Carnahan Hall    Russell Renka

° Renka's Home Page
° Department of Political Science, Philosophy & Religion
OIS sites:
    ° Forum; Gradebook; Calendar; Drop Box; Checker
° My Southeast
° Student Services - Activate SE Key; SE Key FAQ File
° Professor Renka's PS360 Links on parties, voters, and elections
° POP - The APSA Organized Section on Political Organizations and Parties
° Voting in Cape Girardeau:  Refer to Election Information from the Cape Girardeau County Clerk's Office
° Kent Library Homepage; or register at Missouri First Vote 2004 Voting In College
    °JSTOR - Journal Resources; JSTOR Journals Browser#Political Science
    °Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe

PS360 Syllabus - Political Parties and Voting Behavior
Professor Russell Renka - Fall 2004

PS360 Syllabus Sections - Fall 2004:
    °Introduction
    °On-line Instructor Suite
    °Course Books and Readings
    °Course Requirements
    °Standards of Conduct
    °Journal and On-line Resources
    °Reaching me
    °Weekly Topics and Readings

Introduction                       Next down; Top

    This course addresses topics at the very core of the practice of American democratic politics:  the behavior of voters and non-voters, the creation and maintenance of political parties, and the conduct of competitive elections for public office.  These are not separate topics, for parties are essential in every democracy (but not in non-democracies) to running elections and governing the polity.  Parties are currently regarded with great suspicion by most middle-class Americans, yet we have found no alternative to them.

    First up is why political parties are essential parts of a democracy.  We answer that with theory from political science filtered through the uniquely American tradition of having just two national political parties with a realistic chance for each to elect a President and control the national Congress.  It is unusual among democracies to do this, as we shall see.  We take a comparative look at party systems (contrasting American to foreign systems) and a historical one (evaluating past American party practices).  We distinguish parties from interest groups, political factions, and political coalitions.  We look at parties as organizations, which run elections, including the complicated American national primary system.  We look at the strange current system of financing parties and candidates.  We look directly at national and state elections, with intensive review of recent national results including the bizarre doings last year in Florida.  We study voters and nonvoters, together with the business of polling by which we learn about it.  We look at parties-in-government, as the central organizing entity of the national legislature and most state assemblies.  Finally, we look closely at the current and future relevance of political parties in the American polity.

On-line Instructor Suite                    Next down; Top

    OIS gives you access to a class bulletin board (Forum), locale to post for posting papers and assignments (Drop Box), and personal grade and assignment record (Gradebook).  OIS is run by Center for Scholarship in Teaching and Learning.  OIS uses automatically generated Southeast e-mail addresses that you activate by using the Southeast Key, at Activate SE Key.  More details are shown at http://www6.semo.edu/infotech/sekeyfaq.  I'll have to use your Southeast e-mail address to communicate with you, so be sure to check that e-mail box regularly.  To ensure that your off-campus PC does work with OIS, use Checker to confirm that.

PS360 Course Books and Readings:              Next down; Top

    The text, at Textbook Service, is:  Maisel, L. Sandy.  1999.  Parties and Elections in America:  The Electoral Process.  3d edition.  Lanham, MD:  Rowman & Littlefield.   In the Itinerary, this is labeled "Text."  {For more on the book, see Sandy Maisel's Parties and Elections in America.}

    The Reader, at Southeast Bookstore, is:  L. Sandy Maisel, ed.  2002.  The Parties Respond:  Changes in American Parties and Campaigns, 4th edition.  Boulder, CO:  Westview Press.   In the Itinerary, this is labeled "Reader."

    Additional readings come from reserve readings at Kent Library, website materials, journal articles, and occasional in-class handouts.

PS360 Course Requirements                  Next down; Top

One can earn up to 1000 credit points in the course.  These divide among four categories:
            600 points - three exams worth 200 points each
            200 points - term paper
            100 points - classroom assignments, roundtables
            100 points - Bulletin Board

Examinations:  Each examination has two 100-point sections.  First is an in-class objective type of exam consisting of multiple-choice questions derived from readings and class lecture/discussion (100 points).  Second is a take-home essay of some two and a half to three pages on a specified topic (also 100 points).  The final is not comprehensive; rather, it is really exam no. 3 on the third and last section of the course.  Total valuation of exams is 600 points.

Term Paper (200 points):  Follow the "ten and ten" rule:  a term paper should be an honest 10-pager with ten or more sources.  Shorter papers and those with few sources are typically the result of casual or last minute efforts.  No one could use that approach to successfully perform in a play, run well in a distance race, maintain a great love relationship, or rise to a new and higher job in the work world.  Neither can a good paper be written that way.  I expect you to select a topic and clear it with me.  You can start this at any time not later than times outlined below.  Here are dates for steps toward completion of the term paper:
             °Monday, September 13 (start of Week 5):  due date for topic selection
            °Monday, October 18 (Week 9):  deadline for topical outline plus sources (with a minimum of ten separate sources).
            °Friday, November 19 (Week 13):  deadline for submitting drafts (I will review and amend a draft if you choose to turn one in.  This is not required and does not involve a grade, but is just about guaranteed to make for a better final paper!)
            °Monday, December 6 (start of Week 16):  final paper deadline (Seem far away?  It really isn't!)

In-class assignments- 2004 Election and the 2000 Florida election dispute (100 points):  We're going to reconstruct what happened in the 2000 presidential election to shed light on this year's results.  We'll hold class forums in Week 12 in November where each of you will have prepared a very brief presentation on some aspect of these topics.  For readings on this, see Week 12 in the Weekly Topics and Readings.  I will also include an essay question based on this event as part of the third exam.  Value of Forum participation:  100 points.

Forum participation (100 points):  Everyone should read the on-line Forum and make periodic postings there.  This site will include material I covered in class, and any related political or public happenings and news.  It's an ideal place to post queries about what lecture or readings are about.  I'll inventory participation and periodically post it on an entry slot in GradeA gradebook.  Credit applies only to meaningful participation, that is, saying something that contributes to furtherance of a conversation on one or more appropriate topics.    Board Value is 6 points per meaningful posting, up to 100 points total.

Gradebook posts interim grades and the eventual course grade on line.  Your Username is your Social Security number.  OIS gives you access to a class bulletin board (Forum), locale to post for posting papers and assignments (Drop Box), and personal grade and assignment record (Gradebook).  OIS is run by Center for Scholarship in Teaching and Learning.  OIS uses automatically generated Southeast e-mail addresses that you activate via Activate Southeast Key.  I'll use that e-mail address to communicate with each of you.

    OIS also generates a set of randomly selected passwords that you'll receive from an introductory e-mail.  These are specific to this class, and aren't related to your self-selected SE Key passwords.  You can always change your class password by going to OIS - Change Student Password and adopting your own.  I recommend you employ the same one as you use for the SE Key, but that's up to you.

Standards of Conduct                  Next down;Top

    This section refers to disabilities, class attendance, cell phones, guns and knives, personal disruptions, cheating, plagiarism, and paper citations.  Some of this isn't fun for me to say or you to read, but it's all important.  I ask every student to carefully read this section.  Once classes commence, I'll assume you have read this and are responsible for heeding it.

    Any student with a disability that may require special accommodation should contact me about that as soon as the need is recognized.  I will take all reasonable measures to assist you so long as they're within the law and not an undue burden on me or on other students.  Experience shows that many special needs can readily be met, but only if I know about them.  So please visit with me about that.  I'll hold our discussion in strict confidence and will do what I can.

    Good students regularly attend classes, while poor ones often don't.  You're expected to attend all regularly scheduled classes within reasonable time of their start.  Each session you'll have a sign-in sheet based on your classroom seat.  I use those to call names and make queries.  I keep an open door as a rule and do understand delays on entry due to other classes, inclement weather, and gossip time; but be reasonable and don't plan on habitual late entry.   If you know you'll need to leave a class early, just advise me in advance of that.  If it's sudden and necessary to leave, then do so but let me know next time what's happened.

    Cell phones may also attend my classes, but only when turned off.  Experience teaches that otherwise they act very rudely during class.  Should one somehow manage to ring, please silence it immediately and avoid any repeat misbehavior by the offending implement.  If you must be on phone alert, use only its visual signaler for that purpose.  If you must take the call, kindly leave class to do so--and only for emergency, at that.

    Weapons may not attend any of my classes.  The State of Missouri passed a 'concealed carry' gun statute in 2003, leaving many unanswered questions on when and where it's permissible to pack concealed heat.  My rule is very simple:  no firearms of any kind are permitted in any of my classes, or in my office, under any circumstances.  Should there be a violation, I will not confront the offender.  Instead I will contact the university's legal authorities and have them press action to ensure that the offender may not continue this practice.  There are no exceptions to this rule unless the student is:  a) a law enforcement authority authorized to carry a gun in the normal performance of duties, and b) this student gets my advance clearance to carry in class.  Note:  None of this refers to minor weapons such as Swiss Army knives, Gerber tools, nail files, or the like.  I refer to guns.

    I've never had a seriously disruptive student in a class, but hear from others that some problems exist along this line.  If someone is seriously disruptive during class in such manner as makes you or others uncomfortable with being there, please advise me of that.  We have lively conversations that address politics, so I don't refer to strongly worded opinions.  I mean personal behavior that seriously offends you or others; that might include sexual harassment.  My policy is to directly ask the party to cease the offending behavior.  Should that fail, then I bring the university legal authority in to resolve the issue.  I can't be more specific than that, for the moment.

    I can be very specific about cheating.  See Southeast's Academic Honesty brochure on this subject.  I had a certain nasty little cheater in 2003, haven't forgotten that, and have since studied some methods for catching and docking offenders.  If a student cheats on an assignment, it's an automatic zero grade on that work.  If there's evidence of cheating on more than one assignment, it's a zero on each affected assignment.  Once I have documented evidence, then I first confront the offender to elicit an explanation of the behavior, after which I file a report with the Department chair.  If I catch the evidence post hoc and cannot confront the offender, I proceed directly to the report.

    Plagiarism is a common form of cheating and a chronic plague of the academic community.  It refers, of course, to someone taking the work of others and passing it off as his or her own.  It can be as simple as taking a quotation and failing to show it properly, to lifting an entire piece verbatim and pasting it to one's own paper or exam.  The common element of this noxious practice is always the same, namely that of falsely claiming for oneself that which another person has created.  In the commercial world, plagiarism brings lawsuits for copyright violation.  In the academic world, it brings verdicts of both moral and academic failure on the offender.  For insight on what it is, see Southeast's Academic Honesty brochure, or Professor Hamner Hill's Policy on PLAGIARISM.  Each has helpful links.

    I do not tolerate plagiarism.  I check for it--and know from bitter experience and plenty of web-smarts how to find it.  If the plagiarism is intentional, I report that as a violation of the University's academic integrity policy while assigning that paper or exam an irreversible grade of zero.  If it is not, I return the paper without a grade to its creator for immediate and thorough correction.

    The best method of avoiding plagiarism is to acquire the habit of properly citing your source material as you go along.  I do so above on the listed books for this course.  The books do so as well. I do not stipulate a particular source guide, but will expect you to cite one in your References section of any term paper.  See Kent Library's final touches - tools for citing sources for proper use of MLA, APA, Chicago Style, and others.  I usually employ APA myself, but any of them are fine.  The core rule is really very simple.  It's this:  cite your stuff so that anyone who reads your paper can easily track its sources.  So give full citation to all sources, including names of all authors, the book/article/website file name or name and position of an interviewee, and all publication information (publisher's location, publisher's name, year of pub, volume and issue of journal, URL of a website plus date of its access).  If you got specific information from one page of a 900-page tome, do the reader the courtesy of citing that page so they can avoid poring through 899 superfluous pages.  Simple.

    For local writing help, see The Online Writing Lab at Southeast.  A sophisticated general guide for source use is Gordon Harvey's Writing with Sources at Harvard.  For how-to guidance on writing by political science students, see Excerpts-Van Evera at web.mit.edu/17.423/www/writingtips.html.  There is always Strunk and White:  see Bartleby's Strunk, William, Jr. 1918. The Elements of Style for on-line use.  And for the godmother of all sources, confer the Chicago Manual of Style - Q&A.  Splendid.

Journal and On-line Resources:                 Next down;Top

   The best work on political parties and elections is in the broadly defined political science journals.  These are filled with articles on topics relevant to us.  Among these are American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, American Politics Quarterly, and Political Research Quarterly.  Also see Parties and Elections.  Access the first three of these via JSTOR Journals Browser for Political Science at JSTOR Journals Browser#Political Science.   You'll find nine major journals there.

    Among monthly magazine journals, nuts-and-bolts practice of politics by campaign professionals is shown in Campaigns and Elections.  Weekly journals of considerable value for regular Washington watchers are Congressional Quarterly Weekly (for stuff from the Hill, chiefly), and National Journal (especially useful for stuff “downtown” in the executive agencies and White House).  All are on Kent Library's open shelves.

    For other on-line resources, see my PS360 Links - Russell D. Renka.

Reaching me:                       Next down; Top

   I have an open door policy, and I normally lurk very near my office computer in Room 211L of the Political Science office suite on Floor 2 of the Carnahan Building.   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 211L.
    c) Place a voice mail message at 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 website at Home Page (or cstl-cla.semo.edu/renka) for other details about myself and my courses, including this syllabus.

PS360 Weekly Topics and Readings - Fall 2004                Top

°Master Calendar - click at upper left corner for Academic Calendar

Week 1 - August 23-27, 2004       What are parties? Why are they essential in democracies?
Note:  I will miss class on Week 1 due to extended participation at the American Political Science Association.  Steve Swindle will introduce parties from a standard comparative perspective on Monday, Aug. 25.  Class won't be held Wednesday or Friday, but be sure to do the reading.  We'll discuss it all in Week 2.
        °Maisel text (Text), Ch. 1 - Elections and Political Parties, pp. 2-28
        °Silbey in Reader, Selection 1 - "The Rise and Fall of American Political Parties, 1789-2000"

Week 2 - August 30-September 3   Creation and growth of the American two-party system
       °Text Ch. 2 - The Development of the American Parties, pp. 30-63
       °Comparative perspective on parties in democracy (per Swindle presentation)

Week 3 - September 8-10    Political parties as organizations
Monday, September 6, is Labor Day.  No classes are held.
        °Text Ch. 3 - Party Organization, pp. 66-90      
        °Herrnson in Reader, Selection 3 - "National Party Organizations at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century"
        °Bibby in Reader, Selection 2 - "State Party Organizations ..."

Week 4 - September 13-17     Parties as organizations; Participation by the Citizenry
        °Cain and Mullin in Reader, Selection 5 - Competing for Attention and Votes ..." 
        °Text, Ch. 4 - Political participation, pp. 92-123 (start)
 

Week 5 - September 20-24    Participation by the Citizenry
        °Text, Ch. 4 - Political participation, pp. 92-123 (completion)
**Friday, Sept. 24 - Examination no. 1**

Week 6 - September 27 - October 1   The Voters and Nonvoters
       °Text, Ch. 5 - Theories of Voting Behavior, pp. 126-155
        °Miller in Reader, Selection 4 - "Party Identification and the Electorate ..."
       °M. Wattenberg in October 1998 The Atlantic, entitled Should Election Day Be a Holiday?

Week 7 - October 4-8    Organized Interests; Election 2004
        °Text, Ch. 6 - Organized Groups in the Political Process, pp. 158-185
        °Class Presentation on Election 2004:   Gary C. Jacobson, on Wednesday, October 6
        °Reading:  Jacobson Paper:  The Bush Presidency and the American Electorate (in pdf)

Week 8 - October 11-13    Elections other than the presidency
October 14-15:  Fall Break, no classes
        °Text, Ch. 7 - State and Local Nominations, pp. 188-217
       °Text, Ch. 8 - State and Local Elections, pp. 220-263

Week 9 - October 18-22     Elections other ...; and Presidential Nominations
        °Maisel, Maestas, and Stone in Reader, Selection 6 - The Party Role in Congressional Competition
        °Text, Ch. 9 - Presidential Nominations, pp. 266-317

Week 10 - October 25-29     **  
        °Text, Ch. 10 - Presidential Elections, pp. 320-369 (start)
    **Friday, Oct. 29 - Examination no. 2**

Week 11 - November 1-5       Presidential Elections: Election Day
Tuesday, November 2, is Election Day.  Special coverage with links will be listed later.
       °Text, Ch. 10 - Presidential Elections, pp. 320-369 (completion)
        °Renka on line:  Presidential Elections through 2004
         °website:  Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - 2004 election results, with each state shown county by county for the 3000-plus U.S. counties

Week 12 - November 8-12    Florida in Election 2000 (and 2004)

       °Brady, H. et al., on line:  Law and Data: The Butterfly Ballot Episode from PS Online, March 2001; see a copy of the infamous Palm Beach County ballot itself, at Palm Beach County Ballot
         °website reference sources: Florida Ballots Project, released 12 November 2001; New York Times articles located at Examining the Florida Vote; also see my PS360 Links and Elections 2000 - Florida election recount for other links
        website:  U.S. Supreme Court's Bush v. Gore (00-949) decision of 12 December 2000; background on the case is at Cornell Law School's LII's Focus on Election 2000

Week 13 - November 15-19    Money  - the roots of all political evil?
        °Text, Ch. 11 - Campaign Financing, pp. 372-415
        °Franz and Goldstein, in Reader, Selection 7 - Following the (Soft) Money:  Party Advertisements
       °La Raja, in Reader, Selection 8 - Political Parties in the Era of Soft Money

   ... or is it the Media?
       °Text, Ch. 12 - The Media and the Electoral Process, pp. 418-443
        °Kerbel in Reader, Selection 9 - Political Parties in the Media ...

Week 14 - November 22    The Elite in Washington
Thanksgiving Recess (no classes):  Wednesday through Friday, November 24-26
       °Sinclair in Reader, Selection 10 - Congressional Parties and the Policy Process
        °Brady and Buckley in Reader, Selection 11 - Governing by Coalition:  Policymaking in the Congress
        °Renka, Russell D., The Election of 2004

Week 15 - November 29 - December 3    Partisanship and Governing from Washington
        °Text, Ch. 13 - The Party in Government, pp. 446-481
        °Mackenzie in Reader, Selection 12 - Partisan Presidential Leadership:  The President's Appointees
        °Renka, Russell D., Presidents and Congresses
     
Week 16 - December 6-10   The Future of Parties in a Candidate-centered Democracy
        °Text, Ch. 14, Conclusions:  The Role of Political Parties at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century, pp. 484-499
       °Shribman in Reader, Selection 13 - Subtle Shifts, Dramatic Days ...

Final Examination Week - December 13-16  Final Examination is 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, December 15.  Remember that this is "exam no. 3" rather than a comprehensive 16-week exam.

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Friday, August 17, 2007 03:41:07 PM
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