PS 129, Spring 2000 Tuttleman 306

The American Party System

Dr. Kolodny

437 Gladfelter Hall

215-204-7709

Email: Kolodny@vm.temple.edu

Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:00-4:00 (and some Wednesdays and Thursdays by appointment)

COURSE OBJECTIVE

This is a course about the origins and development of the political party system in the United States. I will assume that all the students in this course have a familiarity with the framework of American Government (PS 51 will suffice). Other than that, I assume no other in-depth knowledge of political parties in this or other political systems. Thus the course will focus on the issues surrounding the role of political parties in democratic societies and will involve an assessment of the effectiveness of American parties. We will examine how the party system emerged in the United States and how the political parties have changed over time. We will also explore the extent to which the parties are critical to the operation of our contemporary political system. The central question shaping the course is: Why does the United States have a two party system and will it continue to have a two party system in the near future? Consequently, there will be special emphasis on the presidential nomination processes of the Democratic, Republican and Reform parties. We will also highlight the convention process for the Republicans as they prepare to visit Philadelphia this summer.

BOOKS

The following texts are in the bookstore in SAC:

Bibby, John. Politics, Parties, and Elections in America, 4th edition (very important)

Herrnson, Paul S. and John C. Green, eds. Multi-Party Politics in America

Wayne, Stephen. The Road to the White House. (Not in bookstore - please see me.)

REQUIREMENTS

Students will take a midterm exam and a final exam. Each student will also be responsible for the completion of a 12-page research paper. The term paper, including a series of assignments to help you research and write the best paper you can, will be worth a total of 50% of your grade. I will make the assumption that you have not had much experience writing a major research paper before, and will assist you at each step in the process. If you have written a research paper in the past, these steps will serve as valuable refreshers for you, and will keep you on schedule to complete the paper in a timely manner. In addition, I will assign everyone in the class to a research group. This means you will have the opportunity to discuss your research with other students interested in the same topic. While each graded assignment is for you as an individual, I believe you will find sharing information and ideas to benefit everyone in the study group. I will give you time in class to meet and I will also create listservs based on the research topics. Today’s workplace in both the public and private sectors works on such a "team" framework. It is time we did too. The final grade will be calculated as follows. See the last sheet of the syllabus for more information on the term paper and related assignments.

Paper Topic 5% February 15, 2000

Bibliography 10% March 2, 2000

Midterm Exam 20% March 16, 2000

Outline/Rough Draft 10% March 30, 2000

Paper Due 25% April 20, 2000

Final Exam 20% May 4, 11:00-1:00 (Thursday)

Class Participation 10% On going

To encourage your participation in class discussions, I will be passing around a sheet each class day for you to sign if you are prepared to discuss the readings for that day. I will only call on those who have signed the sheet. You will be permitted to abstain from signing the sheet four times during the semester. After that, your grade will be penalized. Please use your four "free" participation days wisely.

USE OF THE INTERNET DURING THIS CLASS

As you can see, we are fortunate to have a "smart" classroom this semester. We have it because in addition to learning about the political party system, we are going to teach each other about using internet resources for research. That means that you MUST have an email account. If you do not have one, you can obtain one from the Help Desk on the ground floor of the Computer Services building in Wachman Hall (or call 215-204-8000 or visit http://www.temple.edu/helpdesk/services.htm). It’s free as long as you are a student in good standing. If you have a non-Temple account that’s fine, but some of the better databases available through the library are only accessible through Temple accounts. We will also have a listserv (probably one for each research group and perhaps another linking them) for this class. Participation on listserv discussions also counts as participation (as long as it is relevant to the topic at hand.)

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY'S POLICY ON ACADEMIC HONESTY

"Academic cheating is, generally, the thwarting or breaking of the general rules of academic work or the specific rules of individual courses. It includes falsifying data; submitting, without the instructor's approval, work in one course which was done for another; helping others to plagiarize or cheat from one's own or another's work; or actually doing the work of another person."

"The penalty for plagiarism or cheating as a first offense is normally an F in the course in which the offense is committed and a report to the Dean. A subsequent offense may in addition be referred to the University Discipline Committee."

Any student who plagiarizes in this course will instantly fail the course.

LATE POLICY

There is no late policy for this class. Students must turn in all assignments on time. Look over this syllabus carefully to be sure you can meet all the deadlines. If you cannot complete an assignment on time for a catastrophic reason, an extension may be granted if such an extension is requested at least 24 hours before the due date of the assignment. The due date of an assignment is too late to ask for an extension. If someone is turning in an assignment for you, be sure to make an extra copy for yourself and to instruct that person to take the paper to the Political Science Department Office and have a secretary sign the paper attesting to the day and time it was turned in.

No make up exams will be given. If students miss an exam for extraordinary, documented reasons, alternative assignments may be given. You will be better off taking the tests than completing these alternative assignments. The message is: prepare for the tests in advance.

TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS

January 18, 20 Topics: Course Overview, Snow

January 25, 27 Topics: Definition of Parties

Reading: Bibby, CH 1

February 1, 3 Comparative Parties, Overview of American Party Eras,

Concept of Realignment

February 8, 10 Topics: Party Organization

*Library Presentation Tuesday (this room)

Readings: Readings: Bibby CH 4 (Thursday)

February 15, 17 Topics: Nominating the President

Readings: Wayne, CH 1, 4

Bibby CH 6

February 22, 24 Topic: The Convention; Party in Government

Readings: Wayne CH 5 (Tuesday)

Bibby CH 9 (Thursday)

February 29, Topic: Party in the Electorate

March 2 Readings: Bibby, CH 8

March 14 Topics: The Electorate, Continued and Review

March 16 MIDTERM EXAM

March 22, 23 Topic: Campaign Finance Law and Reform

Readings: Bibby, CH 7, Wayne CH 2

March 28, 30 Topic: Campaign Finance Reform and the Two Party System

OUTLINE DUE MARCH 30

April 4, 6 Topic: Multi-Party Politics in America: the Debate

Readings: Herrnson and Green, CH 5, 6, 7

April 11, 13 Topics: Multi-Party Politics in America: the Reality

Readings: Herrnson and Green, CH 4, 10, 11, 12

April 18, 20, 25 Topics: Contemporary Campaign Communications Readings: Wayne, CH 6, 7

TERM PAPER DUE APRIL 20

April 27 REVIEW FOR FINAL

May 4 FINAL EXAM 11:00-1:00

Term Paper Assignment

P.S. 129, The American Party System

Spring 2000

 The term paper assignments for this class will constitute 50% of your total grade. Half of this will be for the final draft of your term paper; the other half will be for a series of term paper development assignments listed below. Please do not hesitate to consult me or the reference librarians if you require assistance on any step along the way.

Assignment #1 - Topic and Questions (5% of grade)

Due Date: Tuesday, February 15

You should give me at least a paragraph on the topic that interests you. Then, think up four or five questions that you believe your research should answer in the paper. The object of this assignment is to help you form a workable thesis statement. This assignment will be followed up with group meetings between February 15 and 17 and individual meetings the following week. You may write on any topic that relates to the political party system at any level of government. Virtually any interest can be accommodated. I have given you a list of possible topics at the end of this document. Be sure to pick something that you actually want to read about - otherwise you will dread doing the research.

Assignment #2 - Annotated Bibliography (10% of grade)

Due Date: Thursday, March 2

You will need to provide me with a list of 8 to 10 sources which you intend to use for your paper. This will be annotated, that is each entry should be accompanied by four or five sentences explaining what the source includes (in a general way) and how it may be helpful to your paper. This bibliography should include books and articles for background, as well as current periodicals or government documents, if relevant. However, since this is a scholarly project, you will not be permitted to submit a bibliography with lists of only current periodicals (such as Time or The Washington Post) or which relies heavily on textbooks (such as those you may have used for another course). This is not to say you should omit either type of source, just be sure to limit your reliance upon them. The object of this exercise is to get you into the library and researching earlier rather than later. Simple lists of sources without annotation will be severely downgraded. This assignment must be typed.

Assignment #3 - Detailed Outline or Rough Draft (10% of grade)

Due Date: Thursday, March 30

Depending on how far along you are with your paper, you may choose between an outline and a rough draft for this assignment. If you choose an outline, it must be detailed (i.e. can I see how you will get at least 12 pages out of it). This assignment must be typed.

 Assignment #4 - Final Draft (25% of grade)

Due Date: Thursday, April 20

Your paper should be 12 pages in length, though you may err on the long side. A bibliography should be included on a separate page at the end of the paper. Footnote formats are up to you. If you have other work due at this time and want to turn the paper in earlier, you may do so. This assignment must be typed.

 Possible Topics:

1. Should the presidential nomination process for any of the following parties be redesigned? --Democrats, Republicans, Reform

2. If you were a candidate, how would you design a web page to attract the maximum amount of supporters (in terms of votes, money, volunteers, etc.)? What is the role of the internet in elections?

3. What is soft money and why do so many feel strongly on one side or the other? Why do reform proposals want to eliminate it?

4. Does the presence of the Reform party signal an imminent realignment of the two major parties? Why or why not?

5. What is issue advocacy and what is its effect on the parties?

6. The public funding scheme for presidential candidates is in trouble. How would you fix it?