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PS365 - The Legislative Process - Spring 2001
Professor Russell Renka

° Course Coverage
° Course Readings
° Other Readings and Additional Resources
° Course Examinations and Papers
° Weekly Reading and Examination Itinerary

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PS365 Course Coverage - Spring 2001             Top

   This course concentrates on the contemporary U.S. Congress and its Members. Our national legislature is one of the best-studied entities in the world.  It is an ongoing democratic experiment in running a powerful and independent legislature.  But a large segment of Americans truly dislikes national politics, and the Congress is a special target of that sentiment. Its right and capacity to govern are under serious challenge.

    Congress has two faces. One is Members of Congress at home and on the campaign trail, constantly traveling home, doing 'district work sessions', providing services to constituents, and appearing on local media. The other is Congress in session on Capitol Hill with committee hearings, parliamentary maneuvers, floor debate and voting, vote trades, small and large insiders' intrigues, arguments on national media about major policy, fights over presidential Cabinet nominations, and even impeachment proceedings. Understanding this Congress in session requires that we understand Members of Congress in their districts or states.

    So we look first at 'home style' as a key to legislators' careers. Congressmen and Senators are above all products of their districts and states.   We see how relations at home are established and kept up, why incumbents win reelection so often, how pork barrel works, why PAC money flows almost entirely to incumbents, and how local media access operates. We will see that changes in districts have undercut conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans in the 1990s, leading to widely separate, highly partisan and habitually confrontational Congresses in recent years.  The new 107th Congress in 2001 is likely to follow that trend. 

    But it isn't clear that Congress can operate indefinitely through such strong partisanship. Our reader (Dodd and Oppenheimer, or "D & O") affirms that Congress on the House of Representatives side has "conditional party leadership" which tries to practice strict party governance in the peculiarly American bicameral, separated-powers, non-parliamentary context.  Party division dominated the 1998-1999 presidential impeachment proceeding.   It is comparably dominant elsewhere,  in committees and on the floor, in the rules, and most of all, in the epic budget face-off of winter 1995-96 in the 104th Congress between its House Republican majority and the Democratic president.  But the Senate is resistant to such partisan dominion, as we shall see.

    One author says Congress is "the keystone of the Washington Establishment."  The institution indeed is very powerful.  But it is often very parochial as well.  This exposes Congress to severe public disdain as an institution even while the voting public typically demands this same behavior as the price of having a reasonably long congressional career.  We consider how often Congress will "do the right thing", why the floor rules are so critical to ultimate outcomes (such as House impeachment of President Clinton in December 1998), what floor voting reveals about congressional policymaking, and how Congress deals with the other important power centers in Washington and the nation.  All along, we consider proposed reforms:  What would happen if term limitations or other anti-Congress actions take hold?  Why is authentic debate and deliberation so rare in modern Congresses?  What's responsible for the climate of surliness and incivility in the House of Representatives?  And we summarize by considering what future the Congress has.

PS365 Course Readings - Spring 2001           Top

    Davidson, Roger H. and Walter J. Oleszek.  2000. Congress and its Members, 7th ed. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.

    Dodd, Lawrence C. and Bruce I. Oppenheimer, eds. 2001. Congress Reconsidered, 7th ed. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.

    Jacobson, Gary C. 2001. The Politics of Congressional Elections, 5th edition.  New York: Addison-Wesley.  My colleague Karen Hult from Virginia Tech has published a JACOBSON reading guide that you will find useful for this book.

Davidson is in Textbook Service, the others at Southeast Bookstore.  Both are listed under 'PS365' with the course name.

PS365 -Other Readings and Additional Resources - Spring 2001        Top

     I will expect you to regularly read Roll Call Online: The Newspaper of Capitol Hill Since 1955 at http://www.rollcall.com.  It is updated at least twice a week and is best checked through its News Index (at http://www.rollcall.com/pages/news/) periodically.  Note also Roll Call Guide To Congress for introductory features, including Welcome Congress--excellent for learning what's what in the 107th Congress.  I will periodically discuss these articles in class and draw exam questions partially or entirely based upon them.

S365 - Course Examinations and Papers - Spring 2001           Top

(1) Examinations (600 points):   Three examinations are worth 200 points each, one at the 5th week, a second at the 10th, and a third in Finals week.  Each covers readings and class proceedings.  Each exam has an in-class section (mostly multiple choice) and a take-home essay worth 100 points each.  The take-home part gives you two or more essay questions from which to select.  You then have about five days to complete and deliver the resulting paper.  Since Exam no. 3 is on the date of the final, your take-home part will be issued a week ahead of time.
    You may deliver a paper either by hard copy at class time, or electronically via attachment.  Attachments are easy:  just close the pertinent file before you attach it, go to your e-mail server, hit "Attach" and specify the locale of the file, then hit "Open" and it'll become an attachment that the recipient can open.  If you're uncertain how to do attachments, just take a file and try e-mailing it to yourself.  If you can open it, so can any other email recipient.

(2) Term Paper (200 points): There is a 200 point term paper of at least 10 full pages length, with 10 or more sources, on any topic of your choice which is germane to legislatures. Full details on this are under separate cover. For now, note the following. First, select a topic of your own choosing which has a clear congressional aspect to it. This may sound difficult but really isn’t. I will specify deadlines for written statements of term paper topics, and will follow with another deadline for a listing of your source list materials.  To avoid overuse of our printer, I do ask that you provide me a hard copy; but I ask that you also send it via e-mail as an attachment.  That way, I will:  a) use your hard copy to make penciled notations, corrections, suggestions, and so forth; and b) use your electronic copy to post it (or a revised version) to a website locale if you permit.  That could eventually prove useful for you to put together a portfolio of your written work.  Our Department emphasizes the importance of this for our majors and minors, and we invite all of you to avail yourselves of this service.  Due date:  Monday, April 30.

(3) Midterm Paper (100 points): There is also a shorter 5-pager due by Friday, March 16 just before Spring Recess, valued at 100 points. You should select one or more Senators or Members of Congress worthy of attention for what his or her career tells us about how the Congress works. Use someone to demonstrate an insight into Congress itself, as well as that Representative or Senator.  Ground rules on submission are the same as the Term Paper.

(4) Professor Renka's Bulletin Board (100 points):  Click on this link to see the Board.  Contributions are valued at 3 points per entry up to 100 points, so that's about 33 entries or around two a week--but I reserve the right to reduce or dismiss postings that are not meaningful.  A tally of your postings will be periodically shown via GradeA gradebook.  If last November's election is any indication, we're in for a very lively political spring 2001 season, so here's an excellent forum to share your thoughts and observations!     Total value is 100 points

(1) through (4) - PS365 Total Points: 1,000

PS365 - Weekly Reading and Examination Itinerary - Spring 2001           Top

Week 1 - January  17,19 (Wednesday and Friday)      The two Congresses; historical development of House and Senate
    Davidson and Oleszek (henceforth "Davidson"), ch.1, "The Two Congresses," pp. 3-12
    Davidson ch. 2, "Evolution of the Modern Congress," pp. 13-39
   Davidson Appendix A, pp. 422-423
   Jacobson, chapters 1 (Introduction) and 2 (The Context), pp. 1-19
    
Week 2 - January  22-26     Partisan combat and public expectations
   Dodd and Oppenheimer, "A House Divided:  The Struggle for Partisan Control," Dodd & O selection 2, pp. 21- 44
    Sinclair, "The New World of U.S. Senators," D & O selection 1, pp. 1-19
    Hibbing and Smith, "What the American Public Wants Congress to Be," D & O selection 3, pp. 45-65
   
Week 3 - January 29-February 2     Getting elected and reelected; why incumbents are so hard to beat
   Davidson,  ch. 3, "Going for It:  Recruitment Roulette," pp. 43-86
   Davidson ch. 4, "Making It: The Electoral Game," pp. 89-125
   Jacobson ch. 3, "Congressional Candidates," pp. 21-55
    
Week 4 - February 5-9     Washington politics at work back home--home style, pork barrel and reelection
    Jacobson ch. 4,  "Congressional Campaigns," pp. 57-100
    Herrnson, "The Money Maze:  Financing Congressional Elections," D & O selection 5, pp. 97-123
    begin Jacobson ch. 5, "Congressional Voters," pp. 101-139
 
Week 5 - February 12-16 **    Summation
   finish Jacobson ch. 5, "Congressional Voters," pp. 101-139
    Davidson ch. 5, "Being There:  Hill Styles and Home Styles," pp. 127-160
**Examination No. 1: Friday, February 16

Week 6 - February 19-23     Not All Politics Is Local
    Erikson and Wright, "Voters, Candidates, and Issues in Congressional Elections," D & O selection 4, pp. 67-95
    Jacobson ch. 6, "National Politics and Congressional Elections," pp. 141-209
    Cooperman and Oppenheimer, "The Gender Gap in the House of Representatives," D & O selection 6, pp. 125-140

Week 7 -  February 26-March 2     Doing the right thing--Congress and collective responsibility
    Fiorina, "Keystone Reconsidered," D & O selection 7, pp. 141-162
    Jacobson ch. 7, "Elections and the Politics of  Congress," pp. 211-235
    Jacobson ch. 8, "Representation, Responsibility, Impeachment Politics, and the Future of Congressional Elections," pp. 237-270

Week 8 - March 5-9     Conditional Party Government
    Davidson ch. 6, "Leaders & Parties in Congress," pp. 163-195
    Aldrich and Rohde, "The Logic of Conditional Party Government:  Revisiting the Electoral Connection," D & O selection 12, pp. 269-292
    Smith and Gamm, "The Dynamics of Party Government in Congress," D & O, selection 11, pp. 245-268

Week 9 - March 12-16     Congressional Committees
    Davidson ch. 7, "Committees: Workshops of Congress," pp. 197-225
    Canon and Stewart, "The Evolution of the Committee System in Congress," D & O, selection 8, pp. 163-189
**Note:  due date for midterm paper is Friday, March 16.

Week of March 19-23      Spring Recess - no classes

Week 10 - March 26-30 
    Evans, "Committees, Leaders, and Message Politics," D & O selection 10, pp. 217-243
    Groseclose and King, "Committee Theories Revisited," D & O selection 9, pp. 191-216
**Examination No. 2: Friday, March 30

Week 11 - April 2-6     The Rules and the Floor
    Davidson ch. 8, "Congressional Rules and Procedures," pp. 227-255
    Davidson ch. 9, "Decision Making in Congress," pp. 257-282

Week 12 - April 9,11   (Friday, April 13:  Easter Recess)    Congress and the President
    Davidson ch. 10, "Congress and the President," pp. 285-308
    Binder, "Congress, the Executive, and the Production of Public Policy:  United We Govern?," D & O selection 13, pp. 293-313
 
Week 13 - April 16-20     Congress and Everybody Else
    Davidson ch. 11, "Congress, the Bureaucracy, and the Courts," pp. 311- 333
    Davidson ch. 12, "Congress and Organized Interests, pp.  335-353

Week 14 - April 23-27     Money and Missiles:  National Security and Foreign Economic Policy
    Davidson ch. 13, "Congress, Budgets, and Domestic Policy Making,"  pp. 355-379
    Davidson ch. 14, "Congress and National Security Policies," pp. 381-404
    Destler, "Congress and Foreign Policy at Century's End:  Requiem or Cooperation?," D & O selection 14, pp. 315-333

Week 15 - April 30-May 4    Congressional Legitimacy 
     Davidson ch. 15, "The Two Congresses and the American People," pp. 407-420
    Cooper, "The Twentieth Century Congress," D & O selection 15, pp. 335-366
    Dodd and Oppenheimer, "Congress and the Emerging Order:   Assessing the 2000 Elections," D & O selection 17, pp. 367-388
**Note:  due date for term paper is Monday, April 30

Finals Week - May 7-11       ** Final Exam is Wednesday, May 9, 8:00 a.m.

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July 25, 2007 10:36 AM
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