Scope and Emphasis

Do people need government? If so, why? What desirable goals--if any--can government achieve that individuals cannot achieve on their own? How closely does the U.S. government approach those goals?

This course grapples with these questions while surveying the broad and complex subject of American government and politics. This is difficult to do in one quarter, especially when students vary greatly in their understanding of national politics. I will try to make the subject clear to those with little preparation while challenging those who already know a good deal about American politics.

In this course, you will analyze politics in the U.S. using five major concepts: freedom, order, equality, majoritarian democracy, and pluralist democracy. These concepts form the core of our main text: The Challenge of Democracy.

Teaching Methods

I will lecture at noon on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to the entire class in Tech Lecture Room 2, sometimes using computer display technology in my lectures. Each student will be expected to attend class and to participate in one of twelve discussion sections, held on Thursdays or Fridays, taught by an advanced graduate Teaching Assistant.

The weekly reading assignments in your texts will be substantial (averaging about 100 pages a week) but not overwhelming. Readings will be referred to in lectures but they will not be systematically reviewed. It is essential, therefore, that you read the assigned material in advance of the lectures. Both the readings and the lectures will figure prominently in the midterm and final examinations.

Methods of Evaluation

Your grade will depend on the weekly unannounced quizzes in lectures (15%), the midterm examination (20%), the final (30%), the term paper (20%), and 15% for your participation in discussion sections, which will involve discussing five units viewed on different weeks fromVideopaths Through American Politics, described below.

Texts

Kenneth Janda, Jeffrey Berry, and Jerry Goldman, The Challenge of Democracy: The Essentials, 6th ed. [paperback] (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999) [I will donate my royalties from new books sold to a local charity, chosen by the class.]

Elizabeth Drew, Whatever It Takes: The Real Struggle for Political Power in America [paperback] (New York: Penguin, 1998).

Approaches to Learning

Readings: Our texts were chosen to make you think, not just to provide information. The Challenge of Democracy is a general text about U.S. government and politics. It does not argue any particular ideological position, but it specifically analyzes politics along two ideological dimensions of value conflicts: between the values of freedom and order on the one hand, and between freedom and equality on the other. The book also invites students to evaluate government in terms of two models of democracy: majoritarian and pluralist. These concepts aim to get you thinking about what values government ought to pursue and the ways that government should decide how to pursue those values. The course will be organized around the chapters in this text.

Elizabeth Drew, once a Washington correspondent for New Yorker, has written several books about American politics. Whatever It Takes analyzes the 1996 congressional and presidential elections. Drew reports on individuals, groups, and political forces that fought the 1996 campaign. As a journalist, she describes the inside story of national politics, dealing more with personalities and events than with broader political concepts. So her plate of political hors d'oeurves is tasty but not necessarily filling. You must work at linking her observations to our analytical concepts.

The reading assignments in Whatever It Takes, which will not necessarily correspond to weekly assignments from your text, are intended to pace your reading so that you will finish the book soon enough to choose a topic for your research paper. As you will see, the paper must be based on a specific sentence in Drew's book that you select for analysis.

B20 American Government: Spring, 1999

Lectures: My lectures will cover many topics not discussed in the texts, so they are important to attend. To help your movitation, there will be one short quiz each week covering the readings and lectures of the previous week. These questions will come from questions contributed by students over the Internet.

Internet and e-mail: Every student will be expected to have an e-mail address and to log into the class home page <janda.org/b20> at least once a week. I will use our web site to obtain information from students (such as proposed quiz questions) and to distribute information--including the outlines of selected lectures.

Video units: [Note: this paragraph has been updated and replaces that in the printed syllabus.] Years ago, I devised a multimedia approach for studying U.S politics using 5 video "units," each devoted to key political topics.Ê Claire Dougherty and Stuart Baker at the Library's New Media Center (with the help of undergraduate Tony Becker) converted that project to run (at nmc.nwu.edu/vp/) under WinTel computers connected to the high-speed "switched ethernet" portion of the campus network.

You can access this site with any computer connected to the Internet, but the videos will show only under Windows 95/NT and Netscape with VideoCharger plug-in. (I will try to provide you with the site for downloading that plug-in. We hope to make the system accessible on Macintosh computers before the term ends.)

The necessary high-speed network is currently available at three computer labs: Tech, Vogelback, and the Library.Ê You should access and view each assigned unit prior to that week's discussion section, which will revolve around the video topic. Ê You should access and view each assigned unit prior to that week's discussion section, which will revolve around the video topic.

Discussion Sections: Weekly sections run by Teaching Assistants are an important component of the course. TAs will lead discussion of the video units, expand on topics covered in my lectures and stimulate debate of political issues. These sessions will allow you to clarify points raised in class and will help you prepare for the term paper and examinations.

Term paper: Each student must write a paper of 5 to 7 double-spaced pages (no less than 5, no more than 7). Your paper must be based on a specific sentence or passage quoted from the Drew book. For example, take main thesis of her book as stated on page 1:

Activist conservative groups in 1996 saw Pat Buchanan "as an obstacle in the path of their most important goal: maintaining Republican control of the House of Representatives. To these groups, maintaining that control was far more important than who won the Presidential election."

Your task would be to explain and analyze that statement using more general concepts. For example, what values were the Republicans pursuing? Why did they view the House as more important than the presidency in pursuing them? Did the groups cooperate in pursuing their common goal? If so, How?
Additional instruction on choosing quotations and on writing the paper will be given in class, on our web site, and in your discussion sections. The paper is due at your last discussion section, either May 28 or 29.

Examinations: The mid-term exam, April 26, asks you to choose 5 of 8 terms to identify and to answer 2 of 6 essay questions. The final exam is from 12:00 to 2:00 on Wednesday, June 9. It will consist of 60 multiple-choice items

that will cover the entire course but will be weighted more heavily toward the last half. About 1/3 of these items will be drawn from questions submitted by students and posted on our web site before the final exam.

The lectures for this course are intended to follow the schedule below, but adjustments may be made along the way. They will usually treat the subject of that week's readings, but often in a very different manner. To gain more from the lectures, it will help to read the material before class. The examination questions will come about equally from both the lectures and the readings. You cannot afford to neglect either.

Week 1: The Purposes of Government

3/29 ORGANIZATION AND ORIENTATION
3/30 FREEDOM, ORDER, AND EQUALITY
3/31 THE NATURE OF DEMOCRATIC THEORY

Readings: Your text describes the major purposes of government as maintaining order, providing for public goods, and promoting equality. Citizens must surrender some freedom (e.g., how they spend their income) to do any of these things. How much they are willing to give up depends on how much they value freedom on the one hand and order and equality on the other. The IDEAlog program on our web site asks how much freedom you are willing to trade for order and equality. From your responses, it will classify you as liberal, conservative, communitarian, or libertarian. Run the program by Wednesday. The first week’s readings are light (39 pages):

Janda et al., 1: "Freedom, Order, or Equality?" (27 pp)
Drew, 1: “Convenor” (12 pp)

B20 American Government: Spring, 1999

Week 2: Democratic Theory

4/5 VIDEOPATHS THROUGH U.S. POLITICS
4/6 DEMOCRATIC THEORY
4/7 INSTITUTIONAL MODELS

Readings: (113 pp) Your videopaths unit discusses the Watergate affair and the House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings on President Nixon. How did the Committee's actions on Nixon in 1974 differ from its actions on President Clinton in 1998? "Democracy" as a term is subject to many different interpretations. As the framers of the Constitution sought to revise the Articles of Confederation, how did they stand on the key values of freedom, order, and equality? Did the framers want a democratic government? Did they get one? If so, what kind of democracy do we have--pluralist or majoritarian? Although Drew does not discuss democracy as such, which type of democracy fits her book?

Janda et al., 2: "Majoritarian or Pluralist Democracy"? (25
_________, 3: "The Constitution" (40 pp)
_________, Appendix: Articles of Confederation,
U. S. Constitution, and Federalist No. 51 (18 pp)
Drew, 2: "Beer" (8pp)
____, 3: "Christian Pol" (7pp)
____, 4: "Pollinator" (8pp)
____, 5: "Guns" (7pp)
Videopaths Unit 1: The Watergate Affair


Week 3: Institutionalizing Democracy
4/12 DEMOCRACY AND THE CONSTITUTION
4/13 JUDICIAL REVIEW & LIMITED GOVT
4/14 FEDERALISM AND LIMITED GOVERNMENT

Readings: (106 pp) It’s sometimes said that the Constitution itself favored order, while the Bill of Rights favored freedom. Why? And where is equality advanced in the Constitution, if at all? After the Constitution was adopted, the Supreme Court decided that it possessed the power to interpret what it meant. Is this concept of judicial review in keeping with democratic theory? How much power does the Constitution explicitly provide to the national government and to the states?

B20 American Government: Spring, 1999

Week 5: Elite-Mass Institutional Linkages

4/27 THE NATURE OF AMERICAN PARTIES
4/28 PARTY REFORM

Readings: (113 pp) Devising effective mechanisms for linking mass opinions to elite actions is a major problem in institutionalizing democracy. Historically, popular elections served this function, and political parties arose to facilitate electoral politics. Nowadays, Americans tend to be distrustful of political parties. Is this good or bad for democratic government? Ironically, as partisanship among voters has declined in recent years, the strength of party organization at the national level has increased. If you doubt this, ponder the Republicans’ overwhelming victory in the 1994 election and the party’s success in passing elements of its Contract With
America. Interpret the result of the 1994 election in terms of the “model of responsible party government” discussed in the text. According to Drew, what role did the Contract with America play in the 1996 congressional elections?

Janda et al., 8: "Political Parties" (34 pp)
_________, 9: "Campaigning, and Elections" (34pp)
Drew, 6: "Landscape" (18pp)
____, 7: "Endangered" (7pp)
____, 8: "The Opposition" (10pp)
____, 9: "Fund Raiser," (10pp)


Week 6: Group-Government Linkages
5/3 THE NATURE OF INTEREST GROUPS
5/4 THE IMPACT OF INTEREST GROUPS
5/5 THE MASS MEDIA AS INTEREST GROUPS

Readings: (139 pp) According to the pluralist model of democracy, interest groups serve a valuable governmental function. According to the majoritarian conception, interest groups often frustrate democratic government. How did Madison, author of Federalist No. 10, believe that interests (factions) could be controlled? Although pluralism equates democratic government with the free interplay of interest groups, critics contend that the interests of the poor fare badly in this competition. Nevertheless, interest groups, such as the NAACP, were able to advance the cause of civil rights through the courts when public opinion was not strong enough to move Congress and the presidency.

Janda et al., 10: "Interest Groups" (35 pp)
_________, 16: "Equality and Civil Rights" (37 pp)
_________, Appendix: Federalist No. 10 (3 pp)
Drew, 10: "Overboard" (12pp)
____, 11: "Endangered II" (3pp)
____, 12 "San Diego," (26pp)
____, 13 "Chicago," (23)
Videopaths Unit 4: Civil Rights and Equality

B20 American Government: Spring, 1999

Week 9: Making Public Policy

5/24 TAXING POLICIES
5/25 SPENDING POLICIES
5/26 A NEW WORLD ORDER?

Readings: (44 pp) "What does government do?" We will approach the question from the standpoint of budgeting and expenditures in various policy areas. Most people think that the national government spends too much. What spending programs would you eliminate, if given the chance? The end of the Cold War raises new and difficult issues for the U.S. Should the U.S. continue to play a role in enforcing international order? If so, are you willing to pay the price, not only in money but in possible loss of life in military service? Against the Serbs, for example?

Janda et al., 17: "Public Policy" (21)
Drew, 21: "Epilogue" (17pp)
____, "Afterword" (6pp)

Videopaths Unit 5: The Vietnam War

Reflections on the Course