| Political Science 201 | CRN 14887 | Fall 1998 |
| 11:00-11:50 MUWF | 242 Gerlinger | |
| Joseph Boland Office: 261 PLC Office Hours: M 12:30-2:30 (and by
appointment) email: jboland@darkwing.uoregon.edu phone: 684-9266 (h) 346-4138 (w) |
||
United States Politics
This course introduces students to U.S. politics through the debate between elite and popular democracy. Our textbook argues that the original conflict over the American Constitution, about how democratic our system of government ought to be, was never fully resolved. We continue to replay the democratic debate in our struggles over political participation, governmental reform, and public policy. In this course, we will consider how this debate between elite and popular democrats informs our understanding of voting, the media, political parties and interest groups, social movements, Congress, the Presidency, and the bureaucracy.
Course Organization
We will meet four times a week and explore ten subjects ranging from the Constitution to welfare reform. For most of these, one session will be set aside primarily for class discussion. Lectures will focus mostly on the readings from the textbook, The Democratic Debate. Most discussion sessions will focus on a controversial question related to the week's lecture and framed by the readings in the second textbook, Points of View; a few will discuss films. Eight weekly discussion questions are printed on this syllabus. Four of these questions will be on your examinations, so you have a stake in completing the readings prior to the discussion sessions and participating actively in them.
Course Readings
All readings come from the following two books, available at the university bookstore:
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate (2nd edition, 1998)
DiClerico and Hammock, Points of View (7th edition, 1998)
In addition, you are expected to regularly read the national and international news sections of one daily U.S. newspaper. Many newspapers, including the New York Times and Washington Post, now publish online versions free of charge. During the first class I will explain how to locate online newspapers.
Examinations
There will be three examinations:
1. A multiple choice/short definition midterm worth 25% of your grade. I will hand out a study sheet a week beforehand with study tips and sample questions. (This will cover The Constitution; Capitalism and Democracy; and Public Opinion and the Media.)
2. A take home essay midterm worth 25% of your grade. I will choose two questions from the four questions you have taken up in your weekly discussion sections and you will answer one of them in 3-4 double-spaced printed pages. (This will cover The Constitution; Capitalism and Democracy; Public Opinion and the Media; and Voting and Elections.)
3. The final examination, worth 50% of your grade. The first hour of your final exam will be multiple choice and short definitions (like the first midterm) on the material beginning with Part II.B, Voting and Elections. During the second hour you will answer one of two essay questions drawn from the last four discussion questions.
Special Needs
All students with special needs in note-taking, attending lectures and discussions, or in taking examinations will be accommodated. Please be sure to talk to me early in the quarter.
| Course Schedule | |
| INTRODUCTION | |
| PART I. FOUNDATIONS | |
| A. The Constitution 4 sessions 9/29 - 10/5 |
The Democratic Debate, chaps. 1 & 2 and Appendix pp. A-1
to A-24. Points of View, chap. 2 |
| Ideological influences | Protestantism, republicanism, liberalism |
| The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution | The crisis of the 1780s. The elite response: redefining republicanism. Characteristics and limitations of the Articles. The Constitutional debate; the structure and political significance of the Constitution. |
| Discussion: Points of View, chap. 2 Monday, 10/5 |
Suppose you were a small farmer in Massachusetts in the 1780s. Would you have voted to ratify the Constitution? Why or why not? Was the Constitution the best possible outcome, or could the founders have devised a better system of government? |
| B. The American Political Economy 5 sessions 10/6-10/13 |
The Democratic Debate, chap. 4. & chap. 17, pp462-472
Points of View, chap.1 |
| What is capitalism? Conflicting views of the relationship of capitalism to democracy, contrasting elite and popular democratic views of the market, human nature, the state, corporate power, and labor unions. | |
| The Keynesian consensus of the postwar era. Economic crisis and the rise of Reaganomics. A popular democratic theory of global economic turbulence. | |
| Discussion: Points of View, chap. 1 Tuesday, 10/13 |
Are capitalism and democracy compatible? Provide a basic definition of each and then assess whether these two systems work well together. You need not take the extreme position (though you may), but may defend the idea that they are in tension. |
| PART II. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION | |
| A. Public Opinion & the Media 4 sessions 10/14 - 10/20 |
The Democratic Debate, chaps. 3 & 6 Points of View, chap. 4 Mid-term exam review sheets Wednesday, 10/14 |
| The role of opinion surveys and polling in a democracy. What opinion surveys say about the public's capacity to govern. Conflicting assessments of the public's capacity to govern. A case study: the growth of public opposition to nuclear power. | |
| What makes the media important politically? How close do the media come to fulfilling the democratic ideal of a "free press" characterized by a diversity of ideas? We will look at ownership and control, the role of advertising, the news production process, and public access and government regulation in an effort to answer these questions. | |
| Discussion: Points of View, chap. 4 Tuesday, 10/20 |
Television, it appears, has the potential for great good and great evil in American democracy. Proponents of tele-democracy--some mixture of televised town meetings and direct voting on important issues--argue that such schemes can help inform voters about issues, reduce citizen alienation, and reduce the power of special interest groups over public policy. Do you agree? Drawing from our study of public opinion and media, as well as the debate in Points of View, make a case. |
| Midterm Examination, Wednesday 10/21 (multiple choice/short definitions) | |
| B. Voting & Elections 4 sessions 10/23-10/28 |
The Democratic Debate, chaps. 5 & 8 Points of View, chap. 9 Film: The Betrayal of Democracy, 10/23 & 10/26 NOTE: This film will be shown in 110 Fenton! |
| The decline of voting in America. Possible explanations: registration as a barrier, demobilization, declining social connectedness and trust in government. Is nonvoting a problem? Elite and popular democratic perspectives. | |
| Discussion: Points of View, chap. 9 and Betrayal of
Democracy Tuesday, 10/27 |
Should we prohibit political action committee (PAC) campaign contributions and limit all campaign contributions to individuals? (Assume, for the sake of argument, that there are also limits upon the amount of money any individual can donate to a candidate in a given election.) |
| C. Political Parties & Interest Groups 4 sessions 10/30-11/4 |
The Democratic Debate, chaps. 7 & 9 Points of View, chap. 8 Film: The Great Health Care Debate, 11/3 Essay midterm examination questions handed out Friday, 10/30 |
| Parties versus Interest groups. The nature of each and why their power varies inversely. Party organization and history; critical elections. The age of dealignment. Business dominance in the interest group system and the public interest challenge. The case of health care reform. | |
| Discussion: Points of View, chap. 8 Wednesday, 11/4 |
Do we need a third political party? Would it help to increase voting turnout, revitalize parties, and decrease the power of special interests? If so, is a third party possible in the United States? |
| D. Social Movements 4 sessions 11/6-11/11 |
The Democratic Debate, chap. 10 Film: Eyes on the Prize, episode 3, "Ain't Scared of Your Jails", 11/10 |
| Social movements versus interest groups. The genesis and development of social movements. Protest tactics. System responses: concessions and/or repression. The example of the civil rights movement. Elite and popular democratic views of mass movements. | |
| Discussion: Eyes on the Prize Wednesday, 11/11 |
We'll discuss Eyes on the Prize, the civil rights movement, and other past and present social movements. Are social movements the means to revitalize American democracy or a threat to representative institutions? |
| Essay Midterm Examinations Due in Class, Monday, 11/09 | |
| PART III. INSTITUTIONS | |
| A. Congress 3 sessions 11/13-11/17 |
The Democratic Debate, chap. 11 Points of View, chap. 10, pp147-155 |
| How Congress works: committees, bills, legislators, and leadership. Is Congress the most representative branch? Contrast between a parliamentary system and Congress. The iron triangle. The rise of incumbency. Demographics. The Republican Revolution and its aftermath. | |
| Discussion: Points of View, chap. 10 Monday, 11/16 |
In 1992 Oregonians approved a law limiting the number of terms state legislators can spend in Salem. The Ninth Federal Circuit Court has since upheld the law for state officeholders while ruling it unconstitutional for federal officeholders. How would you vote on a law that limited the number of terms an Oregon Congressperson or Senator could spend in Washington? Based not only upon what you have learned about Congress, but also about the role of interest groups and money in elections, make a case. |
| B. The Presidency 2 sessions 11/18-11/20 |
The Democratic Debate, chap. 12 Discussion Session: Points of View, chap. 11 (read for lecture) |
| The presidency as an institution and its growth. Presidential power and its limits: national security, the bureaucracy, and Congress. | |
| C. Bureaucracy 3 sessions 11/23-11/25 |
The Democratic Debate, chap. 13 Points of View, chap. 13, read for lecture |
| The nature and history of bureaucracy. Modern bureaucracies and modern corporations as products of industrialization. Elite and popular democratic models of bureaucratic process. Bureaucratic autonomy and the rule-making process: corporate and public involvement. The politics of bureaucratic waste. | |
| Discussion: Points of View, chap. 13 Wednesday, 11/25 |
Is bureaucracy prone to waste and inefficiency or, on the contrary, is it often underfunded (in terms of its legislative mandate) and hamstrung? Will privatization reduce waste or the quality of service? |
| Thanksgiving Break | |
| PART IV. SOCIAL POLICY | |
| Welfare Reform 2 sessions 11/30-12/01 |
The Democratic Debate, chap. 17, pp478-493 Welfare policy, a brief history. Who benefits from welfare? Stereotypes and facts. The 1996 welfare reform act. The future of welfare. |
| CONCLUSION | |
| The Future of American Democracy 1 session 12/2 |
The Democratic Debate, chap. 19 |
| Final Exam Review Friday 12/4 |
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| Final Examination: Monday, 12/7, 1:00pm (multiple choice & short definitions during the first hour; an essay question for the second hour) | |