J. INGRAM SPRING 2013
Political Science 102 (22327)
Class Hours: W 4-6:40 PM, PG-242
Off. Hrs: M7-9PM
, AH-4104; W3-4PM, PG-242
Instructor: Dr. James W. Ingram III
Office Number: 594-3776
Email: jwingram3@aol.com
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The object of this course is to educate students regarding “Political processes and institutions in the United States and California. Considers a variety of public policy issues such as environmental quality, health, education, relation between government and business, taxation, and foreign affairs as reflected in the dynamics of national and state politics. When taken with
Political Science 101 will satisfy graduation requirement in American Institutions” ( SDSU
General Catalog, 2012-13 ).
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
This course emphasizes the practice of critical thinking. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
1. Critically analyze and discuss the origins and development of the U.S. Constitution, and its role in American politics.
2. Critically analyze and discuss various political events and issues within the framework of the
American political system.
3. Critically analyze and discuss the general features of political behavior within the context of parties, interest groups, the mass media etc.
4. Critically analyze and discuss the role of broad economic and political forces on the operations of the U.S. government.
COURSE OUTLINE
In order to meet the course objectives, the instructor will use two textbooks. First, students will be reading Geer et al’s analysis of
Gateways to Democracy . This is one of the best new textbooks on American politics, and will also assist students in learning more about the discipline of political science. This perspective is useful for understanding the politics and government of other countries besides the United States. Kernell and Jacobson taught the instructor of this course in lower- and upper-division classes on American politics, so students should find no difficulty in integrating their book with the perspective adopted in lectures. The other textbook for the course is the reader I will be assembling with Cengage. The readings in this new offering will follow the same basic themes and topics as Geer, but offer the student a sample of the best writings on American politics from the 18th through the 21st centuries.
Classic essays are included in the collection, as are important monographs drawn from the academic literature on United States politics and government.
The second major component of the class is the lecture. Lectures will supplement the two textbooks’ coverage of United States government, and also add information relevant to the
California experience. For example, some lectures will compare American and Californian government in terms of their divergence on such political institutions and variables as executivelegislative relations, legislative flexibility, judicial selection, constitutional amendment and direct democracy. At the same time, the lectures will highlight the similarities in the political culture and economic structure of state and national governments. In sum, the lectures will seek to provide a comparative perspective on American politics. To understand American politics requires such a perspective, just as American politics often sheds light on political institutions

J. INGRAM PAGE 2 SPRING 2013 and behavior elsewhere. Trying to teach American politics without a comparative perspective is a fool’s errand. How can one know what is important about American government and politics if one cannot see their similarities to and differences from those of other nations? Only by drawing salient comparisons and decisive contrasts can one address the problem that political scientists, unlike natural scientists, cannot perform real experiments.
This is not an easy course.
The class will be introducing students to game theory from the 1st lecture, and applying its insights to understanding politics. Students will need to read course materials on time, which means everyone is to have read them before coming to class on the day they are listed on the schedule. That is why there are no readings listed for certain seminars. For the 1st seminar, no reading is due because the instructor could not inform students in advance of a reading assignment. On the other 3 days, there are no readings because there will be no lecture: students are being tested on those days. By reading the materials on time, students will be able to integrate them with each other, the lectures, and the many bytes of information gathered from daily life. Successful students will perceive course concepts as more than the landscape by which one speeds on life’s freeway.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Your course grade will be based on 3 two-part examinations, an essay and participation. Each examination will consist of two parts, worth one-tenth of your course grade. The essay and participation will each be worth the remaining 20% of your course grade.
Each of the midterm examinations will consist of multiple-choice questions, as well as some identifications (IDs) to be answered and submitted as a take-home exam component. Both the multiple-choice and written components of your midterm exams will be drawn from a study guide posted several weeks in advance of your exams. You must take examinations using an 882 type Scantron and a number 2 pencil.
Your take-home midterm examination will be submitted both in hard-copy form and to Turnitin.
Late submissions will be penalized severely.
The final examination will consist solely of multiple-choice questions, half of which will be comprehensive; the other half will deal only with the materials covered in the course after the inclass component of the second midterm.
I will hand out the topics for the essay several weeks before it is due. The essay is to be done by students using the class lectures and readings exclusively. It will be neither necessary nor desirable to use sources outside class in doing your essays. Because students will be competing with each other on the essay, and there is not enough time for all students to consult the instructor for help, no student will be given individual assistance by the instructor on his or her essay.
The essay must be submitted through Turnitin to ensure that students avoid academic dishonesty.
“Students agree that by taking this course all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. You may submit your papers in such a way that no identifying information about you is included. Another option is that you may request, in writing, that your papers not be submitted to Turnitin. However, if you choose this option you

J. INGRAM PAGE 3 SPRING 2013 will be required to provide documentation to substantiate that the papers are your original work and do not include any plagiarized material.”
Class participation includes attendance, pop quizzes, essays or worksheets assigned to cover multimedia presentations aired during class time, etc. If a student misses class and is thus unable to accumulate credit for attendance on days when it is checked, or fails to take advantage of the other opportunities for participation credit that are offered, then he or she will receive no chance to make them up. These assignment and participation items are not listed on this syllabus precisely because they are designed to reward students for attending the class whenever these opportunities happen to occur. Class attendance is absolutely essential to the student’s accomplishment of course objectives, but the act of regularly taking attendance would squander valuable class time. Therefore, course performance on assignment and participation items constitutes a proxy for an attendance score. The participation is worth a full 20% of your course grade, so that attending the lecture via Wimba rather than in person is not encouraged since students will be heavily penalized if they attend class exclusively online rather than being onsite.
There is NO extra credit for this class, and students’ grades will be assessed exactly as this syllabus indicates. If any student has difficulty in understanding these course requirements, he or she should communicate with the instructor immediately in office hours or via email. In the interests of fairness, students should understand exactly what is expected of them. This syllabus is this class’s constitution, the social contract between students and the instructor. Since students will be bound by it and graded accordingly, no one should take the course if he or she does not understand what is expected. That would be analogous to signing a contract without reading or understanding its terms. Both the students and the instructor are also bound by all of SDSU’s relevant policies and procedures regarding proper conduct and student-instructor interaction. The rules of common courtesy and decency will apply in all class settings; if any student is unaware of what these are, he or she should request clarification from the instructor.
I do require that you observe proper classroom etiquette. If you are going to surf the net on your computer, please sit in the back row of class so as not to disturb others. There are to be no private conversations during class time. I only ask that if you must leave a class before a lecture is over, you do it quietly and unobtrusively so that you do not disturb the learning of your fellow students. As a diverse community of learners, students must strive to work together in a setting of civility, tolerance, and respect for each other and for the instructor. The rules for proper classroom behavior (which apply to online as well as onsite courses) include but are not limited to the following:
-Conflicting opinions among members of a class are to be respected and responded to in a professional manner;
-There are to be no offensive comments, language, or gestures;
-Please use culturally sensitive language when discussing or writing about all people groupings covered in the class; slurs and epithets are unacceptable.
Students are permitted to form study groups in order to prepare for exams, but the exams are not a collective performance. Group work during the in-class portion of the exams will constitute evidence of academic dishonesty. In addition, students may work together on materials related to the take-home portions of the exams before receiving the actual exam, but should not do so afterwards. Each student’s identification essays must be his or her own. If students turn in substantially identical work, or work that resembles materials from improperly cited sources including the Internet, the instructor will then look for evidence of plagiarism and other forms of

J. INGRAM PAGE 4 SPRING 2013 academic dishonesty. As per university policy, I do want to make it clear that it is NOT acceptable to turn in work that you have drafted in a previous or concurrent class to satisfy your essay requirements for this class. For the purpose of this course, that is academic dishonesty.
Any student who commits plagiarism or any other form of academic dishonesty will fail this class, and may face further action by the appropriate university officials.
COURSE DEADLINES AND GRADE CALCULATION
COMPONENT
First Midterm—MCs
First Midterm—written
DATE
March 6
March 13
Second Midterm—MCs April 17
Second Midterm—written April 24
Course Essay
Final Exam—
May 8
May 15
PORTION OF COURSE
10%
10%
10%
10%
20%
10% comprehensive
Final Exam—remainder
Participation
Course Grade
May 15
TBA
N/A
10%
20%
100%
This syllabus establishes the dates for all exams and essays. Unless in the case of verified illness or emergency, these deadlines are not negotiable. Exceptions are discriminatory and make the course unfair for students who are not granted special treatment. Late work will be penalized a half-grade for the first hour it is late, and a full grade per day thereafter!
Required Readings (Please be sure to purchase edition indicated for each).
1. John G. Geer, Wendy J. Schiller and Jeffrey A. Segal, Gateways to Democracy: An
Introduction to American Government , Wadsworth Publishing; 2 nd edition (January 1, 2013),
ISBN-10: 128541781X or ISBN-13: 978-1285417813 or e-book if available.
2. Cengage Reader, which can be purchased as a bundle with the book or separately on www.cengagebrain.com
.
3. Readings posted by the professor for students to access on Blackboard.
SCHEDULE--LECTURES, READINGS, AND ASSIGNMENTS
Seminar One—January 23
Explanation of the Syllabus; Broad Overview of Course and Concepts; Viewing of Can Mr.
Smith Get to Washington Anymore?
No readings before class today.
On all other days, listed readings should be done before the class on which they are listed.
Seminar Two—January 30
The U.S. Constitution, Democracy versus Republic.
Geer, Chapters 1-2; Cengage Readings.
Seminar Three—February 6
Federalism, the American contribution to constitutional order.
Geer, Chapter 3; Cengage Readings.

J. INGRAM PAGE 5
Seminar Four—February 13
Civil Liberties and Rights in the American system.
Geer, Chapter 4-5; Cengage Readings.
Seminar Five—February 20
Public opinion; From the Phantom Public to Idiocracy.
Geer, Chapter 6; Cengage Readings.
Seminar Six—February 27
The Forms of Communication in a Democratic State: Media, New and Old.
Geer, Chapter 7; Cengage Readings.
SPRING 2013
Seminar Seven—March 6
FIRST MIDTERM EXAMINATION (IN-CLASS PORTION)
Please bring a Form 882 Scantron and #2 pencil to class.
Seminar Eight—March 13
The Importance of Madisonian Minority Factions: Interest Groups.
Geer, Chapter 8; Cengage Readings.
THE FIRST MIDTERM TAKE-HOME EXAM IS DUE ON MARCH 13!
Seminar Nine—March 20
The Importance of Madisonian Majority Factions: Political Parties.
Geer, Chapter 9; Cengage Readings.
Seminar Ten—March 27
Voting, Campaigning and Elections.
Geer, Chapter 10-11; Cengage Readings.
Seminar Eleven—April 10
Congress or Progress: The Functions of Representation.
Geer, Chapter 12; Cengage Readings.
Seminar Twelve—April 17
SECOND MIDTERM EXAMINATION (IN-CLASS PORTION)
Please bring a Form 882 Scantron and #2 pencil to class.
Seminar Thirteen—April 24
American Foreign Policy and the Growth of the U.S. Presidency.
Geer, Chapter 13; Cengage Readings.
THE SECOND MIDTERM TAKE-HOME EXAM IS DUE ON APRIL 24!
Seminar Fourteen—May 1
The American Administrative State: Policy Implementation and the A.B.C.D. Alphabet Soup.
Geer, Chapter 14; Cengage Readings.

J. INGRAM PAGE 6 SPRING 2013
Seminar Fifteen—May 8
Storm Center: Judicial Politics, the Supreme Court and Democracy.
Geer, Chapter 15-16; Cengage Readings.
THE ESSAY IS DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS ON MAY 8!
Seminar Sixteen—May 15
FINAL EXAMINATION WILL OCCUR ON WEDNESDAY FROM 4:00 PM-6:00 PM.
Please bring two (2) Form 882 Scantrons and a #2 pencil to the final exam.