IMRaD paper
Foreign Policy:
How
Major Division in America is Perceived as Vulnerable to other World Powers
-
University of Iowa
Camden Glenn
Abstract
This experiment tests
the effect of majority division in America and how it effects the perception of
vulnerability to other World Powers. A survey was constructed to determine different
aspects and concerns of an array of participants, asking a various set of questions
with a goal to figure out what is causing division in America. With the survey
came a cluster of answers, but the significant factor came to be the question
of which major issue is the one that divides the country the most, which ended in
a very divided set of answers. But also came the question if America is perceived
as vulnerable to other countries and this came out with 100% on the strongly
agree answer. Thus, for this experiment, it is determined that America is
perceived as vulnerable to other World Powers when there is majority division.
Introduction
Politics is the foundation of all of the news stations today, it
is what every issue is revolved around. There’s no denying that politics has a
major grasp on the world today, but when you think of politics what comes to
mind? Is it one of the many issues that our country faces today or is it the
major division that is crippling this great nation? Politics are important
because it’s what holds this country together and we should all fight to keep
it united and strong. And that’s exactly what this paper and research is about,
resolving the majority divisions so that we don’t become vulnerable, in the
sense of foreign affairs, to other world powers.
Foreign policy is defined as a government’s strategy in dealing
with other nations (George et al., 2008). The state of America’s foreign policy
has not been the greatest for a while, and that is in direct correlation to the
state of America internally, with countless issues and endless arguments with
other opinions, mostly due to the separation of Republicans and Democrats
(Nichols et al., 2018). Foreign policy shouldn’t be a Democratic vs Republican
policy, it should be an American policy (Sasse et al., 2018). Research shows
that there are many differing opinions on a single topic, but what would it
take to come together as a nation to compromise those different stances and
grow as a nation? That is the basis of the research, to find the most prominent
issues facing America today so that they can get resolved. But how do we
resolve them?
In that question lies a major gap, to determine how to resolve
issues so that America can move forward in being the stronghold for nations
without contradicting the firm beliefs that built this country. To take a look
back 100 years to evaluate the post war policies put in place after WWII is a
substantial resolve (Sasse et al., 2018; Graham et al., 2016). Looking back at
the roots can help shape what the world is today. In the future this research
can potentially result in a more unified America where it sits as one of the
most vital and influential powers of the world.
Methods
Participants
Those who participated in this study
were college students from the random ages of Freshman to Seniors at the
University of Iowa in the fall semester of 2018. The total number of
participants of the survey were the nineteen students that were in the Rhetoric
1040:0019 class, as well as the forty students on the ninth floor of the Slater
Residence Hall.
Procedure
The
students who participated were asked to complete in an anonymous online survey,
they were asked a series of questions pertaining to the topic of whether or not
major division in the United States contributes to the perception of
vulnerability by other World Powers, such as China Russia, North Korea, etc. The
first two questions were more general, asking whether or not the participant
voted in the recent mid-term elections or not and why. As well as what their
stance is on foreign policy. Then the questions started to get more specific, including
the third one asking, “why do you think there is major political division in
America today?” This one was followed up by asking, “what is the most prominent
issue of division today?” The last two questions pertained to the amount of news
the participants watch and if they agree with or not that division makes
America vulnerable to other World Powers. The answers were varied in different responses,
along with responses such as strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree,
somewhat disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree. These questions were presented
on a website called surveymonkey.com were asked through invite only. The survey
was distributed anonymously.
Data Analysis
After receiving responses, the questions were grouped
based on their responses to on the two questions. The two questions include ones
stated above, asking what major issue is most prominent and if they agree if division
creates a perception of vulnerability to other World Powers. Bar graphs were
created as a visual representation of this analysis.
Results
The
end results acquired from the were then converted into percentages. These
percentages were copied down on to a bar graph to further analyze the results.
The two most important survey questions that were true depictions of the topic
and give a better understanding on how the survey was conducted were the fourth
and sixth question. The importance of these questions depict the finalized
results of how division effects the perception by other World Powers.
Figure 4.1: Responses based on the
question regarding what major political issue is biggest.
This figure shows the results of
the University of Iowa students who participated in the question above. These
results show a very peculiar set of response, because it shows how each
participant equally responded to a different answer to the question. These
results display that even on the basic of which issue is most prominent people
are divided.
Figure 6.1: Responses based on the
question regarding the perception of vulnerability by other World Powers.
This figure shows the results of
the University of Iowa students who participated in the question of above.
These results are also very peculiar because it shows how every participant
completely agree on the fact that major division in the United States makes it
vulnerable to other World Powers. These results truly depict a basis of some
unity in America.
Discussion
Summary
This research study looked to explore the effect of division
in America pertaining to major political issues and the perception of
vulnerability from other World Powers like China, Russia and others. It was
found that even in some division on certain issues, there is some underlying unity
that strands from the division in the sense that all of the respondents agreed
that they want to have issues resolved and the perception of vulnerability is
something to be concerned about. The
results of this survey suggested that Americans are widely divided when it comes
to the issue they deem the worst, and the data also indicated that Americans
are unified when deciding that America is vulnerable to other World Powers when
they struggle when dealing with major political issues that divide them.
Overall, this research suggests that there is some common ground when it comes
to Americans wanting things to change so that there is not as much division and
the overall perception of vulnerability does not influence or reach other World
Powers.
Limitations
These were all self-reported
surveys. No method was taken to determine, on an objective scale, the impact of
this survey. More research would need to be done to control variables; for example,
researchers could analyze and survey not only a bigger variety of participants,
in the sense of ethnicity, social class, and political party, but also a bigger
number of participants.
In addition, this research was done
with only one class at University of Iowa. The political influence obviously reaches
other campuses as well as other institutes. The political influence is widely
varied depending on the university, and different responses will then result in
surveying these universities.
Implications
The results of this study have implications
that can be applied across America, such as universities and high schools. Implications
including the continuation of free speech and right to own political views.
America should continue to allow the portrayal of those views in a manner that
is non-violent and just. Some other implications would include the need for
Americans to be independent but also to be able to come together and resolve
situations with the other side of the issue. Finally, another implication
should be to further research by universities so they can fully understand the
next generation of political influencers so that the future of America is
solidified.
Future Research
In order to obtain a more comprehensive view of the political
influence and majority division in America, a greater study would need to be
done that examines, in a more objective manner, which issue is most prominent in
America and how or what strategy is best to resolve so that vulnerability is
not perceived as greatly to other World Powers. As stated earlier, this could
be accomplished by reaching and surveying a more wide variety of participants
so that the responses and data will be immensely different. A study of this nature would have to be very
extensive in order to obtain valid, widespread results. However, the
implications of this study could be tremendous, for it could shed light on one
of the largest and most discussed elements across the United States.
References
Masters,
J. (March, 2017). U.S. Foreign Policy
Powers: Congress and the President. Council
on
foreign
relations. Retrieved
October 18, 2018, from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-foreign-policy-powers-congress-and-president
NYE, J. S. (2004), Soft Power and American
Foreign Policy. Political Science Quarterly,
119:
255-270. doi:10.2307/20202345
Powlick,
P.J. (May 1998). Defining the American
Public Opinion. Mershon international
studies
review. Volume 42,
26.61, doi:10.2307/254443
Zaller,
J. (1996). Government’s Little Helper:
U.S. Press Coverage of Foreign Policy Crises.
Taylor
and Francis Online. 13:4, 385-405. doi: 10.1080/10584609.1996.9963127
Appendix
1).
If you voted in the recent mid-term elections, what motivated you to do so? If
not, why didn’t you?
2.)
What is your stance on American Foreign Policy?
a. America first
b. Neutral
c. Isolation
3).
Why do you think there is such major political division within our country
today?
4).
When it comes to majority division in America, what issue would say is most
prominent?
a. Immigration
b. Gun Control
c. Equality
d. Other
5).
How often do you read or listen to the news on other World Powers (China, North
Korea, Russia, etc.)?
a. At least once a week
b. A couple times a week (2-3)
c. 5 or more times a week
d. Never
6).
Would you say that division in our country makes us vulnerable to other World
Powers?
a. Strongly agree
b. Agree
c. Neither agree nor disagree
d. Disagree
e. Strongly disagree
This paper is simple and shows a lot about our political climate. The flow of the paper was there but at times the wording was confusing and needed an overhaul. The layout of the paper was good; I only saw one passage in the Results that belongs in Data Analysis. Other than that the paper was neatly organized in different categories.
ReplyDeleteAreas of improvement:
The wording of the paper in some areas is confusing and long. I agree that this is a complicated issue and you should remain neutral on the topic. The last sentence in the Discussion section, Summary paragraph is one place of interest. I sort of understood what the sentence was saying, but it was not very concise. I edited the sentence to make it flow better with fewer words. I did this again on other areas of the paper and I hope it helps.
In Results you should only report on the findings. There is little to explain in this section because the Discussion section explains the results. Say that there is equal support for various issues but there is unanimous agreement that division makes us look vulnerable. Whenever you reference a figure, say the figure number (Figure 6.1 shows all he participants agree that division in our country makes us look vulnerable to other World Powers).
Overall your Methods section is great, but the last half of the procedure can be more concise. Instead of stating the entire question on the paper, write the question numbers and explain why this question is asked. For example, "Question three and four were more specific. We asked for a short answer and looked into prominent political issues." I also made a few changes in the hopes that the paper flows better than before.
My first overall impression of this paper is that it is a well written paper and is very well organized. To make your paper even better, I have a few suggestions.
ReplyDeleteThe first suggestion I have is to talk about your research questions in your abstract. You mentioned having survey questions which is good, but it would be really good if you added the actual questions too. Or if you don't want to add the questions, you could also summarize the basic ideas behind the questions. This will give the readers a sneak peak of what your paper has to do with the survey.
My last suggestion is to add all graphs pertaining to your research questions instead of just 2. This will make it easier for the audience to analyze your data.