Instructor: Eszter Simon
Office hours: TBA
Contact details: eszter_simon@yahoo.com
Contact hours: 90 minutes/week for 13 weeks
Lectures: every Wednesday 15.15 - 16.45
Course Description:
Regardless of the current economic and financial problems or the slow progress in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States is still the global hegemon. In order to better understand American policy choices, it is essential to understand American political and social dynamics. This course does exactly this. It serves as an introduction to the (federal) government and politics of the United States. It traces the roots and the origins of American political institutions and discuss their present state. It combines classic readings an, textbook chapters with readings on specific topics related to different aspects of American politics. American politics will be understood broadly in this course, including its cultural, sociological, historical, and ideological dimensions. The course discusses American politics by highlighting controversial issues, debates and variation in interpretation.
The course will be conducted in seminar format and in English.
Course website:
Readings will be available at the course website in .pdf format. Therefore, students are advised to check the course website on a regular basis.
URL: TBA
The inability to access the readings is not a legible excuse for not reading. If there is any problem with access to readings, please immediately notify the instructor at the email address listed above.
Course requirements:
• Regular class attendance:
Students may only miss two classes during the semester.
If a student misses more classes, s/he must present a valid proof of the reason (doctor's note in case of illness, obituary in case of death of a family member, etc.). If a valid proof is presented, the student must write a 2-3-page summary of the readings for the weeks missed. These summaries will, on the one hand, ensure that the students will be able to pass the course and, on the other hand, they will be substitutes for the missed quizzes.
• Active participation in class:
Students are expected to actively participate in class by asking and answering questions, offering comments on the readings, related issues in general and from their portfolios.
• Regular preparation for seminars:
There is a substantial amount of reading for this course. Students are expected to finish readings prior to each class and bring a copy of the readings with them into class. To make sure that each student prepares regularly, each class will start with a short 5-10-minute quiz on the required readings for the given week. Quiz questions will be general, not requiring deep understanding of readings.
Quizzes will consist of five short questions each worth 20 points (∑ 100). An additional ten points may be earned each week through an extra-credit question. Questions will deal with current affairs - major news items - that concern the US. If a student fails to attend a class, his/her quiz will earn him/her 0 points. However, the results of the worst two quizzes will be automatically dropped when calculating the final grade.
• Class portfolio:
While compulsory readings ensure that students take away core commong knowledge from this course, students are expected to follow their own personal interest in the subject to deepen their knowledge about American politics. Therefore, students will prepare an electronic or a paper-based portfolio. A portfolio is a collection of articles, audiovisual material, book chapters etc. that in some way pertains to the subject. However, submitting such materials is not enough in itself. Students will also have to attach a 1-2 paragraph-long comment to each piece introduced into the portfolio. Comments may include an explanation of why that particular item was selected, a reaction to what is read in the article (for example a counterargument of why one does not agree with it), how the selected item relates to the course readings etc. Comments may be edited or changed over time, but changes must be recorded.
The minimal requirement for the portfolio is one item per week, the maximum amount is four items per week on average (may vary from week to week). In addition, during the course there will be three portfolio assignments compulsory for everyone.
Students may introduce any number of audiovisual materials but they altogether cannot exceed an hour's length. They should take the most common file formats (avi, .mov, mp3, wma, etc).
Portfolios are evaluated three times during the term. Students must hand in their portfolios on weeks 5, 8, and 12 for grading. Students may edit the content of the portfolio (adding, removing editing, items for the previous weeks) in order to present what they think as their best work for evaluation at a given moment in time.
Portfolios may take electronic or paper-based formats. Electronic portfolios: students must hand in their portfolios on a CD, including audiovisual material. Files should be named so as they will be read in the order that you intended to present them. They should be handed in on .doc (not .xdoc) or .odt formats. If the student chooses to present a paper-based portfolio, material should be presented in a folder or file (but not a binder), starting with the first item on top. Audiovisual materials should be included on CD.
Portfolios will be evaluated by the following criteria:
• how regularly students contributed to the portfolio,
• development/improvement of portfolio during the term,
• the kind of sources used (academic, political magazines are preferred; wikipedia and similar sources should not be used),
• treatment of the sources,
• the relevance of the items introduced for the course content,
• the variability of the items introduced (portfolios should not pertain to only one issue, one kind of item or only to one time period),
• the quality of personal comments attached to each item.
Plagiarism and cheating are considered unacceptable academic practices. Plagiarism is understood as any usage of text of other author(s) - identical or paraphrased borrowing of an idea - without proper referencing. This includes copying or borrowing from other students or handing in work prepared by someone else than the student. For word by word references, please use quotation marks as welll as references. For referencing consult the APSA style manual: http://www.ipsonet.org/data/files/APSAStyleManual2006.pdf. The fact that you employ someone else's argument will not effect your grade negatively as long as you provide references. However, the instructor will make every effort to screen out cases of plagiarism. Cases of plagiarism will be dealt with according to university regulations.
Evaluation:
Grades will be made up by the following components:
• Weekly quizzes: 45%
• Active participation in seminars: 20%
• Portfolio: 35%
Week 1. Administrative Issues, Introduction, Historical Background
No readings.
Week 2: Film-screening: John Adams miniseries, episode 2 (Independence)
Week 3. Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution
Declaration of Independence: http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm
Gordon Wood. 1991. The Radicalism of the American Revolution. New York: Random House, pp. 1-8, 11-24, 109-14, 169-89.
Week 4: The Constitution
The US Constitution (remember to read the Bill of Rights as well as the Amendments): http://72.32.50.200/constitution/constitution.pdf.
Federalists 10: http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa10.htm.
Federalist 51: http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa51.htm.
Week 5: Political Ideologies and Political Parties
Frank, Thomas. 2004. What's the Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. New York: Metropolitan Books, pp.1-27.
Black, Merle. 2004. "The Transformation of the Southern Democratic Party." Journal of Politics 66: 1001-1017. http://kmulliga.myweb.uga.edu/Fall05/POLS4510/black.pdf
HAND IN PORTFOLIO FOR GRADING. Late submission is not accepted.
Week 6: The Presidency
Perkins, William B. 2003. "The Political Nature of Presidential Impeachment in the United States." In Jody Baumgartner and Naoko Kada, eds. Checking Executive Power. Presidential Impeachment in Comparative Perspective. New York: Praeger Publishers, pp. 21-45.
Barber, James David. 1992 [1972]. "Chapter 1: Presidential Character and How to Foresee It." In The Presidential Character. Predicting Performance in the White House. Eaglewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, pp. 1-13.
Compulsory portfolio assignment: Where would you place Barack Obama in Barber's typology and given current events what performance do you expect from him? If you want to see how Barber did it, this (ADD LINK) was Barber's prediction of Carter with a review of predictive success.
Week 7: Congress
Wilson, James Q. and John J DiIulio Jr. 2004. American Political Institutions and Policies. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin. Ninth edition, pp. 317- 347.
The Legislative Process: http://www.house.gov/house/Tying_it_all.shtml.
Week 8: The Judiciary: Federal Courts and the Supreme Court
Wilson, James Q. and John J DiIulio Jr. 2004. American Political Institutions and Policies. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin. Ninth edition, pp. 437-463.
HAND IN PORTFOLIO FOR GRADING. Late submission is not accepted.
Week 9: Political Culture, Public Opinion, Foreign Policy
Towle, Michael J. 2004. "Introduction" and "Conclusion." In Out of Touch: The Presidency and Public Opinion. Austine, TX: Texas A&M University Press, pp 3-18 and 112-119.
Baritz, Loren. 1984. Backfire: A History of How American Culture Led Us Into Vietnam and Made Us Fight The Way We Did. Introduction, 19-45.
Compusory portfolio assignment: discuss the relevance of the Baritz articles in connection with the current war in Iraq.
Week 10: Elections, Campaigns, Participation
Wilson, James Q. and John J DiIulio Jr. 2004. American Political Institutions and Policies. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin. Ninth edition, pp. 231-262.
Texeira, Ruy. 2007. "Voter Turnout in America: Turnout in America: Ten Myths." In Dow, Jay, Sean Nicholson-Crotty, and Marvin Overby (eds.). Readings in American Government, University of Missouri, Department of Political Science. Person Custom Publishing, 89-94.
Week 11: Film screening: The Candidate
No readings.
Compulsory portfolio assignment: Assess the representation of presidential campaigns in the movie, the candidate on the basis of week 10 readings.
Week 12: Civil Rights, Black and Women in America
Crittenden, Ann. 2001. The Price of Motherhood. New York: Metropolitan Books. Chapter TBA later.
Conley, Dalton. 1999. "Getting into the Black: Race, Wealth and Public Policy." Journal of Politics, 595-612. http://www.psqonline.org/cgi-bin/99_article.cgi?byear=1999&bmonth=winter&a=03free&format=view.
HAND IN PORTFOLIO FOR GRADING. Late submission is not accepted.
Week 13: Welfare, Social Security
Christopher Jencks. 2002. "Liberal Lessons from Welfare Reform." The American Prospect (July 15, 2002). http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=6376.
