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    ° Primary Predictions

PS103 Syllabus - Summer 2001
Professor Russell Renka

Internal links:
°Introduction
°Course Requirements and Credits
°Source Citations and Source Locations
°Course Textbook and Readings
°What's Expected of You
°How to Reach Me
°Weekly Readings and Examination Itinerary

Introduction                         Top

    This course covers government and politics of the United States and its states, including the State of Missouri.  Governments have special authority granted to no other organizations--the power to make laws and regulations and to enforce them, and to collect taxes from all of us.  Government is a nearly universal way human beings regulate themselves and their fellows. This course introduces the fundamentals of American politics and government in a university studies context.  Coverage of topics is by national standard reflected in any competent introductory textbook.  Included here is state-required coverage of  federal and state constitutions.  There are no formal course prerequisites, although I assume nearly all of you have some kind of background in high school civics and U.S. history courses.

    Politics has been defined as "the art of the possible."  To understand politics is to get beyond the dry civics and legal formalities of government structure and function.  A formal diagram of "how a bill becomes law" exists in every textbook.  Politics explains why a particular bill becomes law and another falls short, by injecting the motives and assets of politicians to gain insight.  For example, the Republican-majority 104th Congress passed a minimum wage increase in 1996 despite the traditional Republican disdain of such measures and the ardent hostility of many Members of Congress toward it.   Politics explains how that could happen--as we shall see.  Many Americans in 2001 deeply dislike politics and politicians, but it's impossible to understand government without politics.  And any effective citizenship in a democracy requires some real knowledge of politics along with the formal principles of its governance.

    This course is taught at three analytical levels.  Some material is basic description, such as an outline of the trimester system set forth in the Supreme Court's highly controversial Roe v. Wade abortion decision, or a specification of what the First Amendment says about freedom of speech.  Some is analytic; once you know basics, you can interpret whether the distinction in law of first and second trimesters makes sense based on what we know from medical research, or whether public tobacco advertising should be classified as commercial speech.  And ultimately you confront the evaluative or judgmental; you ultimately decide what if anything to accept in Roe v. Wade or in tobacco advertising.  All have the objective of enabling you to understand what you read or hear in the public realm, and to react as an informed consumer and citizen.

    This course emphasizes two of the core Objectives of the University Studies Program.  First is effective citizenship.  Plainly put, the course enhances your ability to be an informed participant and knowledgeable consumer.  This does not mean I promote an automatic acceptance of the American status quo; quite the contrary, blind acceptance is a fool's path. The other primary objective is to master locating and gathering information.  Few things are more confusing to the average American than to figure out the effects our governments have upon our lives.  Website access is a great help, but one must still learn navigation and acquisition skills.  Several assignments let you become conversant in web or library usage beyond the simple use of search terms in your favorite search engine.

PS103 Course Requirements and Credits                     Top

Examinations:  This four-week course has three sections, each ending with an examination worth 100 points.  There is no comprehensive final exam; exam 3 is conducted on the 16th and final day of the course in the 4th week.

Writing Assignments:  This is a four-week class, and I won't pretend it's adequate for you to write good essays.  But we will have short overnight or weekend essay assignments on specific problems cited in class.  You'll find out about these by being there!  A couple of these will involve commentary on some website readings (shown in Itinerary below).  This includes one on the strange happenings of November 2000 in the State of Florida.  Value:  50 points per assignment 

Polling Assignment:  I teach about polling because it is such an important technique in modern life for learning about people.  It's also a very attractive way to lie or mislead.  The web has opened the polling world to millions of people, many of whom have no idea how to tell among The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Polling.  So I'll ask each of you to find one good and one bad poll and tell specifically what distinguishes them. Value:  50 points

   In summary, points are allotted by:
In-class Examinations                               300 points (100 points per exam)
Outside Writing Assignments                    50 points per assignment      
Polling Assignment                                    50 points    

All assignments                                          400 points if one writing assignment, 450 if two ...

Grades:  GradeA gradebook will post interim grades on line to let you keep up with your assignments and grades.  Each person has a unique Username (your first initial capitalized, plus last name with first initial capitalized, as in "RRenka") and password (last four digits of your SS number).  If you should want to revise your name and password, you can do so via Name and Password changes--PS103.

Source Citations and Source Locations                  Top

    Essay writing in PS103 means using and citing sources, including but not limited to those cited as reading in this Syllabus.  Use any style guide you wish, but do not fail to cite the source when copying or paraphrasing a source.  If you have an established major, use the style guide from that profession.  I don't care which one you use in PS103; just pick one and be consistent in its use.  As a time-saver, whenever you use class readings as sources, you can copy the formal citation straight from this syllabus Itinerary and paste it to your paper.
    For internet source citations, click on Poly-Cy Guide to Internet Resources for Political Science - Style and Web Site Citation Guides.  Or consult the Reference Desk at Kent Library.  See also Kent Library - Online Databases.   As an excellent starting point for extensive website references on American government, see Grace York's University of Michigan Documents Center and click on appropriate categories, including Federal Government Resources on the Web.  If you use other major research library sites instead, OK; but this one is very useful.  

Course Textbook and Readings:           Top

    The text is:  Edwards, George C. III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry.  1999.  Government in America:  People, Politics and Policy, 8th ed.  New York:  Addison Wesley Longman.  Textbook website is Government in America, Eighth Edition Election Update Online.  From there, click on Student Resources--Online Course Companion for chapter-by-chapter review including sample exam questions, website links, web source citation guide, and glossary.
    I also have readings written by me and posted on website links.  These are shown below in the Itinerary.  On some of these, you may need my APSA membership information for access:  just remind me and I'll furnish it.

What's Expected of You:           Top

Attendance:  Those who attend typically do well, and absentees typically do not.  Attend each class session unless there’s a valid reason to miss (i.e., personal illness or ill child, death in immediate family, motorcycle wreck, full blown Midwestern blizzard, New Madrid Fault disturbance of 6.0 or greater on Richter Scale, subpoenaed witness to Armageddon; but not including "There was a cool concert in St. Louis last night." or "The Cards and Cubs played the first of three last night.").  We often use class discussion for short writing assignments and/or assignments to find relevant information from journals, the library, or websites.  Some of these are impromptu, and it’s often difficult or impossible to compensate by asking later that I email you the assignment details.  Use email or telephone voice mail to advise me if you will miss or have missed class.  

Lateness to class:  I leave the door open, so just come in quietly.  I don’t encourage deliberate lateness, but vengeful traffic, bad weather, and absence of good parking all invite arrival at five after.   If you routinely amble in at ten after every day once class is underway, then I'll invite you to find a new class.  We have a clock in class, and I'll try to close on time.

Breaks:  It's 2 hours and 40 minutes from 8 a.m. to 10:40, so we'll break right in the middle a little after 9 a.m.  But don't forget to return after break, since that's when I take attendance and issue assignments.

Special Needs:  The Learning Enrichment Center (located in University Center, Room 302) offers Tutorial Services and Disability Services.  On the latter, just advise me directly if you have specific difficulties that I can help you handle.  For example, I'll do oversized-print handouts if someone is visually impaired so that the usual 12-point type doesn't work; or you can use computer-assisted expansion of hypertext.  And special needs or not, I urge everyone to freely use The Writing Center, including their Proofreading service.  You can electronically submit and get returns of drafts as well.

How to Reach Me:                    Top

    I have an open door policy, and can very often be found at or near my office computer.  My office is located in A.J.S.Carnahan (Social Science) Building, in Room 211-L in the Department of Political Science office suite.  Down the hall is the secretary's office (Room 211); you can leave messages for me there if I am absent.  In general, I can be reached as follows:

      a)      Leave a message at my Department mailbox or with the department office.
b)      Leave a message at the drop outside my door at Carnahan 211-L.
c)      Place a voice mail message at my office telephone number, (573) 651-2692.
d)      Email me at rdrenka@semo.edu.
e)      If you’re out of town and cannot send a paper or assignment by email, then FAX it to 573/651-2695.
f)    Consult my Home Page(URL: http://cstl-cla.semo.edu/renka) for other details about myself and my courses, including this syllabus.

PS103 Weekly Readings and Examination Itinerary - Professor Renka - Summer 2001        Top

° Master Calendar from Southeast

Week 1 - Day 1:  Tuesday, May 15      Politics, Collective Problems, and the Place of Government
Readings:  Text Chapter 1 - Introducing Government in America
    Text Appendix, pp. 557-558 - The Declaration of Independence

Week 1 - Day 2: Wednesday, May 16 Constitutional Foundations and the Problems of Democracy
Readings:  Text Chapter 2 - The Constitution of the United States of America
    Text Appendix, pp. 566-576 - The Constitution of the United States
    Text, pp. 563-565 - James Madison,  Federalist No. 51
        
Week 1 - Day 3:  Thursday, May 17      Federalism in the United States; Comparing U.S. and State Constitutions
Readings:  
    Text Chapter 3 - Federalism
    Text Appendix,  pp. 559-562 - James Madison,  Federalist No. 10
    Website reading - Russell D. Renka, Madison and Federalism
    Text Chapter 21 - The New Importance of State and Local Government

Week 1 - Day 4:  Friday, May 18      Democracy and Civil Liberties
Readings:  Text Chapter 4 - Civil Liberties

Week 2 - Day 5:  Tuesday, May 22      Democracy and Civil Rights
Readings:  Text Chapter 5 - Civil Rights
** Exam no. 1

Week 2 - Day 6: Wednesday, May 23     Public Opinion and Polling
Readings:  Text Chapter 6 - Public Opinion and Political Action
    Website reading - Russell D. Renka, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Polling

Week 2 - Day 7:  Thursday, May 24     Political Parties
Readings:  Text Chapter 8 - Political Parties

Week 2 - Day 8:  Friday, May 25     The Nomination of presidential candidates
Readings:  Text Chapter 9 - Nominations and Campaigns
    Website readings - Russell D. Renka, The pre-primary period in presidential elections; and Primary Predictions
    
Week 3 - Day 9:  Tuesday, May 29     The General Election 
Readings:  Text Chapter 10 - Elections and Voting Behavior
    Florida election - Henry Brady et al., Law and Data:  The Butterfly Ballot Episode from PS Online's Election 2000; see also a copy of the Palm Beach County ballot itself, at The Sun-Sentinel Virtual Ballot.
    Website reading - Registering and Voting with Motor Voter by Raymond Wolfinger and Jonathan Hoffman in PS Online
    Website map on election results - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections for county-by-county data on 2000 presidential election results (once at the site, look to the left and click on "County" immediately below the unlinked heading entitled "2000"; and note that you can obtain county results for specific states as well)
    
Week 3 - Day 10:  Wednesday, May 30       The Media
Readings:  Text Chapter 7 - The Mass Media and the Political Agenda 
** Exam no. 2

Week 3 - Day 11:  Thursday, May 31     Interest Groups
Readings:  Text Chapter 11 - Interest Groups

Week 3 - Day 12:  Friday, June 1    The U.S. Congress
Readings:  Text Chapter 12 - Congress 
    Text Appendix, p. 580 - Party Control of the Presidency, Senate, and House of Representatives in the Twentieth Century; also see Presidents and Congresses
    Articles on redistricting  - St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The battle over redistricting and Members of Congress are major players in drawing of districts

Week 4 - Day 13: Tuesday, June 5   The Congress
Readings:  The Politics of Government-Funded Research:  Notes from the Experience of the Candidate Emergence Study by L. Sandy Maisel and Walter J. Stone, in PS Online, December 1998
     
Week 4 - Day 14: Wednesday, June 6      The Modern Presidency
Readings:  Text Chapter 13 -  The Presidency 
    Text Appendix, pp. 577-579 - "Presidents of the United States"
    George W. Bush and the Ghosts of Presidents Past by Fred I. Greenstein, in PS Online's Election 2000

Week 4 - Day 15:  Thursday, June 7       The President. the Congress, and the Budget;    
Readings:  Text Chapter 14 - The Congress, the President, and the Budget
       Bipartisan Governing:  Possible Yes; Likely No by Barbara Sinclair, in PS Online's Election 2000

Week 4 - Day 16: Friday, June 8         The Judges and Courts
Readings:  Text Chapter 16 - The Federal Courts
**Exam no. 3
Top

July 24, 2007 03:12 PM