Office: 5200.01 GC (Polity office)
Office Hour: Thursday 3-4 PM
Phone (Hunter College): (212) 772-5507 (messages)
e-mail: apolsky@hunter.cuny.edu
http://urban.hunter.cuny.edu/~apolsky/
PSC 72000 American Politics
Course Description
This seminar offers an overview of the American political system and an introduction to major scholarly conversations and controversies in the field of American politics. Throughout the course a strong emphasis will be placed on the historical development of political institutions. Following a session on various approaches to the study of American politics, the first unit will focus on the framework of American politics, including American political culture(s) and the constitutional foundations of national politics. Next the course will turn to political participation and linkage institutions (public opinion, political participation, parties and elections, and interest groups). The final unit will cover key national institutions - Congress, the presidency, the courts, and the bureaucracy. A number of supplemental topics are interspersed in the syllabus at the approximate point at which they might be covered in an introductory undergraduate course in American politics. An overview session at the end of the course will highlight connections across units and emerging scholarship about American politics. We will regularly address issues and problems in teaching an undergraduate American politics survey course.
Course Learning Objectives
Besides introducing graduate students to significant scholarship and debates in American politics, this course seeks to encourage the development of several skills needed by scholar-teachers.
1. Complete assigned readings before class meetings
and prepare eight two-page summaries/critiques. I have limited the number
of pages in assigned readings to keep the reading assignments manageable,
though of course you may disagree with my notion of what that means. I
regularly ask certain students in advance to be ready to lead the discussion
of specified readings and to raise questions about an author's method and
use of evidence.
Over the course of the semester you are required
to submit eight typed, non-graded summaries/critiques of assigned readings,
with not more than one summary per class session. These short papers should
offer a concise summary of the main point in the article or chapter(s),
then develop an analytical response to the reading that may include raising
questions about problems with the author's argument or evidence, drawing
comparisons and contrasts with other things you have read (ideally, but
not necessarily, for this course), or applying the argument to other cases.
Summaries must not exceed three standard typed pages
(i.e., double-spaced, 12-point font). Note that if you fall behind you
cannot make up missing summaries. Summaries will be due at the start of
the class session at which the reading will be discussed. I do not accept
late summaries for any reason. It makes sense to write summaries of readings
you are designated to discuss. As indicated below, the course grade is
based in part on the summaries.
2. Attend class regularly and participate. Contributions to the class discussion, including succinct, prepared comments by discussion leaders, will be considered in the calculation of the final grade for the course. (See below under grading.)
3. Write one comparative review essay. It should
examine two books (or one book plus two or more additional articles) on
a single topic. You may choose either a topic we will discuss or a supplemental
one (see schedule of readings). Choose the literature for the review essay
from the recommended readings on this syllabus (not the required assignments!)
or other recent books approved in advance by the instructor.
The purpose of the review essay is for you to build
on recent scholarship to offer your own interpretation of a significant
phenomenon in American politics. Although you will need to summarize the
authors' views, the key goal is for you to make an original contribution
by building upon their work. As a model, I have included in the course
pack a review essay I wrote.
Important details: Review essays should be approximately
12-14 pages (and not more than 16 pages). The review essay will be due
at the end of spring break, April 19th, and should be submitted to the
instructor via e-mail as an attachment in Word format. If you submit the
paper on-time, you will have the opportunity to revise and resubmit it
to improve the grade (the better of the two grades will count). As this
course is designed to be finished on time, late papers will be penalized
one-third of a letter grade per day when there is not a valid, documented
reason for lateness and the opportunity to rewrite the paper will be forfeited..
Grading
Grading for the course will be based on class participation
and preparation, the review essay, and the final exam. Each component will
be given equal weight (one-third of the total course grade).
The class participation grade will be based upon
the summaries and participation. Timely completion of the eight summaries
establishes a base participation grade of A-. If you submit fewer than
eight, the base participation grade drops to B; if you submit fewer than
five, to C+. The participation grade will also reflect your active, thoughtful
contribution to the discussion and the quality of your short presentations
of the readings.
To be eligible for an incomplete grade, you must
maintain "satisfactory progress" in the course. I define this to mean you
will have attended class regularly, led discussions as assigned, submitted
at least six summaries on time, taken the final exam (except in the specific
instance where you have been granted extra time for a valid medical or
other reason), and submitted the review essay (unless you have documented
circumstances warranting an extraordinary extension). No incomplete will
extend past August 1, 2009.
Books
We will be reading a significant portion of each
of the following titles, so I recommend you purchase them. Used copies
are often available through Amazon.com or other on-line vendors.
John H. Aldrich, Why Parties? The Origin and Transformation of Political Parties in America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
Richard L. Hall, Participation in Congress (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996).
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers (any inexpensive paperback edition, e.g., New American Library or Bantam).
Stephen Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to George Bush (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993 or 1997).
John
R. Zaller, The Nature and
Origins of Mass Opinion (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
Course Pack/Reserve Readings
The articles and book chapters
listed below will be found in two large course packs that may be purchased
from Campus Course Paks, Inc. A representative will be present at the first
class and you may buy the packs then. You may also order them on-line at
www.ccpcopy.com.
Bruce Ackerman, We the People: Volume 1: Foundations (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991), chap. 7 "Publius," pp. 165-199.
John Aldrich, "Rational Choice Theory and the Study of American Politics," chap. 9 in Lawrence C. Dodd and Calvin Jillson, eds., The Dynamics of American Politics: Approaches and Interpretations (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994), pp. 208-34.
Brian Balogh, "Reorganizing the Organizational Synthesis: Federal-Professional Relations in Modern America," Studies in American Political Development 5 (Spring 1991): 119-72.
Nancy Burns, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Sidney Verba, The Private Roots of Public Action: Gender, Equality and Political Participation (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001), chap. 1 "Introduction: Citizenship and Unequal Participation, " pp. 1-38.
Dan Carpenter, "The Evolution of National Bureaucracy in the United States," in Joel D. Aberbach and Mark A. Peterson, eds., The Executive Branch (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 41-71.
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.
Anne N. Costain, "Social Movements as Interest Groups: The Case of the Women's Movement," in Mark Petracca, ed., The Politics of Interests: Interest Groups Transformed (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992), pp. 285-306.
John Gerring, Party Ideologies in America, 1828-1996 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998), chap. 1 "Arguments," pp. 3-21 and chap. 8 "What Drives Ideological Change?" pp. 257-75.
Howard Gillman, "How Political Parties Can Use the Courts to Advance Their Agendas: Federal Courts in the United States, 1875-1891," American Political Science Review[APSR] 96 (3) (September 2002): 511-24.
Donald P. Green and Ian Shapiro, Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory: A Critique of Applications in Political Science (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), chap. 4 "The Paradox of Voter Turnout," pp. 47-71.
David Greenstone, "Political Culture and American Political Development: Liberty, Union, and the Liberal Bipolarity," Studies in American Political Development 1 (1986): 1-49.
Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America (1955; reprint ed., San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1991), chap. 1 "The Concept of a Liberal Society," pp. 3-32.
Hugh Heclo, "Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment," chap. 3 in Anthony King, ed.,The New American Political System (1979), pp. 87-124.
Lawrence R. Jacobs and Robert Y. Shapiro, Politicians Don't Pander: Political Manipulation and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), chap. 2 "Crafted Talk and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness," pp. 27-71.
Robert C. Lieberman, "Ideas, Institutions, and Political Order: Explaining Political Change,"APSR 96 (4) (December 2002): 697-712.
David Lowery, "Why Do Organized Interests Lobby? A Multi-Goal, Multi-Context Theory of Lobbying," Polity 39 (1) (January 2007): 29-54.
James G. March and Johan P. Olsen, "The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life," APSR 78 (3) (1984): 734-49.
Suzanne Mettler, "Bringing the State Back In to Civic Engagement: Policy Feedback Effects of the G.I. Bill for World War II Veterans," APSR 96 (2) (June 2002): 351-65.
Paul Pierson, "Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics," APSR 94 (2) (June 2000): 251-67.
Andrew J. Polsky, "Partisan Regimes in American Politics," Working Draft, January 2008.
Andrew J. Polsky, "The Political Economy of Partisan Regimes: Lessons from Two Republican Eras," Polity 35 (4) (July 2003): 595-612. [Note: sample review essay]
Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York, Simon and Schuster, 2000), chap. 2 "Civic Participation," pp. 31-47.
Jack N. Rakove, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1996), chap. 3 "The Madisonian Moment," pp. 35-56.
David Brian Robertson, The Constitution and America's Destiny (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), chap. 1 "Politics and the Constitution," pp. 1-29.
Eric Schickler, "Institutional Development of Congress," in Paul J. Quirk and Sarah A. Binder, eds., The Legislative Branch (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 35-62.
Adam D. Sheingate, "Political Entrepreneurship, Institutional Change, and American Political Development," Studies in American Political Development 17 (2) (Fall 2003): 185-203.
Theda Skocpol, "The Tocqueville Problem: Civic Engagement in American Democracy," Social Science History 21:4 (Winter 1997): 455-480.
Stephen Skowronek, "The Reassociation of Ideas and Purposes: Racism, Liberalism, and the American Political Tradition," APSR 100 (3): 385-401.
Rogers M. Smith, "Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions in America," APSR 87 (3) (September 1993): 549-66.
Cass R. Sunstein, "Judges and Democracy: The Changing Role of the United States Supreme Court," in Kermit L. Hall and Kevin T. McGuire, eds., The Judicial Branch (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 32-59.
Daniel J. Tichenor, Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002), chap. 1 "The Politics of Immigration Control: Understanding the Rise and Fall of Policy Regimes," pp. 16-45, 301-305.
Daniel Tichenor and Richard Harris, "Organized Interests and American Political Development,"Political Science Quarterly 117 (Winter 2002-03): 587-612.
Jeffrey K. Tulis, "The Two Constitutional Presidencies," in Michael Nelson, ed., The Presidency and the Political System, 4th ed.(Washington, DC: CQ Press, ), pp. 91-123.
Mark Tushnet, "The Supreme Court and the National Political Order: Collaboration and Confrontation," in Ronald Kahn and Ken I. Kersch, eds., The Supreme Court and American Political Development (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2006), pp. 117-37.
Barry R. Weingast, "Caught in the Middle: The President, Congress, and the Political-Bureaucratic System," in Joel D. Aberbach and Mark A. Peterson, eds., The Executive Branch (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 312-42.
Keith Whittington, "Presidential
Challenges to Judicial Supremacy and the Politics of Constitutional Meaning," Polity
33 (3) (Spring 2001): 365-95.
Schedule of Topics and Reading Assignments
Required readings are preceded by a double asterisk.
You should read them in the order in which they are listed. Additional
readings for each topic (listed alphabetically) are intended as a guide
to further research and planning for undergraduate instruction, and so
include a mix of classic works, new scholarship, and popularized treatments.
The syllabus includes a number of supplemental topics
that may be covered in an introductory undergraduate American politics
course. These topics are listed below at the approximate point at which
they would be covered in such a course. I encourage you to explore the
supplemental topics as time permits. You may select books for review drawn
from these headings.
January 29th and February 5th. Overview: Conceptual Models for the Study of American Institutions.
**James G. March and Johan P. Olsen, "The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life." [course pack]
**John Aldrich, "Rational Choice Theory and the Study of American Politics." [course pack]
**Donald P. Green and Ian Shapiro, Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory, chap. 4 "The Paradox of Voter Turnout." [course pack]
**Robert C. Lieberman, "Ideas, Institutions, and Political Order: Explaining Political Change." [course pack]
Gabriel Almond, "The Return to the State," APSR 82 (3) (1988): 853-74.
Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy (1957).
Peter Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, and Theda Skocpol, eds., Bringing the State Back In
(1985).
Jeffrey Friedman, ed., The Rational Choice Controversy (1996).
Gunnar Grendstad and Per Selle, "Cultural Theory and the New Institutionalism," Journal of Theoretical Politics 7 (1) (1995): 5-27.
Ellen M. Immergut, "The Theoretical Core of the New Institutionalism," Politics and Society 26:1 (March, 1998) 5-34.
James G. March and Johan P. Olsen, Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of
Politics (1989).
Terry M. Moe, "Power and Political Institutions," Perspectives on Politics 3 (2) (June 2005): 215-33.
Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action (1965).
Karen Orren and Stephen Skowronek, "The Study of American Political Development," in Ira Katznelson and Helen V. Milner, eds., Political Science: The State of the Discipline (New York: Norton, 2002), pp. 722-54.
Paul Pierson, "Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics," APSR 94:2 (June 2000): 251-267.
Kenneth A. Shepsle, "Studying Institutions: Some Lessons from the Rational Choice Approach,"
Journal
of Theoretical Politics 1 (2) (1989): 131-47.
Part One: The Frameworks of American Politics
February 10th (Tuesday). American Political Culture.
**Louis Hartz, Liberal Tradition in America, chap. 1 "The Concept of a Liberal Society."
[course pack]
**David Greenstone, "Political Culture and American Political Development: Liberty, Union, and the Liberal Bipolarity." [course pack]
**Rogers M. Smith, "Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions in America." [course pack]
**Stephen Skowronek, "The Reassociation of Ideas and Purposes: Racism, Liberalism, and the American Political Tradition." [course pack]
Philip Abbott, "Still Louis Hartz after All These Years: A Defense of the Liberal Society Thesis," Perspectives on Politics 3 (1) (March 2005): 93-109.
James E. Block, A Nation of Agents: The American Path to a Modern Self and Society (2002).
John Patrick Diggens, The Lost Soul of American Politics: Virtue, Self Interest, and the
Foundations of Liberalism (1985).
Daniel J. Elazar, The American Mosaic: The Impact of Space, Time, and Culture on AmericanPolitics (1994).
J. David Greenstone, The Lincoln Persuasion: Remaking American Liberalism (1993).
Russell L. Hanson, The Democratic Imagination in America (1985).
Hugh Heclo, "The Sixties False Dawn: Awakenings, Movements, and Postmodern Policymaking," Journal of Policy History 8 (1) (1996): 34-63.
Samuel Huntington, American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony (1980).
James A. Morone, The Democratic Wish: Popular Participation and the Limits of American Government (1990).
James A. Morone, Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History (2003).
George Shulman, American Prophecy: Race and Redemption in American Political Culture(2008).
Robert H. Wiebe, A
Cultural History of American Democracy (1995).
February 19th and 26th. The Constitutional Framework.
**David Brian Robertson, The Constitution and America's Destiny, chap. 1 "Politics and the Constitution." [course pack]
**Jack N. Rakove, Original Meanings, chap. 3 "The Madisonian Moment." [course pack]
**Federalist Papers, nos. 1, 9-10, 14-15, 21, 23, 37, 39, 45-46, 51, 56-57, 62-63, 68-70, 78, 84.
**Bruce Ackerman, We the People, chap. 7. [course pack]
Daniel J. Elazer, The American Constitutional Tradition (1988).
Calvin C. Jillson, Constitution Making: Conflict and Consensus in the Federal Convention of 1787 (2002).
Robert A. McGuire, To Form a More Perfect Union: A New Economic Interpretation of the United States Constitution (2003).
Wayne D. Moore, Constitutional Rights and Powers of the People (1996).
Karen Orren, "The Primacy of Labor in American Constitutional Development," APSR 89 (2) (June 1995): 377-88.
Martin H. Redish, The Constitution as Political Structure (1995).
William H. Riker, The Strategy of Rhetoric: Campaigning for the American Constitution (1996). Gretchen Ritter, The Constitution as Social Design: Gender and Civic Membership in the American Constitutional Order (2006).
Herbert J. Storing, What the Anti-Federalists Were For (1981).
Keith E. Whittington, Constitutional Construction: Divided Powers and Constitutional Meaning (1999).
Gordon
S. Wood, The Creation of
the American Republic, 1776-1787 (1969).
Supplemental Topic. Federalism.
Samuel Beer, To Make a Nation: The Rediscovery of American Federalism (1993).
Raoul Berger, Federalism: The Founders' Design (1987).
Martha Derthick, Keeping the Compound Republic: Essays on American Federalism (2002).
Kimberly S. Johnson, Governing the American State: Congress and the New Federalism, 1877-1929 (2006).
Robert C. Lieberman and John S. Lapinski, "American Federalism, Race and the Administration of Welfare," British Journal of Political Science 31 (2) (April 2001): 303-29.
Vincent Ostrom, The Meaning of American Federalism: Constituting a Self-Governing Society (1991).
Robert F. Nagel, The Implosion of American Federalism (2001)
Paul Peterson, The Price of Federalism (1995).
David B. Walker, The
Rebirth of Federalism: Slouching toward Washington (1995).
Supplemental Topic. Power and the American Political Economy.
John C. Berg, Unequal Struggle: Class, Gender, Race, and Power in the U.S. Congress (1994)
Thomas Ferguson, Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems (1995).
Edward S. Greenberg, Capitalism and the American Political Ideal (1985).
Charles Lindblom, Politics and Markets: The World's Political and Economic Systems (1977), chaps. 12-15.
Grant McConnell, Private Power and American Democracy (1966).
Nelson W. Polsby, Community Power and Political Theory: A Further Look at Problems of Evidence and Inference (1980).
Andrew J. Polsky, "When Business Speaks: Political Entrepreneurship, Discourse, and Mobilization in American Partisan Regimes," Journal of Theoretical Politics12 (4) (October 2000): 451-72.
David Vogel, Fluctuating
Fortunes: The Political Power of Business in America (1989).
Supplemental Topic: Expanding the Political Community: Race and the Challenges of Inclusion.
Keith J. Bybee, Mistaken Identity: The Supreme Court and the Politics of Minority Representation (1998).
David T. Canon, Race, Redistricting, and Representation: The Unintended Consequences of Black Majority Districts(1999).
Michael C. Dawson, Behind the Mule: Race and Class in African-American Politics (1994).
Michael C. Dawson and Cathy Cohen, "Problems in the Study of the Politics of Race," in Ira Katznelson and Helen V. Milner, eds., Political Science: The State of the Discipline (New York: Norton, 2002), pp. 488-510.
Claudine Gay, ""Spirals of Trust? The Effects of Descriptive Representation on the Relationship between Citizens and their Government," AJPS 46 (4) (2002): 117-33.
Michael Goldfield, The Color of Politics: Race and the Mainsprings of American Politics (1997).
Hugh Davis Graham, The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy, 1960-1972 (1990).
Rodney Hero, Faces of Inequality: Social Diversity in American Politics (1998).
Rodney Hero, "Social Capital and Racial Inequality in America," Perspectives on Politics 1 (1) (March 2003): 113-22.
Jennifer L. Hochschild, Facing Up to the American Dream: Race, Class, and the Soul of the Nation (1995).
Jan E. Leighley, Strength in Numbers? The Political Mobilization of Racial and Ethnic Minorities (2001).
Donald W. Jackson, Even the Children of Strangers: Equality Under the U.S. Constitution (1992).
Desmond S. King and Rogers Smith, "Racial Orders in American Political Development," APSR 99 (1) (February 2005): 75-92.
Desmond King, Separate and Unequal: Black Americans and the U.S. Federal Government (1995).
Philip A. Klinkner with Rogers M. Smith, The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America (1999).
Andrew Kull, The Color-Blind Constitution (1992).
Tali Mendelberg, The Race Card: Campaign Strategy, Implicit Messages, and the Norm of Equality ( 2001).
Richard M. Merelman, "Racial Conflict and Cultural Politics in the United States," Journal of Politics 56 (1) (February 1994): 1-20.
Katherine Tate, "The Political Representation of Blacks in Congress: Does Race Matter?"Legislative Studies Quarterly26 ( 2001): 623-637.
Richard M. Valelly, The Two Reconstructions: The Struggle for Black Enfranchisement (2004).
Hanes Walton, Jr. and Robert C. Smith, American Politics and the African American Quest for Universal Freedom (2000).
Linda Faye Williams, The
Constraint of Race: The Legacies of White Skin Privilege in America
(2003).
Supplemental Topic. Civil Liberties.
Margaret A. Blanchard, Revolutionary Sparks: Freedom of Expression in Modern America (1992).
Lee C. Bollinger and Geoffrey R. Stone, eds., Eternally Vigilant: Free Speech in the Modern Era (2002).
Michael Kent Curtis, Free Speech, "The People's Darling Privilege": Struggles for Freedom of Expression in American History (2000).
David Garrow, Liberty and Sexuality: The Right to Privacy and the Making of Roe v. Wade (1994).
James L. Gibson, "Political Intolerance and Political Repression During the McCarthy Red Scare," APSR 82 (2) (1988): 511-29.
Gregg Ivers, Redefining the First Freedom: The Supreme Court and the Consolidation of State Power (1992).
Ken I. Kersch, Constructing Civil Liberties: Discontinuities in the Development of American Constitutional Law (2004).
Ken I. Kersch, "The Reconstruction of Constitutional Privacy Rights and the New American State, Studies in American Political Development 16 (1) (Spring 2002): 61-87.
David M. Rabban, Free Speech in its Forgotten Years .
David A.J. Richards, Toleration and the Constitution (1986).
Mark J. Richards and Herbert M. Kritzer, "Jurisprudential Regimes in Supreme Court Decision Making," APSR 96 (2) (June 2002): 305-20.
Cass R. Sunstein, Democracy
and the Problem of Free Speech (1993).
Part Two: Linkage Institutions and Political Participation
March 5th. Public Opinion and Political Leadership.
**John R. Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, chaps. 1-3, 6-7, 11.
**Lawrence R. Jacobs and Robert Y. Shapiro, Politicians Don't Pander, chap. 2 "Crafted Talk and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness." [course pack]
Timothy E. Cook, Governing with the News: The News Media as a Political Institution (1998).
Michael X. Delli Carpini and Scott Keeter, What Americans Know about Politics and Why It Matters (1996).
George C. Edwards III and B. Dan Wood, "Who Influences Whom? The President, Congress, and the Media," APSR 93 (2) (June 1999): 327-44.
Martin Gilens, "Political Ignorance and Collective Policy Preferences," APSR 95 (2) (June 2001): 379-96.
Robert Huckfeldt and John Sprague, Citizens, Politics, and Social Communication: Information and Influence in an Election Campaign (1995).
Robert Huckfeldt, Paul E. Johnson, and John Sprague, Political Disagreement: The Survival of Diverse Opinions within Communications Networks (2004).
Vincent L. Hutchings, Public Opinion and Democratic Accountability: How Citizens Learn about Politics (2003).
Arthur Lupia and Matthew D. McCubbins, The Democratic Dilemma: Can Citizens Learn What They Need to Know? (1998).
Jeff Manza and Fay Lomax Cook, "A Democratic Polity? Three Views of Policy Responsiveness to Public Opinion in the United States," American Politics Research 30 (6) (November 2002): 630-67.
Benjamin I. Page, Who Deliberates? Mass Media in Modern Democracy (1995).
Benjamin I. Page and Robert Y. Shapiro, The Rational Public: Fifty Years of Trends in Americans' Policy Preferences (1992).
Samuel Popkin, The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns (1991).
Paul J. Quirk and Joseph Hinchliffe, "The Rising Hegemony of Mass Opinion," Journal of Policy History 10:1 (1998): 19-50.
Bartholomew Sparrow, Uncertain Guardians: The News Media as a Political Institution (1999).
James A. Stimson, Tides of Consent: How Public Opinion Shapes American Politics (2004).
Cliff Zukin et al., A
New Engagement? Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American
Citizen (2006).
March 12th. Political Participation: Civil Society, Gender, Social Capital, and the State.
**Robert D. Putnam, "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital." [course pack]
**Theda Skocpol, "The Tocqueville Problem: Civic Engagement in American Democracy." [course pack]
**Suzanne Mettler, "Bringing the State Back In to Civic Engagement." [course pack]
**Nancy Burns, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Sidney Verba, The Private Roots of Public Action, chap. 1 "Introduction: Citizenship and Unequal Participation." [course pack]
Anna Harvey, "Women, Policy, and Party: A Rational Choice Approach," in Studies in American Political Development 11 (1997): 292-325.
Norman H. Nie, Jane Junn, and Kenneth Stehlik-Barry, Education and Democratic Citizenship in America (1996).
Steven J. Rosenstone and John Mark Hansen, Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America (1993).
Kay L. Schlozman,"Citizen Participation in America: What Do We Know? Why Do We Care?" in Ira Katznelson and Helen V. Milner, eds., Political Science: The State of the Discipline (New York: Norton, 2002), pp. 333-61.
Sidney Verba, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Henry E. Brady, Voice and Inequality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics (1995).
Hanes Walton, Jr., ed., Black
Politics and Black Political Behavior (1994).
March 19th and 26th. Political Parties, Elections, and Partisan Regimes.
**John H. Aldrich, Why Parties?, chaps. 1-2, 6-9.
**John Gerring, Party Ideologies in America, 1828-1996, chap. 1 "Arguments" and chap. 8 "What Drives Ideological Change?" [course pack]
**Andrew J. Polsky, "Partisan Regimes in American Politics." [course pack]
John H. Aldrich, "Political Parties in a Critical Era," American Politics Quarterly 27:1 (January 1999): 9-32.
Walter Dean Burnham, Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics (1970).
Jerome M. Clubb, William H. Flanigan, and Nancy H. Zingale, Partisan Realignment: Voters, Parties, and Government in American History (1980).
John J. Coleman, Party Decline in America: Policy, Politics, and the Fiscal State (1996).
Patricia Heidotting Conley, Presidential Mandates: How Elections Shape the National Agenda (2001).
Marc J. Hetherington, "Resurgent Mass Partisanship: The Role of Elite Polarization, APSR 95 (3) (September 2001): 619-30.
David C. Leege et al., The Politics of Cultural Differences: Social Change and Voter Mobilization Strategies in the Post-New Deal Period (2002).
David Lublin, The Republican South: Democratization and Partisan Change (2004).
Jeff Manza and Clem Brooks, Social Cleavages and Political Change: Voter Alignments and U.S. Party Coalitions (1999).
David R. Mayhew, Electoral Realignments: A Critique of an American Genre (2002).
Peter F. Nardulli, "The Concept of a Critical Realignment, Electoral Behavior, and Political Change," APSR 89 (1) (March 1995): 10-22.
Nicol C. Rae, Southern Democrats (1994).
Jeffrey M. Stonecash, Political Parties Matter: Realignment and the Return of Partisan Voting (2006).
James L. Sundquist, Dynamics
of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in
the United States (1973, 1983).
Supplemental Topic. Voting, Electoral Participation, and Political Responsiveness.
Richard Franklin Bensel, The American Ballot Box in the Mid-Nineteenth Century (2004).
Courtney Brown, Ballots of Tumult: A Portrait of Volatility in American Voting (1991).
Paul Allen Beck et al., "The Social Calculus of Voting: Interpersonal, Media, and Organizational Influences on Presidential Choices," APSR 96 (1) (March 2002): 57-73.
Angus Campbell, et al., The American Voter (1960).
Alexander Keyssar, The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States (2000).
Michael P. McDonald and Samuel L. Popkin, "The Myth of the Vanishing Voter," APSR 95 (4) (2001): 963-974.
Peter F. Nardulli, Popular Efficacy in a Democratic Era: A Reexamination of Electoral Accountability in the United States, 1828-2000 (2005).
Katherine Tate, From
Protest to Politics: The New Black Voters in American Politics (1993).
April 2nd. Interest Groups and Social Movements: Past and Present, Causes and Consequences.
**David Lowery, "Why Do Organized Interests Lobby? A Multi-Goal, Multi-Context Theory of Lobbying." [course pack]
**Daniel Tichenor and Richard Harris, "Organized Interests and American Political Development." [course pack]
**Anne N. Costain, "Social Movements as Interest Groups: The Case of the Women's Movement." [course pack]
Frank R. Baumgartner and Beth L. Leech Basic Interests: The Importance of Groups in Politics and Political Science (1998).
William P. Browne, Cultivating Congress: Constituents, Issues, and Interests in Agricultural Policymaking (1994).
Anne Costain, Inviting Women's Rebellion: A Political Process Interpretation of the Women's Movement (1992).
Virginia Gray and David Lowery, Population Ecology of Interest Representation (1996).
Kevin W. Hula, Lobbying Together: Interest Group Coalitions in Legislative Politics (2000).
Ken Kollman, Outside Lobbying: Public Opinion and Interest Group Strategies (1998).
Doug McAdam, Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970, 2nd ed. 1999.
Andrew S. McFarland, Neopluralism: The Evolution of Political Process Theory (2004).
David S. Meyer and Steven A. Boutcher, "Signals and Spillover: Brown v. Board of Education and Other Social Movements," Perspectives on Politics 5 (1) March 2007): 81-93.
William C. Mitchell and Michael C. Munger, "Economic Models of Interest Groups: An Introductory Survey," American Journal of Political Science 35 (2) (May 1991): 512-46.
Francesca Polletta, Freedom is an Endless Meeting: Democracy in American Social Movements (2002, 2004).
Kay Lehman Schlozman and John T. Tierny, Organized Interests and American Democracy (1986).
Adam D. Sheingate, The Rise of the Agricultural Welfare State: Institutions and Interest Group Power in the United States, France, and Japan. (2001).
Theda Skocpol, Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life (2003).
Robert M. Stein and Kenneth N. Bickers, Perpetuating the Pork Barrel: Policy Subsystems and American Democracy (1995).
Jack L. Walker, "The Origins and Maintenance of Interest Groups in America," APSR 77 (1983): 390-406.
Jack L. Walker, Mobilizing
Interest Groups in America (1991).
April 9th. Spring Recess (no class meeting).
Part Three: National Institutions and Policy Making
April 16th. Congress: History, Structures, and Politics.
**Eric Schickler, "Institutional Development of Congress." [course pack]
**Richard L. Hall, Participation in Congress, chaps. 1-4, 9.
John H. Aldrich and David W. Rohde, "The Republican Revolution and the House Appropriations Committee," Journal of Politics 62:1 (February 2000): 1-33.
Richard Bensel, "Of Rules and Speakers: Toward a Theory of Institutional Change for the US House of Representatives," Social Science History 24:2 (Summer 2000): 349.
Joseph M. Bessette, The Mild Voice of Reason: Deliberative Democracy and American National Government (1994).
Sarah A. Binder, Minority Rights, Majority Rule: Partisanship and the Development of Congress (1997).
Andrew E. Busch, Horses in Midstream: U.S. Midterm Elections and Their Consequences, 1894-1998 (1999).
Gary W. Cox and Matthew D. McCubbins, Legislative Leviathan: Party Government in the House (1993).
Gary W. Cox and Matthew D. McCubbins, Setting the Agenda: Responsible Party Government in the U.S. House of Representatives (2005).
Christine A. DeGregorio, Network of Champions: Leadership, Access, and Advocacy in the U.S. House of Representatives (1997).
David Epstein and Sharyn O'Halloran, Delegating Powers: A Transaction Cost Politics Approach to Policy Making Under Separated Powers (2000).
Kevin M. Esterling, The Political Economy of Expertise: Information and Efficiency in American National Politics (2004).
Gerald Gamm and John Huber, "Legislatures as Political Institutions: Beyond the Contemporary Congress," in Ira Katznelson and Helen V. Milner, eds., Political Science: The State of the Discipline (New York: Norton, 2002), pp. 313-41.
Paul Gronke, The Electorate, the Campaign, and the Office: A Unified Approach to Senate and House Elections (2000).
Samuel Kernel and Michael P. McDonald, "Congress and America's Political Development,"American Journal of Political Science 43 (July 1999) 792-811.
Keith Krehbiel, Pivotal Politics: A Theory of U.S. Lawmaking (1998).
Frances E. Lee and Bruce I. Oppenheimer, Sizing Up the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation (1999).
Forrest Maltzman, Competing Principals: Committee, Parties, and the Organization of Congress (1997).
David R. Mayhew, America's Congress: Actions in the Public Sphere, James Madison through Newt Gingrich (2000).
David Mayhew, Congress: The Electoral Connection (1974).
Nolan McCarty, Keith T. Poole, and Howard Rosenthal, "The Hunt for Party Discipline in Congress, APSR 95 (3) (September 2001): 633-47.
Gary Mucciaroni and Paul J. Quirk, Deliberative Choices: Debating Public Policy in Congress (2006).
Nelson W. Polsby, How Congress Evolves: Social Bases of Institutional Change (2004). Nelson Polsby, "The Institutionalization of the U.S. House of Representatives," APSR 62 (1968): 144-68.
Keith T. Poole and Howard Rosenthal, Congress: A Political-Economic History of Roll Call Voting (1996).
David F. Rohde, Parties and Leaders in the Postreform House (1991).
Charles Stewart III, "Responsiveness in the Upper Chamber: The Constitution and the Institutional Development of the Senate," chap. 3 in Nardulli, ed., Constitution and American Political Development, pp. 63-96.
Elaine K. Swift, The Making of an American Senate: Reconstitutive Change in Congress 1787-1841 (1996).
Donald R. Wolfensberger, Congress and the People: Deliberative Democracy on Trial (2000)
Julian E. Zelizer, On
Capitol Hill: The Struggle to Reform Congress and Its Consequences, 1948-2000.
(2004).
April 23rd. Presidential Power Across Time.
**Jeffrey K. Tulis, "The Two Constitutional Presidencies." [course pack]
**Stephen Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make, chaps. 1-3, 7-8.
**Daniel M. Cook and Andrew J. Polsky, "Political Time Reconsidered: Unbuilding and Rebuilding the State under the Reagan Administration." [course pack]
Charles M. Cameron, Veto Bargaining: Presidents and the Politics of Negative Power (2000).
Brandice Canes-Wrone, Who Leads Whom? Presidents, Policy, and the Public (2005).
George C. Edwards III, The Strategic President: Persuasion and Opportunity in presidential Leadership (2009).
Fred I. Greenstein, The Presidential Difference: Leadership Style from FDR to Clinton (2001).
William G. Howell, Power Without Persuasion: The Politics of Direct Presidential Action (2003).
Theodore Lowi, The Personal President: Power Invested, Promise Unfulfilled (1985).
Sidney M. Milkis, The President and the Parties: The Transformation of the American Party System since the New Deal (1993).
Richard Neustadt, Presidential Power (1960 and subsequent editions).
Bert A. Rockman, "Entrepreneur in the Constitutional Marketplace: The Development of the Presidency," chap. 4 in Peter Nardulli, ed., The Constitution and American Political Development: An Institutional Perspective (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992), pp. 97-120.
Andrew Rudalevige, Managing the President's Program: Presidential Leadership and Legislative Policy Formulation (2002).
Colleen J. Shogan, The Moral Rhetoric of American Presidents (2006).
Stephen Skowronek, "Notes on the Presidency in the Political Order," Studies in American Political Development 1 (1986): 286-302.
Mary E. Stuckey, Defining
Americans: The Presidency and National Identity (2004).
April 30th. The Judiciary in the American Politics.
**Cass R. Sunstein, "Judges and Democracy: The Changing Role of the United States Supreme Court." [course pack]
**Mark Tushnet, "The Supreme Court and the National Political Order: Collaboration and Confrontation." [course pack]
**Howard Gillman, "How Political Parties Can Use the Courts to Advance Their Agendas." [course pack]
**Keith Whittington, "Presidential Challenges to Judicial Supremacy and the Politics of Constitutional Meaning." [course pack]
Nancy V. Baker, Conflicting Loyalties: Law and Politics in the Attorney General's Office, 1789-1990 (1992).
Jonathan D. Casper, "The Supreme Court and National Policy Making," APSR 70 (1) (1976): 50-63.
Cornell W. Clayton and Howard Gillman, eds., Supreme Court Decision-Making: New Institutionalist Approaches (1999).
Robert Dahl, "The Supreme Court's Role in National Policy-Making," Journal of Public Law 6 (1957): 279-95.
Malcolm Feely and Edward Rubin, Judicial Policy Making and the Modern State (1998).
Paul Frymer, "Acting When Elected Officials Won't: Federal Courts and Civil Rights Enforcement in U.S. Labor Unions, 1935-85," APSR 97 (2003).
John B. Gates, The Supreme Court and Partisan Realignment: A Macro- and Microlevel Perspective (1991).
Mark Graber, "The Non-Majoritarian Difficulty: Legislative Deference to the Judiciary," Studies in American Political Development 7 (1) (Spring 1993): 35-73.
Gerald S. Gryski, Gary Zuk, and Deborah J. Barrow, "A Bench that Looks Like America? Representation of African-Americans and Latinos on the Federal Courts," Journal of Politics 56 (4) (November 1994): 1076-1086.
Ronald Kahn, The Supreme Court and Constitutional Theory, 1953-1993 (1994).
Michael W. McCann, Rights At Work: Pay Equity Reform and the Politics of Legal Mobilization (1994).
William Mishler, William and Reginald Sheehan, "The Supreme Court as a Countermajoritarian Institution? The Impact of Public Opinion in Supreme Court Decisions." APSR 87 (1993): 87-101.
John T. Noonan, Narrowing the Nation's Power: The Supreme Court Sides with the States (2002).
Richard L. Pacelle, Jr., The Transformation of the Supreme Court's Agenda (1991).
Mark J. Richards and Herbert M. Kritzer, "Jurisprudential Regimes in Supreme Court Decision-Making," APSR 96 (June 2002): 305-20.
Jeffrey Rosen, The Most Democratic Branch: How the Courts Serve America (2006).
Gerald N. Rosenberg, The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change? (1992).
Keith E. Whittington, Constitutional Interpretation: Textual Meaning, Original Intent, and Judicial Review (1999).
Keith E. Whittington, Political
Foundations of Judicial Supremacy: The Presidency, the Supreme Court, and
Constitutional Leadership in U.S. History (2007).
May 7th. The Federal Bureaucracy and Regulatory Politics.
**Dan Carpenter, "The Evolution of National Bureaucracy in the United States." [course pack]
**Brian Balogh, "Reorganizing the Organizational Synthesis: Federal-Professional Relations in Modern America." [course pack]
**Hugh Heclo, "Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment." [course pack]
**Barry R. Weingast, "Caught in the Middle: The President, Congress, and the Political-Bureaucratic System." [course pack]
Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Regulations, Networks, and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (2001).
Robert F. Durant, The Administrative Presidency Revisited: Public Lands, the BLM, and the Reagan Revolution (1992).
Louis Galambos, ed., The New American State: Bureaucracies and Policies since World War II (1987).
Mark W. Huddleston and William W. Boyer, The Higher Civil Service in the United States: Quest for Reform (1996).
Patricia Wallace Ingraham, The Foundation of Merit: Public Service in America (1995).
Cathy Marie Johnson, The Dynamics of Conflicts Between Bureaucrats and Legislators (1992).
Ronald N. Johnson and Gary D. Libecap, The Federal Civil Service and the Problem of Bureaucracy: The Economics and Politics of Institutional Change (1994)
Paul C. Light, Thickening Government: Federal Hierarchy and the Diffusion of Accountability (1994).
Terry M. Moe, "The New Economics of Organization," American Journal of Political Science 28 (1984): 739-777.
Robert M. Stein and Kenneth N. Bickers, Perpetuating the Pork Barrel: Policy Subsystems and American Democracy (1995).
Keith E. Whittington and Daniel P. Carpenter, "Executive Power in American Institutional Development," Perspectives on Politics 1 (3) (September 2003): 495-513.
James Q. Wilson, Bureaucracy
(1989).
Supplemental Topic. Politics and the Policy Process.
Jonathan Bendor, Terry M. Moe, and Kenneth W. Shotts, "Recycling the Garbage Can: An Assessment of the Research Program," APSR 95 (1) (March 2001): 169-190, and response by Johan P. Olsen.
Frank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones, Agendas and Instability in American Politics (1993).
Thomas A. Birkland, "Focusing Events, Mobilization, and Agenda Setting," Journal of Public Policy 18:1 (January-April, 1998): 53-74.
Roy B. Flemming, B. Dan Wood, and John Bohte, "Attention to Issues in a System of Separated Powers: The Macrodynamics of American Policy Agendas," Journal of Politics 61:1 (February 1999): 76-108.
Dennis S. Ippolito, Why Budgets Matter: Budget Policy and American Politics (2003).
Bryan D. Jones, Tracy Sulkin, and Heather A. Larsen, "Policy Punctuations in American Political Institutions," APSR 97 (1) (February 2003): 151-69.
Brian D. Jones and Frank R. Baumgartner, The Politics of Attention: How Government Prioritizes Problems (2005).
John W. Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (1984).
Paul Pierson, "When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change," World Politics 45 (July 1993): 595-628.
Andrew Rich, Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise (2004).
David B. Robertson and Dennis R. Judd, The Development of Public Policy: The Structure of Policy Restraint (1989).
Jean Reith Schroedel, Congress, the President, and Policymaking (1994).
James E. Skok, "Policy Issue Networks and the Public Policy Cycle: A Structural-Functional Framework for Public Administration," Public Administration Review 55 (1995): 325-32.
Mark A. Smith, The Right Talk: How Conservatives Transformed the Great Society into the Economic Society (2007).
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.
Conclusion: Overviews and Syntheses
May 14th. Piecing Together American Politics: Key Issues and Emerging Scholarship.
**Adam D. Sheingate, "Political Entrepreneurship, Institutional Change, and American Political Development." [course pack]
**Daniel J. Tichenor, Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America, chap. 1 "The Politics of Immigration Control: Understanding the Rise and Fall of Policy Regimes." [course pack]
Alberto Alesina and Howard Rosenthal, Partisan Politics, Divided Government, and the Economy (1994).
Larry M. Bartels, Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age (2008).
Robert S. Erikson, Michael B. MacKuen, and James A. Stimson, The Macro Polity (2002).
Marc J. Hetherington, Why Trust Matters: Declining Political Trust and the Demise of American Liberalism (2004).
Thomas Frank, What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2004).
Ronald F. King and Thomas S. Langston, "Narratives of American Politics," Perspectives on Politics 6 (2) (June 2008): 235-52.
Theodore J. Lowi, The End of Liberalism: The Second Republic of the United States, 2nd ed. (1979).
Theodore J. Lowi, The End of the Republican Era (1994).
David R. Mayhew, Divided We Govern: Party Control, Lawmaking, and
Investigations, 1946-1990 (1991).
May 21st. Final Exam