American
Political System (Honors): POLITICAL SCIENCE 1101
University
of Colorado
Dr.
V. Baird, Professor
Office
Ketchum 131D; Email bairdv@sobek.colorado.edu
Office
Hours: Monday 2-4; Thursday 1-3
(also by appointment)
Website: http://socsci.colorado.edu/~bairdv
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on
government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be governed
by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable
the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it
to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary
control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the need for
auxiliary precautions.”
-
Federalist 51 (Madison)
“Each
man’s experience starts again from the beginning.Only
institutions grow wiser: they accumulate collective experience and owing
to this experience and this wisdom, men subject to the same rules will
not see their own nature changing, but their behavior gradually transformed.”
- Henri-Frederic Amiel (1821-1882)
Course Objectives
The purpose of
this course is to provide a better understanding of the American political
system, focusing primarily on how its institutions and historical ideas
shape how people behave.To begin
with, we will explore the ideas that formed the basis for our constitution,
and the extent to which those ideas have worked in the last two hundred
years.We will then examine both the
historical and contemporary context of how federalism, Congress, the presidency,
elections and the courts work in real situations.The
course will also delve into issues that transcend time and space, such
as how institutions work to ensure that citizens cooperate with one another.
Course Requirements
You are required to come
to every class day, prepared by the reading for discussion.We
will spend a great deal of time discussing the issues from the reading,
which is relatively difficult, in a seminar format.This
means that everyone is expected to have done all the reading and each person
is responsible for sharing their unique understanding of the topics.Each
person’s contribution is highly valued and necessary for a successful seminar.For
this reason, 25% of your grade will be composed of a combination of attendance
and class participation.You can
miss two classes without any consequences for your grade.If
you have to miss more than two classes for any reason, then your attendance
grade will suffer, regardless of the reason for missing class.If
I notice that students are not doing the reading, I will include pop quizzes
as a part of that grade.In that case,
pop quizzes will most often occur at the beginning of class and will consist
of one or two general questions about the previous night’s reading that
can be answered in five to ten sentences.I
do not do pop quiz make-ups under any circumstances.If
you are having trouble getting the reading (some of them are in a course
pack and some are on my website), then it is your responsibility to let
me know immediately so that I can make it available.There
are two exams: a midterm and a final, each worth 25% of your grade and
there will be one 12-15 page research paper (25%). These papers and their
respective topics will be discussed during the course of the semester.You
are expected to keep a copy of your work in case something is lost.Incompletes
are strongly discouraged by the College and are only given for non-academic
reasons.
The Rules
Please
email me or come by my office at any time to discuss issues with the class.I
am usually there and I usually answer emails from students within minutes
of receiving them.I genuinely look
forward to discussing issues in the class with students.I
encourage you to use email or office visits for any issues related to the
class.On the other hand, please do
not leave me voice mail messages for any reason.I
do not check voice mail.
In this class,
we will be dealing with a great number of sensitive issues.I
encourage feedback on my teaching style and the materials, both anonymously
by email and otherwise, for any reason at any time, as long as it is respectful.Along
those same lines, I always encourage students to disagree with anything
I say at any time, again, as long as it is respectful.I
expect all students to treat each other with respect as well.If
I feel that you have treated me or any other student with disrespect, I
will ask you to meet me in my office.If
you continue at any other time to treat me or other students with disrespect,
I will ask you to leave the classroom.Potentially,
this kind of behavior could result in being dropped from the class.If
you have any questions about my policies, or the University’s policy regarding
classroom behavior, do not hesitate to bring it up in class or talk to
me about it in my office.The University’s
general Code of Conduct can be found at the following website: http://www.colorado.edu/sacs/stu-affairs/code.html
and its code of conduct guidelines for the classroom can be found at the
following website: http://www.colorado.edu/facultyaffairs/deskref/part13.html#Classroom_Behavior_Policy_And_Procedures
Sexual Harassment
Academic Honesty
All
the work you do in this course is expected to be your own. Absolutely no
cheating or plagiarism (using someone else’s words or ideas without proper
citation) will be tolerated.Any
time that you consult outside sources, you MUST cite those sources.If
your consult outside sources without citation, even if you are not citing
the sources directly, this constitutes cheating.Failure
to put quotation marks around direct quotations constitutes plagiarism
and will always result in an F for the class.Misattribution
of sources (citing certain quotations or ideas as coming from a source
other than the one that they come from) will result in a lower grade.Any
cases of cheating or plagiarism will be reported to the Office of the Dean
of Students.If you cheat, you
will fail the course.Please review
the University’s policy regarding academic integrity:
http://www.colorado.edu/policies/acadinteg.html
Disabilities Accommodation
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (
ADA)
provides protection from illegal discrimination for qualified individuals
with disabilities.
Students requesting
instructional accommodations due to disabilities must arrange for such
accommodation.
Please review the
University’s services for such accommodations:
http://www.colorado.edu/sacs/disabilityservices/index.html
Required Texts
Riker,
William.1986.The
Art of Political Manipulation.Yale.
Baird
Course pack.
(Some
of the readings are available on the website)
Course Outline
|
Topic
|
|
Assignments
|
|
Introduction
|
|
|
Foundations of Constitutions
|
|
Justice
and Cooperation
|
Reading: Plato’s
Republic, Book I; end of Book III, beginning of Book IV (413d-428d) (on
website)
|
|
The
Economic Foundation of Democracy
|
Reading: Olson,
“Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development” (on website)
|
|
History
of Colonial Ideas: Rights and Liberties
|
Reading: Lutz,
Origins of the American Constitution, Chapter 5
|
|
History
of Colonial Economic Ideas
|
|
Institutionalizing Cooperation
|
|
Cooperation
|
Reading: Chapter
8, Analyzing Politics
|
|
Collective
Action
|
Reading: Chapter
9, Analyzing Politics
|
|
Externalities
and the Commons
|
Reading: Chapter
10, Analyzing Politics
|
Institutions
|
|
Agenda
Setting
|
Reading: Art
of Political Manipulation, Chapters 1,2, 4
|
|
Voting
and Rules
|
Reading: Art
of Political Manipulation, Chapters 8, 10, 11
|
|
Why
Federalism?
|
Reading: Calhoun,
A Disquisition on Government (5-45) (on website)
|
|
How
Federalism Works
|
Reading: Calhoun,
A Disquisition on Government
|
|
Federalism:
Structurally Induced Equilibrium
|
Reading: Weingast,
“Political Stability and Civil War: institutions, commitment, and American
Democracy”
|
Review
|
|
Exam
|
|
|
Congress:
Introduction
|
No
reading due
|
|
Congress:
Agenda Setting and Information
|
Reading: Lupia
and McCubbins, “Who Controls? Information and the Structure of Legislative
Decision Making”
|
|
Presidency
|
No
reading due; Paper Proposal Due
|
|
Inter-institutional
Conflict
|
In
class: Roosevelt’s
Fireside Chat on the Reorganization of the Judiciary |
|
Strategies
and the Supreme Court
|
Reading: Epstein
and Knight, Choices Justices Make, Chapter 1
|
|
Supreme
Court and Minority Rights
|
Reading: Rosenberg,
The Hollow Hope, Chapter 1
|
Behavior of American Citizens and Groups
|
|
Interest
Groups
|
Reading: Madison,
Federalist 10
|
|
Participation
|
Revised Paper
Proposal Due
|
|
Attitude
Formation
|
Reading: Page
and Shapiro, “Restraining the Whims and Passions of the Public”
|
|
Campaigns
|
The
War Room
|
|
Campaigns
|
The
War Room
|
|
Elections
and Policy
|
Reading: Riker,
Liberalism Against Populism, Chapter 10;
|
|
Media
|
No
reading due
|
|
Review
|
|
Exam
|
|
Final
Exam Due: Tuesday, May 6th, 5:00PM
Exams
A+
A