POLITICAL SCIENCE 5243 – STATE POLITICS AND POLICY
Instructor: Dr. Janine Parry
Time: Mondays, 2:30-5:20 p.m.
Location: MAIN 324
E-mail: parry@uark.edu
Office: 439 Old Main
Hours: M/W 11:30-12:30
and by appointment
Phone: 575-6439
“If there is any single point … to make about the American political system as
a whole it is that the system is – or, at its best, strives to be – a partnership, of
governments and publics and individuals.”
- Daniel J. Elazar, preface, American Federalism: A View from the States (1966)
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
This is an introductory graduate-level course on the politics and policy of the American states. The course goals
are the following: (1) to introduce you to the rich body of theoretical and empirical scholarship on subnational
government, helping you to think like a political scientist; (2) to improve your understanding of what graduate
study is and what is expected of you in a seminar environment; and (3) to draw upon our progress toward the
first two goals in order to generate lively discussion about scholarship and politics, in that order.
REQUIRED READINGS:
The articles, chapters, etc. – which are your responsibility to collect – as assigned on the course calendar.
Smith, Daniel A. and Caroline J. Tolbert. 2004. Educated by Initiative: The Effects of Direct Democracy on Citizens
and Political Organizations in the American States. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Derthick, Martha. 2001. Keeping the Compound Republic: Essays on American Federalism. Washington, D.C.:
Brookings Institution Press.
Todd Donovan, Christopher Z. Mooney, and Daniel A. Smith. 2009. State and Local Politics: Institution and Reform.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Williams, Robert F. 2009. The Law of American State Constitutions. New York: Oxford University Press.
COURSE REQUREMENTS:
Participation (25%): Perfect attendance is expected. In addition, students must come to seminar prepared to
discuss thoroughly and thoughtfully the readings assigned for the week. Missing even one seminar session will
negatively impact your grade. Contact me immediately in cases of emergency.
Weekly Critical Review (25%): In order to stimulate your thinking before each seminar, students are to write a
2-3 page critical review on each week’s readings (due at the beginning of seminar). The format of each review
is up to you; however, to receive a good grade, you must demonstrate that you read the material, that you
understand it, and that you grasp each reading in relation to others. In short, these papers are at least as much
about analysis, as they are about summarization of the material. (Sample available through Mullins E-Reserve.)
Book Review and Presentation (25%): To help us cover more material efficiently, one student will be
responsible for an additional book on each week’s topic. Specifically, at the start of each meeting, the presenter
will submit a 5-7 page book review which both summarizes and critiques the work (see additional instructions
later in the syllabus). The presentation should be a 15-minute oral version of the book review. Each student
must complete one review/presentation. (Sample available through Mullins E-Reserve.)
Final Take-Home Exam (25%): Students are required to complete a take-home exam semester’s end that deals
with the broad themes and findings of the course. Instructions will be provided in advance of the 12/13 due date.
*It is my belief (and experience) that there is no greater tool for improving writing then trusting others (lots and
lots of others) to read and comment upon our work. Rough drafts of writing assignments can be the difference
between an “A” and a “B,” a “B” and a “C,” etc. I highly recommend you utilize the Writing Center at Kimpel
315 (575-6747).
FURTHER POLICIES OF PROBABLE INTEREST:
Preparation and Attendance? Regular attendance and thorough preparation are correlated positively with
classroom performance. Plus, class is much more stimulating when you’re prepared -- for me and for you!
E-mail? Cell Phones? Please check your e-mail regularly (i.e., daily). Note that it is your responsibility to
forward mail from your uark account to whatever account you check most regularly; do this right away. It is
likely I will use this medium to communicate with you individually and/or with the entire class from time to
time. Also, please silence all wireless devices for the duration of each class meeting.
Tardiness? Avoid being late for class. Although “stuff happens” in our lives, if each person is late just one day,
we will not go any meeting this semester without an interruption. Ugh!
Classroom Decorum? Graduate seminars are venues for learned people to come together to discuss/exchange
information and analysis about scholarship in a particular field. Excellent preparation, good listening, sound
reasoning, and earnest articulation are the keys to success in such an environment.
Disability? I am happy to make reasonable accommodations for students who have a documented disability. If
you require assistance, or you have questions related to any accommodations for testing, note takers, readers,
etc., please notify me during the first week of class.
Late Assignments? If an assignment is not turned in at the beginning of class on the day due (or appears
magically under my door or in my mailbox when I return from class), it is late. Thus, to turn the work in the
next day would be two days late. Each day an assignment is late earns the owner a grade reduction of one letter
(e.g., a paper marked “A-” but 2 days late would be recorded as a “C-”). Students with documented
emergencies may make arrangements with me.
Plagiarism? Instructors often assume students know what this is, how to avoid it, and what the consequences
are for engaging in it. Please allow me to be clear: Any quote, idea, or fact that does not come from your own
brain must be attributed to its source. Additionally, you may not use any essay or paper prepared for another
class to meet any requirement for this class. If you violate these rules, I will supply you with an “F” course
grade and seek your expulsion from the university.
Incompletes? A situation may arise which requires a student to take an “Incomplete” in the course. The
appropriate university regulations shall govern the granting (or not) of such a mark.
Bad Weather? If the Fayetteville public schools are closed on a given day due to weather conditions, this class
will not meet. All assignments for that day – including tests -- will be due/take place during the next class
meeting. Finals week is another matter; in that case, I will send a classwide email alerting you to any changes.
Staples? All work turned into to me, if longer than one page, must be stapled. Non-stapled, dog-eared, or paperclipped pages will be returned to the student without a grade. If you have difficulty locating or operating a
stapler, please do not hesitate to ask for help.
COURSE CALENDAR:
8/24
Introduction None (BUT, please read this syllabus carefully after class; email or call with questions)
Donovan, et al., Chapter 1
8/30
Studying
State Politics Jewell, Malcom E. 1982. “The Neglected World of State Politics.” Journal of Politics
44:638-657.
Brace, Paul, and Aubrey Jewett. 1995. “The State of State Politics Research.” Political
Research Quarterly 48:643-681.
Mooney, Christopher Z. 2001. “State Politics and Policy Quarterly and the Study of State
Politics: The Editor’s Introduction.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 1:1-4.
Morehouse, Sarah M., and Malcolm E. Jewell. 2004. “States as Laboratories: A Reprise.”
Annual Review of Political Science 7:177-203.
Parry, Janine A., Brian Kisida, and Ronald Langley. 2008. “The State of State Polls: Old
Challenges, New Opportunities.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 8:198-216.
Also, take a look at volumes (on-line or – gasp! – at the library) of State and Local
Government Review, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, The Book of the States, The
County and City Data Book, etc. to get a feel for state politics data and scholarship.
Donovan, et al., Chapter 2
9/13
Federalism
U.S. Constitution, The Federalist #10 (both widely available on-line)
and
Derthick (all)
Intergov’tal
Book Review Options: Elazar, Daniel. 1984. American Federalism: A View from the States,
Relations
4th ed. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Nice, David C., and Patricia Fredericksen. 1995. The Politics of Intergovernmental
Relations, 2nd ed. (Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers).
Williams, Robert F. 2009. The Law of American State Constitutions. New York: Oxford
9/20
State
Constitutions University Press.
The Arkansas Constitution (just look over as/after you read Williams)
Book Review Options: Tarr, G. Alan. 1998. Understanding State Constitutions (Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press).
Donovan, et al., Chapter 4
9/27
Direct
Smith, Daniel A. and Caroline J. Tolbert. 2004. Educated by Initiative: The Effects of Direct
Democracy
Democracy on Citizens and Political Organizations in the American States. Ann Arbor, MI:
University of Michigan Press.
Bowler, Shaun, and Todd Donovan. 2004. “Measuring the Effect of Direct Democracy on
State Policy: Not All Initiatives Are Created Equal.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly
4:335-363.
Book Review Options: Elizabeth Gerber. 2000. Stealing the Initiative: How State
Government Responds to Direct Democracy. Prentice Hall.
Shaun Bowler and Todd Donovan. 1998. Demanding Choices: Opinion, Voting, and Direct
Democracy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Bowler, Shaun, Todd Donovan, and Caroline J. Tolbert, eds. 1998. Citizens as Legislators:
Direct Democracy in the United States (Columbus: Ohio State University Press).
Cronin, Thomas E. 1989. Direct Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lieske, Joel. 1993. “Regional Sub-Cultures of the United States.” Journal of Politics
10/4
State
55:888-913.
Political
Cultures and Brace, Paul, Kevin Arceneaux, Martin Johnson, and Stacy Ulbig. 2004. “Does State
Public Policy Political Ideology Change Over Time?” Political Research Quarterly 57:529-40.
Brace, Paul, Kevin Arceneaux, Martin Johnson, and Stacy G. Ulbig. 2007. “Reply to ‘The
Measurement and Stability of State Citizen Ideology’.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly
7:133-140.
Erikson, Robert S., Gerald C. Wright, and John P. McIver. 2007. “Measuring the Public’s
Ideological Preferences in the 50 States: Survey Responses Versus Roll Call Data.” State
Politics and Policy Quarterly 7:141-151.
Carsey, Thomas M., and Jeffrey J. Harden. 2010. “New Measures of Partisanship, Ideology,
and Policy Mood in the American States.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 10:136-156.
Visit: The National Network of State Polls (NNSP) on-line … just tool around their Public
Opinion Poll Database. It’s cool.
10/11
Explaining
State Policy
Variation
(Part I)
Dye, Thomas. 1979. “Politics vs. Economics: The Development of Literature on Policy
Determinism.” Policy Studies Journal 7:652-662.
Hill, Kim Quaile, and Jan E. Leighley. 1992. “The Policy Consequences of Class Bias in
State Electorates.” American Journal of Political Science 36:351-365.
Hero, Rodney E., and Caroline J. Tolbert 1996. “A Racial/Ethnic Diversity Interpretation of
Politics and Policy in the States of the U.S.” American Journal of Political Science 40:851871.
Allen, Mahalley D., Carrie Pettus, and Donald P. Haider-Markel. 2004. “Making the
National Local: Specifying the Conditions for National Government Influence on State
Policymaking.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 3:318-344
Frendreis, John, and Raymond Tatalovich. 2010. “A Hundred Miles of Dry": Religion and
the Persistence of Prohibition in the U.S. States.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly
10:302-319.
10/18
Explaining
State Policy
Variation
(Part II)
10/25
State
Elections/
Voter
Turnout
11/1
State
Legislatures
Book Review Options: Nelson, Michael, and John Lyman Mason. 2007. How the South
Joined the Gambling Nation: The Politics of State Policy Innovation. Baton Rouge:
Louisiana State University Press.
McFarlane, Deborah R., and Kenneth J. Meier. 2001. The Politics of Fertility Control. New
York: Chatham House Publishers.
Donovan, et al., Chapters 10-15 (skim)
Walker, Jack L. 1969. “The Diffusion of Innovations Among the American States.”
American Political Science Review 63:880-899.
Gray, Virginia. 1973. “Innovation in the States: A Diffusion Study.” American Political
Science Review 67:1174-1185.
Mintrom, Michael, and Sandra Vergari. 1998. “Policy Networks and Innovation Diffusion:
The Case of State Education Reforms.” Journal of Politics 60:126-148.
Mooney, Christopher Z., and Mei-Hsien Lee. 1995. “Legislating Morality in the American
States: The Case of Pre-Roe Abortion Regulation Reform.” American Journal of Political
Science 39:599-627.
Berry, Frances Stokes. 1994. “Sizing Up State Policy Innovation Research.” Policy Studies
Journal 22:442-456.
Donovan, et al., Chapter 3
Wolfinger, Raymond E., Benjamin Highton, and Megan Mullin. 2005. “How
Postregistration Laws Affect the Turnout of Citizens Registered to Vote.” State Politics and
Policy Quarterly 5:1-23.
Parry, Janine A., Jay Barth, Martha Kropf, and Terry Jones. 2008. “Mobilizing the Seldom
Voter: Campaign Contact and Effects in High-Profile Elections,” Political Behavior, 30:97113.
Matson, Marsha, and Terri Susan Fine. 2006. “Gender, Ethnicity, and Ballot Information:
Ballot Cues in Low-Information Elections.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 6:49-72.
Hogan, Robert E. 2005. “Gubernatorial Coattail Effects in State Legislative Elections.”
Political Research Quarterly 58:587-597.
Francia, Peter L., and Paul S. Herrnson. 2004. “The Synergistic Effect of Campaign Effort
and Election Reform on Voter Turnout in State Legislative Elections.” State Politics and
Policy Quarterly 4:74-93.
Malhotra, Neil. 2008. “The Impact of Public Financing on Electoral Competition: Evidence
from Arizona and Maine.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 8:263-281.
Nalder, Kimberly. 2007. “The Effect of State Legislative Term Limits on Voter Turnout.”
State Politics and Policy Quarterly 7(2):187-210.
Book Review Options: Hill, Kim Quaile. 1994. Democracy in the Fifty States. Lincoln,
NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Rhodes, Terrel L. 2000. Republicans in the South: Voting for the State House, Voting for the
White House. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Thompson, Joel A., and Gary F. Moncrief, eds. 1998. Campaign Finance in State
Legislative Elections. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc.
Donovan, et al., Chapter 7
Richardson, Lilliard E., Jr., Brian E. Russell, Christopher A. Cooper. 2004. “Legislative
11/8
Represent’n
in State
Legislatures
Representation in a Single-Member versus Multiple-Member District System: The Arizona
State Legislature.” Political Research Quarterly 57:337-344.
Cooper, Christopher A. and Lillian E. Richardson. 2006. “Institutions and Representational
Roles in American State Legislatures.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 6:174-194.
Opheim, Cynthia. 1994. “The Effects of U.S. State Legislative Term Limits Revisited.”
Legislative Studies Quarterly 19:49-59.
Wright, Gerald C. 2007. “Do Term Limits Affect Legislative Roll Call Voting?
Representation, Polarization, and Participation.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly
7(3):256-80.
Squire, Peverill. 2007. “Measuring State Legislative Professionalism: The Square Index
Revisited.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 7:211-227.
Meinke, Scott R., and Edward B. Hasecke. 2003. “Term Limits, Professionalization, and
Partisan Control in U.S. State Legislatures.” Journal of Politics 65:898-908.
Jenkins, Shannon. 2008. “Party Influence on Roll Call Voting: A View from the U.S.
States.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 8:239-262.
Book Review Options: Peverill Squire and Gary Moncrief. 2010. State Legislatures Today:
Politics Under the Domes. New York: Longman.
Carey, John M., Richard G. Niemi, and Lynda W. Powell. 2000. Term Limits in the State
Legislatures. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Cox, Gary W., and Jonathon N. Katz. 2002. Elbridge Gerry’s Salamander: The Electoral
Consequences of the Reapportionment Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Farmer, Rick, John David Rausch, Jr., and John C. Green. 2003. The Test of Time: Coping
with Legislative Term Limits. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Sarbaugh-Thompson, Marjorie, Lyke Thompson, Charles D. Elder, John Strate, and Richard
C. Elling. 2004. The Political and Institutional Effects of Term Limits. New York: Palgrave
MacMillan.
Kousser, Thad. 2005. Term Limits and the Dismantling of State Legislative Professionalism.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Farmer, Rick, Christopher Z. Mooney, Richard J. Powell, and John C. Green, eds. 2007.
Legislating without Experience: Case Studies in State Legislative Term Limits. Lanham,
MD: Lexington, Books.
Kurtz, Karl T., Bruce Cain, and Richard G. Niemi, eds. 2007. Institutional Change in
America Politics: The Case of Politics. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Woon, Jonathan. 2007. “Direct Democracy and the Selection of Representative Institutions:
Voter Support for Apportionment Initiatives, 1924-62.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly
7:167-186.
Hamm, Keith, Robert Harmel, and Robert Thompson. 1983. “Ethnic and Partisan Minorities
in Two Southern Legislatures.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 8:177-189.
Kathlene, Lyn. 1994. “Power and Influence in State Legislative Policymaking: The
Interaction of Gender and Position in Committee Hearing Debates.” American Political
Science Review 88:560-576.
Clark, Jennifer Hayes, Tracy Osborn, Jonathan Winburn, and Gerald C. Wright. 2009.
“Representation in U.S. Legislatures: The Acquisition and Analysis of U.S. State
Legislative Roll-Call Data.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 9:356-370.
Janine A. Parry and Will Miller. 2006. “The Great Negro State of the Country? Black
Legislators in Arkansas: 1973-2000.” Journal of Black Studies, 36(6):833-872.
Cammisa, Anne Marie, and Beth Reingold. 2004. “Women in State Legislatures and State
Legislative Research: Beyond Sameness and Difference.” State Politics and Policy
Quarterly 4:181-210.
King, James D. 2002. “Single-Member Districts and the Representation of Women in
American State Legislatures: The Effects of Electoral System Change.” State Politics and
Policy Quarterly 2: 161-75.
Herrnson, Paul S., J. Celeste Lay, and Atiya Kai Stokes. 2003. “Women Running ‘as
Women’: Candidates Gender, Campaign Issues, and Voter-Targeting Strategies.” Journal of
Politics 65:244-55.
Book Review Options: Thomas, Sue.1994. How Women Legislate. New York: Oxford
11/15
State
Executives
11/22
State Judicial
Systems
11/29
State
Political
Parties
University Press.
Menifield, Charles E., and Stephen D. Shaffer, eds. 2005. Politics in the New South:
Representation of African Americans in Southern State Legislatures. Albany: SUNY Press.
Donovan, et al., Chapter 8
Dilger, Robert J., George A. Krause, and Randall R. Moffett. 1995. “State Legislative
Professionalism and Gubernatorial Effectiveness, 1978-1991.” Legislative Studies Quarterly
20:553-71.
Coffey, Daniel. 2005. “Measuring Gubernatorial Ideology: A Content Analysis of State of
the State Speeches.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 5:88-193
Barrilleaux, Charles, and Michael Berkman. 2003. “Do Governors Matter? Budgeting and
the Politics of State Policymaking.” Political Research Quarterly 56:409-17.
Turner, Robert C. 2003. “The Political Economy of Gubernatorial Smokestack Chasing:
Bad Policy and Bad Politics?” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 3:270-93.
Dometrius, Nelson C. 2002. “Gubernatorial Approval and Administrative Influence.” State
Politics and Policy Quarterly 2:251-67.
King, James D., and Jeffrey E. Cohen. 2005. “What Determines a Governor’s Popularity?”
State Politics and Policy Quarterly 5:225-47.
Ferguson, Margaret Robertson. 2003. “Chief Executive Success in the Legislative Arena.”
State Politics and Policy Quarterly 3:158-82.
Adams, Greg D., and Peverill Squire. 2001. “A Note on the Dynamics and Idiosyncrasies of
Gubernatorial Popularity.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 1:380-93.
Book Review Options: Sabato, Larry. 1983. Goodbye to Good-Time Charlie: The
American Governorship Transformed, 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
Rosenthal, Alan. 1990. Governors and Legislatures: Contending Powers. Washington,
D.C.: CQ Press.
Morehouse, Sarah McCally. 1998. The Governor as Party Leader: Campaigning and
Governing. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Osborne, David. 1990. Laboratories of Democracy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Donovan, et al., Chapter 9
Brace, Paul, and Melinda Gann Hall. 1995. “Studying Courts Comparatively: The View
from the American States.” Political Research Quarterly 48:5-28.
Hurwitz, Mark S., and Drew Noble Lanier. 2003. “Explaining Judicial Diversity: The
Differential Ability of Women and Minorities to Attain Seats on State Supreme and
Appellate Courts.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 3:329-352.
Hall, Melinda Gann. 2007. “Voting in State Supreme Court Elections: Competition and
Context as Democratic Incentives.” Journal of Politics 69(4):1147-59.
Klein, David, and Lawrence Baum. 2001. “Ballot Information and Voting Decisions in
Judicial Elections.” Political Research Quarterly 54:709-28.
Benesh, Sara C. 2006. “Understanding Public Confidence in American Courts.” Journal of
Politics 68:697-707.
Bonneau, Chris W. 2005. “What Price Justice(s)? Understanding Campaign Spending in
State Supreme Court Elections.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 5:107-25.
Brace, Paul, Melinda Gann Hall, and Laura Langer. 2001. “Placing State Supreme Courts in
State Politics.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 1:81-108.
Book Review Options: Langer, Laura. 2002. Judicial Review in State Supreme Courts.
Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Donovan, et al., Chapter 5
Ceaser, James W., and Robert P. Saldin. 2005. “A New Measure of Party Strength.”
Political Research Quarterly 58:245-57.
Van Dunk, Emily, and Ronald E. Weber. 1997. “Constituency-Level Competition in the
U.S. States, 1968-1988: A Pooled Analysis.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 22:141-159.
Gibson, James L., Cornelius P. Cotter, John F. Bibby, and Robert J. Huckshorn. 1983.
“Assessing Party Organizational Strength.” American Journal of Political Science 27:193222.
Book Review Options: Jewell, Malcolm E., and Sarah M. Morehouse. 2001. Political
Parties and Elections in American States. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
12/6
Interest
Groups
12/13
Final Exam
Due!
Sanbonmatsu, Kira. 2006. Where Women Run: Gender and Party in the American States.
Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Donovan, et al., Chapter 6
Conger, Kimberly H. 2010. “A Matter of Context: Christian Right Influence in U.S. State
Republican Politics.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 10:248-269.
Boehmke, Frederick J. 2005. “Sources of Variation in the Frequency of Statewide
Initiatives: The Role of Interest Group Populations.” Political Research Quarterly 58:565575.
Nownes, Anthony J., and Patricia Freeman. 1998. “Interest Group Activity in the States.”
Journal of Politics 60:86-112.
Wald, Kenneth D., and Jeffrey C. Corey. 2002. “The Christian Right and Public Policy:
Social Movement Elites as Institutional Activists.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 2:99125.
Hogan, Robert E. 2005. “State Campaign Finance Laws and Interest Group Electioneering
Activities.” Journal of Politics 67:887-906.
Bowler, Shaun, and Robert Hanneman. 2006. “Just How Pluralist Is Direct Democracy? The
Structure of Interest Group Participation in Ballot Proposition Elections.” Political Research
Quarterly 59(4):557-68.
Book Review Options: Rosenthal, Alan. 1993. The Third House: Lobbyists and Lobbying
in the States. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
Hrebenar, Ronald J., and Clive Thomas, eds. 1992. Interest Group Politics in the Southern
States. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
Gray, Virginia, and David Lowery. 1996. The Population Ecology of Interest
Representation. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Take-Home Exam Due (in 2-sided paper copy to my office mailbox) no later than NOON!
BOOK REVIEW ESSAY
Assignment: Each student is required to write a 5-7 page book review essay on ONE work from ONE of the
“Book Review Options” sections in this syllabus.
Objective: My mission here is twofold. First, I want students to further develop their writing and analytical
skills. Second, I simply want you to learn more about our topics than our general reading list allows. The
selected books contain material that will supplement your understanding of state politics and policy in the U.S.,
material you can apply to your exam, our in-class discussions, and your efforts at good citizenship for the rest of
your years!
Logistics/Tips: Primarily, the paper must include a review of what the book is about. A good review carefully
summarizes the information and (especially) the argument supplied by the author(s). A good review also offers
some original analysis about the author’s product: is the argument sound, does it miss an important point, does it
add to our understanding, does it take related scholarship into account? Finally, you may include some mention
of the writing style, organization, etc. Please note that an opening/thesis paragraph which encapsulates the
message of the book and your critique of it is essential to an effective review. Further, an expressly chapter-bychapter approach to a review generally does not make an interesting read.
Note: You may find it quite useful to turn to the back pages of most any academic journal (e.g., The American
Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, Policy Studies Journal, etc.) to find sample
book reviews. I also have placed sample book reviews on Mullins E-Reserve.
Grading: To earn a good grade on this assignment (an “A” or “B”), your paper must be thorough, insightful,
well-written, and no shorter than five pages (1-inch margins, and 10-12 point font, please). Attention to
analytical rigor, original thinking, plus very careful proofreading and sensible organization will be rewarded.
Rough drafts of writing assignments are encouraged; please allow ample time for me to review, comment, and
return it to you for editing before the final due date … and after you’ve visited the Kimpel Writing Center.