state of subservience and slave servitude to first world capitalistic countries. Analyze this issue in the context of the film Che, Hotel Rwanda and any other context that you have studied- even your own country of origin. 45. Race is a social construct used to create and justify the existence of racial hierarchies that promote class, economic and political inequality. What does it mean to deconstruct race as a first step to eradicating racism and subsequent practices of discrimination. According to legal scholar Eric Bell, racism will never be eradicated in our society and we must learn how to ameliorate its impact by protecting the legal rights of disenfranchised groups. Do you agree or disagree, incorporate this into your analysis.