AMERICAN POLITICS Spring 2014 Political Science 121 Haverford College Steve McGovern Office: Hall 105 Phone: 896-1058 (w) Hours: Th 9-11 email: smcgover@haverford.edu (and by appointment) Course Description This course introduces students to the dynamics and tensions that underlie American politics and government. We will start with the creation of the United States and think about how the values and practices of the Founders shaped the establishment of the nation s political institutions and processes. Much of the first half of the semester will then be devoted to analyzing the primary institutions of governance, including the Congress, presidency, bureaucracy, and courts. Next, we will examine the important mechanisms that link Americans to the government such as political parties, the electoral system, interest groups, public opinion, and the media. Throughout the course we will contemplate a number of fundamental questions: Who wields power in American society and politics? Do ordinary citizens have adequate opportunities to express their views, influence decision makers, and shape public policy? Does the government produce public policy that responds more or less to the will of the majority? Are minority rights sufficiently protected? To what extent does the political system appropriately balance competing ideals of liberty, equality, and democracy? Do political institutions exercise undue power or are they essentially ineffectual? Is democracy in America flourishing or floundering? Course Requirements Class Participation 20% Film outside of class (7:30 pm, Sunday, April 20) no grade First Paper (5 pages) 20% Second Paper (5 pages) 20% Third Paper (10 pages) 40% Note: Papers submitted after the due date will be penalized by one third of a grade each day they are late. Required Texts Samuel Kernell and Steven S. Smith, eds., Principles and Practice of American Politics: Classic and Contemporary Readings, 5 th ed. (Congressional Quarterly Press, 2013) Lawrence Lessig, Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress and a Plan to Stop It (Twelve, 2011) Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson, The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism (Oxford University Press, 2012) All other assigned readings will be accessible on Moodle.
Topics and Readings Weeks 1-2 I. Introduction to Course II. The Founding Joseph J. Ellis, The Argument in American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic Richard Hofstadter, The Founding Fathers: An Age of Realism in The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It Brutus, Anti-Federalist No. 3 (K&S, 2-2) James Madison, The Federalist No. 10 (K&S, 2-3) James Madison, The Federalist No. 51 (K&S, 2-4) John P. Roche, Jr., The Founding Fathers: A Reform Caucus in Action (K&S, 2-1) Jeffrey Toobin, Our Broken Constitution, The New Yorker, December 9, 2013 Week 3 III. Federalism James Madison, The Federalist No. 39 (K&S, 3-1) Donald F. Kettl, Federalism: Sorting Out Who Does What (K&S, 3-2) Jonathan Rauch, A Separate Peace (K&S, 3-3) Amanda Sheely, Devolution and Welfare Reform: Re-evaluating Success, Social Work, October 2012 Barbara Warner and Jennifer Shapiro, Fractured, Fragmented Federalism: A Study in Fracking Regulatory Policy, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Summer 2013 Weeks 4-5 IV. Congress A. The Congressional Experience Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, The First Branch of Government: Theory and Practice, The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track David Mayhew, Excerpt from Congress: The Electoral Connection Richard F. Fenno, Jr., Excerpt from Home Style: House Members in Their Districts David Price, Excerpt from The Congressional Experience: A View from the Hill in The Lanahan Readings in the American Polity, 5 th ed., eds. Ann G. Serow and Everett C. Ladd
B. Polarization Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, The Seeds of Dysfunction and Beyond the Debt Ceiling Crisis Fiasco in It s Even Worse Than It Looks Sarah A. Binder, The Politics of Legislative Stalemate (K&S, 6-2) John H. Aldrich and David W. Rohde, Congressional Committees in a Continuing Partisan Era (K&S, 6-3) Karin L. Tamerius, Sex, Gender, and Leadership in the Representation of Women in Gender Power, Leadership, and Governance, eds. Georgia Duerst-Lahti and Rita Mae Kelly C. Money and the Legislative Process Lawrence Lessig, Introduction and Chs. 4-13, Republic, Lost FIRST PAPER DUE V. The Presidency A. Presidential Power Week 6 Richard Neustadt, Excerpt from Presidential Power and Modern Presidents: The Politics of Leadership from Roosevelt to Reagan (K&S, 7-1) Samuel Kernell, Excerpt from Going Public: New Strategies of Presidential Leadership (K&S, 7-3) Sidney M. Milkis, Jesse H. Rhodes, and Emily J. Charnock, What Happened to Post- Partisanship? Barack Obama and the New American Party System, Perspectives on Politics, March 2012 B. Case Study: President Barack Obama Michael Grunwald, Introduction: Things That Never Were and Ready or Not in The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era Robert Kuttner, Introduction: The Man and the Moment and Missing a Rendezvous with Reform in A Presidency in Peril Week 7 VI. The Bureaucracy Charles T. Goodsell, Bureaucratic Bigness and Badness Reconsidered in The Case for Bureaucracy: A Public Administration Polemic Paul C. Light, Introduction and Reversing the Decline in A Government Ill Executed: The Decline of the Federal Service and How to Reverse It Paul Singer, Bush and the Bureaucracy: A Crusade for Control (K&S, 8-2) Hayley Sweetland Edwards, He Who Makes the Rules, Washington Monthly, March/April 2013
John F. Wasik, Beauty Tips for the FDA: Did My Wife s Cosmetics Give Her Breast Cancer? Washington Monthly, May/June 2013 John Gravois, More Bureaucrats, Please, Washington Monthly, March/April 2011 Week 8 SPRING BREAK Week 9 VII. The Judiciary Antonin Scalia, Excerpt from A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law (K&S, 9-1) David A. Strauss, Introduction: Do We Want a Living Constitution? in The Living Constitution Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist No. 78 (K&S, 9-3) Eugene Rostow, The Democratic Character of Judicial Review, Harvard Law Review (December 1952) Weeks 9-10 VIII. Civil Rights and Civil Liberties A. School Desegregation and the Politics of Race Peter Irons, War on the Constitution in A People s History of the Supreme Court David A. Strauss, Brown v. Board of Education and Innovation in the Living Constitution (with a Note on Roe v. Wade) in The Living Constitution Richard Thompson Ford, Excerpt from The Race Card: How Bluffing about Bias Makes Race Relations Worse (K&S, 4-1) Film in class: Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story B. Abortion Roe v. Wade (K&S, 5-3) Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992) Gerald N. Rosenberg, The Real World of Constitutional Rights: The Supreme Court and the Implementation of the Abortion Decisions (K&S, 5-4) C. Gay Rights Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) Lawrence v. Texas (2003) William N. Eskridge, Jr., A Liberal Vision of U.S. Family Law in 2020 (K&S, 5-2)
D. Concluding Thoughts Richard H. Fallon, Jr., Judicial Power in The Dynamic Constitution: An Introduction to American Constitutional Law Week 11 IX. Political Parties Diana Dwyre, Party Organization and Mobilization of Resources: Evolution, Reinvention, and Survival in New Directions in American Political Parties, Jeffrey M. Stonecash, ed. Mark D. Brewer, Strategic Maneuvers: Political Parties and the Pursuit of Winning Coalitions in a Constantly Changing Electoral Environment in New Directions in American Political Parties, Jeffrey M. Stonecash, ed. John H. Aldrich, Excerpt from Why Parties? The Origin and Transformation of Political Parties in America (K&S, 12-1) Nicol C. Rae, Be Careful What You Wish For: The Rise of Responsible Parties in American National Politics, Annual Review of Political Science, June 2007 Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson, Introduction and Chs. 1-3, The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism SECOND PAPER DUE X. Campaigns and Elections Week 12 Samuel L. Popkin, Excerpt from The Reasoning Voter (K&S, 11-1) Gary C. Jacobson, No Compromise: The Electoral Origins of Legislative Gridlock (K&S, 11-2) Alan I. Abramowitz, Voting in a Time of Polarization: Why Obama Won and What It Means, in Barack Obama and the New America: The 2012 Election and the Changing Face of Politics, ed. Larry J. Sabato Paul Frymer, Introduction in Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson, Introduction and Chs. 5-6, The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism Week 13 XI. Interest Groups E.E. Schattschneider, The Scope and Bias of the Pressure System (K&S, 13-1) Steve Coll, Is the Earth Really Warming? in Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power Richard L. Hall and Frank W. Wayman, Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees (K&S, 13-3)
Jeffrey M. Berry, The Rise of Citizen Groups in Civic Engagement in American Democracy, eds. Theda Skocpol and Morris P. Fiorina Kelly D. Patterson and Matthew M. Singer, The National Rifle Association in the Face of the Clinton Challenge in Interest Group Politics, 6 th ed. Allen J. Cigler and Burdett A. Loomis, eds. Dara Z. Strolovich, A More Level Playing Field or a New Mobilization of Bias? Interest Groups and Advocacy for the Disadvantaged in Interest Group Politics, 7 th ed., eds. Allan J. Cigler and Burdett A. Loomis Week 14 XII. Public Opinion and the Media A. The Media James T. Hamilton, The Market and the Media (K&S, 14-1) Kristen Purcell, et al., Understanding the Participatory News Consumer (K&S, 14-3) Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson, Ch. 4, The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism Film outside of class: All the President s Men, 7:30 pm, Sunday, April 20, Chase Auditorium B. Public Opinion Walter Lippman, The Disenchanted Man in The Phantom Public V.O. Key, Public Opinion and Democratic Politics in Public Opinion and American Democracy Lawrence R. Jacobs and Robert Y. Shapiro, Dilemmas of Democracy in Politicians Don t Pander: Political Manipulation and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness Martin Gilens, Two-Thirds Full? Citizen Competence and Democratic Governance in New Directions in Public Opinion, ed. Adam J. Berinsky Week 15 XIII. Concluding Thoughts: Democracy in America Jeffrey A. Winters and Benjamin I. Page, Oligarchy in the United States? Perspectives on Politics, December 2009 Russell J. Dalton, Citizenship and the Transformation of American Society in The Good Citizen: How a Younger Generation Is Reshaping American Politics Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson, The Mindsets of Political Compromise, Perspectives on Politics, December 2010 FINAL PAPER DUE