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PoGo 100: Introduction to American Government
9/5, 9/10, 9/16, 9/24, 10/1,
10/8, 10/15, 10,22 10/29,
11/5,
11/12, 11/19, 11/26, 12/3,
12/10, 12/16
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Sep 10
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Introduction
Objective: Establish justice. |
Justice
Objective: Develop a defensible position on distributive justice.
Online Reading:
 | John Rawls, "Two Principles of Justice," in Michael Rosen
and Jonathan Wolff, eds., Political Thought (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1999), 241-245. Excerpts from A Theory of Justice
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972). |
| Robert Nozick, "The Entitlement Theory," in Rosen and
Wolff, eds., Political Thought, 245-248. Excerpts from Anarchy,
State, and Utopia (New York: Basic Books, 1974). |
| Joan C. Tronto, "Care as a Political Concept," in Nancy J.
Hirschmann and Christine Di Stefano, eds., Revisioning the
Political: Feminist Reconstructions of Traditional Concepts in Western
Political Theory (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1996),
142-147. |
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Political Culture and Ideology
Objective: Understand the varieties of American ideology, the
ramifications of radical individualism, the power of public opinion, and
the spiral of silence.
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Hudson, ch. 2 |
| David Brooks, "One Nation, Slightly Divisible," The
Atlantic (December 2001). |
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Democracy
Objective: Understand four models of democracy.
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Hudson, Introduction |
| Wasserman, ch. 1 |
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Oct 8
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Constitutional Convention
Objective: Understand the power politics and compromises involved in
the convention of 1787.
Online Reading:
| J. Allen Smith, "The
Constitution a Reactionary Document," from The Spirit of
American Government (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press,
1965), pp. 27-39. |
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The Constitution
Objective: Understand the issues of responsiveness and accountability
raised by the separation of powers.
| Wasserman, ch. 2 |
| Hudson, ch. 1 |
Online Reading:
| James Madison, Federalist
51, New York Packet (Friday, February 8, 1788). |
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Oct 22
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Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Objective: Understand the role of the court in shaping civil liberties
and understand the roles of the court, congress, and mass movements in
shaping civil rights.
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Wasserman, ch. 6 |
Online Reading:
| Anderson, Amending the Constitution |
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Midterm
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Equality
Objective: Understand the nature of and challenges posed by inequality
in American politics.
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Hudson, ch. 6 |
Reserve Reading:
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Barbara Ehrenreich, "Nickel-and-Dimed:
On (not) getting by in America," Harper’s Magazine
(January, 1999), pp. 37-52. |
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The Policy Process
Objective: Understand the basic mechanics of policymaking institutions
including the centrality of interest groups and issue networks.
| Wasserman, chs. 3 , 4, 8 (only pp. 210-221) |
| Hudson, ch. 5 |
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Nov 19
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The Policy Process
Objective: Understand James Madison’s argument concerning how the
"problems of faction" can be overcome in the American system of
government.
Online Reading:
| James Madison, Federalist
10, New York Packet (Friday, November 23, 1787). |
| Henry Jenkins, "Professor
Jenkins Goes to Washington," Harper’s Magazine
(July, 1999), pp. 19-23. |
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The Courts
Objective: Understand the power of judicial review.
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Wasserman, ch. 5 |
Online Reading:
| D. Graham Burnett, "Anatomy of a Verdict," New York
Times Magazine (August 26, 2001). |
| Paul Butler, "Black
Jurors: Right to Acquit?" Harper’s Magazine (December, 1995),
pp. 11-16. |
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Dec 3
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The Press
Objective: Understand the lost art of
argument.
| Wasserman, ch. 8 (only 221-242) |
Online Reading:
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Christopher Lasch, "The
Lost Art of Argument," from The Revolt of the Elites and
the Betrayal of Democracy (New York: W. W. Norton, 1996), pp.
161-175. |
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Parties and Elections
Objective: Understand the role of money in American elections and the
political significance of American reliance on the single-member
winner-take-all plurality system.
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Wasserman, ch. 1 & 7 |
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Hudson, ch. 3 & 4 |
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Dec 16
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Amendment Debate
Objective: Present a compelling political argument to the class.
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Wasserman, ch. 9 |
| Hudson, Conclusion |
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Final Exam
11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. |
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Calendar