The
Political Science 342
Spring 2008
Dr. Sean
F. Evans
Office:
PAC A-38
Phone:
(731) 661-5237
E-mail:
sevans@uu.edu
Introduction
Last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA) and House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) came to an agreement,
within a few days, on the size and shape of an economic stimulus package. What
is surprising is that the two party leaders have rarely spoken over the past
year and cooperation has been practically non-existent as the two parties have
diametrically opposed views toward the appropriate level of taxation,
priorities in spending, how to best solve the problems in Iraq, the proper
relationship between employees and employers, the minimum wage, etc. Yet, both party leaders, in just a short
time, agreed that the economy was slowing down, accepted the need for a
stimulus, and negotiated a deal. While
the US Senate has already said that they will take a different approach in
creating a stimulus package, they seem content to move quickly and reconcile
their package with the House and get something that President Bush can
sign.
What has happened to party leaders
who have not talked to each other to all of a sudden be willing to make a
deal? Why have Democrats, in response to
the concerns of their voters, spent so much time attacking President Bush and,
in particular, his war policies but now decided to work closely with him in
response to a national need? This entire episode encapsulates the pressures and
demands on members of congress serving as representatives of the nation and
their district and reconciling the two as party members set aside their policy
differences in order to solve an immediate and pressing problem for which the
public may hold both parties accountable.
And it is this tension that this course
addresses by exploring the advantages and limits of the legislative system as a
governing and representational system.
The major question of this course is what is the purpose of a
legislature? Should it represent the
people or should it govern? That is,
should legislators reflect and respond to the preferences and characteristics
of their constituents or should legislators make analytically sound, timely,
and well-justified policy? Are the two
purposes incompatible? What are the
strengths and weaknesses of a governing and representational system? What are the consequences for policy of
having one or the other system?
Course
Requirements
Assigned
Davidson, Roger H., Walter J. Oleszek, and
Frances Lee. 2008. Congress and Its Members, 11th ed.
Dodd, Lawrence C., and Bruce I. Oppenheimer. 2005. Congress
Reconsidered, 8th ed.
Weisberg, Herbert, Eric Herberling, and Lisa Campoli. 1999. Classics in Congressional Politics. NY:
Addison Wesley Longman.
In addition, students should keep
abreast of politics by reading a daily newspaper. Personally, I suggest reading a national
paper, most of which are available on-line.
I relate the lectures to actual events occurring in
Grading. Your
grade for this course is determined from three exams, a research paper, and your in class participation.
This is a 300 level course so exams are essay and cover lecture and
reading assignments. There are three
exams and each exam is worth 20% of your final grade. The final exam is cumulative. There are no make-ups for missed exams. If you miss an exam, the final counts
twice.
After exams are returned, you must
wait 24 hours before discussing the exam with me. This serves as both a cooling off period and
as a time for you to reflect upon the exam and what you may have done
wrong. We will then sit down and discuss
what is wrong, how we can correct this, and how you can improve over the course
of the semester. If I make a mistake, I
will rectify that, but I do not engage in point grubbing.
Participation is worth 10% of your final grade. Each student is expected to come to class
prepared to integrate readings with lecture material and to apply theories and
models to the current congress. In a small
class, your participation or lack thereof is rather obvious. Moreover, if you complete the readings before
class, you will find that our time spent in class is more productive and you
will have to study less around exam time.
In assessing participation, students who attend class but do not
participate earn a D in participation.
Those who show they read but show a superficial understanding receive a
C. Those who read and show they
understand the material in discussions receive a B for participation and those
who excel by showing a thorough understanding of readings and an ability to
connect concepts across lectures, readings, and discussions receive an A for
participation. Moreover,
when and/or if I curve test or final grades, I reserve the right to withhold
the curve from students who never attend class.
Finally, your performance at the end
of the semester is more important than your performance at the beginning of the
semester. If you show dramatic improvement, your final grade
will reflect how you ended the course rather than how you began it.
Paper. Each student will conduct a
literature review on a topic approved by the instructor. Once the topic is chosen, the student will
read approximately 20 academic articles, books, etc and synthesize the
literature by summarizing what political science knows about the topic,
identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the scholarship, explaining how the
research relates to each other, evaluating what the research means for congress
and the American system of government, and identifying future avenues of
research.
The lit review is work 30% of the
grade and is due on May 2. Topics must
be approved by the professor by March 5. Students are expected to use JSTOR and
other academic search engines to identify articles and use the Summar library catalog to identify books that are on
topic. Articles from newspapers and
newsmagazines do not count. In
writing your lit review, please write in a clear and organized fashion. Be sure to include a thesis, topic sentences,
introduction, conclusion, etc. While
this is not a grammar course, an integral part of communication is good
grammar. As such, I will stop reading
any paper that has not been spell checked or grammar checked (it is usually
easy to tell) and assign that paper an F.
Since the paper requires outside research, proper citations are required
(U of Chicago style preferred) and rules against plagiarism are enforced. More information on this assignment will be
forthcoming.
Cheating. Don’t
do it. Anyone caught cheating receives
an automatic F for the course and will be referred to the appropriate
authorities for punishment.
Communication Devices. Please turn off all cell phones and other
portable electronic devices while in my class.
Your life is not so important that you need to answer the phone or text
your friend immediately. If found using
any such device, I reserve the right to answer the phone and/or read your text
message to the class. Moreover, I will confiscate your communication device
until the next class meeting. Therefore, if you have an emergency necessitating
having the communication device on, please let me know before the class.
Extracurricular. Students are expected to attend any special political events this semester.
Special Needs. If
you have any special needs that affect your ability to learn in this class,
please inform me and appropriate steps will be taken to help you.
The Syllabus. I reserve the right and prerogative to modify the syllabus in
accordance with student needs. The syllabus should not be construed as a
contract.
Class Outline
Jan. 30 Introduction
Feb. 1 Representation v Lawmaking
DOL, ch. 1, WHC, Ch. 5, and Haynie “African-Americans and the New Politics of Inclusion” in DO
Feb. 4 The Founders and Congress
Federalists # 51 on reserve
Feb. 6 Congress from Washington to FDR
DOL, ch. 2 and Chiles "Congress Couldn't Have Been This Bad, or Could It?"
Feb. 8 The Modern Congress
Sinclair "The New World of US Senators" in DO
Feb. 11 Legislative Development: Organizational Theory
Polsby "The Institutionalization of the US House of Reps" in WHC
Feb. 13 Legislative Development: Individual Goals
Dodd "Congress and the Quest for Power" on reserve
Feb. 15 Legislative Development: Partisan Goals
Smith and Gamm "The Dynamics of Party Government in Congress” in
DO
Rohde Parties
and Leaders in the Postreform House, ch.2 on
reserve
Feb. 18 The Incumbency Advantage
DOL, ch. 5 and Fiorina "Keystone Reconsidered" in DO and Fenno "US House Members in Their Constituencies" in WHC
Feb. 20 The Decision to Run for Congress
DOL, ch. 3 and Jacobson and Kernell "Strategic Politicians" in WHC
Feb. 22 Campaign Tactics
DOL, ch. 4 and Oppenheimer “Deep Red and Blue Congressional
Districts” in DO
Feb. 25 Campaign
Finance
Herrnson “The Bipartisan
Campaign Reform Act and Congressional Elections” in DO
Feb. 27 Congressional Elections: Voting
DOL, ch. 4 and Erikson and Wright "Voters, Candidates, and Issues in Congressional Elections" in DO
Feb. 29 How Representative is Congress?
March 3 First Mid-term
March 5 Rules and Procedure: The House
DOL, ch. 8 and Sinclair "Multiple Paths" in WHC
March 7 Rules and Procedure: The Senate
March 10 Goals of Members
March 12 Decision Making
DOL, ch. 9 and Kingdon "Models of Legislative Voting" in WHC
March 14 Coalition Building
Arnold" Strategies for Coalition Leaders" in WHC
March 17 Norms
Matthews “The Folkways of the Senate” and Asher "The Learning of Legislative Norms" in WHC
March 19 Committees
DOL, ch. 7
March 21 Committees
“Congressional
Committees in a Partisan Era,” and Gordon "The Disintegration of the House
Appropriations Committee” in DO
March 24-28 Spring Break
March 31Parties
DOL, ch. 6 and Cox and McCubbins "Controlling the Legislative Agenda" in
WHC
April 2 Leadership
"Institutional Context and Leadership Style" and Rohde "The Changing Role and Impact of Parties and Leaders" in WHC
April 4 Leadership
Schickler and Pearson “The House Leadership in an Era of Partisan Warfare,” Evans and Lipinski “Obstruction and Leadership in the US Senate” in DO and Cooper and Brady
April 7 The Minority Party
April 9 Catch-up and Review
April 11 Second Mid-term
April 14 The Budget Process
DOL, ch. 14 and Rudder “The Politics of Taxing and Spending
in Congress” in DO
April 16 Congress and the Presidency
DOL, ch. 10 and Cooper
“From Congressional to Presidential Preeminence” in DO
April 18 Divided Government
April 21 Congress and Foreign Policy
DOL, ch. 15 and Wolfensberger "Congress and Policymaking in an Age of Terrorism" in DO
April 23 Congress and the Bureaucracy
DOL, ch. 11
April 25 Congress and Interest Groups
DOL, ch. 13
April 28 Congress and Interest Groups
April 30 Congress and the Media
Hibbing and Smith “What the American Public Wants Congress to Be” in DO
May 2 Congress and the Courts
DOL, ch. 12 and Binder
and Maltzmann “Congress and the Politics of Judicial
Appointments” in DO
May 5 Congressional Reform
May 7 Congressional Change
Dodd "Re-Envisioning Congress" in DO
May 9 Catch up and Review
May 14 Final Exam 8:30am