Courses
Course Archive
American Politics Courses
Please find below a list of graduate courses in American Politics offered by the department since the Autumn 2000 quarter.
30300. Survey of American Politics. A survey of some of the main themes, topics and approaches in the study of American politics and government. J. Brehm. Winter 2002. Spring 2004. Winter 2006.
32200. Urban Politics/Voting Behavior. This course examines two topics normally not studied in conjunction within American politics: urban politics and voting behavior. The goal of this course is to familiarize students with the literatures in these two areas and ultimately to prompt students to develop their own theories of what drives voting choices in local elections. The first half of the course will focus on studies of urban politics, examining topics such as what has driven the development of metropolitan areas, who has power in local affairs, how land, capital, and labor drive political decisions, and the impact of race, ethnicity, and gender in local politics. The second half of the class examines American voting behavior and what factors influence the choices voters make. Topics will include what influences voter turnout and participation, the origins of party identification, and the impact of issues, race and ideology on vote choice. In the final part of the course, students will integrate these two areas of inquiry and think about what drives voting in local elections and what role local elections have in the functioning of democracy within metropolitan areas. E. Oliver. Autumn 2003. Spring 2006.
33500. Political Psychology/Experimental Methods for Political Scientists. The course is intended as an introduction to the application of contemporary psychological theories and methods to the study of political behavior. Psychological approaches to politics rely heavily on traditional areas of social psychology (e.g. attitudes, emotion and affect, group processes), memory and cognition, and decision making. This course draws on literatures in both psychology and political science addressing pivotal topics such as political cognition, political socialization, attitude formation and change, decision heuristics and biases, knowledge structures and memory, public opinion, and race and politics. Through the lens of political psychology, this course also provides an introduction to the use of experimental methods in political behavior research. In addition to substantive concerns of the field, the course will address critical issues of research design, measurement, and statistical inferencein the experimental study of political behaviors and attitudes. M. Harris-Lacewell. Winter 2001.
34900. American Political Behavior. This course provides a thorough introduction to American political behavior. We will address concerns such as voter turnout and voter choice, political interest, efficacy, and public opinion. This course will provide both a solid grounding in the "classics" of behavioral work and provide insight into the current research in American political behavior. Readings and discussion will highlight voting behavior, the rise of distrust, disinterest, and inefficacy; the formation of party attachments; political attitudes and sophistication; ideology; the influence of the media; and the centrality of race in American politics. We will spend considerable time on analysis of the 2000 elections as they unfold during the quarter. This is a seminar course with a considerable reading load and discussion requirement. M. Harris-Lacewell. Autumn 2000. Winter 2003. Winter 2006.
35000. Race and Politics in the U.S. The course examines some of the ways that attributions of racial difference have shaped American politics. We will see how ideas about race affect policy preferences, vote choice and other aspects of political behavior. We will consider the role of race compared to other explanatory variables. Some of the specific topics we will address include affirmative action, welfare reform and redistricting and minority voting. M. Dawson. Winter 2002.
35000. Race and Politics. Fundamentally, this course is meant to explore how race, both historically and currently, influences politics in the United States. For example, is there something unique about the politics of African Americans? Does the idea and lived experience of whiteness shape one's political behavior? Throughout the quarter, students interrogate the way scholars, primarily in the field of American politics, have ignored, conceptualized, measured, modeled, and sometimes fully engaged the concept of race. We examine the multiple manifestations of race in the political domain, both as it functions alone and as it intersects with other identities such as gender, class, and sexuality. C. Cohen. Winter 2004.
35500. Public Opinion. What is the relationship between the mass citizenry and government in the U.S.? Does the public meet the conditions for a functioning democratic polity? This course considers the origins of mass opinion about politics and public policy, including the role of core values and beliefs, information, expectations about political actors, the mass media, economic self-interest, and racial attitudes. This course also examines problems of political representation, from the level of political elites communicating with constituents, and from the possibility of aggregate representation. J. Brehm. Winter 2004. Winter 2006.
36300. American Political Parties. This course is designed as an introduction to the nature and function of American political parties. We concentrate on two main themes. First, we explore the origins of the American party system. Specific topics include the origin of America's ambivalence toward political parties, the emergence of parties in the U.S., and the institutional foundations of America's two-party system. Second, we investigate the role that political parties play as intermediary institutions between the public and their elected officials. Our studies focus on the role of political parties in the organization of elections and the government. More advanced topics include political realignments, divided government, and the decline of parties hypothesis. J. Grynaviski. Winter 2003. Spring 2004. Spring 2006.
37000. U.S. Courts as Political Institutions (=LAWS 51300). An examination of the ways in which United States courts affect public policy. Questions include: How do the procedures, structures, and organization of the courts affect judicial outcomes? Are there interests that courts are particularly prone to support? What effect does congressional or executive impact, including judicial selection, have on court decisions? What are the difficulties with implementation of judicial decisions? G. Rosenberg. Winter 2002. Winter 2004. Winter 2005. Winter 2006.
37200. Race, Politics, and Segregation. This seminar will focus on a particular area of politics in the metropolis: the interrelationship between racial attitudes and racial segregation. Many of the biggest political challenges within metropolitan areas continue to revolve around questions of racism and racial segregation. In this seminar we will explore the bases of racial resentment, patterns and sources of racial segregation, the effects of segregation and racial hostility (and vice-versa), and what policy challenges they present. In addition to the readings, students will be expected to produce a research report on a particular aspect of this problem. Topics can include: racial attitudes among understudied groups (such as Latinos and Asian Americans), new trends in racial segregation (from 2000 Census data), consequences of racial segregation for particular groups in areas such as health, education, or employment. These will be developed in consultation with me. In addition to the written report, students will write a 3-4 page analysis of the week's readings to be shared for the group every third week. E. Oliver. Winter 2004.
37500. Organizational Decision Making (=SOCI 35000, PPHA 33500). This course is an examination of the process of decision making in modern complex organizations such as universities, schools, hospitals, business firms, and public bureaucracies. The course also considers the impact of information, power, resources, organizational structure, and the environment, as well as alternative models of choice and other implications. J. Padgett. Autumn 2001. Autumn 2002. Autumn 2003. Autumn 2004. Winter 2006.
38200. Political Socialization: Contemporary Youth Politics. The course will explore the literature on how people develop their politics, paying special attention to the participation of young people, especially those from marginal communities. C. Cohen. Winter 2003.
38500. Recent Literature on the Courts. PQ: PLSC 37000. This course examines new and recent literature in public law broadly defined. It aims to bring participants in touch with the newest and most exciting work in the public law field and to identify the most promising questions for future research. Topics covered range from recent jurisprudential work (Bork, Dworkin and Ackerman) to agenda-setting (Perry, Provine) to public opinion (Marshall) to judicial policy (Rabkin, Morgan). G. Rosenberg. Spring 2002. Spring 2005.
40302. American Indian Law and Politics. (=LAWS 80302) Enrollment limited to 25. This course will survey the evolution and present state of American Indian law and politics in the United States, with a primary focus on federal-tribal relations and secondary emphases on state-tribal relations and the government of reservations themselves. Topics will include treaties; land rights; sovereignty; allotment and termination; federal jurisdiction over reservations; religious freedom; and civil liberties issues on reservations. Option of a research paper or a final exam. J. Levy. Autumn 2005.
41400. Race, Gender, and Politics. PQ: PLSC 35000. C. Cohen. Spring 2002.
41700. Social Movements. This course is an introduction to theoretical and empirical research on social movements. In this course we will take social movements to mean national-level collective mobilizations organized for political change. During the quarter we will examine and debate what a range of scholars across disciplines have written about some of the fundamental questions regarding the emergence, evolution and political impact of social movements. For example, what types of collective action qualify as social movements? What factors lead to or shape the development of social movements? What role do social movements play in the working of American democracy? Finally, why have political scientists largely ignored social movements as a topic for extensive and careful study? C. Cohen. Autumn 2001. Autumn 2004.
43000. Law and Social Science. G. Rosenberg. Autumn 2000.
43200. Political Organizations. This course considers political organizations, such as bureaucracies, firms, parties, and unions, from two perspectives. The first regards organizations as structures, and examines such properties as hierarchy, asymmetric information, principal-agency, and span of control. The second regards organizations as composed of individual decision-makers, and examines such models of decision-making as rational choice, bounded rationality, routine-following, and the garbage can. Exemplars of the former approach include Max Weber and Frederick Taylor. Exemplars of the second approach include Herbert Simon and James March. The course draws from multiple fields, including sociology, psychology, and economics in order to understand the behavior of political organizations. J.Brehm. Winter 2001.
45510. Political Machines. Political machines were the dominant form of partisan organization in the United States for much of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. In this course, we investigate these organizations through two lenses. First, we track the evolution of political machines, examining why they came about, how they maintained themselves, and why they declined. Second, we examine the performance of machines as agents of representation and governance. J. Grynaviski. Winter 2004.
46400. State and Market Formation. This course will focus on the emergence of alternative forms of organization control (e.g., centralized bureaucracy, multiple hierarchies, elite networks, and clientage) in different social structural contexts (e.g., the interaction of kinship, class, nation states, markets and heterodox mobilization). Themes will be illustrated in numerous cross-cultural contexts. J. Padgett. Winter 2004.
46410. Co-evolution of States and Markets. This course will focus on the emergence of alternative forms of organization control (e.g., centralized bureaucracy, multiple hierarchies, elite networks, and clientage) in different social structural contexts (e.g., the interaction of kinship, class, nation states, markets and heterodox mobilization). Themes will be illustrated in numerous cross-cultural contexts. J. Padgett. Spring 2006.
46500. Power and Politics. This course will explore the literature on power as it has developed largely in American politics. C. Cohen. Spring 2003.
46510. Politics of Deviance. This course will explore the explicit and implicit politics involved in the construction of individuals, groups, and populations as deviant. What is the role of the state in such processes? How do concepts such as power, morality and norms function to create and maintain deviants? How does the label/category of deviant impact the distribution of resources, status and political power? We will begin the course by reading the established literature on deviance and then focus our attention on the politics of deviance in the realms of sex and youth culture. C. Cohen. Spring 2006.
46800. Black Religion and Black Politics. Scholars of the African American experience have located the black church as the cultural, social and political womb of the black community. This research tends to think of the church as a structure that brings actors into contact with one another; it has paid less attention to the church as a place that brings actors into contact with ideas. This course will use a variety of classic and contemporary texts about black political thought as an entry into investigating the connections between black religious ideas and political activism. The class links the work on religion to an intensive introduction to black political thought. M. Harris-Lacewell. Spring 2006.
48800. Introduction to Constitutional Law (=LLSO 23900). This course is an introduction to the constitutional doctrines and political role of the U.S. Supreme Court, focusing on its evolving constitutional priorities and its response to basic governmental and political problems, including maintenance of the federal system, promotion of economic welfare, and protection of individual and minority rights. G. Rosenberg. Winter 2002. Winter 2004. Winter 2006.
48900. The American Presidency. This is a course on the American presidency, with attention to the historical change and continuities in the executive branch. We will address major controversies in the field such as the importance of constitutional, psychological, and structural determinants of presidential behavior; methodological approaches to presidency research; the utility of the notion of a "modern" (post-FDR) presidency; and normative theories of the power of the executive vis--vis other political actors and institutions. P. Conley. Spring 2002.
49200. American Political Development. P. Conley. Spring 2003.
49700. Obesity, Politics and Society. This course examines the political and cultural consequences of America's obesity epidemic. Topics to be examined include: the factors behind the growth of obesity, the changing food and exercise culture in the United States, the intersection of obesity with concerns of race, class, and gender, issues of size discrimination, and various policy options. E. Oliver. Autumn 2004.
51400. Topics in American Politics: Party Nominations and Primary Elections. M. Hansen. Spring 2003.
