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Course, academic year 2018/2019
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Major Issues in Contemporary Public Debates in the U.S. I - JMMZ314
Title: Major Issues in Contemporary Public Debates in the U.S. I
Guaranteed by: Department of North American Studies (23-KAS)
Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
Actual: from 2018 to 2018
Semester: winter
E-Credits: 6
Examination process: winter s.:
Hours per week, examination: winter s.:1/1, Ex [HT]
Capacity: unknown / unknown (20)
Min. number of students: unlimited
4EU+: no
Virtual mobility / capacity: no
State of the course: taught
Language: English
Teaching methods: full-time
Teaching methods: full-time
Is provided by: JMM337
Additional information: http://kurzyjs.fsv.cuni.cz
Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan
enabled for web enrollment
priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan
Guarantor: Mgr. Jana Sehnálková, Ph.D.
Teacher(s): Mgr. Jana Sehnálková, Ph.D.
Incompatibility : JMM337
Is incompatible with: JMM337
Examination dates   Schedule   Noticeboard   
Annotation -
Last update: Mgr. Jana Sehnálková, Ph.D. (10.09.2018)
This course focuses on current issues and developments in the United States. It discusses wide range of political, economic, cultural, and social problems with particular focus on the current administration of 45th president Donald Trump.
The aim of the course is to introduce students to the most important discourses in the current U.S. Throughout the semester, we will analyze and debate various essential challenges the U.S. society is facing today. Multiple media sources will be used for the analyses, which should also provide students with advanced orientation in U.S. media landscape.
The course is taught in English and ends with a graded exam.


Aim of the course -
Last update: Mgr. Jana Sehnálková, Ph.D. (10.09.2018)

Upon successful completion of this course the student will be

  • familiar with the current political issues and debates in the U.S.
  • able to identify the major conflicts and tensions
  • able identify key personalities, facts and concepts in current political scene in the U.S.
  • familiar with the political landscape during the 2018 midterm elections
Literature -
Last update: SEHNALKO (23.09.2014)

Each week, the students are given reading assignment, usually from various media, including The Economist, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times and many others. The reading assignment will be distributed via email or via website.

Teaching methods -
Last update: SEHNALKO (23.09.2014)

Since this class is partly a lecture and partly a seminar,  lecture will provide main guidance by means of two-way communication; all theories will be underpinned by practical examples and opened to in-class discussions by students. The participants are expected to read assigned  material, raise questions about the claims in the article, and discuss their findings in the class.

Requirements to the exam -
Last update: Mgr. Jana Sehnálková, Ph.D. (14.09.2015)

1. Attendance and active participation, including thorough preparation for each class: 10 + 10 %.Students are required to read the assigned texts thorough enough to contribute during class discussion. The texts will be available online on the course website or sent via email during the weekend before the class. Should you have any problems getting access to the texts by Sunday morning, let me know by email.

Students are also expected to closely follow current events pertaining to US domestic and foreign policy. It is expected that the students will read at least one daily U.S. newspaper - e.g. the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Los Angeles Times. Each class will start with a brief discussion of the latest developments in U.S. foreign and domestic politics.

 

2. Group project: 40%

Students are encouraged to create groups of two members for agroup project. Each group shall prepare an in-depth backgrounder on one of the presidential candidates, describing their position on key issues and controversies. The backgrounder presentation should be multi-media based - i.e. using text, links to videos, photos,  newspapers articles, cartoons, etc.

For the presentation, the students are encouraged to use official resources, such as White House website (www.whitehouse.gov), opinion polls (e.g. from Gallup, Rasmussen Reports, Democracy Corps, Pew Research), official statistics (www.census.gov), or other media (e.g. online newspapers, YouTube, Facebook, etc).

All the backgrounders will be uploaded to a website.

The students are encouraged to discuss their presentation on regular basis.

 

3. Final exam: 50%
The final exam will include identification of basic concepts, short answer questions related to assigned readings and to student presentations as well as a short argumentative essay.

Syllabus -
Last update: Mgr. Jana Sehnálková, Ph.D. (30.09.2019)

Course Outline (Tentative – subject to change):

 

1. Orientation/Introduction

 

2. Media Landscape

 

3. Foreign Policy

 

4. U.S. Economy Under Donald Trump

 

5. Class in the United States

 

6.  Racial Relations: BlackLivesMatter, Police Violence, Incarceration, War Against Drugs

 

7. Gun Rights: Major legislation, 2nd rights amendment debates, lobbying.

 

8. HealthCare/ ObamaCare

Meaning of the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act

 

9. Policy of Homeland Security

Defending the U.S. from the inside, U.S. and terrorism, domestic terrorism, terrorism v. hate crimes.

 

10. Role of religion in the U.S.

+ other topics of interest

Entry requirements -
Last update: SEHNALKO (03.09.2012)

English, basic understanding of U.S. political system

 
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