George Washington University, Department of Political Science, Fall 2000
PSC 002 (12): Introduction to American Politics
Instructor:
Office:
Office Hours:
Office Phone:
E-mail:
Course web site:
Professor Lawrence
Funger 524G
Monday or Wednesday 11:00-12:30, or by appointment
994-6717
edl@gwu.edu
http://gwu.edu/~edl/psc2.html
Course Overview
This course provides an introduction to the major features of contemporary U.S. politics. The class is
organized into three main sections. The first five weeks focus on the institutional and social contexts
within which U.S. political battles are contested, in particular looking at how the Constitution directly and
indirectly structures political action. The next five weeks cover the three branches of government in the
U.S. political system, emphasizing the impact of organizational characteristics of the institutions on
public policy outcomes. The final five weeks examine political behavior and the aggregation of political
interests. Here we study who participates in politics and who does not, how individuals sharing interests
can act collectively through parties and interest groups, and the ultimate means by which the public at
large can communicate its preferences to the government--elections.
By the end of the course, you should have a deeper understanding of how politics "works" (or doesn't
work) at the national level. Because this is a political science class, and not simply a means by which you
will boost your Trivial Pursuit skills, you should also emerge with a better understanding of why U.S.
politics works in the way that it does. That will allow you to better evaluate future political events, make
you a more informed citizen, and provide a foundation for additional courses in political science, should
you choose to take them.
Required Texts
Samuel Kernell and Gary Jacobson. 1999. The Logic of American Politics. Washington D.C.:
Congressional Quarterly Press. [ISBN 1-56802-576-9]
Samuel Kernell and Steven S. Smith. 2000. Principles and Practice of American Politics. Washington
D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press. [ISBN 1-56802-395-2]
The two books are available for purchase as a shrink-wrapped package in the campus bookstore.
Bundling the two books lowers the price of the books. If you want to buy the books separately, you can
use the ISBN numbers above, go to the web page for the course, and comparison shop the various
bookselling websites for the books. On the course web page, I have provided a link to a site that searches
multiple online book vendors for your convenience. Both books are also available at the Gelman library
reserve desk.
Performance Evaluation
Assignments. Your course grade will be determined by five components. There will be three exams,
with each corresponding to one of the “parts” of the Logic of American Politics book. You will also write
a short paper and will be evaluated on your class participation. I will distribute the paper assignments in
the third week of class. The relative weights of the assignments are as follows:
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
Paper
Discussion
25%
25%
25%
20%
5%
September 27
November 6
December 11
November 29
Participation and Reading. I will not take attendance for the class, but please make every effort to come
to class. A portion of your grade derives from your class participation, which I will assess by your level
of engagement in periodic discussions of readings and lecture material. This is a small class, so it will be
possible for us to have meaningful discussions of the course topics. Of course, we will not have class on
university holidays (Labor Day, September 4; Columbus Day, October 9; the day before Thanksgiving,
November 22), which is reflected in the course outline below.
Grading. In order to pass this class, all requirements must be completed. As a rule, there will be no
make-up exams or deadline extensions given in this course. Exceptions only will be made with prior
consent of Professor Lawrence for planned events such as sponsored GWU activities or religious
observances or under unusual circumstances such as a medical emergency. In all other cases, completing
the assignment after the deadline will result in a substantial point deduction of one full letter grade per
day (24 hours). There will be no “extra credit” in this course. All graded work must be completed in
accordance with The George Washington University Code of Academic Integrity.
Course Outline
The following is a schedule for the semester. Each week roughly corresponds to the topic of one chapter
from the main text. Please keep up with the reading assignments, as it will make lectures easier for you to
follow and improve the quality of our discussions. I reserve the right to make changes to the syllabus as
situations warrant.
Date
Topic
Readings
Logic
August 28
August 30
Principles
Logic of American Politics
chapter 1
1-1, Olson;
1-2, Shepsle & Bonchek;
1-4 Hardin; 1-6, Putnam
September 6
Constitution
chapter 2
App. 3 & 4
September 11
September 13
Federalism
chapter 3
3-1, Beer; 3-3, Walters;
3-4, Mountjoy
September 18
September 20
Civil Rights
chapter 4
4-1, Stoker; 4-2, Twohey
September 25
September 27
Civil Liberties
EXAM 1
chapter 5
5-3, Epstein
2-1, Madison
Date
Topic
Readings
Logic
Principles
October 2
October 4
Congress
chapter 6
6-1, Fenno; 6-2, Mayhew
October 11
October 16
October 18
The Presidency
chapter 7
7-1, Neustadt; 7-2, Kernell
Presidential Election 2000
7-3, Seib and Harwood
October 23
October 25
The Bureaucracy
chapter 8
8-1, Wilson; 8-2, Moe
October 30
November 1
The Federal Judiciary
chapter 9
9-1, Epstein & Knight;
9-2, Baum; 9-3, Taylor
November 6
EXAM 2
November 8
Public Opinion
chapter 10
10-1, Asher; 10-5, Elshtain
November 13
November 15
Voting, Campaigns, & Elections
chapter 11
11-1, Popkin;
11-3, Wattenberg
November 20
Political Parties
chapter 12
12-1, Aldrich; 12-2, Herrnson
November 27
November 29
Interest Groups
PAPER DUE
chapter 13
13-1, Schattschneider;
13-2, Wright; 13-4, Drew
December 4
December 6
The News Media
chapter 14
14-1, Schudson; 14-3 Herbers &
McCartney; 14-4, Kelleher
December 11
EXAM 3
Note: The schedule, policies, and assignments in this course are subject to change in the event of
extenuating circumstances.