Barbara Burrell, Zulauf 115
Office hours:
Tuesdays
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This seminar is designed to introduce students to the major
theoretical and research approaches to the study of the United States Congress.
The major concepts we will study are elections, representation and lawmaking. Major
questions center on who runs and serves in the Congress and the role of
leadership. What is the nature of elections to national office and how have
they changed over time and to what effect? Other central questions center on structure
of the institution and how it affects policy making and representation. We also examine Congressional decision
making and the role Congress plays in formulating public policy in the
Required Books
Gary Jacobson, The Politics Of Congressional Elections, 6th Edition , 2004
Debra Dodson, The
Impact of Women in Congress,
Barbara Sinclair, Party
Wars,
Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer, Congress Reconsidered, 8th edition. CQ Press
Hanna Pitkin, The
Concept of Representation, University of
James Sterling Young, The
APSR – American Political Science Review
AJPS – American Journal of Political Science
LSQ – Legislative Studies quarterly
JOP – Journal of Politics
COURSE OUTLINE
August 28 – Introduction
September 4: Creating a Congress
Federalist Papers, #10, 52-66 (available online)
Anti-Federalist Perspective, Brutus, To the Citizens of the
State of
Elaine K. Swift and David Brady, 1991. “Out of the Past: Theoretical and Methodological Contributions of Congressional History.” PS, pp. 61-64. (Jstor)
Brian Frederick, “The People’s Perspective on the Size of the People’s House.” Forthcoming in PS (available on Blackboard in Course Documents)
September 11 – The
Historical Development and Institutionalization of Congress
James Sterling Young, The
Nelson Polsby. 1968. “The Institutionalization of the
Joseph Cooper and Cheryl Young. 1989. “Bill Introduction in the 19th Century: A Study in Institutional Change,” Legislative Studies Quarterly 14: 67-105. (JStor)
Eric Lawrence,
John Aldrich and Ruth Grant, 1993. “The Anti-Federalists, the First Congress and the First Political Parties.” JOP 55,2: 295-326 (JStor)
September 18, Political Ambition
Joseph Schlesinger. 1985. “The New American Political Party.”
Cherie D. Maestas, Sarah Fulton, L. Sandy Maisel, and Walter Stone, 2006. “When to Risk It? Institutions, Ambitions, and the Decision to Run for the U.S House.” APSR, 100, 2 (May): 195- 208 (Available on Blackboard)
Richard Fox and Jennifer Lawless. 2004. “Entering the Arena? Gender and the Decision to Run for Office.” AJPS
Gordon Black. 1972. “A Theory of Political Ambition: Career Choices and the Role of Structural Incentives.” APSR 66, 1: 144-59.
Gary Jacobson. 1989. “Strategic Politicians and the Dynamics
of
Samuel Kernell, "Toward Understanding 19th Century Congressional Careers: Ambition, Competition, and Rotation," APSR (1977): 669-693.
September 25 – Congressional Elections: Candidates
Jacobson, The Politics of Congressional Elections, chapters 1-4
Congress Reconsidered, Chapters 5, 7 (Herrnson, Fiorina)
David Mayhew. 1974. “Congressional Elections: the Case of
the Vanishing Marginals.” Polity
6, 3 (Spring), 295-317.
October 2 - Congressional
Elections: Voters
Jacobson, The Politics of Congressional Elections, chapters 5-8
Congress Reconsidered, 4, 6 (Erikson and Wright, Oppenheimer)
October 9- The Congressional Committee System
Congress Reconsidered : Chapters 11, 12 (Aldrich and Rohde , Gordon)
Keith Krehbiel, “Are Congressional Committees Composed of Preference Outliers?” APSR (1990): 149-164.
Tim Groseclose, "Testing Committee Composition
Hypotheses for the
Scott Adler and John Lapinski, “Demand Side Theory and Congressional Committee Composition: A Constituency Characteristics Approach,” AJPS (1997): 895-918.
David King. 1994. “The Nature of Congressional Committee Jurisdictions, APSR (March) 48-62
October 16 –
Parties in Congress
Baarbara Sinclair, Party Wars
Congress Reconsidered: Chapters 2, 8 (Dodd and Oppenheimer, Smith and Gamm)
October 23 - Congressional Leadership
Congress Reconsidered: Chapters 9, 10 (Schickler and Pearson, Evans and Lipinski))
Schickler, "Institutional Change in the House of Representatives, 1867-1998: A Test of Partisan and Ideological Power Balance Models," APSR (2000): 269-288.
Cooper and Brady, “Institutional Context and Leadership Style: The House from Cannon
to Rayburn,” APSR 75 (1981): 411-425.
October 30 – Dimensions of Representation
Hanna Pitkin, The Concept of Representation, chapters 4-7, pp 60-167
Congress Reconsidered,
Chapters 3,17 (
Warren Miller and Donald Stokes. 1963. “Constituency
Influence in Congress.” APSR
(March) 745-57
Richard
Jane Mansbridge, 2003. “Rethinking Representation.” APSR, 97, 4 (November): 51-528.
November 7 – Voting in the House and Senate
David Jones. 2003. “Position Taking and Position Avoidance
in the
Daniel Lipinski. 2001. The Effect of Messages Communicated by Members of Congress: The Impact of Publicizing Votes, LSQ 26, 1 (February), 81-100. (Jstor)
David C. King and Richard J. Zeckhauser. 2003. “Congressional Vote Options.” LSQ, (August): 387-411. (Blackboard)
Dominated Explanations of Policy Change in the House of Representatives." JOP 66: 1069-1088. (JStor)
Talbert, Jeffery C. and Matthew Potoski. 2002. "Setting the Legislative Agenda: The Dimensional Structure of Bill Cosponsoring and Floor Voting." JOP 64: 864-891. (Jstor)
November 13 Congress and the Presidency
Congress Reconsiderd, Chapter 16 (Cooper)
Johnson,
Timothy R. and Jason M. Roberts, 2004.
"Presidential Capital and the Supreme Court Confirmation
Process." JOP 66: 663-683.
Auerswald,
David and Forrest Malztman, 2003.
"Policymaking Through Advice and Consent:
Treaty Consideration by the
Bond,
Jon R., Richard Fleisher, and B. Dan Wood.
2003. "The Marginal and
Time-Varying Effect of Public Approval
on Presidential Success in Congress."
JOP 65: 92-110. (JStor)
Canes-Wrone,
Brandice and Scott de Marchi. 2002. "Presidential Approval and Legislative
Success." JOP 64: 491-509. (JStor)
November 20 Women as Members of Congress
November 27 – Congress and Policy Making
Andrew D. Martin. “Congressional Decision Making and the Separation of Powers.” APSR 95,2 (June): 361-78
John Coleman. 1999. “Unified Government, Divided
Government, and Party Responsiveness.”
APSR
December 4 – Reflections
on Congress and Discussion of Research Papers
Congress Reconsidered, Chapter 18
Course Requirements
1. Reaction Papers
Students will be required to write ten 1-2 page reaction
papers that respond to the readings for that week. These papers should be
emailed to me and posted on the Discussion Board of Blackboard so that other
members of the class will be able to read and reflect on them by
Course Grade: Papers are worth 35 percent of course grade
2. Class Participation.
Class participation is centrally important. First, students
are responsible for reading the other students’ reaction papers so that you
come to class having thought about them and are prepared to engage in
discussion about your colleagues ideas. This class will be conducted in a
seminar format. All required readings for a particular week are to be completed
by everyone before arriving in class, and each member of the class should be
prepared to summarize, react to, and draw from the readings in depth.
In general, relevant in-class participation will be evaluated according to the following scale with plus and minus grades being possible.
A=regular and thoughtful participation
B=occasional and thoughtful participation
C=regular attendance, but little or no participation
Students who miss more than two classes will fail the class, although students are not expected to miss any classes barring a family emergency or major illness.
Course Grade: Class participation is worth 25 percent of course grade
3. Research project.
Early in the
semester, each student should choose a research project for which two papers
will be written. The first paper, worth 20%
of your grade and due on October 28th, will be a literature review. The literature review should take the form of
a progressive development in a particular area of study regarding the
legislative process and democracy. You should consider theoretical
perspectives, hypotheses and research designs. What the major arguments
prominent authors have made on this subject. This review should be posted on
Discussion Board in Blackboard so that other students will be able to develop a
major annotated reading list for a comprehensive study of Congress. The
second paper, which should build logically upon the first, is worth 20% of your
grade. It may take the form of a
research design or a final report with actual findings, depending on the nature
of the project and the availability of data.
The second paper (which will incorporate the literature review) should be
approximately 15-20 pages in length (typed and double-spaced) and written in a
standard academic format (preferably the
Reaction Paper Dos and Don’ts (borrowed from Elizabeth Theiss-Morse)
Do
Focus on one main idea.
Draw on and try to integrate all of the readings for the week.
Make connections to previous readings, where appropriate.
Develop an argument.
Push your argument, try to answer the tough questions.
Offer compelling criticism.
Offer ideas for future research.
Pursue an argument you especially liked.
Analyze the methods used, offer idea(s) for better or expanded methods.
Do Not
Summarize
Just give your opinion on a topic
Pick a bunch of little points to address
Critique the writing style.
Tell me and article or book is and/or boring and/or difficult
Ignore the readings or only look at a small portion of the readings
Ignore relevant parts of the readings.
State the obvious.
Redefine terms, unless you justify.