POL201 Week 1 – Discussion Forum 1

Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Prepare: 

Prior to writing your initial post, read Chapters 1 and 2 of American Government, and review the Week 1 Instructor Guidance in your online classroom. Completing your “The Three Branches of United States Government” learning activity this week would be helpful prior to completing this discussion forum.

Reflect: The U.S. Constitution is the cornerstone of the federal government. The Constitution establishes a basic operational framework that enables the three branches of government—executive, legislative, and judicial—to interact and function as a unit. Embedded in this operational framework are two key principles: separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. Think about how these branches interact and the importance of these checks and balances and the separation of powers.

Write:

In your initial post, please fully and directly respond to the following:

• Explain the difference between checks and balances and the separation of powers, and explain why they are important to democracy.
• Discuss one recent real-world example of checks and balances and explain the impact of it.
• Discuss one recent real-world example of balance of power and explain the impact of it.
• Discuss one recent real-world example of how the Constitution directly protects individual and group rights.

Your initial post must be at least 300 words. If you are citing statistics or outside sources for your examples, please reference the source with an APA reference at the end of your post.

This assignment contains a Microsoft Word document.

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