Russell Renka
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° Papers by Professor Renka:
    ° Madison and Federalism
    ° The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Polling    

PS103 Syllabus - Summer 2003
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                      Return to Internal Links; 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                         Return to Internal Links; Top

Examinations:  This four-week course has three sections, each ending with an examination worth 100 points.  There is no comprehensive final exam, as Examination 3 is conducted on the 16th and final day of the course in the 4th week.  Before each exam I conduct an afternoon review session, to be announced in class after we discuss what time would be best for you.

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 Assignment                50 points  
Polling Assignment                           50 points

All assignments                             400 points

Grades:   Gradebook posts interim grades and the eventual course grade on line, to let you keep up with your assignments and grades.  Your Username (also S.S. number) and default password are mailed to your Southeast e-mail account at the start of class.  Since most of you use personal e-mail rather than the campus address, you might miss this message.  Therefore I recommend that you link the two addresses, by going to Link from Southeast e-mail to your Personal E-Mail.  That lets any message sent to Southeast e-mail be forwarded to your personal e-mail account.  Finally, Change Student Password and E-Mail permits you to install a new e-mail whenever you want, and also to periodically change the password.  Both will automatically go to my Online Instructor Suite file, so I will get them.

Source Citations and Source Locations                                  Return to Internal Links; 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 and other information, see Kent Library's Web Searching Tools.  These include the subtopic entitled "Deep Web Tools" that includes various databases.  For specific citation guides, consult the School of University Studies Documentation Styles site.
    For PS103 with APA style, see Poly-Cy Guide to Internet Resources for Political Science - Style and Web Site Citation Guides.  For extensive links on American government and politics, see Grace York's University of Michigan Documents Center and click on appropriate categories, including Federal Government Resources on the Web.

Course Textbook and Readings:             Return to Internal Links; Top

    The text is:  Patterson, Thomas E.  2001.  The American Democracy, 5th ed., Election Edition, with Supplement:  Missouri Government and Politics (following the Subject Index after pp. I-1 to I-18).  Boston:  McGraw Hill.  It is at Textbook Service.  The McGraw Hill publisher's website for Patterson is at McGraw-Hill Online Learning Center - Student Center [http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/polisci/patterson5/student_index.mhtml] with access to each chapter.  All chapters have an extensive set of features, including self testing.  I highly recommend that you take the multiple choice self test on each and every chapter.  There is also a book-wide Glossary of Terms resembling the one in the text. 
    There are also readings written by me and posted on website links shown below in the Itinerary.  I assume you'll print these.

What's Expected of You:                     Return to Internal Links; 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 6 p.m., to 8::40, so we'll break right in the middle at around 7:30 p.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 (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:                 Return to Internal Links;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- Summer 2003            Return to Internal Links; Top

°Master Calendar from Southeast; click on upper left hand for Academic Calendar in JavaScript

Week 1 - Day 1:  Monday, May 19      Politics, Collective Problems, and the Place of Government
   Patterson Chapter 1 - The American Heritage
            Appendix A-1 - The Declaration of Independence

Week 1 - Day 2: Tuesday, May 20      Constitutional Foundations and the Problems of Democracy
    Patterson Chapter 2 - Constitutional Democracy
    James Madison, Federalist No. 51, in Patterson's Appendix, pp. A-22 to A-24

Week 1 - Day 3:  Wednesday, May 21      Federalism in the United States; Comparing U.S. and State Constitutions
    Patterson Chapter 3 - Federal Government
    Patterson Supplement (at end of book) - Missouri Government and Politics (by Professor Althaus)
    Federalist No. 10 by James Madison - in Patterson's Appendix, pp. A-18 to A-21
    Website reading - Russell D. Renka, Madison and Federalism

Week 1 - Day 4: Thursday, May 22      Democracy and Civil Liberties
    Patterson Chapter 4 - Civil Liberties

Week 2 - We're supposed to begin the week on Monday, May 26, but that is Memorial Day.  No class is held on that date.

Week 2 - Day 5:  Tuesday, May 27      Democracy and Inequality
    Patterson Chapter 5 - Equal Rights
** Exam no. 1 on Tuesday, May 27

Week 2 - Day 6: Wednesday, May 28     Public Opinion and How We Find It
    Patterson Chapter 6 - Public Opinion and Political Socialization
    Website reading - Russell D. Renka, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Polling

Week 2 - Day 7: Thursday, May 29     Political Participation and Voting
    Patterson Chapter 7 - Political Participation and Voting:  Expressing the Public's Will
        Elections and Political Parties
    Patterson Chapter 8 - Elections and the Two-Party System:  Defining the Voters' Choice

Week 3 - Day 8: Monday, June 2     The General Election 
    Patterson Chapter 9 - Political Parties, Candidates, and Campaigns:  Contesting Elections
    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 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 9:  Tuesday, June 3       Linkage Institutions: The News Media
    Patterson Ch. 11 - The News Media

Week 3 - Day 10:  Wednesday, June 4     Linkage Institutions: Interest Groups
    Patterson Ch. 10 - Interest Groups
    ** Exam no. 2 on Wednesday, June 4

Week 3 - Day 11: Thursday, June 5    The U.S. Congress
    Patterson, Ch. 12 - Congressional Election and Organization
    website reading:  Presidents and Congresses from Russell D. Renka

Week 4 - Day 12: Monday, June 9   The Congress
    Patterson Ch. 13 - Congressional Policymaking
     
Week 4 - Day 13: Tuesday, June 10     The Modern Presidency
    Patterson Ch. 14 - Presidential Office and Election:  Leading the Nation

Week 4 - Day 14: Wednesday, June 11    The President in Time of War
    Patterson Ch. 15 - Presidential Policymaking:  Eliciting Support
    Patterson Ch. 20 - Foreign and Defense Policy:  Protecting the American Way
       Bipartisan Governing:  Possible Yes; Likely No by Barbara Sinclair, in PS Online's Election 2000 from the March 2001 issue

Week 4 - Day 15: Thursday, June 12     The Judges and Courts
    Patterson Ch. 17 - The Federal Judicial System
**Exam no. 3 on Thursday, June 12

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007 02:50:43 PM