POLS 3540
In-Class
Final Exam
November
29, 2018
Instructor:
Rodney
Loeppky
The exam is 100 minutes in duration. Allocate your time
appropriately. Place
your name and student number on
all answer booklets, and include this question sheet in one of
your answer
booklets.
Please answer two of the following
questions:
1.
The US political system was
devised in such a
way that major branches could check each other’s ambitions, and
citizens could
maintain popular sovereignty through legislative supremacy. A continuing theme
throughout our course,
however, has been the exceptional power possessed by some groups
to intervene
in disproportional ways within the American political process. In your opinion, has the
democratic character
of American politics been too far compromised by the wide-ranging
access of
special interests?
2.
What are the main pillars
of the social state in
the United States, and what have been its greatest challenges in
the post-war
era?
3.
Is the US judiciary
‘imperial’ and partisan in
nature? Or, alternatively, does the judiciary command a reasonable
degree of
impartiality, which has contributed to the meaningful application
(and
evolution) of political rights in America?
4.
It is broadly agreed that
the US presidency has
grown in power during the postwar era.
Taking into account the ‘tools’ at the disposal of the
president (both for
policy and personnel), has the US executive branch become too
powerful?