PLS 492 (306) Congress and the Presidency Fall 2010 Dr. Jungkun Seo Office: Leutze Hall 272 Department of Public and International Affairs Office Phone: (910) 962-2287 University of North Carolina at Wilmington E-mail: seoj@uncw.edu I. COURSE MEETINGS Mon & Wed: 2:00-3:15 p.m. (Leutze Hall 110) II. OFFICE HOURS Mon & Wed, 3:30-5:00 p.m. or By Appointment (seoj@uncw.edu) III. COURSE DESCRIPTION The aim of this course is to provide a comprehensive understanding of how the presidency and Congress cooperate and compete with each other in the American democracy. While academic tradition has followed constitutional framework by teaching Congress and the presidency separately, a new consensus is also emerging on the demand to integrate our understanding of how legislative and executive branches interact. In studying the American presidency and US Congress, the course will place emphases on diverse perspectives; constitutional, historical, institutional, and strategic. Other topics will include separation and delegation of powers; electoral connections; policy-making processes over foreign, economic, and domestic issues; and legislative-executive interaction in the era of polarization. This is a demanding course, with a substantial amount of reading. It is imperative that you read all assigned readings before the class for which they are assigned. IV. COURSE READING One textbook is required and available in the university book store. Lance T. LeLoup and Steven A. Shull. 2003. The President and Congress: Collaboration and Combat in National Policymaking. (New York: Longman) Two suggested textbooks are Michael Nelson. 2010. The Presidency and the Political System. 9 th edition. (Washington D.C.: CQ Press); and Steven S. Smith, Jason M. Roberts, and Ryan J. Vander Wielen. 2009. The American Congress. 6 th edition. (Cambridge University Press) All other readings (#) will be available at blackboard. 1
V. COURSE REQUIREMENTS Midterm Exam (Oct 11) (25%) and Final Exam (Dec 8) (25%) Congressional Election Campaign Memo (10%) & Presentation (5%) Presidential History Paper (10%) & Presentation (5%) Reporting Newspaper Article (5%) Attendance and Participation (15%) 1) Two In-Class Exams (25% each) There will be one midterm (25%) and a final exam (25%). Format is a combination of multiple choice, short identification and essay. All readings and lectures will be fair game on the exams (50-50!). 2) Congressional Campaign Memo (10%) & Presentation (5%) For the upcoming congressional midterm elections in November, you are hired as a campaign manager for a senator or a representative or a challenger of your choosing. Your job is to write for your boss a 3-page, single-spaced campaign memo (10%) on how to win this election by focusing on the constituency, policy issues, and opponent. Then, present the memo (5%) before campaign headquarters (i.e. class). Choose your boss (i.e. candidate) and inform the instructor on September 1st (W), right before the Labor Day kickoff for campaigns. More details will be provided in class. 3) Presidential History Report (10%) & Presentation (5%) Students are expected to write a 3-page, single-spaced report (10%) on a president of their choosing and then present (5%) it before class. Choose one president and write a paper about three dimensions of the presidency: person, politics, and policy. You are expected to inform the instructor of your president on September 29 th (W). More details will be provided in class. 4) Reporting Newspaper Article (5%) Pick up ANY newspaper article during the week to cover ANY aspect of president or Congress and then report it to your classmates (5%). Basically, tell your classmates 1) what your article is about and 2) why you think the report is interesting and important for understanding American politics. 5) Attendance (8%) and Debate Participation (7%) Attendance (10%) and class participation (5%) will be checked. Instructor will offer debate questions and check participation on the regular basis. 2
Letter grades will be assigned according to the following point totals: A=92.5 or more A-=89.5-92.49 B+=87.5-89.49 B=82.5-87.49 B-=79.5-82.49 C+=77.5-79.49 C=69.5-77.49 D = 59.5-69.49 F= less than 59.5 According to University of North Carolina Bulletin and the Student Handbook, you are advised that: (1) Do not commit plagiarism. (2) Do not receive unauthorized assistance during the exams. (3) Violations of these rules in any assignment may be subject to a minimum penalty of failing grade for the assignment and could result in a grade of F for the course. Students with diagnosed disabilities should contact the Office of Disability Services (962-7555). If you require accommodation for test-taking please make sure I have the referral letter no less than three days before the test. I reserve the right to randomly assign articles that all students will be responsible for reading and knowing for the exams. I will make you aware of when I put these articles on blackboard. VI. READINGS BY CLASS SESSION Aug 18 (W) Course Introduction # James E. Campbell. 1997. The Midterm Question in The Presidential Pulse of Congressional Elections. (The University Press of Kentucky): 7-18 # Barbara Sinclair. 2009. Barack Obama and the 111 th Congress: Politics as Usual? Extensions, Spring 2009. Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center I. The United States Congress Aug 23 (M) 25 (W) U.S. Congress: Modern Trends and Approaches The Broken Branch and Campaigns American Style? # Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein. 2008. The Broken Branch: How Congress is failing America and How To Get It Back on Track (Oxford University Press), pp. 1-13 # William R. Sweeney Jr. 2004. The Principles of Campaign Planning in Campaigns and Elections American Style. Eds by James A. Thurber and Candice J. Nelson. (Boulder: Westview Press):17-36 # John J. Coleman. 1997. The Importance of Being Republican: Forecasting Party Fortunes in House Midterm Elections, Journal of Politics, Vol.59, No.2:497-519 3
Aug 30 (M) Sep 8 (W) Evolution of US Congress and Theories of Lawmaking Constitutional Foundations, Historical Development, and Legislative Theories # Nelson W. Polsby. 1968. The Institutionalization of the U.S. House of Representatives, American Political Science Review, Vol. 62 (March 1968): 144-68 # Julian E. Zelizer. 2007. Seizing Power: Conservatives and Congress since the 1970s, in Paul Pierson and Theda Skocpol Ed. The Transformation of American Politics: Activist Government and the Rise of Conservatism. (Princeton University Press):105-134 # Steven S. Smith. 2007. Recent Theories of Party Influence: Cartel and Conditional Party Government Theory in Party Influence in Congress. (Cambridge University Press), pp.114-47 # Barbara Sinclair. 2000. Why and How the Legislative Process Changed in Unorthodox Lawmaking: New Legislative Processes in the U.S. Congress. 2 nd edition. (Washington D.C.: CQ Press):82-108 Sep 6 (M) Sep 13 (M) Sep 15 (W) Labor Day Holiday Electoral Connection and Members of Congress Getting Elected Through Getting Strategic # David Mayhew. 1987. The Electoral Connection and the Congress in Mathew McCubbins and Terry Sullivan ed. Congress: Structure and Policy. (Cambridge University Press), pp. 18-29 (Originally published in 1974) # Larry M. Bartels. 1991. Constituency Opinion and Congressional Policy Making: The Reagan Defense Build Up, American Political Science Review 85(2): 457-74 # Wendy J. Schiller. 2000. Expanding the Boundaries of Electoral Coalitions, in Partners and Rivals: Representation in U.S. Senate Delegations. (Princeton University Press), pp.113-142 # Gary C. Jacobson. 2009. Congressional Campaigns in The Politics of Congressional Elections. 7 th edition. (New York: Pearson Longman): 63-84 Sep 20 (M) Sep 22 (W) Inside Congress: Institutions of Congress Committees, Rules, Parties, and Legislative Processes LeLoup and Shull, Ch 4. Congress and Policymaking # Julie Dolan and Marni Ezra. The Legislative Process of the House CQ Legislative Simulation (Washington D.C.: CQ Press) # Sarah A. Binder and Steven S. Smith. 1997. The Politics and Principle of the Filibuster in Politics or Principle? Filibustering in the United States Senate. (Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press), pp. 1-27 4
Sep 27 (M) Sep 29 (W) Party Polarization Causes and Consequences of Polarized Parties in US Congress # Keith T. Poole. 2005. The Decline and Rise of Party Polarization in Congress during the Twentieth Century, Extensions, Fall 2005. Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center # Sean M. Theriault. 2006. Party Polarization in the US Congress: Member Replacement and Member Adaptation Party Politics 12(4): 483-503 # Gary C. Jacobson. 2000. Party Polarization in National Politics: The Electoral Connection in Jon R. Bond and Richard Fleisher ed. Polarized Politics: Congress and the President in a Partisan Era. (Washington D.C.: CQ Press), pp. 9-30 # Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson. 2005. Abandoning the Middle: The Bush Tax Cuts and the Limits of Democratic Control, Perspectives on Politics, Vol.3, No.1:33-53 # Jungkun Seo. 2010. Wedge Issue Dynamics and Party Position Shifts: Chinese Exclusion Debates in the post-reconstruction U.S. Congress, 1879-1882 Party Politics (forthcoming) Oct 4 (M) Oct 6 (W) Fall Break and Poli-sci Day # Thomas J. DiLorenzo. 2008. Public Blessing or National Curse? in Hamilton s Curse. (New York: Crown Forum): 38-57. Oct 11 (M) Midterm Exam (Congress) II. The American Presidency Oct 13 (W) Approaches to Studying Presidency I LeLoup and Shull, Ch 2. The Constitution and Shared Governance # Lyn Ragsdale. 2010. Studying the Presidency: Why Presidents Need Political Scientists, in Michael Nelson. The Presidency and the Political System. 9 th edition. (Washington D.C.: CQ Press): 34-65 Oct 18 (M) Oct 20 (W) Approaches to Studying Presidency II Historical, Constitutional, Psychological, and Rational-choice Approach 5
# Andrew Rudalevige. 2006. The Contemporary Presidency: The Decline and Resurgence and Decline (and Resurgence?) of Congress: Charting a New Imperial Presidency, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol.36, No.3, (Sep 2006):506-524 # Stephen Skowronek, "Presidential Leadership in Political Time," in Michael Nelson. 2006. The Presidency and the Political System. 8 th edition. (Washington D.C.: CQ Press): 89-135 # Jeffrey Cohen and David Nice. 2003. The Person in Office in The Presidency. (Boston: McGraw Hill): 96-129 # Charles M. Cameron. 2000. Rational Choice and the Presidency in Veto Bargaining: Presidents and the Politics of Negative Power. (Cambridge University Press), pp. 69-82 Oct 25 (M) Oct 27 (W) Presidential Power Power-to-persuade vs. Unilateral power vs. Two-presidencies # Scott C. James. 2005. The Evolution of the Presidency: Between the Promise and the Fear in Joel D. Aberbach and Mark A. Peterson ed. The Executive Branch. (Oxford University Press), pp.3-40. # Richard Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents: The Politics of Leadership from Roosevelt to Reagan (New York: Free Press), pp. 29-49 # William G. Howell. 2003. Presidential Power in the Modern Era in Power Without Persuasion: The Politics of Direct Presidential Action. (Princeton University Press): 1-23. # Richard Fleisher et al. 2000. The Demise of the Two Presidencies American Politics Quarterly 28(1): 3-25 Nov 1 (M) Nov 3 (W) Presidential Election The Nomination Process and Election Strategy # Larry M. Bartels. 1988. From Back Rooms to Big Mo Presidential Primaries and the Dynamics of Public Choice. (Princeton University Press): 13-27 # M. V. Hood III and Seth C. McKee, 2010. What Made Carolina Blue? In-Migration and the 2008 North Carolina Presidential Vote, American Politics Research, 38(2):266-302 # David Karol and Edward Miguel. 2007 The Electoral Cost of War: Iraq Casualties and the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election Journal of Politics 69(3): 633-48 # Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Not the People s Choice: How to Democratize America, American Prospect, October 25, 2002 6
Nov 8 (M) Nov 10 (W) Power Sources and Constraints Public Opinion, the Media, and the Bureaucracy # Jeffrey Cohen and David Nice. 2003. The President and the Mass Public in The Presidency. (Boston: McGraw Hill): 203-237 # George C. Edwards III and Stephen J. Wayne. 1999. The President and the Media in Presidential Leadership: Politics and Policy Making. 5 th edition (New York: St. Martin s/worth): 144-178 # Joseph A. Pika and John A. Maltese. 2006. Executive Politics in The Politics of the Presidency. 6 th edition. (Washington D.C.: CQ Press): 214-248 Nov 15 (M) Nov 17 (W) The Presidency and Policymaking LeLoup and Shull, Ch 3. The Presidency and Policymaking # Andrew Rudalevige. 2005. The Executive Branch and the Legislative Process in Joel D. Aberbach and Mark A. Peterson ed. The Executive Branch. (Oxford University Press), 419-51 # George C. Edwards III and Andrew Barrett. Presidential Agenda Setting in Congress, in Jon R. Bond and Richard Fleisher ed. Polarized Politics: Congress and the President in a Partisan Era. (Washington D.C.: CQ Press), 109-133 III. Congress, the President, and Policymaking Nov 22 (M) Foreign and Economic Policymaking LeLoup and Shull. Ch 5. Foreign Policy LeLoup and Shull. Ch 7. Economic and Budget Policy Nov 24 (W) Nov 29 (M) Thanksgiving Holiday Social and Domestic Policymaking LeLoup and Shull. Ch 6. Civil Rights Policy LeLoup and Shull. Ch 8. Social Welfare Policy Dec 1 (W) Last Class Day Dec 8 (W), 3-6 pm Final Exam (Presidency and Policymaking) 7