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This course is
designed to introduce you to the processes of critical thinking in the social
sciences. Through an examination of the American political system, we
will explore:
1) how political scientists think theoretically and comparatively about society and
politics; and
2) how political scientists explore social and political phenomena in a empirical (scientific) manner.
Many of the materials for the class,
are available through the course base page. You MUST access the course base page's WebCalendar at least one day in advance of the class in
order to be sure that you have read all of the materials and done all of the
assignments due on the particular day.
There are two texts for this course:
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Dye
and Zeigler
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The Irony of Democracy
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Corbett and Norrander
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American Government Using MicroCase
Explorit
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First, a little information about the primary
text for the course:
The History of American Government Texts:
1) 1950-60---the self-congratulatory texts
2) 1960-mid 70s---the critical texts
3) mid 70s to present---the functionalist texts
The
Irony of Democracy is a critical
text!
It is designed to make you think about American politics!
It's message is an interesting one:
Democracy is
government "by the people", but the survival of democracy in fact
rests on the shoulders of the elites. This is the irony of democracy: Elites
must govern wisely if government "by the people" is to survive. If
the survival of the American system depended on the existence of an active,
informed, and enlightened citizenry, then democracy in America would have
disappeared long ago;
for the masses of America are apathetic and ill-informed about politics and
public policy, and they have a surprisingly weak commitment to democratic
values--individual dignity, equality of opportunity, the right to dissent,
freedom of speech and press, religious toleration, and due process of law.
But fortunately for these values and American democracy, the American masses
do not lead, they follow. They respond to the attitudes, proposals, and the
behavior of elites. (p. 2)
Let's Put
the Study of Contemporary American Government Into Context!
Many argue that the signs of political paralysis are all around us:
1) crisis in public confidence
2) the disintegration of the political parties
3) rejection of presidential and congressional leadership
4) administrative incompetence
5) the impact of the mass media and the trivialization of politics
6) the impact of special interests
7) privatization
What Has
Led to This Paralysis?
1) the failure of leadership?
2) the failure of citizenship?
3) the growth of partisanship?
4) the failure of institutional competence?
5) failure by design??
Next class we'll discuss how will explore these issues!
Empirical: application of the scientific
method to the study of phenomena
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