POLS 408: Political Participation and Behavior
Spring Semester 2009
Monday and Wednesday 3:30-4:45pm; Room DU 459
Dr. April Clark
Office: Zulauf 416
Office Hours: Monday 5:00-6:30 p.m. and Wed 2:00-3:30
pm or by appt.
Office phone: (815) 753-7058
E-Mail: aclarkl@niu.edu
(please note the email address is
aclark1(one)@niu.edu)
Description:
This course
examines the origins, content, and impact of voting and political participation.
We will address several broad questions: Who votes and why? Which groups are
underrepresented at the polls and why? What implication does nonvoting have for
the political system? Is a nation better off when large numbers of individuals
fail to vote? Are Americans making up for their low turnout rates through other
means of participation? How much influence do the mass media have on the
electorate’s attitudes and political choices? How do party loyalties,
candidates’ personalities, and issues influence voters’ choices among
candidates? What can be done to increase turnout levels in the
In addressing
these questions, specific topics of interest include the role of individual
factors, societal factors, and institutional factors in political involvement, differences
in participation by age, gender and race and ethnicity, the consequences of political
participation, and the influence of participation on elections and policy
outcomes.
Students use
critical thinking methods when examining and evaluating research findings and
authors’ opinions, and when developing analytical essays and research papers.
Through these activities students are encouraged to think about political
participation and behavior in a critical and analytical way.
Class Schedule:
Class meets Mondays and Wednesdays, from 3:30-4:45
PM, during the 15-week term – January 12 through April 30, 2008. The final exam
is Monday, May 4th at 4:00-5:50 PM.
Course Texts:
Flanigan, William H. and Nancy H. Zingale (2006). Political Behavior of the American
Electorate. Eleventh edition. CQ Press:
Hill, David (2006). American
Voter Turnout: An Institutional Perspective. Westview Press:
(+)Wattenberg, Martin P. (2002). Is Voting for Young People? Pearson Longman Press:
ISBN:
978-0-205-51807-4
Wattenberg, Martin P. (2002). Where
Have All The Voters Gone?
Sources
indicated with an asterisk (*) will be posted to the class’s Blackboard website
and most are also available through electronic reserve, with links to JSTOR
available through NIU’s Library ‘Search our ejournals’ search engine. All articles can then be read online or
printed out. To find these readings
click on the library webpage’s located at http://www.ulib.niu.edu:3515/information/alphadb.cfm
and scroll down to “JSTOR” and search for the title of the article in the
window. The titles of the articles are given in the reading schedule below.
Course Requirements:
Students will be evaluated
based on four components:
1. An analysis of the factors
that affect either participation (eg., why some people vote on election day and
some stay home) or representation (eg., whether voters are substantially
different than nonvoters in their candidate and policy preferences) as well as
proposing a way to reform elections to promote more confidence in the electoral
system and/or encourage young people to participate in politics.
2. The effect of campaigns
and/or the media on political behavior. Do campaigns have as much or more
influence on political behavior than the influences of family or friends?
Talk to your friends
and others; consider the influence of a campaign on your political
beliefs and actions.
The
paper should be printed single-sided
and double-spaced with standard Word margins and in 12-point font. We will talk
more about this project during the course of the semester. However, start
working on this early. In order to help you take full advantage of this
opportunity to explore your interests in elections, I have a prospectus due Week
7 on February 23rd, in
class. This will be a brief, 1-2 page memorandum and will identify the specific topic,
research outline, as well as a list of sources
you intend to incorporate. Based on your prospectus, I can make suggestions
aimed at helping you with the project. More information will be provided about
the term paper requirements in class. In
addition to handing in a hard copy of their paper, students must submit their
papers through SafeAssign via Blackboard.
I will not consider a paper to
be turned in if it has not been submitted to SafeAssign. If you
fail to turn your paper in at the beginning of class on the day it is due, you
will receive a 0 for the paper, NO
EXCEPTIONS.
Basic Policies
Missed exams. Makeup exams will only be given in extraordinary
circumstances. If such circumstances
arise, please contact the instructor as soon as possible and before the scheduled exam. To keep the process fair for
everyone in the course, students will be required
to support requests for makeup exams with documentation. A signed note from
your mother does not suffice. A missed
examination without prior notification and a documented excuse will result in a
zero and a course grade of “F” as opposed to an incomplete. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Late papers. : I do
not accept late papers. Papers are
due at the beginning of class on the day that it is due. If you fail to do so
at the beginning of class on the day
that the paper is due, you will receive a 0 for the paper, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Handouts: Handouts are a privilege for those students who
attend class on a regular basis. No student is entitled to supplemental
materials simply because they are registered for the course.
Classroom Etiquette: Attendance
at all class sessions is expected, and the instructor will check the attendance
regularly. Students are allowed to
miss a total of six hours or two class meetings during the semester. An additional absence may result in being
dropped from the course. Active and
informed participation in class discussion will significantly help students in
borderline grade situations. Students are
expected to arrive at class on time. Two tardy arrivals are equivalent to one
class absence. Students are to remain
for the entire session unless excused by the professor beforehand or confronted
with a serious personal emergency. For instance, it is not acceptable for
students to walk in and out of class to answer cell phones, take casual
bathroom and smoking breaks, or attend to other personal matters. Please
silence your cell phone prior to the start of each lecture. It is not acceptable to use an iPod, read a
newspaper, use a laptop for anything other than taking class notes, or engage
in other behavior that distracts one from the class proceedings once the
session has begun. No one should talk while someone else is talking; this
includes comments meant for a classmate rather than the entire group. Overall,
classroom dialogue and behavior should always be courteous, respectful of
others, and consistent with the expectations set forth by the university.
Incomplete Requests: Such petitions will be granted 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.
Honor
Code: Any written work for this class
will be checked electronically through on-line databases to assess the
originality of the work.
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.”
The above statement encompasses the purchase or use of papers that were written
by others. Please note that the
instructor retains copies of papers written in previous years. In short,
students are advised to do their own work and learn the rules for proper
quoting, paraphrasing, and footnoting.
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 coursework for which they may
require accommodations should notify the University's Center for Access-Ability
Resources (CAAR). CAAR will assist students in making appropriate
accommodations with course instructors. It is important that CAAR and
instructors be informed of any disability-related needs during the first two
weeks of the semester.
Department of Political Science Web Site
Undergraduates are strongly encouraged to consult the Department
of Political Science web site on a regular basis. This up-to-date, central source of
information will assist students in contacting faculty and staff, reviewing
course requirements and syllabi, exploring graduate study, research career
options, tracking department events, and accessing important details related to
undergraduate programs and activities.
To reach the site, go to http://polisci.niu.edu
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 the Department’s spring graduation
ceremony, where they will receive a certificate and $50.00. Papers, which can be submitted by students or
faculty, must be supplied in triplicate to a department secretary by the end of
March. 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.
Exams and grading. Regrades on assignments are possible if you believe
there was an error in grading. In order to have a reconsideration of your
grade, you must provide a 1-page
typewritten memo explaining where you feel the mistake in grading occurred,
and I will take a look at it.
Course Grades will be
distributed as follows:
Final Average Final Grade
90-100 % A
80-89 % B
70-79% C
60-69% D
Below 60% F
Other Issues
I encourage you to keep up on current events by
reading a major newspaper (i.e., New
either subscribe to one of these papers, or read daily
editions online. I also encourage
you to keep up with popular or current blogs, as these
are developing mediums of political news/ideas/commentary.
Finally, I will make use of Blackboard to convey
information and class discussion topics – make sure that your email is current with university
administration or you may miss out on important course communications. I have
also posted the syllabus there, and I encourage you to check the course page
frequently.
Course Calendar
The following calendar lists the order of the topics
and the date that we will cover them. Courses sometimes do not go as planned
and you should be ready to diverge from this syllabus. Any significant changes
will be clearly announced in class. You are responsible to stay up to date on
course happenings. You should read the texts before coming to class, and try to
get an early start on the term paper.
Reading Schedule (additional
readings may be added)
Week 1:
Monday – January 12
Readings / Discussions / Activities: Introduction, Expectations, Plan for the quarter
Discuss syllabus
and class schedule and introduction to political participation
Barr, Andy.
“2008 Turnout Shatters All Records.” Politico (Nov. 5, 2008).
(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15306.html)
(http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1023/exit-poll-analysis-2008)
(http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1039/post-election-perspectives)
(http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1031/young-voters-in-the-2008-election)
Brookings Institution: “The Generational
Turnout War” (Jan. 3, 2009).
(http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2008/0104_iowa_mcdonald.aspx)
Washingtonpost.com: “The Competitive
Problem of Voter Turnout” (Oct. 31, 2006).
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/30/AR2006103000712.html)
Washingtonpost.com: “5 Myths About Turning
Out The Vote” (Oct. 29, 2006)
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/27/AR2006102701474.html)
Wednesday – January 14
A Primer on Political Participation
*Task Force on Inequality and American
Democracy (2004). “American Democracy in
an Age of Rising Inequality”, American Political Science Association (APSA).
Flanigan and Zingale: Introduction and Chapter 1
Week 2:
Monday – January 19 – No Class – Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
Wednesday – January 21
A Primer on Political Participation
(continued)
Hill:
Introduction
Wattenberg:
Preface and Introduction
Film: Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (http://www.unprecedented.org/ )
Week 3:
Monday – January 26
A Primer on Political Participation
(continued)
Film: Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (http://www.unprecedented.org/ )
Wednesday – January 28
Suffrage and Turnout
*McDonald, Michael P., and Samuel Popkin. “The Myth of the
Vanishing Voter.”
American Political Science Review (2001), 95(4):963-974.
*Washingtonpost.com:
“Turnout’s Not as Bad as You Think” (Nov. 5, 2000)
Hill:
Chapter 1
Week 4:
Monday – February 2
Suffrage and Turnout
*Highton, Benjamin. “Voter Registration and Turnout in the
Perspectives on Politics (Sept. 2004), Vol. 2, No. 3: 507-515.
Flanigan and Zingale: Chapter 2
Wattenberg:
Chapter 2
Wednesday – February 4
Suffrage and Turnout
*King, James D. “Political Culture, Registration Laws, and Voter
Turnout
among the American
States.” Publius Interstate Relations
(Autumn 1994), Vol. 24,
No. 4: 115-127.
Hill: Chapter 3
*Mitchell, Glenn E. and Christopher Wlezien. “The Impact of Legal
Constraints on Voter
Registration, Turnout,
and the Composition of the American Electorate.”
Political Behavior (June 1995), Vol.
17, No. 2: 179-202.
Week 5:
Monday – February 9
Worldwide
Turnout and Turnout in the States
Hill:
Chapter 4
Wattenberg:
Chapter 1
Wednesday – February 11
Explaining
Voter Turnout
Hill: Chapter 2
Wattenberg: Chapter 3
*Brady,
Henry E., Sidney Verba, Kay Lehman Schlozman.
“Beyond SES: A Resource
Model of Political
Participation.” APSR, 89 (June, 1995), 271-294.
Week 6:
Monday – February 16
Explaining
Voter Turnout (continued)
*Putnam, Robert D. “Bowling Alone:
Democracy (Jan. 1995), Vol. 6,
No. 1: 65-78.
*Putnam, Robert D. “Tuning In,
Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social
Capital in
No. 4: 664-683.
Wednesday – February 18
Explaining
Voter Turnout (continued)
*Ladd, Everett C. “The Data Just Don’t Show Erosion of America’s
“Social Capital”.”
The Public Perspective June/July 1996.
*Ladd,
Science Monitor (1999),
Vol. 91, Issue 64: 9-12.
*Aldrich, John H. “Rational Choice and Turnout.” American Journal of Political Science
(Feb. 1993), Vol. 37,
No. 1: 246-278.
Week 7:
Monday – February 23
Assignments Due:
Paper topic, research outline, and tentative reference list for
term paper due at the beginning of class
Explaining
Voter Turnout (continued)
Hill: Chapter 5-7
*Gerber, Alan S. and Donald P. Green. “The Effects of Canvassing,
Telephone Calls, and
Direct Mail on Voter
Turnout: A Field Experiment.” The
American Political Science
Review (Sept. 2000), Vol. 94,
No. 3: 653-663.
Wednesday – February 25
Explaining
Voter Turnout (continued)
*Goldstein,
Kenneth M., and Travis N. Ridout. “The Politics of Participation:
Mobilization and Turnout over Time.” Political Behavior (2002), 24(1): 3-29.
Week 8:
Monday – March 2
**********MIDTERM EXAM – MONDAY, MARCH 2ND**********
Wednesday – March 4
Does
Participation Matter?
*Verba,
Sidney. “Would the Dream of Political
Equality Turn Out to Be a Nightmare?”
Perspectives on Politics, (Dec., 2003),
Vol. 1, No. 4: 271-294.
*Wolfinger, Raymond E. and Steven J. Rosenstone (1980). Who Votes? Yale
University Press:
Chapter 6
Wattenberg:
Chapter 5
Week 9:
Monday – March 9 – No Class – Spring Break
Week 10:
Monday – March 16
Does
Participation Matter?
*Highton,
Benjamin and Raymond E. Wolfinger. “The Political Implications of Higher
Turnout.” British Journal of Political Science
(Jan. 2001), Vol. 31, No. 1: 179-192.
*Sides,
John, Eric Schickler, and Jack Citrin. “If Everyone Had Voted, Would Bubba and
Dubya Have Won?” Presidential Studies Quarterly (2008),
Vol. 38, No. 3: 521-680.
Wednesday – March 18
Does
Participation Matter?
*Jan E.
Leighley and Jonathan Nagler. “Who Votes Now? And Does It Matter?” Paper
prepared for presentation at 2007 annual
Meeting,
Week 11:
Monday – March 23
Generation
Differences: Age and Participation
(+)Wattenberg:
Introduction, Overview (pgs. 1-7), Chapters 3-5
Wednesday – March 25
Generation
Differences: Age and Participation
(+)Wattenberg:
Introduction, Chapters 6-8
Week 12:
Monday – March 30
Generation
Differences: Age and Participation
*Hill, David and
Michael D. Martinez. “The Interactive Effects of Electoral Reform,
Competitiveness
and Age on Turnout.” Paper prepared for
presentation at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science
Association,
August
28-31.
Wednesday – April 1
Generation
Differences: Age and Participation
Teixeira,
Ruy. “Generation We and the 2008 Election” (November, 2008)
(http://futuremajority.com/files/Generation%20We%20and%202008.pdf)
CIRCLE – The
Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
“Voter Registration Among Young People”
(http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/FactSheets/FS07_Registration.pdf)
“Young Voter
Mobilization Tactics”
(http://www.civicyouth.org/?p=211)
“Young State Voter
Registration and Election Day laws”
(http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/FactSheets/FS_StateLaws.pdf)
“Young Voter
Registration and Turnout Trends”
(http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/CIRCLE_RtV_Young_Voter_Trends.pdf)
Week 13:
Monday – April 6
Assignments Due:
Term
paper due at the beginning of
class – late papers are not accepted, no EXCEPTIONS
Political
Participation of Minorities: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender
*“Women’s
Political Participation” Chapter 5 In Women
and Political Participation –
Cultural Change in the Political Arena. Conway,
M. Margaret, Gertrude A. Steuernagel and David W. Ahern.
*Leighley,
Jan E. and
Competing
Models and Contrasting Explanations," Journal of Politics 61 (Nov.
1999):1092-1114.
*Sidney Verba, Kay Lehman Schlozman, Henry Brady,
Norman H. Nie, “Race, Ethnicity
and
Political Resources: Participation in the
Wednesday – April 8
Political
Participation of Minorities: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender
*Tate, Katherine, "Black Political
Participation in the 1984 and 1988 Presidential
Elections," APSR 85
(Dec. 1991):1159-1176 (4)
*Shaw, Daron, Rudolfo de la Garza, Jongho Lee, "Examining Latino Turnout
in 1996: A
Three State, Validated Survey Approach,"
AJPS 44 (April 2000):332-340. (8)
Week 14:
Monday – April 13
Voter
Choices: Too Many? Determinants?
Wattenberg: Chapter 6
Flanigan and
Zingale: Chapter 4 & 8
Wednesday – April 15
Media
and Elections
Wattenberg: Chapter 7
Flanigan and Zingale: Chapter 7
Week 15:
Monday – April 20
Media
and Elections
*Do Negative Ads Really Hurt? Wilson Quarterly,
Spring 2000, Vol. 24, Issue 2
*Lee Sigelman and Mark
Kugler. 2003. “Why is Research on the Effects of Negative
Campaigning So Inconclusive," The
Journal of Politics, 65 (1): 142-160.
*The
*Newsweek, “Ready Aim Fire Attack Ads,” October 20, 2008.
Wednesday – April 22
Electoral
Reform: What Can Be Done?
Wattenberg:
Chapter 8
Hill:
Chapter 8
*Wattenberg,
Martin P., “Should Election Day Be a
1998, pp. 42-46
*Will computers fix the vote? By: Terrell, Kenneth,
U.S. News & World Report,
9/29/2003, Vol. 135, Issue 10
*The
Week 16:
Monday – April 27
Electoral
Reform: What Can Be Done?
*Berinsky,
Adam J. 2005. “The Perverse Consequences of Electoral Reform in the
Majoo,
Farhad. Oct. 31, 2000. "Vote Trade: The
Wednesday – April 29
Wrap up and review
**********FINAL EXAM –
MONDAY, MAY 4TH: 4:00 PM TO 5:50 PM**********