janda.

This is the Home Page of Kenneth Janda, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Northwestern University

Curriculum Vitae, Papers, Publications as of June,2022

Résumé This contains the usual information on education, appointments, and honors. A short summary at the end links to papers and publications on my main fields of activity. The links below go directly to the topic areas. Most of the writings, particularly the later ones, are downloadable in PDF format. Political Parties Most of my scholarship has been on the comparative analysis of political parties across nations. American politics Although I'm co-author of The Challenge of Democracy: American Government in Global Politics (now in its 15th edition), this is certainly my second field now. Computer Applications At the beginning of my career, this was my major field. Prior to 1970, most of my books and other writings were on this topic. Austria-Hungary and Slavic Immigration During retirement, I undertook historical research on Austria-Hungary on my wife's Slovak and my Czech ancestors. That led to wirting a book, The Emperor and the Peasant, articles, and book eviews. Miscellaneous Some writings (e.g., on leadership and methodology) don't fit the above category. This also reports Northwestern University activities and dissertations supervised.

Undergraduate Courses Regularly Taught, 1961-2002

American Government and Politics This is my syllabus for 2001, the last time I taught the course. It contains reading assignments, paper topics, research material, and examination questions. I always taught American politics in a comparative framework. Not only did I think that such an approach was essential to understanding our political system, but Northwestern students seemed to like it. Elementary Statistics for Political Research This is my sllabus for my last course, taught in 2001 to about 60 students. Teaching it the first time in 1964 to undergraduate and first-year graduate students, it quickly became my favorite course to teach. Because almost no students knew much about the topic, I could claim credit for what they learned at the end. Many of my undergraduates parlayed their knowledge of statistics to top-level jobs in market research, political consulting, the media, and government. Most of the graduate students took higher-level courses from more qualified instructors and became outstanding methodologists, often teaching statistics themselves. Political Parties and Elections This is my 1999 course syllabus. Even more than in my American government course, I stressed the comparative analysis of political parties. I firmly believed that no one could understand the nature of party politics in America without studying party politics in other countries--and not just western democracies. The readings in the course syllabus are quite dated now, but I think that the course structure still has merit. I also think that the research options can generate ideas for more contemporary topics. Electoral Systems Research Seminar Northwestern political science majors had to choose from one of several research seminars in their junior year. My offering in the Spring of 2001 was on comparative electoral systems, with special focus on the enormous burden placed on the American voter, who has to choose candidates to fill multiple local, state, and national offices in primary and general elections every two years. They face a greater burden of choice than voters in any country. This course required each student to compare the voting systems in each state using general concepts from the comparative literature on electoral systems.

Selected Graduate Courses, 1961-2002

Fundamentals of Political Analysis I liked to teach methodological courses more than substantive courses. This was my favorite course for graduate students. It was required in the first quarter for all first-year students. This syllabus is for 1978, the latest in my files. The course was both an introduction to the discipline and to the philosophy of political science. It was modeled after my first graduate course at Indiana University in 1957, taught by the legendary professor, Charles S. Hyneman (1961-62 President, American Political Science Association), who had also chaired Northwestern's Political Science Department in the early 1950s. Although it's an old syllabus, the issues it discusses are enduring. Methods-You-Should-Have-Learned in School Workshop I retired from teaching in 2002. Observing in 2003 that graduate students were missing out on some methodological topics, I offered a voluntary series of five workshop sessions on content analysis, factor analysis, discriminant analysis, scale construction, and canonical correlation. A handful of students showed up for each of these five late afternoon weekly session. The teaching material is posted here.

Op-Ed Publications

Op-Ed Publications Over the years, I've published about two dozen Op-Ed pieces on various topics, many in the Chicago Tribune, but about half in other newspapers across the country. This page provides links to most in PDF format.

Odds and Ends

New York Ships to Foreign Ports, 1939-1945 My brother-in-law, John Mozolak, retired Sergeant First Class, United State Army, grew up in New York, fascinated by ships on the East Rver. Over the years, he compiled from official records the sailings of more than 5,000 ships sailing from New York harbor from 1939 to 1945, This web site contains his Microsoft Word files on those ships. I'm proud to host his enormous effort on my web site. Favorite URLs I compiled these over the years. Many probably no longer work. This is on my clean-up list of things to do.

My Other Internet Websites

USpolitics.org. This is my personal web site for The Challenge of Democracy: American Government in Global Politics, which I co-author with Jeffrey Berry, Jerry Goldman, Deborah Schidkraut, and Paul Manna. Our text is currently in its 15th edition, and has been translated into Czech, Hungarian, Georgia, Russian, and Korean. PoliTxts "PoliTxts" stands for "Political Texts." It is a digital archive providing handy access to all Presidential Inaugual Addresses, all State of the Union Addresses since 1913, all major political party platforms since 1840, presidential debates, and other political textual material.