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17.252

Congress and the American Political System I

Undergraduate / Graduate · Historical course

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
Sources