Prof. Susan B. Hansen 510 Woo Dong Hall Office hours: Monday 3-4:30 |
Cell: 010 5677 7879 E-Mail: susanbh2005@yahoo.com |
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IIE337 - Introduction to American Government |
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How does American government really work? And how well? In
this class we will consider several different interpretations of American
politics. Some analysts are highly critical of the American experiment with
democracy, while others reach more laudatory conclusions. We
will discuss issues such as citizen
involvement (or lack thereof), Presidential leadership, the conduct of
elections, the role of Congress and the Supreme Court, the influence of
religion and the media, race and inequality, and public policy-making. We will also examine the impact of |
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Required Texts: | ||||||||||
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Seminar format:
This is primarily a lecture course, but we will also make creative use of
debate and discussion. You should do the readings by the dates indicated, and
come to class prepared with specific issues or questions. |
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Course Topics and (*Article
in course reader or on the Web)
I. American politics and democratic theory and Appendices A, D, E (Declaration of III. Citizens, media, and politics Dynamics of Democracy, Chs. 6, 8 and Appendix L *Susan B. Hansen, “Religion and Morality,” in Gillian Peele, ed. Developments in American Politics (Palgrave, 2002) *American Democracy in an Age of Rising Inequality. Report of the APSA Task Force on Inequality and American Democracy, 2004. www.apsanet.org/inequality/taskforcereport.pdf Video on the Cuban missile crisis VIII. The executive branch *Check out the Web site of the U. S. Department of Homeland Security, at http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/index.jsp Dynamics of Democracy, Chs. 4, 14 *Paul Parker, “The Torture Papers: The Route to Abu Ghraib.” X. Race and inequality: "The American Dilemma?" *Jonathan Alter, “Poverty, race, and Katrina: lessons of a national shame.” Newsweek, XII. American foreign policy Dynamics of Democracy, |
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