POL1044 Political Ideological Analysis of Historical events – Group Project

Group Project

The Group Project for POL1044 Political Ideologies is a 2,000-word (+/- 10%) document that
examines a particular historical event from the perspective of the ideological traditions we have studied during the semester. You will work on the project in groups of 4 or 5. Each member of the group is equally responsible for the final product. It is due on Loop on March 26th (note that this is earlier than originally indicated in the handbook to avoid clashes with due dates in other modules).
A portion (20%) of each individual’s mark for the Group Project will be determined by a
Group Review. This confidential exercise requires students to evaluate the contribution of their group members to the overall project. If you are well rated by your group, then your overall mark for the project may rise while being poorly rated means that your overall mark may decline. Failure to complete the Group Review will result in that student getting a zero for that portion of the mark. There will be a group oral defence (15 minutes with the whole group present) scheduled between 9th and 11th of April.

Events

Each group will select one of the following events to analyze. There is a Google Sheet on Loop that allows groups to choose their event. Each event can be selected by a maximum of four groups (first come first served).

1. The Great Reform Acts of 1832 and 1867
2. The decriminalisation of Trade Unions in Britain in 1869
3. The French separation of Church and State in 1905
4. The founding of the Irish Women’s Franchise League 1908
5. The Signing of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1948
6. The US Civil Rights Movement 1954-1968
7. The Cultural Revolution in China, 1966-1976
8. The legalisation of pornography in Demark in 1969
9. The Pinochet Presidency in Chile, 1974-1990
10. The 1975 Icelandic Women’s Strike
11. The rise of Thatcherism in 1980s Britain
12. The Arab Spring in 2011
13. The Occupy Wall Street protest of 2011
14. The Gillet Jaune movement, 2018-20
15. The legal recognition of same-sex marriage across the globe (2001-2025)

Ideologies

Each group will choose either 4 or 5 ideologies from the list below (i.e. one per group member)

1. Liberalism (Mill, Rawls, Hayek)
2. Communism (Marx)
3. Socialism (Debs, Davis)
4. Feminism (Wollstonecraft, Davis)
5. Conservatism (Burke, Oakeshott)
6. Republicanism (Pettit)
7. Ecologism (Carson)
8. Anarchism (Goldman)

Structure

The document should be divided into several sections as follows:

A section by each student on how their chosen ideology can be used to interpret the event
(350-400 words). Do not simply declare whether proponents of the ideology would support the event or not. Instead, explain how they would understand it. For example, what would they identify as the key actors and stakes? How would their ideology (liberalism, socialism, feminism etc.) help them make sense of what was going on? Would they be optimistic or pessimistic about the event? You must cite the texts of political thinkers we have studied to (Marx, Debs, Mill etc.) to support your analysis. Each individual student should put their name beside the title for their section.
The final section (350-400 words) should be collaboratively written and should address the
following question: Which of the ideologies you have discussed is the most useful for
understanding your chosen event and why? If you cannot agree on one then explain the source of your disagreement.
Important note: To succeed in this project, you will need to demonstrate knowledge of the
event in question and of the thinkers used to analyse it. To score well you must read beyond
the excerpts discussed on Perusall. For example, if you are drawing on the ideas of Angela
Davis read more essays from her book Women, Race, and Class. If you are using Mill, read
other chapters of On Liberty or some of his other works (such as the Chapters on Socialism).

Formatting and Presentation

The final document should be submitted to Loop and formatted as follows.

– A title clearly indicating the choice of event
-Clear sub-headings marking each ideology’s perspective on the event
– Harvard style of citing and referencing (see Library guide for Harvard style here:
https://www.dcu.ie/library/citing-referencing)
– Font: Times New Roman or another standard font
– Font Size: 12
– Line Spacing: double or 1.5
– Insert page numbers
– Include a full bibliography