Essay Assignment for POL 2292G
Students will write a paper of about 2500 words (8 double-spaced pages) on a topic addressed in the second term. The paper will be free of plagiarism and is due. A late penalty of 2% per day will be applied.
The student is urged to draft a point-form outline of the paper for consideration by the course instructor.
The following provides suggestions for topics, but students may put forward a topic of their own for discussion with the instructor. Readings are also provided for initial guidance, but students are required to use 6-8 scholarly articles or chapters in completing the essay (number may include those listed below). All readings below are on-line, save for those noted otherwise.
Topics
1. The topic of woman and political leadership involves addressing and resolving issues like the lack of women leaders and whether the leadership style of women differs from the style of men. Write an essay which endeavours to resolve key issues relating to women and political leadership.
Readings:
Goryunova, E., Scribner, R., Madsen, S. (2017). The Status of Women Leaders Worldwide. In S. R. Madsen (Ed..), Handbook of Research on Gender and Leadership. Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar
Newman, J, White, Linda & Findlay, Tammy. (2020). Women, Politics, and Public Policy 2nd ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Ch. 5. Two-hour reserve.
Carli, L., & Eagly, A. (2018). Leadership and Gender. In J. Antonakis and D. Day (Ed.), The Nature of Leadership, 3rd. London: Sage.
Bashevkin, S. (2009). Women in Politics. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Ch. 2. Two-hour reserve.
2. Scholars have determined that five specific tasks need to be undertaken to ensure some degree of control over large-scale crises. Use these tasks to determine whether one can conclude that public leadership in Ontario achieved control over COVID19.
Readings
Boin, A. et al. (2017). The Politics of Crisis Management: Public Leadership Under Pressure, 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press. Ch. 1.
Boin, A. et al. (n.d.). Learning from the COVIC-19 Crisis: An Initial Analysis of National Responses. Policy Design Practice
Office of the Auditor General of Ontario. (2020). COVID19 Preparedness and Management, Special Report (and others to follow)
3. Research shows that storytelling or the narrative helps leaders to persuade their audience to act in the desired fashion. However, some argue that narratives can have an unwanted effect. Write a paper which provides a clear picture of the value of storytelling in political life and elsewhere.
Readings:
Kottler, J. (2018). What you Dont Know About Leadership but Probably Should. New York: Oxford University Press. Chs. 8, 11. Two-hour reserve.
Krause, R. & Rucker, R. (2020). Strategic storytelling: When narratives help versus hurt persuasive power of facts. Personality and Social Psychological Bulletin 46(2) 216-227.
Jones. D & Crow, D. (n.d.). Managing the art of the narrative: using stories to shape public policy. Blogs.Ise.ac.uk.
Hagstrom, L., & Gustafsson, K. (2021). The limitations of strategic Narratives: The Sino-American struggle over the meaning of COVID-19. Contemporary Security Policy 42:4
