Course Description:
Politics 130: Political Parties and
Elections
Pomona College, Fall 1998
This advanced course is
about democracy, or the representative version of it we have developed in the
United States. In particular, it is about how elections work in contemporary
America, and about the role of political parties, candidates, and organized
interests in electoral politics. It assumes that students already have a working
knowledge of American national government and an interest in politics as a
participatory and specator sport.
The course will have two simultaneous orientations. On one hand, we
will explore the "nuts and bolts," the institutions and processes through which
elections work. We will briefly consider the historical development of those
institutions and processes, but we will be primarily concerned with the
contemporary era. On the other hand, we will explore content: the issues,
interests and values at stake in contemporary elections. It is an election year,
which gives us an opportunity to study both theory and practice. In addition to
the assigned readings on campaigns and elections, we will also follow a set of
statewide and Congressional contests around the United States and discuss them
regularly in class. Most of your assignments for the course will require you to
investigate one or another contest, and explain whether and how it is unfolding
as the readings might suggest.
The following required course books are available at the Huntley Bookstore:
- L. Sandy Maisel, ed., The Parties Respond: Changes in American Parties
and Campaigns, 3rd ed. (Westview, 1998)
- Gerald M. Pomper et al, The Election of 1996: Reports and
Interpretations (Chatham House, 1997)
- James A. Thurber and Candice J. Nelson, eds., Campaigns and Elections,
American Style (Westview, 1995)
- Margaret Weir, ed., The Social Divide: Political Parties and the Future
of Activist Government (Brookings, 1998)
I will expect that you
read a good daily newspaper; I suggest The Los Angeles Times, The New
York Times, or The Wall Street Journal. You will also do
extensive research and reading on the World Wide Web, both through links that I
will provide and through links you will find yourselves. It is essential
that you have access to an Internet-linked computer.
(Last modified: August 31, 1998)