Two NEW classes with Jim Buxton
QATAR AND THE WORLD CUP
Tuesdays, Dec 6 & 13, 10:00AM-11:30AM, Max: 30 $35
The World Cup will run from November 20–December 18. Surprising to many, it will take place in the Middle East in Qatar. Thirty-two countries, including the United States, will be represented. Learn about Qatar, a unique country with many surprises. For example, campuses from Cornell, Georgetown, Texas Tech, and more are located there. Also, unless you are a football fanatic, you might be curious about offsides, tie games, uncalled fouls, qualifying for the World Cup, hooligans, and more. What makes Brazil so good? (They are the favorites.)
COMPARING ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
Thursdays, Dec 8 & 15, 2:30PM to 4:00PM Max: 30 $35
There are many ways of running elections in a democratic system. We will look at the electoral systems in most of the following countries: France, the UK, Israel, Iran, Germany, Netherlands, Estonia, Nigeria, Sweden and Canada. We will compare systems that employ proportional representation with those that employ single-member district elections. We will also explore why some countries have much better voter turnouts than others. The major question: How is it that virtually all countries on earth have more political parties represented in their legislature than the USA? The UK has 11, Sweden has 11, France 16, Israel 14, Costa Rica 9, and Botswana 7 (but the US has more than most monarchies).
Jim Buxton taught global studies and international relations at South Kingstown HS for 32 years. During that stretch, he earned numerous teaching awards, including the RI HS Social Studies teacher of the year in 1997, and the RI HS Girls Soccer Coach of the Year in 1988. In 1997-98, he taught in England under the Fulbright teacher exchange program. Since his retirement in 2009, he has taught international politics courses in the URI political science department. From 2009 until 2016, he also taught in the Salve Regina education department, and supervised HS social studies student teachers. He has taught numerous global politics courses with the OLLI at URI since 2010. He has played soccer for five decades, coached it for two, and refereed it for one. He has also been to Qatar.
Register online or call the office at 401-874-4197.