POLS 1150 American Political Systems

POLS 1150 American Political Systems

This is the core required course in American politics for political science majors. It is designed to provide
you with an overview of the literature and theoretical concepts associated with political science as it relates
to American government and politics. There is no way to cover every topic, nor is it possible to evaluate a
majority of literature within these topics. Therefore, we will examine major issues within American politics
and some of the important research ndings in a variety of seminal works. The intent is to provide you
with a sample of key ndings in the literature, as well as help you develop critical skills for evaluating this
research. This course will prepare you to take upper-level courses in the American politics subeld.
Learning Objectives
There will be several goals that this course will focus upon; among them are:
1. To understand the basic conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of political science research in mul-
tiple areas of American politics
2. To understand the theoretical underpinnings of research focusing on institutional aspects of the national
governmental system with a focus on the legislative, executive, and judicial institutions
3. To understand the theoretical underpinnings of research focusing on political behavior, with a focus
on political parties, interest groups, and campaigns and elections
4. To understand the theoretical underpinnings of research focusing on public policy, with a focus on
agenda setting, policy process, economic policy, and social policy
Course Requirements
There are two required text for the course:
1. Kollman, Ken. 2014. Readings in American Politics: Analysis and Perspectives. New York, NY. W.W.
Norton Company. ISBN: 9780393936742
2. Sides, John & Lynn Vavreck. 2013. The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election.
Princeton, NJ. Princeton University Press. ISBN: 9780691156880
Additional weekly readings will be made available on the course blackboard page. Each reading should
be completed prior to the class meetings.
This class will brie y review some of the formal procedures of how American government works (e.g.
steps in how a bill becomes a law). It is assumed students have a basic understanding of these processes
from POLS 1100, AP American Government, or a strong high school civics class. If you are less familiar with
how the American government works, the following book (or earlier editions) provides excellent explanations
of many key concepts in the course. The course outline specics suggested Chapters or sections to read.

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