JOHNSON COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE Course Syllabus – College Now Liberal Arts Division American National Government – Eudora High School POLS 124 Fall 2018 – Meeting daily from 902-952 and 1050-1140 I. Instructor Information Office Hours; 715 – 745am daily Name: Dr. Robyn M. Kelso Teacher Availability: During office Contact Information: hours and plan time and by By phone: 785-542-4980 x appointment. 1661 By email: II. Course Information [email protected] Credit Hours: 3 Teacher Website: Visit Contact Hours: 80 http://www.eudoraschools.org Lab Hours: 0 /Domain/57 Course Type: Transfer Prerequisites: NONE III. Textbook and Supplies: The Challenge of Democracy – American Government in Global Politics, 12th Ed.; by Janda, Berry, Goldman and Schildkraut. Daily Internet access at home is a must. IV. Late Work Information Daily Work/Homework – 10% off each day its late. Must complete and staple late work form to any late work turned in. Form is located in google classroom. Read directions carefully.. Projects/Papers – 10% off each day its late V. Make Up Work/Deadlines If you are absent, make up will be handled in the following ways: 1. Daily work/homework/classwork – will be emailed out. Check directions and pay attention to due dates. Hint – if you plan to be gone, getting make up work done in class the next day will generally put you even further behind. If you are absent make up work should be completed on your own time. 2. Exams – 5 school days to get made up. Don’t forget about due dates – deadlines matter. 3. Papers and projects – 10% off each day it’s late. 4. Assignment due dates – if you are absent when an assignment is due, it then becomes due the VERY NEXT DAY you attend school. Failure to comply will result in late work penalties. NO SOAR TICKETS ACCEPTED FOR ANY ASSIGNMENT Deadlines/due dates are not optional. Pay attention to when items are due. Deadlines will be set and adhered to regardless of any absences, school related or otherwise VI. Course Description/Objectives This course is an examination of the current national policy-making process. Topics of study include American political culture, constitutional principles, basic political and economic concepts, intergovernmental relations, public opinion, political parties, interest groups, media, budget construction, and decision-making institutions. After successful completion, the student should be able to: 1. Describe, the concepts of federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances and individual rights; intergovernmental relations; and the expansion of individual and civil rights as a result of judicial review. 2. Explore some of the key myths that have an impact on American’s perceptions of government. 3. Describe, using examples, the fundamentals of American political culture, including the not entirely compatible values of freedom, equality and order upon which it rests, the interpretations of democracy embraced, and underlying ideological principles. 4. Identify and explain the avenues open to the public to participate in the political decision-making process, bureaucracy, including public opinion polling, political parties, elections, interest groups, and the media. 5. Describe the working relationship among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government with reference to their respective powers, limitations on those powers, areas of friction, and points of public access. 6. Explore types of local governments and how local government functions and operates. VII. Course Competencies I. Fundamentals of American Government A. Describe, using examples, the constitutional foundations of American government, including: 1. The role played by a constitution in a political system both as a source of and a limitation on the power of government. 2. The role played by federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances and individual rights, including: a. Distribution of power within the government. b. Limitations on the exercise of that power. 3. The evolution of intergovernmental relations from dual federalism through cooperative, creative and new federalism, including: a. The influence of grants-in-aid on the relationship between the federal and state governments. b. The role of the Supreme Court in the evolution of the relationship between federal and state governments. 4. The role of judicial review in the evolution of both individual rights and civil rights, including: a. The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the expansion of individual rights. b. The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the expansion of civil rights. B. Describe, using examples, the fundamentals of American political culture, including: 1. The core values upon which it rests and the tension inherent in the relationship among these values. 2. The different interpretations of democracy embraced: response, procedural and substantive. 3. The basic principles of classical liberalism and their application in the Declaration of Independence and other primary documents. Discuss the role of primary elections, public opinion polling, campaign finance reform laws, interest groups and PACs, media campaigns, and television media in congressional election and re-election strategy. 1. Analyze the role played by redistricting and gerrymandering, the advantages of incumbency, and campaign finance reform legislation on the re-election of incumbents. C. Explain how candidate-centered and entrepreneurial politics within the framework of the constant campaign have reshaped the work of the members of legislative branch, including congressional staff. 1. Describe the organizational structure within which Congress develops public policy. 2. Compare and contrast party government with party-line voting. 3. Compare and contrast the differing interpretations of a representative's role: trustee, delegate, politico and broker. D. Explain how the candidate-centered politics of the constant campaign have influenced the presidential election process. 1. Discuss the role of primary elections, public opinion polling, public financing, interest groups and PACs, media campaigns, television media, and the Electoral College in presidential election and re-election strategy. 2. Identify and describe those factors outside the control of campaign strategists that are critical of the success of a presidential election campaign. E. Compare and contrast the role of the chief executive in a presidential and parliamentary system of government. 1. Identify those factors critical to a president's ability to provide leadership for the country and direction for the policy-making process. 2. Describe those factors that have affected the growth in power and size of the executive branch. 3. Compare and contrast the latitude of discretionary authority exercised by the president in the formulation and conduct of foreign as opposed to domestic policy. F. Distinguish among the following components of the federal bureaucracy, describing the differing roles performed by each: departments, regulatory agencies, independent agencies, government corporations and commissions. G. Discuss the conflict inherent in a political system based on checks and. balances and popular sovereignty and our need for bureaucracy to implement legislation in a large complex society. 1. Compare and contrast Frederick W. Taylor's bureaucratic theory of neutral competency with the reality of bureaucratic practice. 2. Identify and describe the origins of the bureaucracy's quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial powers. 3. Describe and evaluate the effectiveness of legislative executive and judicial branch oversight of bureaucratic agencies. 4. Describe the role of agency personnel in issue networks and iron triangles. H. Describe the U.S. dual court system, including: 1. The structure of the federal court system and areas of jurisdiction. 2. Access to judicial decision. 3. Method of judicial appointments and conditions under which offices are held. III. Explain the Madisonian Dilemma (the conflict inherent in the practice of judicial review in a majority-rule democracy). 1. Compare and contrast the following theories of judicial policy-making authority: judicial activism and judicial restraint, including the concepts of judicial review and stare decisis. 2. Describe those factors that restrain the Court's use of judicial power. IV. Policy Making and Policy Outputs A. Identify and apply the process of decision making and policy making. 1. Describe the agenda-setting function of all decision making bodies. 2. Identify the bodies responsible for policy making and having input in policy making. 3. Interpret and apply in a variety of situations the Wilson model of cost-benefit analysis to explain the politics of different policy issues. a. majoritarian politics b. client politics c. entrepreneurial politics d. interest-group politics B. Apply the Wilson model to conflicts in civil liberties 1. Resolve issues of First Amendment rights in conflict 2. Resolve issues of Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendment rights in conflict 3. Apply the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to crime and due process issues C. Apply the Wilson model to conflicts in civil rights 1. Resolve issues of racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination 2. Identify and define the organs of power responsible for protection of civil liberties 3. Identify the significance of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) in protecting civil liberties. VI. Course Assessment Evaluation of student mastery of course competencies