Please answer ONE of the following. Essays should be 3-4 pages long (not 2.5 and not 4.5), double spaced, in 12-point font (Times, Times New Roman, Cambria, or Calibri) with 1.25” margins. Answers should be based on class lectures and readings. The most successful essays will make reference (with footnotes, including author and page number) to course readings. (You should include a bibliography at the end of the essay, using Chicago Style.) Essays are due by email at Noon on Friday, September 28th.
1.There are many identity traits that shape a person’s political interests and preferences. These include gender, religion, language, race, ethnicity, and national identity. Are these identities reconcilable with the State? How can a State, bureaucracy and all, most successfully manage the conflicting interests of different communities? What type of State has the best chance of this? What steps can be taken to promote stability and reduce the chances of conflict?
2. Based on our discussions in class and on the readings you’ve done so far, do you find a constructivist or essentialist understanding of ethnic and/or national identity more convincing? Why?
main textbook :
Patrick O’Neil, Essentials of Comparative Politics (Sixth Edition). (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2018) ISBN 9780393624588
