New Zealand Politics

Topic: One particular aspect of New Zealand politics (1500 WORDS)

Type of paper: Essay (any type)

Discipline: Political science : Political Science

Format or citation style: Chicago / Turabian

PICK ONE!!! ( I DONT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY FOR 1500 WORDS SO I PUT 1100) CAN YOU STILL DO IT!!????
1. In June 2019 a report ‘Foresight, insight and oversight: Enhancing long-term governance through better parliamentary scrutiny’ was released (you can find a copy of the report on Blackboard in the Assessments tab within the ‘Unessay or Essay’ folder). This report identifies some key concerns with New Zealand’s parliamentary processes and suggests options for reform. You should identify one reform in the report that you wish to critically evaluate. In your essay, you should explore the relative strengths and weaknesses of this reform, drawing on at least five academic peer-reviewed sources (not including the report) to make your argument. Please remember that your essay should have a thesis – in other words, you should be making a case for either adopting the reform or rejecting it (or, perhaps, revising it to address weaknesses you identify). In making your case, you should present arguments both for and against the reform.

2. What role does Te Tiriti O Waitangi currently play in New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements? Do you think its role is sufficient or should it be strengthened? Why or why not? Justify your answer with reference to at least five academic peer-reviewed sources.

3. Should all New Zealand constitutional law be consolidated into one Act? What are the most important elements you would expect to see in the Act, and should it be fundamental law or ordinary legislation? Remember that this is not simply a descriptive essay (i.e. don’t just explain what the constitutional arrangements should look like) – you should also give reasons for your answer, with reference to at least five academic peer-reviewed sources.

4.    ‘The role of New Zealand Prime Minister is now much more than ‘first among equals’. Do you agree or disagree? Justify your answer, with reference to at least five peer-reviewed academic sources.
5.    ‘Despite the change to MMP, the New Zealand Parliament is still failing in its role as an effective check on executive power’. Do you agree or disagree? Justify your answer, with reference to at least five academic peer-reviewed sources.
6.    Do you think that measures for public engagement with the New Zealand Parliament are sufficient? If so, why? If not, why not? Justify your answer, with reference to at least five academic peer-reviewed sources.

7. In the 2017 New Zealand General Election, a number of small parties were not re-elected to Parliament, thus reducing the number of parties represented in the legislature. A number of political commentators have suggested that this illuminates deficiencies in the MMP electoral system. Do you agree? Justify your answer with reference to at least five academic peer-reviewed sources. In answering this question, it might help to consider the recommendations of the Electoral Commission’s review of MMP in 2012.

8. Explain how and why the issue of customary property rights in the Foreshore and Seabed transformed the nature of Māori politics. To what extent have the effects been permanent or transitory? Justify your answer, with reference to at least five academic peer-reviewed sources.

9. Assess the relative advantages and disadvantages of political parties in New Zealand’s political landscape. Do you think that they are an important and valuable feature of New Zealand’s democracy? Justify your answer with reference to at least five academic peer-reviewed sources. In answering this question, you may wish to consider the justifications for – and criticisms of – the Electoral (Integrity) Bill.
10. What does it mean to talk of a constitutionally independent, expert and politically neutral public service? Do we have one in New Zealand? Use examples to illustrate your argument and justify your answer with reference to at least five academic peer-reviewed sources.

11. Do you think that social media is largely a positive or negative influence on New Zealand’s democracy? Why or why not? You should draw on at least five academic peer-reviewed sources to support your answer.
12. Is New Zealand’s Parliament sufficiently ‘representative’? In your essay explain and justify what you mean by representation before assessing whether or not it is ‘sufficiently’ representative. You should reference at least five academic peer-reviewed sources to support your answer.

Essay Questions 2019

To give you an opportunity to engage deeply with one particular theme covered in the course, you may choose between two options: the essay and the unessay. The point of this component of your assessment (worth 30% of your grade) is to help you read and think critically, to develop your skills as a scholar of New Zealand politics, and to strengthen your communication and written skills.

If you choose the essay option, you will be responsible for researching and writing a 1,500-1,800 word essay (not counting footnotes or bibliography), using ONE of the options below.

For reading suggestions for each essay question, please look beyond the required readings to the recommended readings for the relevant week/s. As this is a research essay, there is an expectation that you will conduct independent research and look beyond the readings listed in the syllabus.

You will be marked according to whether your essay:

a. answers the question

b. provides a clear, persuasive thesis statement in the introduction

c. draws on high quality sources for evidence that supports the thesis throughout the essay

d. points to possible counter-arguments, and explains why they are not persuasive

e. cites sources appropriately, including correct and accurate formatting (including page numbers).

Please write your essay in response to ONE of the following prompts:

1. In June 2019 a report ‘Foresight, insight and oversight: Enhancing long-term governance through better parliamentary scrutiny’ was released (you can find a copy of the report on Blackboard in the Assessments tab within the ‘Unessay or Essay’ folder). This report identifies some key concerns with New Zealand’s parliamentary processes and suggests options for reform. You should identify one reform in the report that you wish to critically evaluate. In your essay, you should explore the relative strengths and weaknesses of this reform, drawing on at least five academic peer-reviewed sources (not including the report) to make your argument. Please remember that your essay should have a thesis – in other words, you should be making a case for either adopting the reform or rejecting it (or, perhaps, revising it to address weaknesses you identify). In making your case, you should present arguments both for and against the reform.

4. ‘The role of New Zealand Prime Minister is now much more than ‘first among equals’. Do you agree or disagree? Justify your answer, with reference to at least five peer-reviewed academic sources.

5. ‘Despite the change to MMP, the New Zealand Parliament is still failing in its role as an effective check on executive power’. Do you agree or disagree? Justify your answer, with reference to at least five academic peer-reviewed sources.

6. Do you think that measures for public engagement with the New Zealand Parliament are sufficient? If so, why? If not, why not? Justify your answer, with reference to at least five academic peer-reviewed sources.

7. In the 2017 New Zealand General Election, a number of small parties were not re-elected to Parliament, thus reducing the number of parties represented in the legislature. A number of political commentators have suggested that this illuminates deficiencies in the MMP electoral system. Do you agree? Justify your answer with reference to at least five academic peer-reviewed sources. In answering this question, it might help to consider the recommendations of the Electoral Commission’s review of MMP in 2012.

10. What does it mean to talk of a constitutionally independent, expert and politically neutral public service? Do we have one in New Zealand? Use examples to illustrate your argument and justify your answer with reference to at least five academic peer-reviewed sources.

11. Do you think that social media is largely a positive or negative influence on New Zealand’s democracy? Why or why not? You should draw on at least five academic peer-reviewed sources to support your answer.

12. Is New Zealand’s Parliament sufficiently ‘representative’? In your essay explain and justify what you mean by representation before assessing whether or not it is ‘sufficiently’ representative. You should reference at least five academic peer-reviewed sources to support your answer.

Essay Guidelines

Researching and writing an essay is an opportunity to engage deeply with one particular theme covered in the course. The point of this part of your assessment is to help you read and think critically, to develop your skills as a scholar of New Zealand politics, and to strengthen your communication and written skills.

For this assignment, you should research and write a 1,500-1,800 word essay (not counting footnotes or bibliography) on a topic of your choice related to the course (the essay questions are listed on Blackboard).

I am primarily interested in two aspects of your essay: your structure and your argument. Below I explain in more detail what I am looking for and suggestions for how to construct your essay.

Structure:

· Your essay should have a clear structure. This includes an introduction, a main body and a conclusion made up of sensible sentences and paragraphs.

· Your introduction should include a clear thesis statement outlining the claim you will be defending. It may also be worth noting the key points you will consider in your essay.

· The body of your essay should develop a couple of focused, clear arguments.

· Your conclusion is a summary of your argument and is closely related to your introduction; however, should not be the same. A useful question to ask when considering your conclusion is ‘So What?’ You have just spent an essay developing an argument, what you have achieved? Do you think you convinced the reader of the legitimacy of your claim? Do you think further reflection or refinement might be required to more fully answer the question?

· Include appropriate citations AND a bibliography. Most important is that you are consistent in your citations. I do not have a preference for either in-text citation or footnotes, as long as you choose one style and stick with it. (I strongly recommend the Chicago Style Citation Manual, available online: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html).

· Please be attentive to word count – you need to make your argument effectively within the word range. Longer (or shorter) papers will be penalised. Your bibliography DOES NOT count as part of your word count.

Argument:

· Focus on a few key arguments and make them well. Do not try to cover all aspects of the topic, but explain what you are doing and why you are focusing on the arguments that you are – I am seeking depth, not breadth.

· Demonstrate good knowledge of the appropriate texts but, more importantly, show that you are engaging with the ideas of the text by reformulating them in your own words and discussing their relative strengths and weaknesses. While I don’t have specific expectations about how many texts you will cite, I would expect to see at least five good quality, peer-reviewed sources used to make your argument.

· Remember that this essay should not be a polemic, by which I mean it should not present only positive arguments in support of your claim. The strongest defence of a claim will demonstrate an awareness of counterarguments to your position, and will then attempt to address those concerns.

· Be sure that when you make assertions you also justify them. For example, it is not enough to say: “The review of the MMP electoral system was a flawed process from start to finish.” You must detail why the review was flawed.

Marking Criteria

Using the skills developed in the academic skills tasks, I expect you to write a high quality essay that:

a. answers the question

b. provides a clear, persuasive thesis statement in the introduction

c. draws on high quality sources for evidence that supports the thesis throughout the essay

d. points to possible counter-arguments, and explains why they are not persuasive

e. cites sources appropriately, including correct and accurate formatting (including page numbers).

If you are having any difficulties with your essay please talk with your tutor or see Student Learning Services – they are there to help!

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POLS111 | Essay Guidelines and Questions

Task 7 | Essay Plan

1. What is your question? (choose from the list provided on Blackboard)

2. What is your provisional thesis?

I.e. what is your main argument likely to be? Another way to think of this: if you had to provide a one or two sentence answer to the question, what would that answer be? You may find this resource helpful in formulating your thesis: https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/developing-thesis

3. Outline your essay

This should indicate the main ideas you will be exploring in your essay and will most likely be laid out as sections along the lines of:

Introduction

Main body sections (will you use headings? what are the main arguments and evidence you will be using to support your thesis? have you considered counterarguments?)

Conclusion

3. Selected bibliography This requires you to indicate the sources you plan to use to answer your question. It is not to your advantage to simply copy book or article citations that seem related to your topic – take this opportunity to do a literature search and find resources that will actually help you to write your essay. Use the reference list you started in the ‘Evaluating Sources’ assignment as a starting point. You should include at least five peer-reviewed sources in your bibliography.

Note that creating a thoughtful bibliography doesn’t require you to read entire books on your topic for the paper proposal. However, you should at least skim through abstracts or book reviews to get a sense of whether or not a book or article is actually going to be useful for you before you include it in your bibliography. (Of course, it should go without saying that when you actually write your essay you should be reading the actual book/article and not just abstracts or reviews!)

4. Timeline

Time management is crucial for researching and writing good essays. Alongside your plan, include a work calendar outlining your personal deadlines for completing your paper showing how these are going to fit with your other course commitments (you may like to include the deadlines for this class alongside deadlines you have to meet in other courses). The personal deadlines for writing your research paper might include research, writing particular sections, drafting your introduction for peer review, and completing your first draft.

Finally, I realise that you may be in the early stages of researching and writing your paper. The essay plan is not meant to be a finished project. It is a road map showing that you’ve thought about the topic and that you are on your way to finding the information that will allow you to write a good paper. It is also a good starting point for a conversation with your tutor if you are having difficulty with any aspects of the essay.

POLS 111 | Task 7 | Essay Plan

Task 6 | Drafting a counterargument

Before starting this exercise, you should read: https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/counter-argument.

I also highly recommend you read all the subsections in the tab ‘Integrating Sources’: https://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/integrating-sources.

In this exercise you need to identify an argument that you want to make in support of your essay’s thesis (you may not yet have a firm thesis for your essay, but I encourage you to formulate a provisional thesis – this helps you to organize your research and thinking, as well as to structure your essay. You will also find this helpful for next week’s essay plan assignment). You then need to think of the strongest possible counterargument to your claim, and write a paragraph in which you outline the counterargument and explain why it is not a compelling reason to dismiss your argument.

Structure the paragraph as follows: 1. Opening sentence with your claim

e.g. MMP is the best electoral system for New Zealand, because it reduces the likelihood that one party can dominate the executive and the legislature.

2. Next 1-3 sentences outlining the counterargument

e.g. Critics of MMP argue, however, that too much power is given to smaller parties, as they are relied upon to form coalitions or confidence and supply agreements. As a result, despite only representing a small percentage of the vote, smaller parties might have an outsized influence on aspects of governmental policy or positions of power.

3. Next 2-3 sentences outlining why this counterargument is not persuasive

e.g. However, studies indicate that MMP governments have allowed for effective government, in particular because the ‘agree to disagree’ clause enables minor parties to distinguish themselves from their coalition partner without needing to invoke the possibility of walking away from the support agreement. This means that smaller parties can meet the political demands of their constituents (by stating how their policy differs from the government’s) without dominating the government’s agenda, while the larger coalition partner can proceed with their overall policy agenda without necessarily losing their coalition or confidence and supply partner. As such, smaller parties are prevented from exercising excessive power over their ally, while at the same time retaining some ability to serve as an important check on governmental power.

Your submission should look something like this:

MMP is the best electoral system for New Zealand, because it reduces the likelihood that one party can dominate the executive and the legislature. Critics of MMP argue, however, that too much power is given to smaller parties, as they are relied upon to form coalitions or confidence and supply agreements. As a result, despite only representing a small percentage of the vote, smaller parties might have an outsized influence on aspects of governmental policy or positions of power. However, studies indicate that MMP governments have allowed for effective government, in particular because the ‘agree to disagree’ clause enables minor parties to distinguish themselves from their coalition partner without needing to invoke the possibility of walking away from the support agreement. This means that smaller parties can meet the political demands of their constituents (by stating how their policy differs from the government’s) without dominating the government’s agenda, while the larger coalition partner can proceed with their overall policy agenda without necessarily losing their coalition or confidence and supply partner. As such, smaller parties are prevented from exercising excessive power over their ally, while at the same time retaining some ability to serve as an important check on governmental power.

Remember that if you wish to use your paragraph in your final essay (which you should!), you will need to include citations where appropriate (though citations are not required for this exercise).

Marks will be allocated as follows, for a mark out of 5:

1 mark: Topic sentence

1 mark for identifying a claim with which you agree

.5 mark for identifying a claim, though it’s not clear what the claim is

0 marks for no topic sentence

2 marks: Counterargument

2 marks for identifying a convincing counterargument

1 mark for identifying a counterargument, though it may not be particularly convincing

0 marks for failing to identify a counterargument

2 marks: Refutation

2 marks for persuasively refuting the counterargument

1 mark for refuting the counterargument, though it may not be very convincing

0 marks for failing to refute the counterargument

POLS 111 | Task 6 | Drafting a counterargument

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