POL 1001 American Politics in a Changing World

[Note: This is an old version of the syllabus. Some things will change for Fall of 2016, though the basic structure of the course will remain the same.] POL 1001 AMERICAN POLITICS IN A CHANGING WORLD Hanson 1-105 Monday and Wednesdays 11:15-12:30

Professor Dan Myers Department of Political Science ADD PHONE NUMBER Office: 1474 Social Sciences Bldg. Office hours: Monday and Tuesday 1:30-3:30 PM Email: [email protected]

Teaching Assistant: Emily Baer-Bositis Office: 1214A Social Sciences Wednesday, 9-11 AM Email: [email protected]

Why doesn't Congress seem to work? Why do some people have political beliefs that seem crazy to other people? Why do we let nine unelected judges decide which laws are unconstitutional and which ones are not? This course will introduce students to politics in the United States, addressing these and many more questions about how the American political system works.

During the course we will grapple with a range of topics. We will start with a discussion of foundational concepts about democracy, power, and why governments exist in the first place, along with a discussion of the early political history of the United States and the Constitution that this history produced. We will move on to examining the role of the individual citizen in American democracy, a field of study commonly referred to as Political Behavior. We will investigate how citizens think about politics, where at what they learn about the political system, and ultimately when and how they get involved in the political process. Finally, we will examine the structure and institutions of American Politics, and how they produce the policies that govern us all.

In addition to a survey of the American system of government, we will learn to think and communicate like political scientists. We will critically evaluate a variety of arguments about how politics works in American. Finally, we will relate all of these perspectives and critiques to our own lives, reflecting on our own rights, liberties, possibilities, and responsibilities as citizens of this representative democracy.

Students will exit the class having mastered a body of knowledge about how the American political system works and the mode of inquiry used by political scientists to judge whether it succeeds or fails at living up to our ideals. They will also gain the critical capacity to judge arguments about politics, the ability to identify, define, and solve problems, and the skill to locate and critically evaluate information relevant to these tasks. This course fulfills the liberal education requirements for the Social Sciences Core.

Course Readings

NOTE: IN FALL 2016 WE WILL USE THE MOST RECENT EDITION OF THE BARBOUR AND WRIGHT TEXTBOOK AND WILL NOT USE THE KERNELL AND SMITH READER! DO NOT BUY THE BOOKS LISTED BELOW!

1 Readings will be primarily drawn from the following two books:

 Barbour, Christine and Gerald C. Wright. Keeping the Republic, the Essentials, 6th Edition (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2014).

 Samuel Kernell and Steven S. Smith, Principles and Practices of American Politics, 5th Edition (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2013).

From time to time readings not from the textbook or the reader will be required. These will be posted to the course Moodle site.

I may from time to time change the readings required in the syllabus if I determine that a better reading is available. I will give at least one week's notice of any change via email, and will post an updated version of the syllabus on Moodle.

Lectures vs. Readings Lectures and readings serve different purposes in this course. In general, the course readings are intended to provide a broad overview of the topic at hand,; they should always be completed before the class for which they are assigned. Class lectures will generally be used to focus on particularly important elements of the topic, to discuss seminal arguments or findings from political science about the topic, or to provide additional details that are not covered in the readings. While the lecture and readings will occasionally overlap, particularly when discussing essential topics, neither is a substitute for the other, and completing the readings and attending class are both necessary for successfully completing the course.

Despite this being a “large lecture” class, no one wants to hear me drone on for 75 minutes at a time. “Lecture” will be broken up by short writing exercises, small group discussion, and other exercises that will ask you to apply the concepts you are learning in real time. While these will not be graded, engaging fully with them will make the subsequent quizzes and essays much, much easier.

Course Assignments Your grade in this class will be made up of three components: short quizzes at the start of each class, three in-class long quizzes, one at the end of each segment of the class, and an essay that will be due at 11:59 pm on Friday, May 16th. Each of these is described in more detail below:

 Short Quizzes: Each class will start with a short quiz consisting of nine questions, all multiple choice. Three questions drawn from the reading for that class, three drawn from the reading and lecture of the previous class, and three drawn from the pool of questions covering all previous classes. The quiz will be electronic and designed to be taken on a laptop or smartphone, though paper copies will be available for those who did not bring either.

The quiz procedure will be as follows. At the start of class I will project a URL on the front of the room, which will take you to an online quiz with nine questions. You will have four minutes to enter the URL and answer the questions. The survey will close after four minutes, so you must hit submit before time is up. You will get one point for hitting submit and one point for each question answered correctly. There will be 25 quizzes over the course of the semester, in calculating your average short quiz score I will drop your three lowest quizzes.

2 It is a violation of academic integrity to look up the answers to quiz questions on the internet. It is also a violation of academic integrity to communicate to quiz URL to anyone who is not in the room when the quiz period begins.

 Long Quizzes: The class is divided into three segments. At the end of each segment we will complete a long quiz, which will consist of several short answer questions (a few sentences to a paragraph) and one short essay (approximately 3-4 paragraphs). The goal of these is to see how well you can apply the concepts learned in the previous section of the class; as such, they will be open book. The quizzes will be semi-cumulative, in that one question in the second quiz will be about a concept from the first segment of the class and two questions in the third quiz will concern questions from earlier segments of the class.

 Essay: Instead of a final exam, you will complete a 3-4 page essay due at 6 PM on Saturday May 17. In this essay you will advance an argument by applying the concepts from the class in support of a thesis. Details of the essay question will be forthcoming as the end of class approaches.

As a professor (or TA) nothing is worse than the crush of grading that comes at the end of the semester. To alleviate this, and to encourage the development of good time management skills, I will give three extra credit points for turning in the essay at least 24 hours early. I will give one additional extra credit point for each additional 24 hours that the essay is turned in early, up to a maximum of 10 extra credit points for essays turned in by 6 PM on Friday May 9. Thus, an 85 (B) essay can become a 95 (A) essay if it is turned in by 6 Pm on May 9.

Each of these assignments is intended to accomplish a different purpose, in a way that ensures that you get more out of this class than a fancy version of "how a bill becomes a law." The short quizzes are meant to test your knowledge of the course material. The long quizzes require you to apply that knowledge to new situations and problems. Finally, the essay asks you to apply the concepts not merely to describe a situation, but to advance a contestable thesis.

Grades The three types of assignments will be added up to make your grade in the following way:

Average Short Quiz Score: 40% Long Quiz 1: 10% Long Quiz 2: 13.3% Long Quiz 3: 16.6% Essay: 20%

This course will use the following grading scale:

A: Achievement outstanding relative to the basic course requirements A 93 points or higher A- 90-92 B: Achievement significantly above the basic course requirements B+ 87-89 B 84-86 B- 80-83 C: Achievement meeting the basic course requirements C+ 77-79 C 74-77

3 C- 70-73 D: Achievement worthy of credit but below the basic course requirements D+ 67-69 D 60-66 F: Below 60 points

Questions about grades should be directed to your TA. You must wait 24 hours after receiving a grade before seeking clarification about the grade. If, after seeking clarification, you feel that a grading decision is incorrect, you may appeal to me. This appeal must be in writing (minimum one paragraph), and specify what the grading decision was, why you feel it was incorrect, why your answer was correct, and what you feel an appropriate grade is. If asked to re-grade a question, I reserve the right to raise or lower the original grade.

I do not give any extra credit assignments, except for the bonus points that can be earned by turning in the final essay early.

Late Work and Missed Exams Make-up quizzes (short and long) will only be allowed for documented medical or family emergencies or for approved university activities. Documentation must not be hypothetical, and must actually be provided in either case. Personal or medical issues that do not rise to the level of documented emergency are not an acceptable reason to miss quizzes.

The final essay must be turned in via Moodle by 11:59 pm on Friday, May 16th. If I notice that you did not turn in the essay, I will send you an email. You will have 24 hours after that email is sent to turn in an essay, whose grade will be reduced by 3 points. After that, no late work will be accepted.

Class Policies

Students with Disabilities I will make every effort to accommodate the needs of students with disabilities. Please contact Disability Services (180 McNamara Alumni Center: 612-626-1333) to discuss your individual needs as early as possible in the semester. More information on disability services is available at http://disserv3.stu.umn.edu

Academic Freedom and Responsibility All of the work presented in this course is expected to be your own. I will follow the University’s policies and procedures for academic integrity. Using information from a book, article, web page, another person, etc. without crediting the author is plagiarism. Quotations, paraphrased information, and use of others’ ideas should be properly cited in your written assignments. If you have questions about citation, please contact the Professor or one of the TA’s. More information is available at: http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/academic/StudentConduct.html

Note in particular that when you submit a short quiz you are certifying that you completed the quiz without visiting any webpages other than the quiz page, and that you were actually in the classroom when you took the quiz. Violating either of these conditions is considered a violation of the University’s academic integrity policy.

Technology in the Classroom

4 While our society teaches us to divide our attention between competing claims, research shows that most people are terrible at multi-tasking, particularly when one of the tasks requires a high level of concentration. A key goal of the class is to embed lively class discussion in a lecture class. That’s harder than it sounds, requiring concentration and sustained attention to each other for at least the 75 minutes we spend together each class. For this reason, once the daily quiz is complete, the use of electronics will not be allowed in class. Please turn off all laptops, cellphones, etc. for the duration of the class. Thank you in advance for your collaboration in building a face-to-face community this semester.

Contact Policy In an effort to hold in-class announcements to a minimum, I will be using e-mail to relay most of the nuts and bolts of the course. You must check your campus e-mail every day. You are responsible for any information that I pass along via email.

I will respond to all email within 24 hours, except on weekends. Though I will respond as quickly as possible, I cannot guarantee that I will respond to any email faster than 24 hours of it being sent.

Office Hours Office Hours will be held Monday and Tuesday from 1-3 PM. I’m also happy to meet with you by appointment if those times do not work. Just ask or e-mail me, and we can arrange a time to meet. I much prefer making time to meet about a small problem to dealing with a big problem later on in the semester.

University Resources This class will use multiple-choice and short answer quizzes. Students who feel they might benefit from test-taking services should contact the University Learning and Academic Skills Center at 109 Eddy Hall, East Bank (612-624-3323) or on the web at (http://www.ucs.umn.edu/lasc/).

This class will also use writing assignments. The Student Writing Center has TA’s and ESL specialists to help with your writing skills. The Writing Center is at 306 B Lind Hall, East Bank (612-625-1893) or on the web at (http://swc.umn.edu.html).

AT THIS POINT IN READING THE SYLLABUS PLEASE EMAIL [email protected] TO INDICATE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS FAR. INCLUDE YOUR STUDENT ID NUMBER.

NO REALLY, SEND HER AN EMAIL. IT’S PART OF YOUR FIRST QUIZ GRADE.

5 STANDARD STATEMENT ON COURSE REQUIREMENTS POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

(Note: For further information, please see the University "Classroom, Grading, and Examination Procedures" brochure online at: http://www.cla.umn.edu/cgep/ )

1. The two grading systems used are the ABCDF and S-N. Political Science majors must take political science courses on the ABCDF system; non-majors may use either system. In all political science courses the bottom line for the S grade is the equivalent of the C- grade; in other words, what is normally considered as D level work will be assigned a grade of N on the S-N system. All students, regardless of the system used, will be expected to do all work assigned in the course, or its equivalent as determined by the instructor.

2. The instructor will specify the conditions if any, under which an "Incomplete' will be assigned instead of a grade. No student has an automatic right to an I. The instructor may set dates and conditions for makeup of work, if it is to be allowed. The Department of Political Science administers a general make-up exam every quarter for students who have written permission from the Instructor to make up a missed final examination. Inquire at the Undergraduate Advising office (1482 Social Sciences) for the date scheduled for the make-up.

3. Inquiries regarding any change of grade should be directed to the instructor of the course. A student who alleges unfairness on the part of an instructor is entitled to file a grievance with the Department's Grievance Committee.

4. Students are responsible for class attendance and all course requirements, including deadlines and examinations. The instructor will specify if class attendance is required or counted in the grade for the class.

5. The College does not permit a student to submit extra work in an attempt to raise his or her grade, unless the Instructor has specified at the outset of the class such opportunities afforded to all students.

6. The College has defined scholastic misconduct broadly as "any act that violates the rights of another student in academic work or that involves misrepresentation of your own work." Scholastic dishonesty includes (but is not necessarily limited to): cheating on assignments or examinations; plagiarizing, which means misrepresenting as your own work any part of work done by another; submitting the same paper, or substantially similar papers, to meet the requirements of more than one course without the approval and consent of all instructors concerned; depriving another student of necessary course materials; or interfering with another student's work. Instructors may define additional standards beyond these. Further information is available at http://ww w 1.urnn.edu/regents/policies/academic/Student _ Conduct _ Code.pdf

7. The U of M is committed to providing all students equal access to learning opportunities. Disability Services (DS) is the campus office that works with students who have disabilities to provide and/or arrange reasonable accommodations. Students who have, or think they may have, a disability (mental health, attentional, learning, vision, hearing, physical or systemic), are invited to contact Disability Services to arrange a confidential discussion at 612-626-1333 (VTTY) or [email protected]. Students registered with DS, who have a letter requesting accommodations, are encouraged to contact the instructor early in the semester to discuss accommodations outlined in their letter. Further information is available at the Disability Services website: http://ds.umn.edu/

8. University policy prohibits sexual harassment as defined in the 12/1111998 policy statement. The full statement is available at: http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/humanresources/Sex.Harassment.html Complaints about sexual harassment should be reported to the University Office of Equal Opportunity at 419 Morrill Hall.

9. As a student you may experience a range of issues that can cause barriers to learning, such as strained relationships, increased anxiety, alcohol/drug problems, and feeling down, difficulty concentrating and/or lack of motivation. These mental health concerns or stressful events may lead to diminished academic performance or reduce a student's ability to participate in daily activities. University of Minnesota services are available to assist you with addressing these and other concerns you may be experiencing. You can learn

6 more about the broad range of confidential mental health services available on campus via the Student Mental Health Website at http://ww w .mentalhealth.umn.edu/ Course Schedule The course is divided into three broad themes: Foundations, Political Behavior and Political Institutions. Each section will be capped by a long quiz.

For all readings in the textbook (Barbour and Wright, listed here as B&W), begin at the major section head and end at the major section head if sections begin or end mid-page. You will not be tested on the “Don’t Be Fooled By,” “What’s at Stake,” “Who Are We,” or “Profiles in Citizenship” sections, though you may find them interesting.

The reader, Principles and Practices of American Politics, is listed as K&S (Kernell and Smith). Readings not from the textbook or reader will be available on the course Moodle site.

Please complete the readings before the class period listed.

Section 1: Foundings and Foundations

January 22: Course Introduction

No Readings

January 27: Foundations – Government and Political Power

Readings:  Class Syllabus  B&W 1-8  Thomas Hobbes, from “Leviathan”  K&S 1-1, Mancur Olson, Jr., from “The Logic of Collective Action”

January 29: Foundations – Democracy

Readings:  B&W 8-23  Duncan Ivison. 2010. “Democracy.”  In Encyclopedia of Political Theory, Mark Bevir ed. P. 358-362. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks CA.

February 3: History – The British Colonies and the Fight for Independence

Readings:  The Declaration of Independence (B&W 72-73)  B&W 63-75

February 5: History – The Articles of Confederation and the Constitutional Convention

Readings:  The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union (B&W Appendix)  B&W 75-83  K&S 2-1, John P. Roche, Jr., “The Founding Fathers: A Reform Caucus in Action”

7  K&S 3-4, Thomas P. Sargent, “An American History Lesson for Europe”  The Constitution of the United States NOT including amendments (B&W Appendix)

February 10: History – The Constitution

Readings:  The Constitution of the United States including amendments (B&W Appendix)  B&W 96-105, 121-127

February 12: History - Ratification

Readings:  B&W 83-89  K&S 2-3, James Madison, “Federalist No. 10”  K&S 2-4, James Madison, “Federalist No. 51”  K&S 2-2, Brutus “Anti-Federalist No. 3”

February 17: Civil Liberties

Readings:  B&W 131-173

February 19: Civil Rights

Readings:  B&W 177-223  Gwen Sharp, “Race, Criminal Background and Employment,” http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/11/14/race-criminal-background-and-employment/

 Watch: “Devah Pager and Dalton Conley discuss racism and the stigma of criminal record,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CofLE3q3Qh0

February 24: Foundations Review and Long Quiz

Readings:  Review notes on foundations classes  LONG QUIZ ON FOUNDATIONS

8 Section 2: Political Behavior

February 26: Political Psychology

Readings:  B&W 397-405, 422-429  Lavine, Johnston and Steenbergen. 2012. “Partisan Ambivalence and the Contingent Nature of Political Judgement,” Chapter 1 from The Ambivalent Partisan.

March 3: Media Effects  B&W 575-588  Iyengar and Kinder. 1987. News That Matters (selections) SKIM PAGES 6-15  Chong, Dennis, and James N. Druckman. 2007. “Framing Theory.” Annual Review of Political Science 10(1):103–126. READ ONLY 103-114  March 5: Media Organization

Readings:  B&W 551-575  K&S 14-2, Matthew A. Baum and Tim J. Groeling, “War Stories”  Prior, Markus. 2002. “Liberated Viewers, Polarized Voters” The Good Society 11(3): 10-16

March 10: Parties

Readings:  B&W 433-449, 454-467  Cohen et al. 2008. “Whose Parties?” Chapter 2 from The Party Decides: Presidential Nominations Before and After Reform.

March 12: Campaigns and Elections

Readings:  B&W 525-545, 241-256  K&S, 11-3, Darrell M. West, from “Air Wars”

March 24: Voting and Political Participation

Readings:  B&W 510-525, 545-547  Pew, “Who Votes, Who Doesn’t, And Why?”  Gerber and Green. 2008. “Introduction: Why Voter Mobilization Matters,” “Evidence vs. Received Wisdom,” and SKIM “What Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next.” From Get Out the Vote! 2nd ed.

March 26: Public Opinion

Readings:  B&W 406-422 (skim 416-422)

9  K&S 10-2, “Dynamic Representation”

March 31: Political Behavior Review and Long Quiz

Readings:  Review Notes on Political Behavior class  LONG QUIZ ON POLITICAL BEHAVIOR

10 Section 3: Political Institutions

April 7: Congress 1

Readings:  B&W 229-273 (skip 241-256)  K&S 6-3, John H. Aldrich and David W. Rohde, “Congressional Committees in a Continuing Partisan Era”

April 9: Congress 2

Readings:  McCubbins and Schwartz. 1986. “Congressional Oversight Overlooked: Police Patrols vs. Fire Alarms.”  K&S 13-3, Richard Hall and Frank Wayman, “Buying Time”

April 14: Presidency

Readings:  B&W, 281-315  K&S 7-1, Richard Neustadt, from “Presidential Power”  K&S 8-3, David E. Lewis, from “The Politics of Presidential Appointments” READ FOR NEXT CLASS

April 16: Bureaucracy

Readings:  B&W, 325-355  K&S 8-4, McNollGast, “Administrative Procedures as Instruments of Political Control.”

April 21: Interest Groups

Readings:  B&W, 471-506  Hall and Deardorff. 2006. “Lobbying as Information Subsidy.” American Political Science Review, 100(1): 69-84.

April 23: Judiciary 1

Readings:  B&W, 368-376  K&S 9-3, Alexander Hamilton, “Federalist No. 78”

April 28: Judiciary 2

Readings:  B&W, 376-393  K&S, 9-1, Antonin Scalia, from “A Matter of Independence”

11  K&S, 9-2, Steven Breyer, from “Active Liberty”

April 30: Federalism

Readings:  B&W 105-121  K&S 3-2 Donald E. Kettl, “Federalism: Sorting Out Who Does What”

May 5: How to Write an Essay

Readings: 

May 7: Institutions Review and Long Quiz

May 9: First day to turn in final essay for full extra credit (by 6 PM)

May 16: Last day to turn in final essay for any extra credit (by 6 PM)

May 17: Final essay due date (by 6 PM)