- 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.
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- Teaching
Methods
- I will lecture at noon on Mondays,
Tuesdays, and Wednesdays to the entire class in Tech
Lecture Room 3, 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 (about 100 pages a week,
higher at the start) 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. Those who do not will be wasting their time and
tuition money. Both the readings and the lectures will
figure prominently in the midterm and final examinations.
-
- Texts
- Kenneth Janda, Jeffrey Berry, and
Jerry Goldman, The Challenge of Democracy: The
Essentials, 6th rev. ed (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
2000) [My royalties from new books will go to a local
charity chosen by the class.]
- Russell J. Dalton, Citizen
Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in
Advanced Western Democracies (New York: Chatham,
1996)
-
- Approaches to
Learning
- Readings: We will follow
several approaches to learning about American politics.
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 that does
not argue any particular ideological position. However,
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
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- democracy: majoritarian and
pluralist. It aims to get you thinking about what values
government ought to pursue and the ways that government
should decide how to pursue those values.
- Americans often wear blinders when
viewing their own political scene. Our practices are seen
as "natural," but some U.S. institutions are weird to
people in other democracies. Citizen Politics aims to
broaden your viewpoint by surveying U.S. politics
compared with Britain, Germany, and France.
- Lectures: My lectures will
cover many topics not discussed in the texts, so they are
important to attend. To help you do so, there will be a
short quiz administered each week at the beginning of
each discussion section. These questions will come from
questions contributed by students over the
Internet.
- Internet and e-mail: Every
student is expected to have an e-mail address and to log
into the class home page 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.
The class website has an option for submitting quiz
questions.
- Video units: Years ago, I
devised a multimedia approach for studying U.S politics
using 5 video "units." NU's Media Center converted that
project to run on our campus network. Some lectures will
be based on those videos, which can also be viewed
separately on computers through our website.
- Discussion Sections: Weekly
sections run by Teaching Assistants are an important
component of the course. TAs will lead discussion of
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. TAs will also
administer the weekly quizzes.
- Term paper: Each student must
write a paper of 5 to 7 double-spaced pages (no less than
5, no more than 7). For most of you, it will be unlike
any paper you have ever written, involving computer
analysis of public opinion data from all four nations
treated in the Dalton book. See pages 289-307 for the
available data. Ample instruction in how to conduct the
data analysis and how to write 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 24 or 25.
- Examinations: The mid-term
exam, April 23, will ask you to choose 5 of 8 terms to
identify and to answer 2 of 6 essay questions. The final
exam is at 12:00 on June 6. 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.
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