Reaction Papers

Reaction papers require that you react to things like an event, video, or visit to an organization or historical site. Usually, in this type of assignment you are asked to react to something and provide a thoughtful account and analysis of your reaction. As with the other types of assignments, your reaction should not only involve your personal feelings, but a reaction and reasoned response formulated in the context of course issues and themes. For example, in past Government 101 classes students were asked to attend a public lecture pertaining to democratic citizenship. Students were required to restate the speaker's main thesis, describe his or her main points or examples used to support that thesis, and provide an independent analysis of the content of the lecture. Once again, the quality of the student's analysis hinged on whether the student could demonstrate a grasp of the main lecture points and their connection to class themes and issues.

Annotated Reaction Essay

In this assignment, students were supposed to write a reaction essay based on a public talk given by Shaul Bakhash, Robinson Professor at George Mason University. As guidelines for this assignment students were instructed to address three questions:

What is the speaker's main thesis?

How does the speaker support or develop his thesis? (For example, theories, anecdotes, data.)

In your opinion, does the speaker succeed in making his case? Why or why not?

There are instructor comments throughout the document, denoted by the symbol .

Student's Essay:

The discrepancies in the implementation of democratic theory have been great throughout cultures and time. Professor Shaul Bakhash explained how the Middle Eastern world has fared in its achievement of democracy in the third lecture of the "Foundations in Democratic Citizenship" lecture series. His profound observations on the paradoxical nature of Middle Eastern society in particular struck a chord, and the similarities between his and Professor Hung Nguyen's lecture were clear. Both societies, Middle Eastern and Asian, share a common theme. Tradition competes with globalization as the animated urban societies of both regions pave the way for progressive governance, yet the governments of both remain oppressive.

To begin, Professor Bakhash traced the roots of Islamic philosophy and its connection to the Greek philosophers. He maintained that Islam was the principal vehicle through which Greek knowledge was transmitted, primarily during the fourth and fifth centuries. However, the ideas of the Greeks were in conflict with those of the Islamic world. Professor Bakhash introduced the "Revelation vs. Reason" dilemma, where philosophical and scientific nature clashed with the religious nature of Islam. The fundamental problem in the progression of the Middle Eastern world is the intrinsic link between religion and the state.

The Middle East, Bakhash states, is highly organized, both socially and politically. There is a high amount of entrepreneurship, as he describes the bustling marketplaces, and a strong sense of community. A burgeoning middle class supplemented by the dynamic urban society would seemingly produce an ideal democracy. The associations that are favorable in Middle Eastern cultures are certainly exemplary of the associations Alexis de Tocqueville favored. However, it is authoritarianism that has generally prevailed in the Middle East. The ruling groups have been restricted to a select few who do not allow many people the freedom to participate in politics.

The intrinsic bond between religion and state muddles the possibilities for clear government, according to Professor Bakhash. The Middle East has had many encounters with the West. Professor Bakhash cited the nineteenth century as a time when new ideas such as individual rights and popular sovereignty were introduced to Islam. By the late nineteenth century the Ottoman Empire had a constitution and had drawn on such thinkers as Rousseau and Montesquieu for ideological inspiration. However, the Middle East "failed to devise principles of good government," according to Bakhash. He pointed out that Islamic theory is strong in theology, art, etc., but weak in political philosophy. Islamic civilization has fallen behind its competitors such as the United States because of this failure. Islam was once the greatest importer of art and culture, but has fallen behind.

Today the bond between religion and the state in the Middle East remains strong and continues to hinder the growth of democracy. According to Bakhash, many Islamic thinkers are now implying that a separation of religion and politics would be beneficial, although this is a slow progress.

Although my background is in East Asian cultures and not the Middle East, I see similarities in the push for modernization while the impediments of authoritarianism remain. Professor Bakhash hopes the Middle East will intensify its democratic values in the future, but just as in Vietnam and China, the movement will take great effort. The transition from authoritarian to democratic regimes is highly tedious. The middle class is expanding in both regions, and the youth that live in places like Vietnam will undoubtedly push for further democratic values.

To Move into a new system of governance which differs from the historical method for both regions requires a great deal of effort from the people. I believe it is possible that the gradual implementation of democratic values can be achieved in te Middle East and Eastern Asia.

This student writes a good introduction that identifies the subject of the essay (Bakhash's lecture), situates the lecture within larger course themes (difficulties of translating democratic theory into practice), and compares this lecture to a prior public lecture (delivered by Professor Hung Nguyen). The introduction also identifies Bakhash;s main thesis that governments remain oppressive in the Middle East despite the progressive strides of urban societies within the region's larger states. BACK

In the next four paragraphs the student provides a good summary of Bakhash's arguments used to support his thesis. In addition, she uses her own voice to restate his main points and avoids using too many quotes. BACK

The student makes an effective reference to Tocqueville, a theorist covered earlier in the course. This demonstrates her ability to make connections between different course subjects and authors. She could improve this connection by adding a sentence or two describing what Tocqueville specifically liked about political associations. BACK






























This paragraph seems incomplete. The student doesn't develop her main point of this paragraph. In fact, it's unclear what her main point would be. BACK

The student includes her own analysis of the difficulties of democratization in the Middle East. BACK

The student makes an effective connection to similar problems in East Asian cultures, as Prof. Nguyen had pointed out in his previous public lecture. BACK

To fully address the assignment's requirements, the student should have made an explicit judgement about whether she thought the speaker succeeded in making his case. While the student's tone of voice throughout the essay suggests she was convinced by his arguments, she should have explicitly said so and explained why. One short paragraph (three or four sentences) was all she needed to make her case. It is common for students to fizzle out and stop short of providing a full conclusion. This is a serious problem because it undercuts their whole essay. Fortunately, the problem is easy to fix. See the links devoted to conclusions found under the "Introductions and Conclusions" heading of helpful links. BACK