Political
Science 303: Local Government & Politics
Northern
Illinois University
MWF 11-11:50 a.m.
DuSable 252
Dr. Vicki Clarke
IASBO 202
815.753.6149
Local governments–in the form of townships, villages,
cities, counties, special districts, authorities, local and regional planning
councils and more–deliver a myriad of public services and are essential actors
in democratic political systems. They
deal with political issues such as racial tensions, school disputes, growth
problems, economic stagnation, poverty, crime and violence, on top of providing
essential services such as education, highways, police and fire protection, and
garbage collection.
Yet public knowledge of what local
governments do, how they function, and why is often quite limited and sometimes
non-existent. This course is an
exploration of the major themes and issues in the study of local government and
politics. This will include the
structures and functions of local government units, the politics and
administration of local government, and the relationships - historical and
current - among citizens, politicians and administrators. Attention will also be focused on the
obstacles to honest, ethical public service.
Political Science Course Outcomes
1. Content: Students should show familiarity
with major concepts, theoretical perspectives and empirical findings as related
to the course.
2. Communication Skills: Students should
demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills.
3. Research Skills: Students should have an
understanding of basic research skills and be able to apply analytical and
research skills in written assignments for the course.
4. Critical Thinking: Students should use
critical thinking and skeptical inquiry in problem solving.
Course
Format
This course provides students with both a broad
overview of local government and politics and the opportunity to apply and
expand that knowledge through a service learning experience. Classes will be
organized as a mixture of lectures, oral and audio-visual presentations, and
class discussions - student participation is expected and appreciated. The
professor will introduce new topics by providing supplementary information and
elaborating upon important themes in lectures.
Class
Assignments and Grading
Midterm Exam 25%
Final Exam 25%
Quizzes 15%
Service Learning Experience
Weekly Journals 10%
Reflective Essay 20%
Class participation 5%
The exams test familiarity with basic information and
concepts encountered in the course and include identification of terms and
essay questions. There are no make-up examinations or quizzes administered in
the course for any reason other than serious, documented medical illness -
written verification from a doctor or hospital will be required – or death in
the family, and only when the Instructor is notified in advance. Three quizzes will be given and the two
highest scores will be used.
"If
hard work and education are the prerequisites to success in America, it is a
sense of civic responsibility that knits the fabric of our society together and
keeps it strong." Geraldine
Ferraro
Service
learning is the integration of formal
study with hands-on activities outside the classroom. For purposes of this
class, students are expected to engage in 20-30 hours of service learning with
a political or public agency/group such as (a) a political party, (b) a
candidate for a contested elected office, (c) a special interest group that
supports a particular issue or agenda, (d) a city/county government agency, or
(e) a special taxing district.
In this course, we will combine our study of local
government and politics with purposeful civic learning and relevant service
with the community, for the opportunity for enhanced academic learning.
In this course, service learning in a local government serves as the
vehicle for the achievement of specific academic goals and objectives. It
provides structured time for you to reflect on your service and learning
experiences through a mix of writing, reading, speaking, listening, and
creating in small and large groups and individual work.
In addition to learning more about local government
and politics, you will also be learning how to be an independent learner, how
to extract meaning from experience, how to apply academic knowledge in the real
world, and how to integrate theory and experience. You will learn about
the community, about particular political issues, and about the provision of
social and/or urban services. Finally, you will learn how to work with
others, learn about yourself and others, strengthen your interpersonal skills,
and learn about possible career options.
Service learning fosters the development of those
"intangibles" - empathy, personal values, beliefs, awareness,
self-esteem, self-confidence, and social-responsibility - and helps to foster a
sense of civic responsibility. Your experience this semester is
based on a reciprocal relationship in which the service reinforces and strengthens
the learning, and the learning reinforces and strengthens the service.
Each student is expected to find a sponsor and
complete a service learning contract by September 23rd that is approved by the
instructor and the sponsor. The contract will enable the sponsor and the
instructor to monitor and evaluate the service learning experience. Moreover,
the instructor reserves the right to contact the sponsor at any time to obtain
information on the quantity and quality of the work performed by the student.
In addition to the contract, each student will
maintain a journal with comments and observations about the service learning
experience. For example, the journal might address questions such as: (1) What
happened this week? (2) What did I learn from what happened? (3) How does what
happened relate to the subject matter I read or discussed in class? (4) How
does it relate to running a democracy?
Each journal entry should be typed (Times New Roman 11 or Courier 12
point font) and at least 800 words in length.
Journal entries should be submitted at each mandatory service learning
meeting -- September 23, October 28, and
November 18. Failure to attend the
mandatory sessions will result in a reduced grade for the service learning
experience. Please pay careful attention to the schedule and, if necessary, be
prepared to make adjustments as the semester moves along. Failure to read the
schedule is not an acceptable excuse for missing classes, exams or quizzes.
A final reflective essay that synthesizes the observations
of the weekly journals and analyzes some aspect of local government and
politics (hopefully related to your service learning experience) is the major
writing component of the course. The
reflective essay offers an opportunity to develop in-depth familiarity with at
least one concept from the course as it applies to a service learning
experience. Previous students in this course have discussed the following
issues in their essays: 1) local government campaigns and elections, 2) the
importance of fundraising in campaigns, 3) how a municipality annexes land, 4)
political conflicts that face a city manager, 5) financing the park district,
6) public perceptions of the city council members, 7) encouraging economic
growth in small rural communities, 8) role of interest groups in local
politics, and 9) relationship between city and county government.
All reflective essays must be typed, double-spaced,
using Times New Roman 11 or Courier 12 point font. With the exception of the title page, all pages should be
numbered with one-inch margins. Essays
should include a bibliography of sources you have consulted. Essays must be a minimum
of 8 full pages (excluding the title page and bibliography) and no more
than 10 pages. Please proofread your
work for spelling and typographical errors before submitting the final
draft.
The Reflective
Essay is due at the beginning of class on November 18. Essays turned in late will automatically be
penalized one full grade. No papers will be accepted after November 19th. Students are urged to turn in research
papers early. Those students who choose
to wait until the last minute take the risk of, and full responsibility for,
last minute complications.
The criteria for evaluating the reflective essay are:
(a) clarity, (b) completeness, (c) thoughtfulness, and (d) extent to which the
essay reflects integration with the course material. You will be graded lower
on your journal entries and reflective
essay for poor use of the English language.
This is almost the real world so good spelling and grammar are
requested.
Class Participation
All students are expected to
have done the assigned readings for each week, and to be able to discuss the
readings in class. Class participation and attendance will count toward the
final grade (A = Consistent and thoughtful participation; B = Occasional but thoughtful
participation; C = Less than regular attendance; D = Little or no attendance). Note that I pass around an attendance sheet.
If you come to class late or miss the attendance sheet, you are responsible for
signing the sheet that same day.
Undergraduate Writing Awards
The Department of Political Science will recognize, on
an annual basis, outstanding undergraduate papers written in conjunction with
300-400 level political science courses or directed studies. Authors do not
have to be political science majors or have a particular class standing.
Winners are expected to attend that Department's spring graduation ceremony
where they will receive a certificate and $50. Papers, which can be submitted
by students or faculty, must be supplied in triplicate to a department
secretary. All copies should have two cover pages--one with the student's name
and one without the student's name. Only papers written in the previous
calendar year can be considered for the award. However, papers completed in the
current spring semester are eligible for the following year's competition even
if the student has graduated.
Statement Concerning Students with
Disabilities
Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,
NIU is committed to making reasonable accommodations for persons with
documented disabilities. Those students with disabilities that may have some
impact on their course work and for which they may require accommodations
should notify the Center for Access-Ability Resources (CAAR). CAAR will assist
students in making appropriate accommodations with course instructors. Please schedule an appointment with me early
in the semester to discuss any documented accommodation that may be needed for
the course.
Academic
Honesty and Integrity
Regarding plagiarism, the NIU Undergraduate Catalog
states: "students are guilty of plagiarism, intentional or not, if they
copy material from books, magazines, or other sources without identifying and
acknowledging them. Students guilty of or assisting others in either cheating
or plagiarism on an assignment, quiz, or examination may receive a grade of F
for the course involved and may be suspended or dismissed from the
university." This statement encompasses the purchase or use of papers
written by others. Since this course is offered frequently, it is might policy
to retain photocopies of student papers written in previous years. In short,
members of the class should do their own work and learn the rules for quoting,
paraphrasing, and footnoting.
Incomplete
Requests
Such petitions will be granted rarely and only in
extraordinary circumstances. The instructor reserves the right to ask for
documentation to verify the problem preventing completion of the course by the
normal deadlines. If the student does not present documentation from a
university office or official, the matter will be left to the instructor’s
discretion.
Department of Political Science Website
You can find the Department of Political Science web
site at http://polisci.niu.edu/.
We will be
using the Blackboard site (http://webcourses.niu.edu/)
for this course. In order to logon to the site you need to know your Logon
ZID which is available from Information Technology Services. Please let
me know if you have trouble logging on.
Required
Readings
Additional
readings as well as assignments from other sources will be assigned regularly
and posted on Blackboard. All materials
that are posted on Blackboard for this course are fair game for quizzes and
exams.
Pelissero, John P. 2003. Cities, Politics
and Policy: A Comparative Analysis. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
Royko, Mike. 1988. Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago. Chicago, IL: Plume Books.
Schedule for Discussion Readings
The professor reserves the right to
assign additional readings as well
as assignments from other sources.
August 22 - 26 Introduction to Local Government Pelissero Chapter 1
Political
Environment of Cities
August 29 States,
Communities, and Federalism Pelissero
Chapter 2
August 31
Intergovernmental
Environment
September 2 Service Learning Day
September 5 Labor
Day Holiday (no class)
September 7 – 9 Political Participation in Local Govt. Pelissero Chapter 3
September 12 – 14 Race and Ethnicity in Politics Pelissero Chapter 4
Implications
for Local Government
September 14 Quiz #1
September 16 Power
and Governance Pelissero
Chapter 5
September 19 – 21 Power and
Governance Pelissero
Chapter 5
September
23 SERVICE
LEARNING MEETING #1
Service
Learning Contract Deadline
October 3 – 5 Mayoral
Politics Pelissero
Chapter 6
October 7 Boss:
Richard J. Daley of Chicago Ryoko
October 10 Boss:
Richard J. Daley of Chicago Ryoko
October
12 MIDTERM
EXAM
October 14 Service Learning Day
October 17 - 19 City Councils Pelissero
Chapter 7
October 21 Service Learning Day
October 24 – 26 City Managers and Administrators Pelissero Chapter 8
Municipal
Reform Movement
October
28 SERVICE LEARNING MEETING #2
October 31 Urban
Services Pelissero Chapter 11
November 2 Urban
Services and Quiz #2
November 4 Service
Learning Day
November 7 – 9 Economic Development Policies Pelissero Chapter 10
November 11 Service Learning Day
November 14 – 16 Politics of Public Budgeting Pelissero Chapter 9
November
18 SERVICE
LEARNING MEETING #3
Reflective essay and weekly journals due
November 21 Managing
Urban Spaces and Quiz #3
November 23 – 25 Thanksgiving Holiday
November 28 - 30 Suburban and Metro Politics Pelissero Chapter 13
December 2 Suburban
Sprawl
December
5 FINAL
EXAM (10:00 – 11:50 am)