Dearborn | American Political Development | 1

AMERICAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT Understanding Political Change over Time

John Dearborn* Political Science

OVERVIEW

This course examines American Political Development, a subfield of American Politics that seeks to understand political change over time. Topics are divided into seven broad categories. First, we will examine the concept of political development itself, considering a variety of perspectives on how political change occurs. Second, we will consider American political culture and its impact on citizens. Third, we will examine state building, considering how, when, and to what extent the capacities of the American national government developed. Fourth, we will look at the political economy of the U.S. in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, considering the interactive relationship between economic activity and politics. Fifth, we will consider how ideas may impact political change. Sixth, we will survey American political institutions to get a sense of how they have changed over time and by what developmental processes. Finally, we will conclude the course by considering and debating the consequences the government’s turn toward policy as a solution for national problems.

More broadly, the lectures, discussions, primary source readings, and scholarly readings will help us achieve a few course goals. First, we will gain an improved ability to make sense of how American politics works (or doesn’t work!). Second, we will compare arguments and theories offered by various authors, critically evaluating their usefulness for describing American politics. Third, we will place the ideas from the readings into the context of present-day current events in politics. Finally, as a more general goal for the course, I hope that we all can take a step forward toward becoming more politically critical, informed, and engaged citizens. Politics can be maddening, but it becomes more interesting and fun when you can make some sense of what is going on.

Our activities in class may take a number of formats. While we will often have lectures, depending on the topic there may also be discussions, debates, and/or small group work. Political concepts and topics often may reveal differences of opinion – this is particular true around election years! So even as some of us may have strong views and potentially disagree, I ask that we listen to each other’s viewpoints while working to ensure that civility and respect for each other are always present in our conversations.

ASSIGNMENTS & GRADING

Students are expected to complete the readings, come to lecture, and participate in class. Three times during the semester, students will be expected to complete short papers critically analyzing one or more weeks of readings. The papers should be 5 pages double-spaced. There will also be

* In drafting this syllabus, I have partly drawn upon Stephen Skowronek’s “American Political Development” graduate seminar syllabus at Yale from Spring 2015.

Dearborn | American Political Development | 2 a final exam for the course. Alternatively, students may elect to do a research paper in place of the exam. Topics for this should be discussed with me and approved by Week 5. The grade breakdown is as follows:

• Participation – 15% • 3 Response Papers – 30% • Final Assessment o Final Exam – 55% o Alternative Research Paper – 55%

COURSE OUTLINE

I. THE CONCEPT

Week 1: What is Political Development? Karen Orren and Stephen Skowronek, The Search for American Political Development (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 120-143 Suzanne Mettler and Richard Valelly, “Introduction: The Distinctiveness and Necessity of American Political Development,” in The Oxford Handbook of American Political Development, ed. Richard M. Valelly, Suzanne Mettler, and Robert C. Lieberman (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 1-23 James Mahoney and Kathleen Thelen, “A Theory of Gradual Institutional Change,” in Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power, ed. James Mahoney and Kathleen Thelen (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 1-37.

Primary Sources: Articles of Confederation (1777) Constitution (1787) Bill of Rights (1789)

II. POLITICAL CULTURE AND IDENTITY

Week 2: Culture and Religion Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America: An Interpretation of American Political Thought Since the Revolution (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1955), Ch. 1 Rogers M. Smith, “Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions in America,” American Political Science Review 87, no. 3 (September 1993): 549-566 James A. Morone, Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), Introduction

Dearborn | American Political Development | 3

Week 3: Race Victoria Hattam, In the Shadow of Race: Jews, Latinos, and Immigrant Politics in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), Ch. 1-3 Eric Schickler, “New Deal Liberalism and Racial Liberalism in the Mass Public, 1937-1968,” Perspectives on Politics 11, no. 1 (March 2013): 75-98 Chloe N. Thurston, “Black Lives Matter, American political development, and the politics of visibility,” Politics, Groups, and Identities 6, no. 1 (March 2018): 162-170

Week 4: Gender and Sexual Orientation Suzanne M. Marilley, Woman Suffrage and the Origins of Liberal Feminism in the United States, 1820-1920 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997), Introduction, Ch. 7, Conclusion J. Kevin Corder and Christina Wolbrecht, Counting Women’s Ballots: Female Voters from Suffrage through the New Deal (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016), Ch. 1 Stephen M. Engel, “Seeing Sexuality: State Development and the Fragmented Status of LGBTQ Citizenship,” in The Oxford Handbook of American Political Development, ed. Richard M. Valelly, Suzanne Mettler, and Robert C. Lieberman (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 682-703

III. STATE BUILDING

Week 5: A New American State Stephen Skowronek, Building a New American State: The Expansion of National Administrative Capacities, 1877-1920 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982), Ch. 1-4, Intro to Part 2, Ch. 6-7 Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Reputations, Networks, and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), Ch. 1, 8 Robert P. Saldin, War, the American State, and Politics since 1898 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011), Ch. 1 Megan Ming Francis, Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014), Ch. 1

Week 6: Was the State New? William J. Novak, “The Myth of the ‘Weak’ American State,” American Historical Review 113, no. 3 (June 2008): 752-772

Dearborn | American Political Development | 4

Max M. Edling, A Revolution in Favor of Government: Origins of the U.S. Constitution and the Making of the American State (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), Ch. 2-3, Conclusion Brian Balogh, A Government Out of Sight: The Mystery of National Authority in Nineteenth- Century America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), Ch. 1-2, 10 Stephen Skowronek, “Present at the Creation: The State in Early American Political History,” Journal of the Early Republic 38, no. 1 (Spring 2018): 95-103

IV. POLITICAL ECONOMY

Week 7: The Gilded Age and Populism Richard Franklin Bensel, The Political Economy of American Industrialization, 1877-1900 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), Ch. 1, 5-8 Elizabeth Sanders, Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers, and the American State, 1877-1917 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), Ch. 6-7, 10-12

Week 8: Progressivism and the New Deal Scott C. James, Presidents, Parties, and the State: A Party System Perspective on Democratic Regulatory Choice, 1884-1936 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), Ch. 3, 5 Karen Orren, Belated Feudalism: Labor, the Law, and Liberal Development in the United States (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991), Introduction, Ch. 1, 3-6

V. POLITICAL IDEAS

Week 9: Can Ideas Cause Political Change? Robert C. Lieberman, “Ideas, Institutions, and Political Order: Explaining Political Change,” American Political Science Review 96, no. 4 (December 2002): 697-712 Stephen Skowronek, “The Reassociation of Ideas and Purposes: Racism, Liberalism, and the American Political Tradition,” American Political Science Review 100, no. 3 (August 2006): 385-401 Jeffrey K. Tulis and Nicole Mellow, Legacies of Losing in American Politics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018), Ch. 2, 5 John A. Dearborn, “The Political Efficacy of Ideas: Budgeting versus National Security Reform in the Development of the Modern Presidency,” working paper

VI. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS

Week 10: Congress and the Judiciary

Dearborn | American Political Development | 5

Eric Schickler, Disjointed Pluralism: Institutional Innovation and the Development of the U.S. Congress (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), Ch. 1-5 David R. Mayhew, “Congress as a Handler of Challenges: The Historical Record,” Studies in American Political Development 29, no. 2 (October 2015): 185-212 Howard Gillman, “The Collapse of Constitutional Originalism and the Rise of the Notion of the ‘Living Constitution’ in the Course of American State-Building,” Studies in American Political Development 11, no. 2 (Fall 1997): 191-247

Week 11: The Presidency and Administration Stephen Skowronek, “Notes on the Presidency in the Political Order,” Studies in American Political Development 1 (Spring 1986): 286-302 Jeffrey K. Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987), Ch. 1, 3-5 Joanna L. Grisinger, The Unwieldy American State: Administrative Politics since the New Deal (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012), Ch. 2, 5

Week 12: Political Parties John Gerring, Party Ideologies in America, 1828-1996 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998), Ch. 1-2 Ruth Bloch Rubin, Building the Bloc: Intraparty Organization in the U.S. Congress (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017), Ch. 1, 6, 8 Emily J. Charnock, “More Than a Score: Interest Group Ratings and Polarized Politics,” Studies in American Political Development, forthcoming.

VII. POLICYMAKING

Week 13: The Rise of the Policy State Karen Orren and Stephen Skowronek, The Policy State: An American Predicament (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017), Introduction, Ch. 1

FINAL EXAM

• Identifications – Choose 10 of 15 – 40% • Long Essays – Choice two of three questions – 60%