PSC 313 American Executive
Fall 2005

Professor:   Steve Borrelli
Office:  307 ten Hoor, 348-3802 (voicemail)

Office Hours:    Monday 11 AM – 1 PM and  Thursday 2 – 4 PM, and by appointment

Email:  sborrell@bama.ua.edu
My personal Webpage:  bama.ua.edu/~sborrell  (NOTE:  you can precede this with http://, but you do NOT precede it with "www")

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This is an intermediate-level discussion of the U.S. Presidency:  its origins and development over the last 200+ years, the politics of presidential nominations and general elections, the construction and current structure of the mini-bureaucracy of advisers and aides surrounding the president, the president’s role as CEO of the Federal Bureaucracy, his relations with Congress and the Federal Courts, and his influence through various means on domestic and foreign policy.

 

COURSE PREREQUISITES

A basic familiarity with the US political system, best gained through a course like UA’s PSC 101, is expected, but there is no formal prerequisite. 

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Upon successful completion of the course students will

1.)      Understand the debates at the Constitutional Convention regarding the form the American Executive would take and the powers it would exercise, as well as current debates about reforming the systems for nominating and electing presidents;

2.)      Know the key events and movements that shaped the modern presidency, and the contributions of individual presidents;

3.)      Understand the roles of, and relationships between the President, the White House Office, the Executive Office of the President, the Cabinet and the rest of the Executive Branch, and how they help the president wield the “executive power” and relate to various subordinates and constituencies; 

4.)      Understand both the potential and limitations of the President’s role in the legislative process, how the president tries to construct and promote a legislative program, influence members of Congress, and respond  to congressional initiatives; 

5.)      Understand the Supreme Court’s continuous role in defining presidential power, and how the President in turn has tried to influence the Court through appointments and other means;  

6.)      Have obtained a significant glimpse at the nature of the pre-modern presidency by examining the content, structure, and style of a State of the Union Address from one of our earlier presidents;

7.)      Through reading and class discussion, be able to put George W. Bush’s presidency into a broader theoretical and historical context.

 

 

REQUIRED BOOKS

 

Colin Campbell and Bert Rockman., editors.  2004.  The George W. Bush Presidency:  Appraisals and Prospects.  Washington DC:   Congressional Quarterly Press.

 

William Mayer and Andrew Busch.  2004.  The Front-Loading Problem in Presidential Nominations.  Washington DC:  Brookings Institution Press.

 

George Edwards III.  2004.  Why The Electoral College is Bad for America.  New Haven:  Yale University Press.

 

Tara Ross.  2004.  Enlightened Democracy:  The Case for the Electoral College.  Los Angeles:  World Ahead Press. 

 

 

 

CLASS ASSIGNMENTS/EXAMS

 

Midterm Exam  in class,  Friday, October 14th  (worth 25% of course grade)

 

Report on Obscure Early President’s State of the Union Address (worth 15% of course grade) :   Assignment Posted on my website August 26;  Papers due Friday September 23rd  at 5 PM (worth 20% of course grade)

 

Participation in Class Debates on Presidential Nomination/Election Processes (collectively, worth 25% of course grade):  Assignments Posted on my website September 21st;   Papers due Monday, November 7th.

 

Final Exam (worth 25% of course grade) Thursday, December 15th at 3:30 PM.

 

Random Open-Book Pop Quizzes at End of Class (8 throughout the semester;  top 5 will count toward grade (worth 10% of course grade)

 

 

NOTE ON CITATIONS/REFERENCES AND ACADEMIC HONESTY

All language taken word-for-word from another source must be identified as a quotation, and must clearly identify that source in a way that would enable me to look it up myself. I am not particular about the exact method and format you use to identify the source, but the citation must be complete (e.g. for magazine articles, it should include date of magazine and page number; for websites, it should include the COMPLETE URL (address) that would enable me to get to exactly the webpage that the quotation came from).

When should you provide a citation for material that is NOT an exact quotation? My rule of thumb is: if the material cannot be considered "common knowledge" or your unique, original opinion, there should be a citation of where it came from. Thus, "Mississippi is West of Alabama" and "I don’t like Senator Shelby" do not need citations (although the latter statement should have some kind of argument behind it!)  . But material that is highly specific, potentially controversial, and/or based on someone else’s original thinking or research should have a citation, even if expressed in your own words. Thus, "Experts agree that Bear Bryant was the best college football coach in history," "the average American earns 2.5 times what the average Belgian earns," and "Senator Shelby never supports gun control legislation" all need citations.

When relying heavily on one source, do you need lots of repetitious citations from that same source (page 9, page 10, page 11)? This is another judgment call. Remember that the goal is to provide me with enough information that I could easily find the specific point you’re citing. It is probably better to err on the side of giving too many citations than on the side of one broad citation which will force me to do lots of hunting around in the original source to find the specific point in question. Copying or paraphrasing from a “ published” source (this includes personal and private websites that are not your own)) or another student without acknowledgement is academic fraud and will be dealt with according to University guidelines. These guidelines include penalties as severe as expulsion from the University.

 

DISABILITY POLICY

If you have a disability that requires special accommodations in this class you need to contact the Office of Disability Services, 133B Martha Parham East, 348-4285 (or ods@bama.edu).  The Office of Disability Services will work with you and me to come up with specific plan that will meet your needs.

 

OUTLINE OF TOPICS AND READINGS

You are expected to keep up with the material being covered in class discussion.   Not only does a high participation score require keeping up with the schedule, keeping up will also help you study for the tests more efficiently and effectively, giving you time to organize, integrate, and reinforce information in your head.   We will average about one topic a week, but I cannot assure you that we will be able to stick to a strict schedule.  I will try to begin each class session with a quick reminder of where we are in the reading, and I will try before each test to make very clear what is "fair game" for that test. If there is ever any doubt about where we are on a given day, please feel free to ask.

 

I.                     Presidency Issues Debated at the Constitutional Convention, and their Lasting Significance
Edwards, Chapter 4

Ross, Chapters 1-3

 

I.                     The Presidency’s First 100 Years
 

II.                   The Populist/Progressive Reforms and the Modern Presidency
Campbell and Rockman, Chapter 12 (by  Rockman)

III.                 Begin reading Mayer and Busch, Edwards, and Ross

 

IV.                 The Presidential Nomination Process:   History, Current Status, and Proposed Alternatives
Finish Mayer and Busch..

 

V.                   The Electoral College Method of Presidential Election:  How it Affects Campaigns, Election Results, and Mandates, and Whether it Should Be Reformed

Finish Edwards and Ross.

Campbell and Rockman, Chapter 1 (by Campbell)

 

VI.                 The Executive Office of the President and the Vice-Presidency
Campbell and Rockman, Chapter 4 (by  Campbell)

 

VII.               Leading the Executive Branch

Campbell and Rockman, Chapters 1 (by Campbell) and 3 (by Aberbach)

 

VIII.             The President, Public Opinion, and the Media
Campbell and Rockman, Chapter 2 (by Edwards) 

 

IX.                The President and Congress
Campbell and Rockman, Chapter 5 (by Sinclair)

 

XI.           The President and the Federal Judiciary

                Campbell and Rockman, Chapter 6 (by O’Brien)

 

XII.         The President and Public Policy, Domestic and Foreign

Campbell and Rockman, Chapters 7-9 and 11 (by Mucciaroni and Quirk, Herrmann and Reese, Peterson, and Wilson, respectively)