GOVT 604 (DRAFT SYLLABUS) SEMINAR ON CONGRESS AND LEGISLATIVE BEHAVIOR Fall 2017 Dr. Joshua Semat Location: Robinson B 122 Office Hours: Tues 3:00-6:00 pm in the Johnson Center and by appointment email: TBA Course Description: This course is an intensive, graduate level seminar on the U.S. Congress and legislative behavior. Specific topics to be explored include: Congressional elections, representation, the dynamics of decision making in legislative bodies, the nature and processes of legislative organization, Congressional oversight of the bureaucracy, and the implications of Congressional dynamics on US foreign policy. Course Structure: The course will be conducted as a graduate seminar. Its success will depend on active and informed participation by everyone in the course. All participants will be expected to read and contemplate each week's readings. Students will also be expected to periodically demonstrate their grasp of the theoretical perspectives discussed in class via a series of written assignments. Student Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to evaluate both the formal and informal structure of any modern Congress in order to begin to understand the challenges and opportunities of lawmaking. They will attain general knowledge of the kinds of questions which legislative research in the American context asks, as well as the answers which have been most influential in modern understandings of the US Congress. They will be able to elaborate on general theories of how Congress functions and the sorts of outcomes it tends to produce. Required Texts: The legislative literature occupies a central place 1 in the canon of modern American political science. The readings for this course have been selected first with the intent of giving students an introduction to the classic texts of this corpus, and second with the intent of giving students some idea of the more contemporary work which engages with and/or challenges these foundational works. We will be reading nine books (which have been selected with an eye for things that show up on comprehensive exam reading lists), as well as a series of articles which students should be able to access through the Library s e-reserves. 2 With the exception of the first week of class, it is expected that students will come to the seminar already familiar with the readings. It is recommended that students also bring the readings with them to class, so that 1 Alongside political behavior research. 2 If any of the articles listed are not available through the library, they will be provided to the class via Blackboard.
we can work through passages in seminar (as well as to utilize them for their own reference while participating in class discussion.) Written Assignments: The written requirements for this seminar include three short response papers, a midterm paper, and a final paper. -Response papers should be roughly 2/5 double-spaced pages in length for master s/doctoral students, and should address the weeks readings, discussing the general themes and the implied trajectory of the research included therein. In order to ensure that at least some portion of the class has been able to set aside time for written reflection of the material every week, students will be required to sign up for slots ahead of time for the 3 weeks in which they will be writing response papers. -The midterm will cover the first portion of the class leading up to Capitol Day. Students will be tasked with completing a written exercise (~10 pages for master s, ~20 pages for doctoral) wherein they will prepare a brief on archetypal legislative behavior according to the literature. Details will be circulated in class, and the assignment will be due Nov. 3 rd at 11:59 pm. -The final paper will cover the second portion of the class. The written exercise will resemble the midterm in scale, but this time students will be tasked with demonstrating knowledge of how any particular interest or faction might succeed or fail in mobilizing Congress to achieve their desired policies according to the literature. Details will be circulated in class, and the assignment will be due Dec. 15 th at 11:59 pm. Course evaluation: Final grades for this course will be based on general class participation including attendance at GMU s Capitol Day (Oct. 27 th ) 3 (15%); response papers (25%), the midterm paper (30%); and the final paper (30%). Required Texts Defining the National Interest: Conflict and Change in American Foreign Policy Peter Trebowitz, 1998, University of Chicago Press ISBN-13: 978-0226813035 The New Politics of the Budgetary Process Aaron Wildavsky and Naomi Caiden, 2002, Pearson (Longman Classics Edition) ISBN-13: 978-0321159670 Beyond Ideology: Politics, Principles, and Partisanship in the US Senate Frances E. Lee, 2009, University of Chicago Press 3 If for some reason this is impossible, contact the professor for a make-up assignment.
ISBN-13: 978-0226470764 Legislative Party Leviathan 2nd edition Gary Cox and Matthew McCubbins, 2007, Cambridge University Press ISBN-13: 978-0521872331 Information and Legislative Organization Keith Krehbiel, 1991, University of Michigan Press ISBN-13: 978-0472064601 Pivotal Politics: A Theory of US Lawmaking Keith Krehbiel, 1998, University of Chicago Press ISBN-13: 978-0226452722 Congress: the Electoral Connection Second Edition David Mayhew, 2004, Yale University Press ISBN-13: 978-0300105872 Home Style: House Members in Their Districts Richard F. Fenno Jr., 2002, Pearson (Longman Classics Edition) ISBN-13: 978-0321121837 The Unheavenly Chorus: Unequal Political Voice and the Broken Promise of American Democracy Kay Lehman Schlozman, Sidney Verba, Henry E. Brady, 2012, Princeton University Press ISBN-13: 978-1400841912 COURSE SCHEDULE Aug 29 th Introduction to Congress (readings to be completed after class) Federalist Papers 10, 51 Constitution, Article 1 History of Congress piece Sept 5 th Representation 1 Miller, Warren E., and Donald W. Stokes. 1963. Constituency Influence in Congress. American Political Science Review 57: 45-56. Mansbridge, Jane. 1999. Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? 6 A Contingent Yes. Journal of Politics 61 (3): 628-57.
Grimmer, Justin. 2013a. Appropriators not Position Takers: The Distorting Effects of Electoral Incentives on Congressional Representation. American Journal of Political Science 57 (3): 624-642. Cameron, Charles, David Epstein, and Sharyn O Halloran. 1996. Do Majority-Minority Districts Maximize Substantive Black Representation in Congress? The American Political Science Review 90 (4): 794-812. Rehfeld, Andrew. 2009. Representation Rethought: On Trustees, Delegates, and Gyroscopes in the Study of Political Representation and Democracy. American Political Science Review. 103:214-30. Weissberg, Robert. 1978. Collective vs. Dyadic Representation in Congress. American Political Science Review. 72:535-547. Sept 12 th Representation 2 Fenno. Homestyles (Book) Eulau, Heinz and Paul D. Karps. 1977. The Puzzle of Representation: Specifying Components of Responsiveness. Legislative Studies Quarterly. 2:233-54. Sept 19 th Congressional Elections Federalist Papers 57 Mayhew. The Electoral Connection (Book) Gary Jacobson, Republican Resurgence in 2010, Political Science Quarterly (Spring 2011) Canes-Wrone, Brandice, David W. Brady, and John Cogan. 2002. Out of Step, Out of Office: Electoral Accountability and House Members' Voting. American Political Science Review. 96: 141-58. Sept 26 th Lobbying and Interest Groups Kay, Schlozman, and Verba. Unheavenly Chorus (Book) Hojnacki and Kimball, Organized Interests and the Decision of Whom to Lobby in Congress, The American Political Science Review, Vol. 92, No. 4. (Dec., 1998), pp. 775-790 Richard Fleisher, PAC Contributions and Congressional Voting on National Defense, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 3. (Aug., 1993), pp. 391-409. Voting Patterns Hare, Christopher and Keith T. Poole. 2014. The Polarization of Contemporary American Politics. Polity 46(3).
Bratton, Kathleen A., and Stella M. Rouse. 2011. Networks in the Legislative Arena: How Group Dynamics Affect Cosponsorship. Legislative Studies Quarterly 36 (3): 423-460. Krehbiel, Pivotal Politics (Book) MONDAY CLASSES MEET-NO CLASS DAY AFTER CAPITOL DAY-NO CLASS MIDTERM PAPERS DUE Nov 3 rd at 11:59PM Deal-making 1 Wildavsky and Caiden, New Politics of the Budgetary Process (Book) Kaiser, Robert G. It s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With The New Politics of Extremism by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein (Review). The Washington Post. < https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/itseven-worse-than-it-looks-how-the-american-constitutional-system-collided-with-the-newpolitics-of-extremism-by-thomas-e-mann-and-norman-jornstein/2012/04/30/giqa2ohkst_story.html?utm_term=.18b8a2f897a4> Matthews, Donald. Folkways of the U.S. Senate, American Political Science Review 53 (Dec 1959): 1064-89. Deal-making 2 Lee, Frances E. Geographic Politics in the U.S. House of Representatives: Coalition Building and Distribution of Benefits. American Journal of Political Science, vol. 47, no. 4, 2003, pp. 714 728. Lee, Francis. Beyond Ideology (Book) Organization 1: Do Parties Matter? Cox and McCubbins. Legislative Party Leviathan (Book) Rohde, David W. 2013. Reflections on the Practice of Theorizing: Conditional Party Government in the Twenty-First Century, Journal of Politics, 75: 849-864. Krehbiel, Keith. 1993. Where's the Party? British Journal of Political Science 23:235-66. Organization 2: The Power of Information Krehbiel, Information and Legislative Organization (Book) Jackman, Molly. 2014. Parties, Median Legislators, and Agenda Setting: How Legislative Institutions Matter.
Weingast, Barry R., and William J. Marshall. 1988. The Industrial Organization of Congress; or, Why Legislatures, like Firms, are not Organized as Markets. The Journal of Political Economy 96: 132-163. Carpenter, Daniel P., Kevin M. Esterling, and David M. Lazer. 2004. Friends, Brokers, and Transitivity: Who Informs Whom in Washington Politics? Journal of Politics 66: 224-246. Congress and Bureaucracy McCubbins, Matthew D. and Thomas Schwartz. 1984. Congressional Oversight Overlooked: Police Patrols versus Fire Alarms. American Journal of Political Science. 28 (1): 165-179. Moe, Terry M. 1987. An Assessment of the Positive Theory of Congressional Dominance. Legislative Studies Quarterly. 12 (4): 475-520. Huber. 2000. Delegation to civil servants in parliamentary democracies. European Journal of Political Research 37:397-413. Oosterwal, Annemarije, and Rene Torenvlied. 2011. Policy Divergence in Implementation: How Conflict Among Decisive Legislators Reinforces the Effect of Agency Preferences. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory: J-PART 22:195-217. Wood, B. Dan, and Richard W. Waterman. 1991. "The dynamics of political control of the bureaucracy." American Political Science Review 85.03: 801-828. Ogul, Morris S., and Bert A. Rockman. 1990. "Overseeing oversight: New departures and old problems." Legislative Studies Quarterly: 5-24. Congress and Foreign Policy Trebowitz, Defining the National Interest (Book). Lindsay, James M. "Congress and foreign policy: Why the Hill matters." Political Science Quarterly 107.4 (1992): 607-628. Jacobs, L.R. and Page, B.I., 2005. Who influences US foreign policy?. American political science review, 99(1), pp.107-123. Meernik, James. "Presidential support in Congress: Conflict and consensus on foreign and defense policy." The Journal of Politics 55.3 (1993): 569-587. Writing Day-NO CLASS FINAL PAPER DUE Dec 15 th at 11:59PM ************************************************* Disability Accommodations If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations,
please see me and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at 703.993.2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through that office. University Honor Code To promote a stronger sense of mutual responsibility, respect, trust, and fairness among all members of the George Mason University community and with the desire for greater academic and personal achievement, we, the student members of the University Community have set forth this honor code: Student members of the George Mason University community pledge not to cheat, plagiarize, steal, or lie in matters related to academic work. PIA HONOR CODE POLICY The Honor Code policy endorsed by the members of the Department of Public and International Affairs relative to the types of academic work indicated below is set out in the appropriate paragraphs: 1. Quizzes, tests and examinations. No help may be given or received by students when takeing quizzes, tests, or examinations, whatever the type or wherever taken, unless the instructor specifically permits deviation from this standard. 2. Course Requirements: All work submitted to fulfill course requirements is to be solely the product of the individual(s) whose name(s) appears on it. Except with permission of the instructor, no recourse is to be had to projects, papers, lab reports or any other written work previously prepared by another student, and except with permission of the instructor no paper or work of any type submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of another course may be used a second time to satisfy a requirement of any course in the Department of Public and International Affairs. No assistance is to be obtained from commercial organizations which sell or lease research help or written papers. With respect to all written work as appropriate, proper footnotes and attribution are required.