PSC 4093 Political Science Capstone
Challenges of American Democracy
Professor:
Allen Hertzke
Office: 231 Cate Center 4 (Building just south of the Cate Food Court), 325-4713
Department of Political Science Mailbox: 205 Dale Hall Tower
ahertzke@ou.edu
Office Hours:
Wednesday 2:30-3:30
Friday 10:00-11:45
I am around at other times, so do not hesitate to call for drop in, or to schedule an appointment.
Later in the semester I will add an informal time to meet at the Cate Food Court
Accommodation Policy: The University of Oklahoma is committed to providing reasonable
accommodation for all students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who require
accommodations in this course are requested to speak with the professor as early in the semester
as possible. Students with disabilities must be registered with the Office of Disability Services
prior to receiving accommodations in this course. The Office of Disability Services is located in
Goddard Health Center, Suite 166, 325-3852.
Now, beyond this university policy statement, if anything is impeding your ability to
participate fully in this course, please see me.
Academic Integrity: Academic integrity means honesty and responsibility in scholarship.
Professors have to obey rules of honest scholarship, and so do students. For more information
about academic integrity, including a statement of what constitutes academic misconduct and
plagiarism, see OU’s “A Student’s Guide to Academic Integrity” at
http://www.ou.edu/provost/integrity/
Books for purchase:
Boren, David, A Letter to America, Second Edition
Bishop, Bill, The Big Sort
Fishkin, James, When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation
Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, Winner Take All Politics
Additional Readings:
In addition to the books, a number of scanned readings and web linkages will be posted on D2L.
Many of these are listed in the course outline, but additional ones will be posted as we go along.
Pay attention to announcements in class, on D2L, or occasionally your OU e-mail.
Assignments:
Midterm:
Weekly writings:
Research Paper:
Final Exam
Class Participation:
20%
20%
25% (15-20 pages)
25%
10% and strong fudge factor
Weekly Written Reactions: A 1-2 page reaction to select readings will be due each week with
the exception the coming week (when we will have a discussion board instead), midterm week,
the week the final paper is due, and before the final exam. These postings should be thoughtful
and crisply written and posted on the D2L course site by Sunday at 6:00 pm. Late papers will be
docked. Guidance on the specifics of each assignment will be announced on D2L. Please post
in a word document.
Final Research Paper:
Introduction:
The Capstone in political science does several things: it allows students to explore topics in
depth in a small class setting; it provides a venue for substantial research projects; it enables
students to integrate aspects of their undergraduate training. Capstones generally have a
thematic focus. This course theme is the health of American democracy, and how that shapes
our political system’s response to major challenges. A growing scholarly and popularly
literature has catalogued concerns about community vitality, citizenship, civic engagement, the
tenor of public discourse, political polarization, trust in institutions, and leadership
quality. Other literature explores how the nature of civic culture affects our ability to meet the
domestic and global challenges facing the nation, such as fiscal responsibility, economic and
educational competitiveness, lifting the poor, sustaining the middle class, maintaining the
cultural fabric, environmental sustainability, and global leadership in projecting our best values
overseas. The class is focused on an intensive reading and discussion of major readings that
address some of these interrelated foci. We will employ a variety of teaching modalities to
facilitate this objective, including thematic lectures, short weekly writings to help students
organize their thinking, student-led discussions and presentations, and team based exercises.
Students will write a major research paper addressing some aspect of challenges facing
American democracy and present that research to class.
Outline:
Week 1, January 14: Introduction
In-class writing: A paragraph discussing something that concerns you about American society,
politics, or government today.
Discussion Board exercise on A Letter to America, David Boren. Board opens Friday and closes
on Monday at 5:00.
Week 2, January 21: No class for Martin Luther King Holiday: Read “Letter from Birmingham
Jail” for Discussion the following week.
Sunday night posting on Parts I and II of The Big Sort
Week 3, January 28: Civic culture and polarization
Evidence and roots of cultural Polarization
Discussion of The Big Sort
Sunday night posting on second half of The Big Sort
Week 4, February 4: The political consequences of polarization
Religious polarization
Political Ramifications of polarization
Sunday Posting on Putnam
Week 5, February 11: Budget crisis, entitlement reform
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
Coming Generational Storm, selections
Rivlin-Ryan Proposal on Health Care
CBO, OMB on deficits and debt
Week 6, February 18: Economic competitiveness, decline in middle class, inequality in
citizenship
Winner Take All Politics – Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson
Week 7, February 25: Winner Take All Politics and critiques
Complete Winner Take All Politics
Critiques
Week 8, March 4: Midterm
Discussion of social capital and healthy democracy
Week 9, March11: Social Capital, trust, civic engagement, religion, and healthy democracy
Articles and selections from Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone
Data on trust in institutions, cynicism, etc.
Selections from Bad Religion by Russ Douthat
March 18-22: Spring Break
Posting on Why Marriage Matters
Week 10, March 25, Cultural health – family breakdown, social pathologies, achievement gaps,
prison growth
Why Marriage Matters, National Marriage Project, U of Virginia
Think tank reports and select readings
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/09/Marriage-America-s-Greatest-WeaponAgainst-Child-Poverty
Week 11, April 1: Educational challenges
Select readings on secondary education challenges: inequality, competitiveness, structure
Select readings on college challenges: access, cost, efficiency
Documentaries
Paper proposals due
Week 12, April 8: America’s place in the world
Select readings, Begin Reading Fishkin
Week 13, April 15: Remedies: Deliberative democracy
James Fishkin, When the People Speak
Class Experiment in Deliberative democracy
Begin student presentations
Week 14, April 22: Student presentations
Papers Due
Week 15: April 29: Final Exam