American Political Life

America has begun to find its feet against the backdrop of an economic recession and the Democrats controlling the legislature and executive. Students this week sought to explore the interlink between American politics and American history: does history help inform us about modern American politics? The answer was a resounding yes as students explored the speeches of Lincoln, Washington and Johnson while tackling modern issues of race in America.

Students were introduced to key methodology in social science and applied the concept successful to help predict supreme court decisions on landmark cases.  A highlight of the weekend was a focus on the case of D.C. vs Heller regarding the 2nd Amendment granting the right to bear arms. The students successfully managed to develop an argument for both sides of the case using constitutional theory. All in all, an excellent weekend exploring the most important country on Earth.

Corey Dixon, Tutor