JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Spring, 2011
SYLLABUS
Political Science 190:394: Understanding Congress
Professor Joseph Cooper
I. COURSE INFORMATION
A. This course will focus on the role of Congress in the American political system.
Readings and lectures have three aims: to present a sophisticated factual basis for
understanding the evolution and present character of congressional decision making
processes, to explore rival analytical frameworks for explaining the behavior and
performance of the modern Congress, and to assess the current state of congressionalpresidential relations in terms of its significance for representative government in the
United States.
B. The course will involve a single, two and a half hour session a week. Most of
the time will be devoted to lecture. However, students are encouraged to ask questions
and time will be provided for discussion as appropriate. Regular attendance is critical to
mastering the topics the course addresses. Lectures will present and analyze topics
covered in the course in a manner that will put the readings in perspective and will seek
to integrate the materials in the readings with the primary concerns of the course.
C. Students are required to take an hour exam and a final exam. The final will
count 60%, the hour exam 30%, and class participation 10%. The hour exam will be a
take-home distributed on April 4 and due on April 7 by 5pm. The Final will also be a
take-home with dates to be announced. Both exams will be open book with prescribed
time limits. In addition, two students will be required at the beginning of every session to
speak for 10-12 minutes each on the main points of the week’s assigned readings and
questions they have regarding the readings. However, the two students per session shall
divide the week’s readings between themselves as they see fit. Finally, students will be
asked to choose their weeks before the second session of the course and email them to me.
It will be first come-first serve, but I will seek to reconcile any scheduling conflicts that
emerge.
E. My office address is Mergenthaler 331. My office hours are 1:00-2:30pm on
Fridays or immediately after class. My e-mail address is jcooper@jhu.edu. My web page
address is http://www.jhu.edu/polysci/faculty/cooper/. Note that this web page has the
syllabus and past exams plus scores of links to congressional, presidential, policy, and
public opinion web sites.
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II. Recommended Books
Books recommended for purchase have been ordered by the Campus Bookstore
and may be secured there. Print versions have been placed on reserve in Eisenhower, but
due to legal restrictions books recommended for purchase cannot be placed on the
Library Reserves Web Page. All other assigned readings are on this web page
(http://reserves.library.jhu.edu). The password is COO394. The books recommended for
purchase are as follows:
1. Gary Gregg, The Presidential Republic
2. Ronald Peters and Cindy Rosenthal, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New
American Politics
3. Barbara Sinclair, Party Wars: Polarization and the Politics of National Policy
Making.
III. Reference Books
For questions on congressional procedures and processes I have also asked the
Library to place hard copies of the latest editions it has of the following books on reserve:
1. JK1096.043 2004. Walter Oleszek, Congressional Procedures and the Policy
Process, Congressional Quarterly Press.
2. JK1041.S63 2008. Steven Smith et al, The American Congress, Cambridge
University Press.
IV. READING ASSIGNMENTS
Part One: Framing Analysis
A. Constitutional Design (Feb. 3)
1. U. S. Constitution
2. Federalist Papers, Numbers 10, 45-46, 48, 51, and 70.
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3. Joseph Bessette, The Mild Voice of Reason: Deliberative Democracy and American
National Government, pp. 6-40 (Chapter 2).
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B. The Intent of the Framers: Representation and Roles (Feb. 10)
1. Bessette, The Mild Voice of Reason , pp. 40-67 (Chapter 3)
2. Gary Gregg, The Presidential Republic, pp. 47-94 (Chapters 2 and part of 3)
3. Lawrence Dodd and Bruce Oppenheimer, Congress Reconsidered, 9th edition, pp.
361-393 (Chapter 16)
4. Arthur Maass, Congress and the Common Good, pp. 3-31 (Chapter 1)
5. Samuel Kernell, ed., James Madison: The Theory and Practice Of Republican
Government, pp. 217-242 (Chapter 9)
C. Competing Perspectives on Representation and Roles (Feb. 17)
1 Austin Ranney, The Doctrine of Responsible Party Government, pp. 8-48 (Chapters
2-3)
2. Gregg, pp. 94-159 (part of Chapter 3 and Chapter 4).
3. James Sundquist, The Decline and Resurgence of Congress, pp. 417-460 (Chapters
14 and 15).
4. Lawrence Jacobs and Robert Shapiro, Politicians Don’t Pander, pp. XI-XVII
and 295-339 (Preface and Chapters 9-10)
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5. Charles Lindblom, The Intelligence of Democracy, pp. 205-226 (Chapter 14).
Part Two: President, Congress, and the Electorate
A. The Emergence of Modern Politics (March 3)
1. Theodore Lowi, The Personal Presidency: Power Invested, Promise Unfulfilled, pp.
44-117 (Chapters 3, 4, and part of 5).
2. John Aldrich, Why Parties, pp. 241-274 (Chapters 8).
3. Michael Malbin, The Election After Reform, pp. 161-181 (Magleby, Chapter 9).
4. Darrell West, Air Wars, pp. 45-73 (Chapter 3)
5. Thomas Dye et al, Obama:Year One, pp.31-54 (Magleby, Chapter 2).
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B. Modern Politics In and Between Elections (March 10)
1. Barbara Sinclair, Party Wars, pp 3-36 (Chapter 1)
2. Michael Nelson, ed. The Elections of 2008, pp.22-74 (Chapter 2 and 3)
3. Sidney Milkis and Jesse Rhodes, “Barack Obama, the Democratic Party, and the
Evolution of the American Party System”, 2010 APSA Paper, pp. 28-53.
4. Jacobs and Shapiro, pp. 44-68
5. Michael Genovese and Matthew Streb, eds., Polls and Politics, pp. 29-77 (Chapters 3
and 4).
Part Three: President and Congress in the Legislative Process
A. Emergence of the Modern House (March 17)
1. Barbara Sinclair, Legislators, Leaders, and Lawmaking, pp. 19-44 (Chapter 3)
2. Nelson Polsby, How Congress Evolves, pp. 75-145 (Chapters 3 and 4).
3. Ronald Peters and Cindy Rosenthal, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New American
Politics, pp. 63-193 Chapters 3-5)
B. Emergence of the Modern Senate (March 31)
1. Barbara Sinclair, The Transformation of the U.S. Senate, pp. 8-101(Chapters 2-5)
2. Fred Harris, Deadlock or Decision: The US Senate and the Rise of National Politics,
pp. 159-188 (Chapter 6)
3. Sinclair, Party Wars, pp. 185-234 (Chapter 6).
4. Vincent Moscardelli, “Harry Reid and Health Care Reform in the Senate,” The
Forum, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 1-24 (2010).
C. President Leadership of the Legislative Process (April 7)
1. George Edwards and William Howell, eds., Oxford Handbook of the American
Presidency pp. 289-311 (Rhode and Barthelemy, Chapter 13)
2. Bert Rockman and Richard Waterman, eds., Presidential Leadership, pp.145- 171
and 277-311 (Edwards and Dickinson Chapters)
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3. Frances Lee, Beyond Ideology: Politics, Principle, and Partisanship in the U.S.
Senate, pp. 74-102 (chapter 4).
4. George Edwards, The Strategic President, pp. 61-109
5. Sinclair, Party Wars, pp. 234-255
6. Martha Kumar, Managing the President’s Message, pp. 158-164 (Charts).
Part Four: President and Congress in the Administrative Process
A. The Growth of Presidential Power: Incentives, Resources, and Doctrine (April 14)
1. Terry Moe, “The Politicized Presidency”, in John Chubb and Paul Peterson, eds.,
The New Directions in American Politics, pp. 235-271.
2. Mathew Dickinson, “The Executive Office of the President,” in Aberbach and
Peterson, The Executive Branch, pp. 135-174 (chapter 5)
3. William Howell, “Unilateral Powers”, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 35, pp.
417-439 (September, 2005).
4. Kenneth Mayer, With the Stroke of a Pen, pp. 34-66 (Chapter 2).
5. James Thurber, ed., Rivals for Power, 4th edition, pp.187-208 (Rudalevidge,
Chapter 8)
6. Lewis Fisher, “Invoking Inherent Power”, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol.
37, pp.1-23 (March, 2007)
B. The Exercise of Presidential Power: Current Practice in Peace and War (April
21)
1. David Lewis and Terry Moe, “The Presidency and the Bureaucracy: The Levers
of Control”, in William Nelson, ed., The Presidency and the Political System,
9th Edition, pp.367-401 (Chapter 13).
2. Joseph Bessette and Jeffrey Tulis, eds., The Constitutional Presidency, pp.149173 and 203-229 (Mayer and Crockett Chapters).
3. David E. Lewis, “Modern Presidents and the Transformation of the Federal
Personnel System”, The Forum, Vol. 7, Issue 4, 2009 Article 6, pp. 1-20
4. William West, Presidential Leadership and Administrative Coordination,
Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 36, pp. 433-457 (September 2006).
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5. Christopher Kelley and Bryan Marshal, “The Last Word: Presidential Power and the
Role of Signing Statements”, in Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol.28, pp. 248-268
(June, 2008).
6. Oxford Presidential Handbook, pp. 724-746 (Howell and Johnson, Chapter 31).
Part Five: The Present and Future of American of Politics
A. Assessing Representative Government in the 21st Century: Theory and Practice
(April 28)
1. Sinclair, Party Wars, pp. 344-371
2. Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann, eds., The Permanent Campaign and Its
Future, pp. 1-38 (Chapter 1).
3. Robert Dahl, “Myth of the Presidential Mandate”, Political Science Quarterly, Vol.
105, No. 3 (Autumn, 1990), pp. 355-372
4. B. Dan Wood, pp. The Myth of Presidential Representation, 24-55, 105-119, 153156, and 182-203
5. Diana Evans, Greasing the Wheels, pp. 131-162 and 233-243.
B. Assessing the Balance of Power in the 21st Century: Empirical Realities and
Normative Prescriptions: (May 5)
1. Bert Rockman and Richard Waterman, “Two Normative Models of Presidential
Leadership,” in Bert Rockman and Richard Waterman, edws., Presidential
Leadership: The Vortex of Power, pp. 331-347.
2 David Lewis, “Revisiting the Administrative Presidency”, Presidential Studies
Quarterly, Vol. 39, pp. 60-74 (March 2009).
3. Ryan Barilleaux and Christopher Kelley, eds., The Unitary Executive and The
Modern Presidency, pp. 188-231 (Marshall and Haney Chapter and Conclusion ).
4. Gordon Silverstein, “Bush, Cheney, and the Separation of Powers: A Lasting
Legal Legacy? Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 39, pp. 878-895 (December,
2009).
5. Tim Conlon and Paul Posner, “ Inflection Point? Federalism and the Obama
Administration”, 2010 APSA Paper, pp. 1-40.
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