What is the significance of the distinction between primary and Caucus?

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN PRIMARY AND CAUCUS? A Caucus is a series of meetings held by party members rather than open elections. They are also used to select a party's candidate for the presidency. States that usually use caucuses to select their candidates include Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Hawaii and Nevada. A primary is an election held within a political party to decide which of a number of competing individuals should be the official candidate of that party in a public election. It is most commonly used in the USA by political parties to select their preference for a presidential candidate. Most states use the 'primary' to nominate their President. New Hampshire is usually the first state to hold the primary season in February or March and the rest follow over the next three or four months. There are several different types of primaries. These include closed primaries, open primaries, blanket primaries, winner-take-all primaries, proportional representation primary, advisory primary and mandatory primary. A closed primary offers a greater degree of participation than caucuses. A disadvantage of such primary is that only party members can vote. Hence, voting can be biased as some candidates might be given priority over the others. However, an advantage is that the party members would know who is the suitable candidate to run for presidency.

  • Word count: 817
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
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Is “reason” helping?

Philosophy Adrian Edwards Is "reason" helping? 3/9/02 Enlightenment thinkers thought that almost all of the world's problems were in direct result of the lack of reason. With the development of reason they thought many problems were solved. But that was only a theory, an idea that has not helped anything. It is constant, everyone in the world wants to make a model society, and make things better, a natural inclination, which has nothing to do with reason. The question of deciding whether or not "reason" is helping people and nations today is a hard one. Which country does on need to look at to decide? Looking at America, some could decide that, yes, reason is helping, where others could say no. If we were to look at, say , the Congo in Africa, and all the massacres, then some would say where was reason then? Now what is "reason"? Reason is the be00nlief and idea that more educates people will make better decisions. Now has "reason" helped the United States? Yes for the most part, intelligent people have created a free-based country, made a constitution meant for change, and overall that believes in the good of the world. Now the United States is not all good, our country is based off of slavery for a long time and women couldn't vote for a long time, only about 40 years ago did they get the vote. At the same time though, look at Enron. All the executives of the

  • Word count: 725
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
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Albert Einstein.

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is." - Albert Einstein - Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on Mar, 14, 1879. Einstein's parents, who were non practicing Jews, moved from Ulm to Munich when Einstein was a baby. When the family's business, the manufacture of electrical parts, failed in 1894, the family moved to Milan, Italy. At this time Einstein decided legitimately to relinquish his German citizenship. Within a year, still without having completed secondary school, Einstein sat an examination that would have allowed him to pursue a course of study leading to a diploma as an electrical engineer at the Swiss Polytechnic, a top technical university, but he failed the arts component of the examination. His family sent him to the Swiss town of Aarau to finish high school. It was at this school that Einstein first started to develop a love for physics. In 1896, Einstein returned to the Swiss Polytechnic, where he graduated in 1900 as a secondary school teacher of mathematics and physics. After two years of teaching, Einstein obtained a post at the Swiss patent office in Bern. While he was employed at the office (1902-1909), Einstein completed an astonishing range of publications in theoretical physics. The year 1905 was known as "Annus Mirabilis" - Einstein's "Miracle Year". Einstein's

  • Word count: 1787
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
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Media a threat?

Threat? What does it actually mean? A threat is a warning that states your intention to hurt or punish somebody. So, my question is: when has any type of media actually 'THREATENED' the government? Let's talk about what a Democratic Government means. "Demo" is Greek for "people" and "Cratic" is Greek for "rule". As we all know, this type of government is elected and indirectly ruled by the society. We give them the permission to use our money on government spending. Therefore, shouldn't we have the right to know where OUR money is going, what is happening to OUR country? We do, and how do we get hold of such information? through the media. If the government is doing something wrong, the media will tell us what is going on, and let me just emphasise that this is not a threat but is actually healthy criticism which helps the democratic government know the public's opinion. The media is there to enhance the public's awareness about governments, their doings and to express their opinions regarding current issues in politics. As we all know, there are many different Newspapers. Such as: 'La provincia', 'El pais', 'El mundo'. Now do you really think that all these Newspapers share the same view? I'm afraid not. El pais criticises Zapatero for example whereas La provincial agrees with all his views, so we do get a balanced view about our president's actions and ideas. And now,

  • Word count: 400
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
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Discussion question: What is socialism? Is socialism possible or desirable?

Discussion question: What is socialism? Is socialism possible or desirable? (Week 14 question, Inequality) Throughout the history of the Western world various ideologies have proven so influential as to give rise to assorted "possibilities and desires" that change society. Namely, the rise and support of socialism has been a major component to the make up of Western history in the 19th and 20th centuries. An investigation into the development of socialism will prove that its popularity, support and even criticism came as a result of certain milestones. These milestones serve as turning points in the ideology's history, and without them it could easily be presumed that the philosophy would never have produced such influential results. In addition, such an investigation will prove these milestones were joined with various interactions between the philosophers and the political reality of assorted nations. This interaction proved to be the roots that allowed socialism to bloom into its entirety. There were various events in Western history that inspired discontent with the current government structure. This discontent dated all the way back to the late 1700's when political theorists like Edmund Burke tried to promote the monarchies in the Restoration era: "In Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke said that...the belief in human equality undermined the social

  • Word count: 1050
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
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Are political parties better understood as reflections of ‘social cleavages’, or products of strategic action?

Are political parties better understood as reflections of 'social cleavages', or products of strategic action? As famously expressed by the 19th century French politician and writer Tocqueville, political parties in democratic countries are "the only powerful persons who aspire to rule the state"i. Thus, political scientists and politicians have been keen on examining patterns of support that political parties receive from significant social groupings. The concept of cleavages has become a vital concept in political science when trying to understand voting behaviour and party systems. Seymour Martin Lipset and Stein Rokkan (1967) described the development of European party systems in terms of the historical conditions of national and socio-economic developmentii. According to Lipset and Rokkan's work, party preferences are strongly influenced by the social groups to which voters belong. Parties arise, then, in response to the demands of these voters. On the other hand, the changes that took place in the European party systems since the Second World War have led many political scientists such as Kirchheimer, Dalton to view political parties as products of an interaction of social base and strategic action. Kirchheimer's 'catch-all party model' aimed to show the new intention of European political parties to attract as many voters as they can, giving less importance to the

  • Word count: 2621
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
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How valid is this interpretation of Disraeli's career and achievements in the period 1846-1880? In my opinion John Walton makes valid interpretation of Disraeli's political achievements

"A schemer who hid his opportunism behind a smokescreen of high sounding phrases" (John Walton, an academic historian and specialising in modern British history written in a student textbook, Disraeli 1990) How valid is this interpretation of Disraeli's career and achievements in the period 1846-1880? In my opinion John Walton makes valid interpretation of Disraeli's political achievements within his career. It can be argued that Disraeli's existence within the political world was down to his opportunism. We know that Disraeli was fighting for a position in the House of Commons and to be taken seriously, however it was not until he married Mary Ann Lewis did his career conveniently start to advance. There is no denial he loved his wife, but he took an opportunity that presented itself, when he married her. Her former husband was an Mp and with her contacts and influence she helped kick start Disraeli's real political career. One of Disraeli's greatest achievements within his career was the second reform bill. However, being that it wasn't an original idea and merely a failed Liberal bill. The controversy of whether Disraeli genuinely wanted reform is not relevant. Despite perhaps the want of reform Disraeli again grabs opportunity with both hands and put through the reform bill in order to benefit his career. So Disraeli's great achievement within his career was merely

  • Word count: 790
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
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Assess the contribution of the Marxist perspective to sociology

Assess the contribution of the Marxist perspective to sociology The Marxist perspective is associated with Karl Marx, who saw history in terms of there being an over all conflict between different social classes known as the ruling class and the working class. All the power of society was monopolized by the ruling class (individuals who owned the means of production) and provided the tension for conflict. Marx believed that a revolution would occur with the ruling class being over thrown by the working class, and it was only a matter of time before it would happen. He also saw human society as being based on the production of good, arguing that society had a material base. Marx thought the only way that this revolution could be avoided was if society became communist, as there was no economic surplus and no private wealth, so classes couldn't exist within society. Instead there would be communal ownership of the means of production. The Marxist perspective also influenced the Neo -Marxists, who were strongly influenced by Marx but didn't agree with some of his work. Gramsci is an example of a neo Marxist, who stated that ownership of the means of production was not enough to win ruling class control, working class would need to make alliances with other classes to attain hegemony (political domination). Marx believed that his methodology and values were objective and

  • Word count: 834
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
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Would a world of democratic states prevent war?

Would a world of democratic states prevent war? "Ultimately, the best strategy to ensure our security and to build a durable peace is to support the advance of democracy elsewhere. Democracies don't attack each other." (American President Bill Clinton in his State of the Union Address to Congress, Jan. 25, 1994) In 1994, American President Bill Clinton declared that the promotion of democracy was one of the most important factors in ensuring America's security and world peace in the post-Cold War era, a policy of the Clinton administration, which is also supported by the current Bush administration. Clinton's claims are based on the school of thought of international relations known as "democratic peace". The theory of "democratic peace" was developed in the 1980's, but its roots trace back to the 1790's and the writings of Immanuel Kant. The theory suggests that democratic states are incredibly reluctant to go to war against other democratic states, thus it can be argued that an increase in democratic states would result in greater world peace and ensure America's security. Students of the "democratic peace" school of thought have spent thousands of hours analyzing wars in order to prove that democracies are more peaceful than other forms of governing regime. They claimed to have proven their point by showing that although the 20th century ranking among the most violent

  • Word count: 1893
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
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In what sense(s) can liberalism be regarded as individualistic? Should individualism be regarded as a strength or weakness of liberalism?

In what sense(s) can liberalism be regarded as individualistic? Should individualism be regarded as a strength or weakness of liberalism? Ever since the creation of liberalism, definitions and values have been ever changing. Indeed, different countries can change the understanding of liberalism. In Britain, liberalism has centred on religious toleration, government by consent and personal/ economic freedom. On the other hand, traditional French liberalism has been associated with secularism and democracy. With this in mind, the issue over liberalism makes for a somewhat high level of debate. However, looking beyond all the variables of liberalism, the theory of individualism appears to be ever present. This is why liberalism can be regarded as individualistic. Perhaps the main argument over liberalism being individualistic, is whether or not, this is a strength or a weakness. "At the philosophical level, liberals have affirmed a commitment to the concepts of equality, liberty, individuality and rationality."1 This statement from Eatwell and Wright conveys that individualism is a key concept in regards to liberalism. Defining liberalism is perhaps the best way in which to regard it as individualistic. The actual term liberalism can be traced as far backed as the fourteenth century. The word liberal automatically conveys a sense of freedom in light that the it derives from

  • Word count: 1526
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
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