Class #28: Leadership and Civil Society
December 7, 2009
Related Readings: Hunter and Milofsky, Ch 9

These writing assignments are meant to help you think about the readings and to prepare you for class discussions. For that reason, when you write a response it is important that you give your opinions and that you relate your thoughts to the reading. Remember that these are exam questions and that they are graded as such. You ought to write them as though you are writing questions on a midterm or a final exam.

Respond to one of the following questions by writing a response on the class Discussion Board on Blackboard at least one hour before class on the date the question is listed. Put your name in the text of the question and give the question number as listed below. Without these I can't tell who wrote the question or what you are responding to. You then have until Midnight on the following Sunday of that week to revise your response if you wish to do so and to submit it for grading. To submit your responses, send them via email to milofsky@bucknell.edu.

Your final version of this question is due by midnight, Sunday, December 11 (Friday, not Sunday!).

28-1 Imagine that you are writing a two page synopsis of the book, Pragmatic Liberalism.  Tell what the central question or analytic problem of the book is.  Then tell how the book answers the question or resolves the problem by summarizing the material covered in the text.

28-2 Pragmatic Liberalism claims that developing an effective approach to resolving serious social policy problems requires bring moral analysis to bear along with more usual social science methods as we suggest policy interventions.  Why is it difficult to formulate moral positions and social science and how does the book resolve this difficulty?

28-3 A central argument of Pragmatic Liberalism is that we cannot be passive or disengaged with respect to society and its problems if we expect to have a society that has broad social support and that effectively engages the problems of members of society.  What is the problem of passivity in American society and how does the book say this problem can be overcome?

28-4 For last class we had a reading about how the Assets Based Community Development technique was used in an Ethiopian village and how it stimulated cohesiveness and economic growth. Apply the ideas from Chapter 9 of Hunter and Milofsky to interpret what happened in this case study.