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Weekly discussion board on diversity

This week, we're studying how interest groups work. First, despite what you see on TV, interest groups are not necessarily an evil thing. The First Amendment guarantees our right to free speech, and "peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," which is essentially a Constitutional right to form interest groups and work collectively to influence public policy. I'm biased on this one. I love teaching, but I spent a career as a lobbyist for the Houston Apartment Association, a non-profit trade association that represents people who develop, own and manage apartment properties. Mostly, I do what my clients don't have time to do - read all the city council agendas each week, go to meetings, keep track of what's being discussed and help explain the unintended consequences of things being considered. Persuading somebody to vote a certain way is a very rare part of the job, and is generally done by people actually in the industry, not lobbyists. At the federal level, though, things are changing. The amount of money required to win a congressional campaign is becoming enormous, and the extent to which congressmen rely on interest groups for campaign funding makes many citizens justifiably nervous. Find the website for the Center for Responsive Politics: https://www.opensecrets.org/ Links to an external site. Explore around a little, then find your way to the "Interest Groups" page Links to an external site. under "Influence & Lobbying." Click on "Interest Groups List,"then search by sector. Find an industry that interests you - one in which you work or hope to work someday. Write a 2 - 5 page essay about that group's campaign contributions. How much do they give? To whom? Why do you think they chose those recipients? (Hint: Go to https://www.congress.gov/ Links to an external site. and look at their committee assignments) What do you think they have to gain from doing this? What do they have to lose if they don't? If you were involved with this group, would you push for them to do anything differently? Submit in Word. Cite your sources. ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS Assignments – Unless the directions say otherwise, assignments are college-level essays, 2 - 5 pages, double-spaced with sources cited. Use a normal-looking, normal-size font (never bigger than 12) and normal margins. "College-level" is the key. It doesn't have to be stuffy or super-formal, but if u rite lik ur txting ur bff, i c u gtng n F :>) Proofread. Write your assignment in Word (the file name should end in .docx) and save it where you can find it on your computer. My suggestion: make a folder in My Documents, call it something like "Govt2305" and save all your assignments there so they're easy to find. Follow the directions and submit these in Canvas. Sources and Plagiarism - Cite every source you use on every assignment. I don't need perfect APA citations Links to an external site. (although that's a great thing to learn), but make it clear where you got your information and be specific every time. Regarding plagiarism: Just don't, ok?. Every semester, I end up busting a few students for copying text from the internet into a Word document and calling it their essay. Once means a zero for that assignment. Twice is an automatic F for the course.

discussion board diversity in politics

Scenario Congratulations! You have just been appointed the new Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues, a Congressionally-mandated and Senate-confirmed position within the State Department. You have spent much of your career focusing on Asia and North Korea, including substantial periods in the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. You realize that this is going to be a tough job. Without doubt, the North Korean regime's record on human rights is abysmal. A lengthy paragraph in the Department's 2022 Human Rights Report catalogues dozens of categories of human rights abuses perpetrated by authorities in North Korea. International observers and NGOs routinely condemn Pyongyang's abuse of its citizens. Even the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution in April 2023 that expressed its deep concern "about the systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that, in many instances, constitute crimes against humanity..." At the same time, you also understand that U.S. concerns about the DPRK encompass far more than human rights issues. You also wonder how much leverage the U.S. wields vis-a-vis the DPRK. The National Security Advisor plans to convene a Principals Committee meeting next week to review U.S. policy toward the DPRK. The White House has made it clear that it wants to develop a new strategy toward North Korea that includes, among other priorities, a focus on human rights. This meeting is intended to give shape to the new strategy. The Secretary of State has asked you to draft a memo that will help define State’s thinking before the high-level interagency discussion takes place. Assignment and Instructions The Secretary’s tasking requests that you address the following topics in a memo that may not exceed four pages. Your tasking includes a list of topics (below) that must be included in the memo, including several illustrative questions to consider. You must address those questions at a minimum, but you are not limited by them. Feel free to explore other dimensions of each topic as you see fit. You may also change the order of these topics if that would facilitate the flow of your memo. Please use the following format for your memo. Memo Template (State Dept) DPRK.docx(Do not include in your memo the text of the questions in the template. They are there merely to serve as prompts for your responses.) Topics for the Memo (U) U.S. Efforts to Date: Assess U.S. policy -- including in the area of human rights -- toward the DPRK over the last decade. Which elements of national power (using the “DIME” paradigm) has the U.S. employed? Which aspects of our approach, if any, have produced positive results? Are there some elements of our policy that have failed or produced no results? (U) Interests and Values: Assess which U.S. national interests and/or values are at stake in the DPRK. Do they compete or converge? To what extent should interests and/or values guide U.S. policy and actions? Describe the extent to which human rights concerns have impacted U.S. policy toward North Korea over the last decade and assert your view as to whether the U.S. should assign a greater or lesser priority to human rights in its dealings with Pyongyang. (U) International Law: Does international human rights law apply to the situation in the DPRK? To what extent, if at all, should international legal considerations affect the U.S. approach? Are there any legal obligations for the U.S. or the broader international community to act in the face of ongoing human rights violations in North Korea?(U) Responsibility to Protect: Should or could R2P apply in this case and, if so, in what way? Would there be any diplomatic or other obstacles to R2P implementation?(U) Accountability and Responsibility: Is there any criminal liability on the part of DPRK officials for reported human rights violations and/or violations of international humanitarian law? Does the U.S. have an obligation, or role of any kind for that matter, in punishing perpetrators of human rights crimes in North Korea? Regardless of any U.S. role, which mechanism(s) or jurisdiction(s), if any, could/should be employed to investigate, prosecute, and punish perpetrators? (U) The Path Forward: Based upon your findings, and the White House's desire for a new DPRK strategy, spell out at least three specific recommendations relating to human rights considerations that the State Department should advocate in interagency discussions. Optional Materials You will have to conduct your own research for this project, but I have included here some potentially useful materials to help get you started. You are not required to use and/or cite any of these materials. Country Report on Human Rights - North Korea (U.S. Dept. of State, March 2023) Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (OHCHR) UNGA 78/218 "Situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea" (December 2023) Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (February 2014) World Report 2024: North Korea (Human Rights Watch) Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity in North Korean Detention Centers (June 2022)

Please review:  Required and recommended readings and videos for Module 2 and also find your own sources that discuss the US foreign policy commitment to human rights, democracy and preventing Genocide and mass atrocities. Respond to only one of the following prompts:  How do U.S. grass roots diplomacy through U.S. embassies and strategic programs from Washington, DC - the CSO Bureau and Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice contribute to preventing Genocide and mass atrocities?  (Interviews with Ambassadors Kozak and Williamson and also Assistant Secretary Faucher) 

Please compare the two legal traditions: “civil law tradition” vs. “common tradition.”  Which one do you prefer? Why? Why not? 

Organizations play differing roles in promoting human rights around the world. What is unique about the role that NGOs play? How do NGOs contribute to global human rights? To answer this question, pick one of the NGOs listed in the Module, or an NGO of your choice, and describe the types of human rights issues they address and what their contributions are. How can they contribute to peace and stability and avoid hatred, persecution, crimes against humanity and Genocide?   What factors and organizations discussed this week (UN, US Congress or NGOs) are most important for the promotion of human rights around the world and why? Who should bear the primary responsibility for protecting human rights and why?

This will be done twice for two chapters M4 CJ Policy Discussion #1 Hello everyone! Welcome to your first policy discussion of the semester! These policy discussions will ask you to review your assigned chapter in-depth and to add to the conversation by bringing in external research. Your Task To complete this discussion, please do the following: Read your assigned chapter (see module objectives for assigned reading assignments! Each student is responsible for their own discussion - multiple students may have the same chapters, but are expected to submit individual work.) Address the Chapter Review questions (below) in-depth for your chapter review portion of this discussion. Reviews also include introductory materials or chapters that everyone has to read. Find two scholarly, academic, peer-reviewed sources to add to this discussion - this can be to add a different perspective, add more to a particular viewpoint, answer a question you may have, or add information that the chapter did not cover! Reply to 2 classmates - making sure that replies are substantive in nature (so more than just praising their work, ideas, or writing style). CHAPTER REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR PART 1 INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICY Start off with a summary of the chapter(s) that you were assigned. This includes introductory materials or materials that everyone had to read. Your summary should include the main points of the chapter - to the point where if someone didn't read the chapter they'd be able to follow along. You can do this in paragraph form, as bullet points, or as an outline - I'm okay with any of these options. Make sure you cite (see above)! Continue with overall impressions of the reading content - this is where you can give your opinions of what you have read. What do you think of the content? How accurate was it? Was it biased or skewed? Continue with increased understanding - what is one thing that you now understand about public policy in criminal justice that you did not understand before the reading? Continue with questions you still have - was there anything missed or overlooked by the reading? What questions do you still have after completing the reading and what are they? End with your contribution to the conversation - this is where you will bring in the two (2) scholarly, academic peer-reviewed articles to add to the discussion. This can be done in a multitude of ways - see above. 

Write a summary that focuses on critically evaluating what is going on, from your personal perspective.

Discussion on Habeas Corpus PREPARATION FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT: Read background material (The Plot, The Atttacks, The Aftermath, The September 11 Commission and itsfindings)Links to an external site. Watch this short video Links to an external siteon the 9/11 attacks (trigger warning:        includesaudio and video of people dying in the attacks)Links to an external site. Listen to this podcast 1. Post your answer to the following questions:  Explain the meaning of habeas corpus.  Note: You can't find a simple statement in the podcasts that completely defines this term.  You will need to infer the meaning from the whole podcast and/or do further research. Make sure you quote and cite properly; don't plagiarize. Provide at least 2 examples from the podcast of the abuse/torture of prisoners denied habeas corpus.