- Read the excerpt and identify the author’s claim. Summarise it in one or two sentences.
- State your opinion on the issue in question, providing reasons and evidence.
- Speak for about 3 minutes.
“American democracy is likely to survive four years of Trump. The country has a resilient political culture and a federal constitution that encourages checks and balances. There is a reasonable chance that Democrats will regain control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 elections. Moreover, civil society remains strong, and the courts independent. Many organizations have launched lawsuits to challenge Trump’s actions, and markets have signaled dissatisfaction with Trump’s economic policies.” (Joseph Nye)
“In our era, the symbolic unity provided by monarchy can limit the most problematic forms of populism. Populist demagogues like Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, and Jarosław Kaczyński in Poland typically claim an exclusive, almost mystical connection with the “people,” whom they alone can protect from the elites, and demonize their opponents as “enemies of the people.” Such claims, however, are ineffective under a constitutional monarchy. The job of embodying the people is already occupied, limiting how much symbolic power any other individual can accumulate.” (Tom Ginsburg)
“The United States once judged that the world would be safer with China inside rather than outside the international system. That bet largely paid off and is still better than the alternative. Leaders in the United States and China should utilize bilateral and multilateral forums, like the Group of 20, to discuss steps each side could take to move away from the brink. A good place to start would be military operations around Taiwan, including the reduction of Chinese maneuvers across the “median line,” an unofficial buffer line, of the Taiwan Strait. Beijing’s actions have undermined the credibility of its assurances that it prefers to resolve differences across the Taiwan Strait peacefully.”(Jessica Chen Weiss)