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17.251

Congress and the American Political System I

3-0-9 units. HASS-S · Undergraduate

Focuses on both the internal processes of the House and Senate and on the place of Congress in the American Political System. Attention to committee behavior, leadership patterns, and informal organization. Considers relations between Congress and other branches of government, as well as relations between the two houses of Congress itself. Students taking the graduate version are expected to pursue the subject in greater depth through reading and individual research.

Fall 2016

Topics

  • Introduction
  • Unidimensional spatial model
  • Roundtable
  • Constitutional origins of Congress
  • Origin and development of Congress
  • Congressional candidates
  • Congressional voters
  • Regulating congressional elections
  • Midterm
  • Multidimensional spatial model
  • Congressional parties and leadership
  • Congressional committees
  • Rules of the chamber, roll call voting
  • Review, wrap-up

Readings

  • [STE] = Stewart, Charles Haines. Analyzing Congress (The New Institutionalism in American Politics) . W. W. Norton & Company, 2011. ISBN: 9780393935066.
    Required
  • [DOD] = Dodd, Lawrence C., and Bruce I. Oppenheimer, eds. Congress Reconsidered . 10th ed. Congressional Quarterly Press, 2012. ISBN: 9781452227825.
    Required
  • SES #: 1 · TOPICS: Introduction · READINGS: No readings
    Reading assignment
  • [STE] Chapter 1, pp. 3–23 and 47–49.
    Required
  • [DOD] Chapters 1 and 2.
    Required
  • SES #: 3 · TOPICS: Constitutional origins of Congress · READINGS: [STE] Stewart, Charles Haines. Chapter 2: The Constitutional Origins of Congress. (Appendix B)
    Reading assignment
  • [STE] Chapter 3.
    Required
  • [DOD] Chapter 16.
    Required
  • [STE] Chapter 4.
    Required
  • [DOD] Chapter 4.
    Required
  • [STE] Chapter 5.
    Required
  • Abramson, Paul R., John H. Aldrich, and David W. Rohde. “The 2010 Congressional Elections.” Chapter 10 in Change and Continuity in the 2008 and 2010 Elections . CQ Press College, 2011. ISBN: 9781608717989.
    Required
  • [STE] Chapter 6.
    Required
  • [DOD] Chapters 5 and 6.
    Required
  • SES #: 8 · TOPICS: Multidimensional spatial model · READINGS: [STE] Chapter 1, pp. 23–47.
    Reading assignment
  • [STE] Chapter 7.
    Required
  • [DOD] Chapter 7.
    Required
  • [STE] Chapter 8.
    Required
  • [DOD] Chapter 8.
    Required
  • [STE] Chapter 9.
    Required
  • [DOD] Chapters 9 and 10.
    Required
  • SES #: 12 · TOPICS: Review / wrap-up · READINGS: [DOD] Chapter 17.
    Reading assignment

Prerequisites & course information

Prereq: 17.20 or permission of instructor U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Sources