Homework Help

June 3, 2004 3:27 PM

[HomeworkFilter, I guess...] Ok... I have a problem. Quite a big problem, in fact.

I was just told by my university that the exam format for a course I'm taking, "Political image management" (don't look at me - it's a compulsory course, if I had a choice I wouldn't be taking it), has changed. Now, rather than taking an exam based on the material we studied, we have to write an essay.
This essay will be worth 80% of the final grade, and the actual exam, worth the other 20%, will be based on the essay itself. The essay subject is: "An examination of the impact of the proposal European Constitution on the political image management of Europe". And I have a week to do it. And I cannot afford to fail this exam.

The problem is that I don't know anything about the subject of the essay. I can't reach the professor to ask for explanations or help, and everybody else who's taking the course is as clueless as I am.

I'm not asking you to write the essay for me - just, can you help me find some material I can look at to get an idea of the subject? My tiny, tiny local library has nothing of worth, Google didn't help much at all... if you could find some online material for me I'd very much appreciate it.

Help?
posted by sailoreagle to law & government (19 comments total)

1) You can't reach the professor to ask for explanations or help - Why?

2) Everybody else who's taking the course is as clueless as I am - Why?

3) Rather than taking an exam based on the material we studied, we have to write an essay - Why?

I know you're not asking us to do the work for you, but I can't help feeling something funny is going on here.
posted by falconred at 3:33 PM on June 3, 2004

search and find that thread in the blue recently on the new countries entering the EU--there are tons of great links in there covering all angles....good luck.
posted by amberglow at 3:41 PM on June 3, 2004

here it is : >
posted by amberglow at 3:42 PM on June 3, 2004

falconred-

1) Because my university is very much fucked up. We didn't even attend class for this course, because the seat I study in couldn't afford a professor, so we just got the material to study for the exam. Technically we don't even have an assigned professor for this course / exam. The only reason they didn't just outright cancel the course is that it's compulsory and one of the handful of exams we're missing to graduate.

2) See above. Everybody was completely taken by surprise by this.

3) Beats me. I guess the professors at the main university seat changed their mind on what we needed to do for this exam. As I said, my university is very much fucked up.

I don't want you to do the work for me. All my coursemates have said they'll just "copypaste something off the internet", I want to do something better if I can manage to (especially since I'll actually have to discuss the essay during the exam). But I can't just make something up (a bibliography, however tiny, is a requirement for this particular essay), and I've not found any sources to work from. What I'm after is just that - sources to work from... info on the European constitution and how it's affected the political image management of Europe.

I'm literally just four exams away from graduation - I have my dissertation done and submitted. And if I fail this exam I don't graduate. So, well, help would be appreciated...

On preview - amberglow-

Thanks, I'm looking through the links on that thread now. :)

---

Heh. This is what I get for industriously avoiding political issues pretty much all my life... knew that would come back and kick me in the ass someday.
posted by sailoreagle at 3:51 PM on June 3, 2004

The EU Wikipedia can help with background information.

The stuff on "Intergovernmentalism vs. Supranationalism" might be especially helpful.
posted by Pockets at 4:01 PM on June 3, 2004

Does your local library carry the Economist? There have been a good number of pieces about the EU constitution process over the past year or so...It might at least give you a solid current-events background from which to work.

I have no idea what "political image management" means, though...
posted by mr_roboto at 5:17 PM on June 3, 2004

i'm thinking it means spin and p.r.
posted by amberglow at 5:28 PM on June 3, 2004

mr_roboto is right on. Go to your local library and look through back issues of the Economist which cover this issue.
posted by Voivod at 5:32 PM on June 3, 2004

I'm a little worried that "political image management" in the context of European integration, doesn't refer to mere 'spin.' It's more likely to refer to something like the projection of national identity, or something else entirely. Can you give us any more clues about what the course is supposed to teach you? What materials were you given? Was there a syllabus?
posted by stonerose at 5:53 PM on June 3, 2004

Your university should have access to Lexis/Nexis Academic database (all magazines and newspapers, including the Economist) - it is very easy to search what you are looking for.
posted by MzB at 6:14 PM on June 3, 2004

you could consider just approaching any random professor in the appropriate department even though none has been assigned for the course. I've had some luck with that when the lecturer for a given course has proven less than helpful.
posted by juv3nal at 6:58 PM on June 3, 2004

You probably know more than you think.

Presumably whatever readings you've had have been about Political Image Management, whatever that might be. So theoretically you should be reasonably up on how to manage your political image, who the major scholars are, etc. Neh?

What they're asking you to do is apply this to a particular context. So go dig up stuff on EU constitutionalism. Presumably your university has jstor or other means by which you can search for and retrieve articles from comparative politics journals. If nothing else, you can find a couple of sources and then google around for them, seeing what's cited them. Think about similar situations that have already happened -- what might have happened to political image management when the US ratified the Constitution, or when Canada went into Confederation, or during the earlier phases of EU integration.

I wouldn't sweat about the exam based on the essay. This looks like they want some minimal evidence that you know what you're talking about (the essay), and that they're going to test you on it to make sure it's you that wrote it.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:21 PM on June 3, 2004

What a bizarre school you go to.

You might want to focus your research on Germany, as the process of reunification over the past 15 years has generated a lot of academic ink and a lot of interesting economic and cultural issues. In short, you can take the very broad question and spin it in all sorts of interesting directions. A paper that is unique (in a good way) from your classmates will stand out in the eyes of the bored teaching assistant who will be grading it.
posted by PrinceValium at 7:22 PM on June 3, 2004

My tiny, tiny local library has nothing of worth

It probably has a librarian.

Some librarians are useless, but most are very helpful and, at any rate, they will have a much better idea of exactly what is available to you at short notice than you will without your wasting precious time finding out. Even small libraries may have access to more than you realize (periodicals, subscription databases, targeted Internet research, resources at other libraries, etc.).
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 8:24 PM on June 3, 2004

My tiny, tiny local library has nothing of worth

Questia is an online library that you can access for an affordable subscription fee. It has journals, books, magazines, and newspapers, just like a regular library. I found multiple sources there that would probably make decent references on this topic.
posted by dgaicun at 9:00 PM on June 3, 2004

This page is a Commission page on the debate about the European Constitution. It has the draft constitution, pages about events and treaties leading up to the draft, discussion of the draft, a future timetable and (at the bottom) a link to the eurobarometer assessment of the popularity of the idea of the constitution.
posted by biffa at 2:37 AM on June 4, 2004

Learn everything you can about the EC. The Economist, as mentioned above, is an amazing resource.

Take the purpose of the EC, the goals, who is involved and what it would mean if the best possible outcome occured, and the worst.

Add in the effect on other countries, and the UN's view of the area and the current polictical climate there and abroad.

What would the EU need to do, from a PR prospective, to keep the option of the world positive about it? How might PR affect its' goals and missions. Or rather, if the EU people are looking to make a positive impact and a positive image how might they adjust their current goals/aims to ensure success?

How does each individual country benifit from being a member? Does it increase their individual PR? Would being negatively associated with the org be too detrimental to a nation trying to pull itself from the hard years of the cold war?

Ok, now I want to write the paper.
posted by jopreacher at 2:53 AM on June 4, 2004

Well done, sailoreagle, for taking the assignment seriously.

It's a strange essay title. I don't know what "the political image management of Europe" is supposed to mean. I can only assume it is asking you to discuss (i) the idea or image of "Europe" embodied in the draft Constitution, and (ii) the response to the Constitution, and what effects this has had on public attitudes to the EU. Here in Britain, the draft Constitution has generated a great deal of opposition, and one question you might want to address in your essay is: why? Are people objecting to the Constitution because of what it actually says, or because of what they think it symbolises?

One article that you really ought to read, if you can get hold of it, is Michael Pinto-Duschinsky's analysis of the draft Constitution, published in the Times Literary Supplement on 7 August last year. It is an attack on the Constitution, but an intelligent one; and the main argument, which ought to suit your purposes very well, is that different countries have different visions of Europe and hence different views on what the Constitution ought to mean. "Since no vision commands general assent, the drafters have resorted to generalities, to apparent self-contradictions, and to words designed to mean all things to all persons." (Discuss!)

You will find the first half of the article here, but to get hold of the full article you will either have to get hold of a paper copy of the 7 Aug issue, or else log in to the TLS website as a subscriber. (Unfortunately the TLS doesn't seem to offer any kind of access to individual articles; it's subscribe or nothing.) Many university libraries, and many university teachers, do subscribe to the TLS, so you may be able to get hold of a copy of the article; but if all else fails, contact me by e-mail and I may be able to help.

This Observer article, from last June, gives a useful round-up of responses to the Constitution in the British press.

Among British political commentators, Niall Ferguson and Timothy Garton Ash have had interesting and thoughtful things to say about the Constitution. (The latter article also has some useful links.)
posted by verstegan at 3:39 AM on June 4, 2004

Wow. Thank you all.

Apologies for not responding earlier - sleep and checking on things got in the way.

Can you give us any more clues about what the course is supposed to teach you?
PR and spin, basically - how politicians, parties and nations manage their public image, through the media or whatnot, and how the public perceives politicians / parties / nations / etc. based on what happens in politics.

Re: the Economist suggestion - nope, local library doesn't carry it (tiny, tiny Italian library, heh), I just went to check - and the librarian was unable to help me. As for my university, it doesn't have access to any academic database (I already tried that route while researching for my dissertation - all I got were blank looks and a "wha?").
I'll look through Questia / other similar online resources later today. (I'm not opposed to paying for stuff.)

Again, thank you all - you've been enormous help. I feel a bit better about this essay now.

If you have further links or information feel free to post them - the more information I can get my hands on the better! - but at least now I have information, and places I can start researching from. At least I'm not as clueless and panicky as I was yesterday, which is good.
posted by sailoreagle at 4:18 AM on June 4, 2004