Authoritarianism Writing

Please answer this question: 

“Life under autocracy is nasty, brutish, and short.” Do you agree with this statement? Does life under autocracy differ fundamentally from life under democracy? If so, in what ways? Be sure to consider political life (and not only social life) when answering this question.

·Write a response to the question of 6-8 pages in length using 12-point font. 

·Grading will be based on the clarity of the thesis statement, reasoned support of the argument, and inclusion of material from the course. 

·The use of non-class material is allowed but discouraged. 

·You may use your notes, course readings, and lecture slides.

·Do not include a bibliography, but cite sources using the Harvard citation system—e.g., “The sky is blue (Nellis 2023, p. 45).” 

·Rewards for being ambitious: think creatively across classes (don’t focus on material from a single class, or even only two classes) 

·Objective: make sense of much of the class material through the lens of this question 

·Readings: show that you have actually read them! this is what will get you points, and there’s no shortcut here 

·Examples: Show that you know some actual details about the cases; just mentioning the word “Afghanistan” isn’t enough to get more than a low B 

·Show that you understand theories and concepts: spell out the logics 

Thesis/Focus 

Excellent 

Excels by responding to the assignment with a clear argumentative thesis in the first paragraph that continues to be the focus of the paper 

Organization 

Excellent 

one main idea per paragraph, good use of transitions, clear topic sentences, smooth connections between paragraphs, if an order is set in the introduction, it is followed 

Development: Support 

Excellent 

Uses specific, concrete, relevant details, examples, evidence and numerous references to source material to substantiate and explain thesis 

Development: Analysis 

Excellent 

explains the connections between evidence and main ideas thoughtfully and thoroughly, makes connections explicit, discusses implications, relevance or significance. 

Sentence Craft & Style 

Excellent 

Demonstrates excellent use of language; precisely chosen words, complex and varied sentence structure; appropriate academic tone and style 

Mechanics: (Grammar and spelling) 

Excellent 

is almost entirely free of spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors (one per page or less) 

Mechanics: Citations 

Excellent 

Has smoothly used signal phrases and uses single citation style throughout the entire text; has a citation for every fact or quote; has correctly formatted Works Cited/Bibliography page with few or no errors