The Nicaraguan people, through a successful revolution and subsequent elections, have chosen a communist government. This paper, using an historical-descriptive methodology, examines the status of Nicaragua under the current political-economy that prevails in that nation. Political-economic statements made and published in the press that support…

The symbolic presence of Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) has been and continues to be the pivot point in all summitry rhetoric between the American President and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. To examine some of the rhetorical choices made by Gorbachev to dramatize his vision of why Ronald Reagan refuses to…

Background information on lobbying will help secondary and college students and adults develop a clearer understanding of how U.S. democracy works. Discussed are what lobbying is, who the lobbyists are, lobby regulation, and the different kinds of lobbying groups. As an example of the environment within which lobbyists work, lobbying efforts…

This paper summarizes an investigation of a specific set of findings from the Monitoring the Future project, an annual survey of the attitudes and values of high school seniors that has occurred since 1975. The findings investigated relate to indicators of anxiety among these students about the threat of nuclear war. The study developed two…

This document contains three lesson plans for teaching secondary school students about politics and the media. Each lesson plan includes an overview, a resource list, and learning activities. Lesson 1, "The Editing Room," teaches students about: (1) current affairs; (2) editing processes in selecting stories for newspapers, broadcasts,…

The candidates, important issues, party platforms, and the voting process of Indiana are presented. The term of office, salary, and duties are outlined for the following political offices: (1) United States Representative, (2) United States Senator, (3) secretary of state, (4) auditor of state, (5) treasurer of state, (6) clerk for the Supreme…

Noting that television debates have become a regular feature of the media politics by which candidates seek office, this annotated bibliography is particularly intended to assist teachers and researchers of debate, argumentation, and political communication. The 40 citations are limited to the television era of American politics and categorized as…

The current status of state policy on minimum competency testing in Wisconsin, and the political process that produced that policy, are explored in this report. The document presents the preliminary findings of research conducted for a doctoral dissertation. The research methodology, mentioned only briefly, involved participant observation,…

These proceedings summarize the events and discussion which occurred during the Third National Hispanic Leadership Conference, and present the recommendations in 12 separate issue areas which were developed by working panels and adopted by the plenary body. The conference was attended by approximately 150 Hispanic leaders from throughout the…

Political cartoons are animated through visual analogies that imply a likeness between the event portrayed in the image and the issue on which the cartoonist is making comment. Although many kinds of analogies can be used, meanings arise as the viewer is able to recognize and interpret them. This becomes difficult, though, when a cartoon's analogy…

This volume presents the contents of a conference held with scholars concerning their perceptions of some of the critical issues affecting black Americans. The formal presentations and the discussion that followed are reproduced in this book. The sessions explored several major forces impinging on the lives of the black and the poor and developed…

The paper investigates whether the 1976 presidential debates contributed to political participation among all sectors of American society. Evidence was obtained from 353 eligible voters in Madison, Wisconsin, before and after the debates. Effects were evaluated by taking correlations between the level of respondents' exposure to the debates and…

This publication discusses the issue of black owned rural land decline. Since the turn of the century, it is estimated that blacks have lost in excess of 9,000,000 acres of rural land. The impact of this loss is tremendous for blacks, both on the economic and psychological levels. Developing strategies to arrest the rapid decline of black owned…

Educational, legal, and political issues affect Northern school desegregation. The United States has failed to meet the challenge of developing a multiracial society in which minority group members are a significant part of the machinery of the national life. Two separate societies, one black and one white, are a reality both educationally and…

Social studies educators must marshal all creative resources to meet the global, national, and personal challenges that face them as members of the major social studies professional organization, the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). Based on a continuation of current policies and lifestyles, dramatic global changes such as…