Political Science 4990 Course Syllabus: Version 2.0 Senior Seminar Spring 2019 Dr. Michael Lyons Office: Main 330D michael.lyons@usu.edu Office Hours: MWF 2:30-5:00, 435-797-1312 and by appointment Course Description Political Science 4990 is an advanced course intended for Political Science majors with strong preparation in U.S. government. Most fundamentally, the course explores the prospects for, and obstacles to, effective democratic governance in the U.S. We will begin the course by surveying the hopes and fears about government, and the expectations for government, that students carry into the course. Once we complete this survey, the class will read and we will discuss a selection from Johnathan Haidt s the Righteous Mind, which explores the moral foundations of political beliefs. perspectives on politics. We will then revisit student political perspectives, with each student writing a paper reflecting on origins of his or her political views and identifying possible fallacies aor blind spots that may exist within these views. The course will then shift away to from these personal to more universal perspectives on U.S. government, and to consideration more generally of what realistic and effective benchmarks for democratic and effective government might be. We will address the pervasive perception that U.S. government is neither democratic nor effective, assessing the following hypotheses: 1. The perceived failings of U.S. government are illusory; the U.S. is the richest, most powerful, and most democratic nation in world history, and, by any reasonable measure, a success. Those who perceive that U.S. government is failing expect too much of government and too much of democracy, and they need to recognize that our system has weathered storms of greater severity in the past. 2. The U.S. has achieved much as a nation, but it is an empire in decline and the decline can be attributed to design of our political institutions. Neither our culture and nor our economic system can be held responsible for governmental failures; our political institutions are inadequate to meet the challenges of governance in the 21 st century. 3. The U.S. has achieved much as a nation, but it is an empire in decline. The decline should not, however, be attributed primarily to the failings of U.S. political institutions. The problems originate in the U.S. economic system (or in the global economic system). Economic inequality and/or social or cultural stresses produced by capitalism has caused dysfunction in our political systemm. 4. The U.S. has achieved much as a nation, but it is an empire in decline. The problems do not, however, originate so much in U.S. political institutions so much as they so in the evolution of U.S. culture. Excessive individualism, and/or collectivism, and or materialism, and/or narcissism, and/or entitlement, and/or social paranoia and/or moral decadence have undermined our political system.
5. The U.S. has achieved much as a nation, but it is an empire in decline. The problems rests not with U.S. political institutions per se, but instead with our national aspiration to operate a political system as a democracy. Democracy is an unattainable goal, and/or democracy and effective government are contradictory goals. As President John Adams predicted: Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. As we debate the validity of these competing hypotheses, we will review a cross section of contemporary literature on U.S. government. W will begin by considering the government institutions that students know the best the U.S. public education and higher education systems. We will then expand our inquiry to assess the adequacy of all U.S. governmental institutions, and reforms that conceivably might improve the performance of these institutions. We will consider the broad relationship between the the U.S. Constitution, U.S. electoral system, political self interest, political incentives, U.S. political culture, political power, and policy outcomes. in the U.S. We will touch on specific concerns raised by the critics of the system, including low voter turnout, a poorly informed electorate, public disaffection with government, interest group entitlement, political polarization and policy gridlock, noncompetitive congressional elections, and our idiosyncratic presidential selection process. We will evaluate proposals to ease the constitutional language pertaining to constitutional amendments, to establish mandatory voting, to reduce the electoral demands on voters, to create national ballot propositions, to reform the campaign finance system, to alter the congressional redistricting process, to do away with congressional districts entirely and to elect the U.S. House at large, to lengthen congressional terms, to expand the U.S. Senate to equalize state representation, to modify the presidential nominating process, to enlist former presidents and vice presidents into the U.S. Senate, and to do away with or to modify the Electoral College. Formally or informally, the authors of course reading assignments will invariably assume that political activity is motivated by self interest. Readings assignments and class discussions will also emphasize the analysis of U.S. government from a comparative perspective, especially by contrasting our decentralized, federal system with parliamentary systems. Course Format The first twelve weeks of the course will primarily be devoted to class discussion focused on reading and paper assignments related to the themes introduced above, with occasional power point presentations/lectures by the instructor. About two weeks toward the end of the course will be devoted to student presentations, and with a class day or two at the very end of the semester set aside for reconsideration one of our core hypotheses about our current standing as a nation. Course Learning Objectives 1. To provide students with a theoretical and comparative perspective on the relationship between the U.S. electoral system, the U.S. Constitution, U.S. national institutions, political power,, U.S. political culture, political incentives, and political outcomes in U.S. government. 2. To stimulate independent and creative thinking about U.S. government and its impact on our society and the world generally.
3. To develop analytical skills and writing skills in students, and to prepare them for careers in which they will be required to apply theory to data, think rigorously, and to write intelligibly. Readings Two books are required for purchase, Debating Reform, by Richard Ellis and Michael Nelson and America s Failing Experiment, by Kirby Goidel. You can buy all three books at www.amazon.com. Other course reading assignments will be drawn from a variety of eclectic sources. Participation Students will be given one or more key questions, usually drawn from reading assignments, to consider in preparation for each class discussion, and every student will be expected to participate in every class period set aside for discussion. Students will be encouraged to think independently and to express their ideas accordingly, and evaluation of participation will be based on thoughtfulness, originality, and demonstrated knowledge of readings, not upon agreement with any particular perspective on theory or on the issues. Participation will account for 30% of each course grade. Because participation in discussions is impossible without being in attendance, attendance will be a significant factor in course grades. Quizzes on the Readings At various times during the semester, I will begin the class with a brief written quiz on some aspect of the assigned readings for that class day. The purpose of these quizzes will be to ensure that students actually complete the reading assignments prior to class, as experience has demonstrated to me that class discussions suffer when students fail to do readings and then pretend in discussion to know what they are talking about, or, alternatively, fail to talk at all. Demonstrated comprehension of assigned readings and related theoretical issues will be the preeminent grading criterion on these quizzes. Altogether, there will be six such quizzes, with one quiz score being dropped from each student s grade computation, and with the quizzes accounting for 25% of each course grade in the aggregate. There will be no make up quizzes. Each student will need to purchase one 8 x 11 inch blue book and bring it to class on every possible quiz day. Papers There are two paper assignments. As discussed at the beginning of the syllabus, the first will paper require each student to engage in personal self assessment, reflecting on origins of his or her political views and identifying possible fallacies or blind spots that may exist within these views.. The paper will be due around February 5. In the second paper, each student will apply course reading assignments and discussions to the central course hypotheses presented on the first page of the syllabus. Each student will argue either that our either that our national problems are mostly imaginary, or that they mostly stem from defects in our political institutions, or that they mostly emanate from our economic system, or that they mostly reside in our culture. This paper will be due around March 21-26. No research is required for these papers, and citations are unnecessary. The target length for
each paper will be 1000 to 1500 words. These will not be strictly enforced limits, but I will penalize you if you significantly exceed the target length as the result of irrelevancy, or writing that is wordy or essentially devoid of content. In other words, you can make your papers as long as you wish, so long as you really need the words to express ideas responsive to the assignment. Together, the papers will account for 25% of each course grade. I will explain the grading criteria for each paper when I explain each assignment in more detail. Demonstrated comprehension of assigned readings and related theoretical issues will be an important grading criterion on the second paper. Class Presentations During the last six weeks of the semester, I will divide the class into 4-5 groups, each with 3-4 students, depending upon the final class enrollment. Each group will put together a case study pertainment to the hypothesis the U.S. government is neither effective nor democratic. These case studies can focus on either on policy issues or on political processes. I will be especially receptive to specific but complex case studies in which the evidence is mixed, or in which the preponderance of evidence indicates that U.S. government is effective or democratic, as such case studies could help us to understand how to make government work more effectively. I will expect each group to highlight the connections between his or her topic and theoretical issues, and/or scholarly controversies, and/or lines of inquiry, suggested by literature we have read in the course. We will allow about 20 minutes for each presentation, with another 5-10 minutes of questions and answers. These class presentations will account for 20% of each course grade. Canvas The course syllabus, course reading assignments, and other course information will be available on canvas. Snack of the Week If the class agrees by a wide majority, each Thursday will be snack day, with either the Instructor or one or two students being responsible for bringing snacks for the entire class. Snacks need not be expensive, but I do enjoy Russian caviar. Disabled Students If a student has a disability that will likely require some accommodation by the instructor, the student must contact the instructor and document the disability through the Disability Resource Center, preferably during the first week of the course.
Course Outline There are likely to be revisions in the course outline as the semester progresses. Topics often consume more time than I can anticipate at the beginning a semester, and the flow of our discussions could to prompt me to reorganize somewhat during the semester. I may also make some changes in reading assignments. Meetings Discussion Topics Reading Assignments Jan. 8-10 I. Student Perspectives on The Jan. 15 Current State of U.S. Government Jan. 17 II. The Instructor s Perspective on The America s Failing Experiment, Introduction, ch. 1 & 5 Current State of U.S. Government Jan. 22-24 III. The Origins of Political Conflict Why Do We Hate Our Government? The Moral Foundations of Politics America is Not a Democracy The Welfare Boogeyman The Hamburger Problem Jan. 29- IV. What is an Effective Political System? What is a Democratic Political System? Jan. 31 V. Is U.S. Public Education Dysfunctional? A Key Reason Why American Students Do So Poorly Feb. 5 Is U.S. Higher Education Dysfunctional? A Lack of Rigor Leaves Students Academically... What s Wrong with the American University System? Higher Education is Drowning in B.S. Debating Reform, ch. 20 Feb. 7-12 VI. The Democratic Competency of Citizens Stealth Democracy, ch. 5 and 6 Can the American Electorate Function? America s Failing Experiment, ch 2, 3 Is Democracy Realistic? Fractured Franchise Is Authoritarianism Inevitable? The Case Against Democracy Feb.. 14 VII. Populism Nixonland What is a Populist? The Governing Cancer of Our Times Feb. 19-21 VIII. The Causes and Consequences The 9.9% Are the New American Aristocracy U.S. Economic Inequality Why Rich Kids Are So Good at the Marshmallow... An Idiot s Guide to Inequality The Freedom Lover s Case for the Welfare State Welfare Makes America More Entrepreneurial
Feb. 26-28 IX. Has U.S. Culture Become Dysfunctional? Going Dutch Where Did We Go? Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy March 5 X. The U.S. Constitution The Case Against the American Constitution The U.S. Constitution Needs a Reboot Private Power and American Democracy Debating Reform, ch. 1 March 7 XI. An Overall Reform Strategy America s Failing Experiment, ch. 7 Reinstate a Governing Class? Debating Reform, ch. 2 America s Problem Isn t Too Little Democracy March 19 XII. Are Political Parties the Answer? How American Politics Went Insane Is Federalism the Answer? March 21 XIII. Activating Voters Rethinking American Electoral Democracy, ch. 1, 2 Compulsory Voting Debating Reform, ch. 7, 8 Ballot Initiatives America s Failing Experiment, ch. 6, 165-183 March 26 XIV. Congressional Districts and PR Debating Reform, ch. 12 and 13 March 28 XV. The Senate Debating Reform, ch. 14 A More Perfect Constitution, 23-32 April 2 XVI. Presidential Nominations Debating Reform, ch. 10 April 4 XVII. The Electoral College Debating Reform, ch. 16 The 22 nd Amendment America s Failing Experiment, 183-87 Debating Reform, ch. 17 April 9 XVIII. The 4-8-4 Plan, Vote of No Confidence, Qualifications of Presidents April 11 April 16-18 XIX. Student Presentations April 23 XX. Where Do We Go From Here?
Political Science 4990 Snack of the Week Sign Up Sheet Jan. 24 Jan 31 Feb 7 Feb. 14 Feb. 21 Feb. 28 March 21 March 28 April 4 April 11 April 18 April 23 ML