Monday/Thursday, 9:45-11:00 AM
Room 706 HW

Office: Room 1723 HW
Phone: (212) 772-5507
Office Hours: M,11:10-12:30 and by appointment

e-mail: apolsky@hunter.cuny.edu
http://urban.hunter.cuny.edu/~apolsky/

    The study of American political development provides a vehicle for exploring how the American state and body politic have come to assume their present form. In this course we will identify historical patterns, engage literature that seeks to explain political outcomes over time, and address questions about the evidence scholars use to support analytical claims. The course will be organized around three themes - continuity, change, and recurrence - that we will discuss in the first unit. Here we will examine the degree to which core beliefs and the Constitution have imposed stability on American politics, the role of events as a trigger for unanticipated change, and the impact of cyclical forces (religious passion or partisan renewal) on political outcomes. The remaining units of the course deal with, respectively, the process of state building/unbuilding and the empowering/disempowering of citizens. In the second part of the course we will trace state formation with special attention to critical junctures or turning points, the impact of the international context on state expansion, and how anti-statist beliefs have formed the basis for retrenchment. The third and final unit moves from the state to the citizenry: we will consider how the state has shaped the public, the struggle over racial inclusion, and the trend toward depoliticizing the public that some scholars identify in contemporary American politics.

Course Prerequisite

    By department policy, all students enrolled in a 300-level political science course must have completed ENG 120 or the equivalent. Students who have not done so may be dropped from the roster by the Registrar. In addition, students must have taken POLSC 110 or received instructor permission to register for the course.

Course Requirements

    1) Complete assigned reading before class meetings (see attached schedule). Be aware that the volume of reading varies considerably; also, you may need to read some assigned texts more than once. Please bring the assigned reading to class.

    2) Attend class regularly and on time. No student shall be permitted to enter the classroom late; I will treat such lateness as an unexcused absence. Students who miss more than two classes without a valid, documented reason shall be penalized in the final grading (see below).

    3) Participate in class discussion. Your grade will reflect your contribution to class meetings.

    4) Write ten one-page summaries of assigned readings. Summaries must be submitted at the start of the class period in which the reading will be discussed. Where multiple readings/chapters are assigned for a class period, I usually the class so not everyone summarizes the same reading. Accordingly, if you are absent, be sure to check with me by e-mail about what to summarize for the next class. Only one summary may be submitted per class. If you are absent, you may arrange to have someone else deliver the summary. I will accept no late summaries for any reason, and summaries may not be faxed or sent via e-mail. Guidelines for how to write a summary may be found at: http://urban.hunter.cuny.edu/~apolsky/SUMMARY.htm.

    5) Complete all written assignments. Written work for the course consists of three papers, each 6-8 pages, corresponding to the three course units. For each unit I will prepare a list of topics or questions. Each paper will be due approximately one week after the completion of the respective unit, with the paper for the final unit due at the scheduled time for the final exam. (There will be no in-class final exam.) You will have the option to revise one of the first two papers to earn a better grade on that assignment; this rewrite will be due at the final regular class meeting. Papers must be typed according to standard word-processing conventions; they may not be faxed or submitted via e-mail. Guidelines for writing papers may be found at: http://urban.hunter.cuny.edu/~apolsky/papers.htm. I strongly urge you to review them before you write each paper.

Grading

    In computing the grade, each paper and class participation will be given equal weight, yielding four grades. If you submit the paper rewrite, the new grade will replace the one you received initially on that assignment. No extra credit work will be accepted. Class participation will be based on timely submission of summaries, attendance, and regular contributions to discussion. Submission of the ten summaries establishes a base participation grade of B; your active, informed contributions in discussion will improve this. Three or more unexcused absences will lower the participation grade by one-third of a letter grade, rising to one full letter grade for five or more absences. Failure to submit the required number of summaries also lowers the participation grade by one-third of a letter, increasing to one full letter for fewer than seven. Be sure to submit summaries regularly so you do not fall behind. Students who miss more than ten classes without valid reason and who turn in three or fewer summaries will receive an F for class participation.

    I expect you to complete written assignments on time. Extensions will be given only for valid reasons and documentation will be required. Otherwise, late work will be penalized, and beyond a certain date will not be accepted; also, you may not rewrite a paper on which you receive a late penalty. The same conditions apply to requests for incompletes, which I approve infrequently and which extend for only as long as the period of time during which you were unable to work (e.g., if you were ill for one week at final exam time, you will be given one extra week in June to complete the last paper). The exact duration of an incomplete will be set at the time a student requests it.

    Note on credit/no credit grading: College rules specify that to be eligible for credit/no credit, students must complete all course requirements. In this course, students who wish to be graded on the credit/no credit system must have submitted at least five summaries and all three papers.

Statement on Academic Integrity

    Hunter College is strongly committed to the principle that students should do their own work, give proper credit for information gained from any source, and acknowledge any help received in completing assignments. We will pursue any suspected violations on written assignments through the college's formal mechanism for adjudicating such cases and seek the most severe penalties permitted under college policy. Students may be asked to submit their papers to a plagiarism detection service.

Books

    This course relies upon a large course pack and books available at Shakespeare Bookstore on Lexington Avenue. One copy of the course pack will be placed on reserve in the Hunter College Library. Besides the course pack, the following titles have been ordered for purchase at Shakespeare:
    James A. Morone, Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003).
    Richard M. Valelly, The Two Reconstructions: The Struggle for Black Enfranchisement (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004).
    Theda Skocpol, Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003).
 

Schedule of Class Assignments

January 26th and 30th. Introduction: What is American Political Development?.
    Karen Orren and Stephen Skowronek, The Search for American Political Development (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 120-32. [course pack]
    Rogan Kersh, "Rethinking Periodization? APD and the Macro-History of the United States," Polity 37 (4) (October 2005): 513-22. [course pack]
 

Part One.  Patterns of the Past:  Continuity, Change, Recurrence

February 2nd. The Cultural Fabric of American Public Life.
    Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America (1955, 1991), chap. 1 "The Concept of a Liberal Society," pp. 3-32. [course pack]
    Rogers M. Smith, "Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions in America," American Political Science Review 87 (3) (September 1993): 549-66. [course pack]

February 6th. How Constitutional Order Shapes American Political Development.
    Peter F. Nardulli, "The Constitution and American Politics: A Developmental Perspective," in Nardulli, ed., The Constitution and American Political Development: An Institutional Perspective (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992), pp. 3-31. [course pack]

February 9th. Unanticipated Change: War and Its Political Consequences.
    David R. Mayhew, "Wars and American Politics," Perspectives on Politics 3 (September 2005): 473-93. [course pack]

February 12th. Lincoln's Birthday - No Class.

February 17th, 21st (Tuesday), 23rd, and 27th. The Cyclical Pattern of Religion and Reform.
    James A. Morone, Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History, chapters TBA.

March 2nd. Partisan Regimes and Political Renewal.
    Andrew J. Polsky, "When Business Speaks: Political Entrepreneurship, Discourse, and Mobilization in American Partisan Regimes," Journal of Theoretical Politics12 (4) (October 2000): 463-67. (excerpt) [course pack]
    Stephen Skowronek, "Notes on the Presidency in the Political Order," Studies in American Political Development 1 (1986): 286-302. [course pack]
 

Part Two.  State Building and Unbuilding

March 6th. State Building in a Hostile Climate.
    Aaron L. Friedberg, In the Shadow of the Garrison State: America's Anti-Statism and Its Cold War Strategy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), chap. 1 "Statism, Anti-Statism, and American Political Development," pp. 9-34. [course pack]

March 9th. Formation of the Early National State.

    Ronald P. Formisano, "State Development in the Early Republic: Substance and Structure, 1780-1840," in Byron E. Shafer and Anthony J. Badger, eds., Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000 (Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 2001), pp. 7-35. [course pack]

March 13th. Origins of the Modern State: Nationalizing Trends in the Gilded Age.
    Fareed Zakaria, From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998), chap. 4, "The Rise of the American State, 1877-1896: The Foundation of a New Foreign Policy," pp. 90-127. [course pack]

March 16th. Political Entrepreneurship as the Engine of Growth: Building the Progressive State.
    Daniel P. Carpenter, "State Building through Reputation Building: Coalitions of Esteem and Program Innovation in the National Postal System, 1883-1913," Studies in American Political Development 14 (2) (Fall 2000): 121-55. [course pack]

March 20th. Making Sense of the New Deal.
    Anthony J. Badger, "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Politics, 1910-1955, " in Byron E. Shafer and Anthony J. Badger, eds., Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000 (Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 2001), pp. 181-200. [course pack]

March 23rd. The Price of Empire: Justifying the National Security State.
    Aaron L. Friedberg, In the Shadow of the Garrison State: America's Anti-Statism and Its Cold War Strategy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), chap. 2 "Cold War Founding," pp. 35-61. [course pack]

March 27th. The Political Limits of State Expansion.
    Julian E. Zelizer, "The Uneasy Relationship: Democracy, Taxation, and State Building since the New Deal," in Meg Jacobs, William J. Novak, and Julian E. Zelizer, eds., The Democratic Experiment: New Directions in American Political History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), pp. 276-300. [course pack]

March 30th. Dismantling the Welfare State: The Reagan Era.
    Daniel M. Cook and Andrew J. Polsky, "Political Time Reconsidered: Unbuilding and Rebuilding the State under the Reagan Administration," American Politics Research 33 (4) (July 2005): 577-605. [course pack]
 

Part Three.  From Citizenship to Passivity

April 3rd. Toward a More Perfect Union: The National State Shapes a National Polity.
    Richard R. John, Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995), chap. 2 "The Communications Revolution," pp. 25-63. [course pack]

April 6th. Defining Citizens.
    William J. Novak, "The Legal Transformation of Citizenship in Nineteenth-Century America," in Meg Jacobs, William J. Novak, and Julian E. Zelizer, eds., The Democratic Experiment: New Directions in American Political History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), pp. 85-119. [course pack]

April 10th. The Political Struggle over Inclusion.
    Richard M. Valelly, The Two Reconstructions: The Struggle for Black Enfranchisement, chapters TBA

April 13th, 17th, and 20th. No Class - Spring Break.

April 24th and 27th and May 1st. The Political Struggle over Inclusion (continued).
    Valelly, The Two Reconstructions, chapters TBA.

May 4th, 8th, 11th, and 15th. From Mass Organizations to Managed Participation.
    Theda Skocpol, Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life, chapters TBA.

Final Exam Period.  Third Paper Due.