PSC
313 American Executive
Summer II, 2009
Professor: Steve Borrelli
Office: 307 ten Hoor, 348-3802
(voicemail)
Office
Hours: MWF, 11:00 am – 11:45 am, and
by appointment
My personal
Webpage: bama.ua.edu/~sborrell
Correspondence regarding this course should be sent via the E-Learning e-mail function for this course. If E-Learning is down or if it is an emergency, my regular e-mail address is sborrell@bama.ua.edu
I. COURSE
DESCRIPTION
This is an intermediate-level discussion of the U.S. Presidency: its origins and development over the last 220 years, the construction and current structure and operations of the mini-bureaucracy of advisers and aides surrounding the president, the president’s role as CEO of the Federal Bureaucracy, the presidential nomination and election process, and his relations with Congress and the Judiciary. Special attention will be paid to the president’s communications operations: how and why he speaks publicly, what he speaks about, and with what effect.
II.
COURSE PREREQUISITES
A basic familiarity with the
III.
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, and the modern-day consequences of the decisions the Founders made;
2.) Know the key events and movements that shaped the modern presidency, and the contributions of key individual presidents;
3.) Understand the roles of, and relationships between the President, the White House Office, the Executive Office of the President, the Cabinet agencies, 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 and influence members of Congress;
5.) Understand the Supreme Court’s continuous role in defining presidential power, and get a glimpse of the recent evolution of the Supreme Court nomination/confiramtion process;
6.) Be able to put President Obama’s historic nomination and election into a broader historical context, by understanding the evolution of the presidential nomination and election systems (esp. over the last 40 years);
7.) Be able to explain the emergence of rhetorical leadership as a major technique of presidential leadership, discuss how presidents produce and deliver public speeches, and understand the limitations of rhetorical leadership as identified by political scientists.
James Pfiffner and Roger Davidson, editors. 2009. Understanding the Presidency, Fifth
Edition. New York: Pearson/Longman.
*NOTE: There are several previous editions available
at very low prices on the internet. 60%
- 70% of the content is the same from edition to edition, but the chapter
numbers are different, and the 5th Edition contains some unique
articles that can’t be found anywhere else.
Whatever book
you choose to buy, one way or another you are responsible for the
content of the 5th Edition.
**ALSO NOTE: This book is an anthology of works by
different authors. In class and on tests, I will usually refer to selections in
this book by the names of the CHAPTER authors and chapter topics, not chapter
titles or numbers, nor the names of the Editors.
V. CLASS
ASSIGNMENTS/EXAMS
(The format of both exams will be 50% multiple choice and 50% short essay; for me, a typical short essay answer will take up anywhere between 50% to 100% of one side of one page of an exam booklet with normal-sized handwriting, single-spaced. )
In preparing for the tests, the lecture material is the most important, but the readings are also important (especially to the extent that they complement the lecture material). I reserve the right to ask test questions about material that can be found only in the readings (not in lecture), but I will usually give hints about which particular readings such questions might come from.
Midterm Exam in class, Monday, July 20th, (worth 35% of the course grade)
Final Exam, Friday, August 7th at 8 AM (worth
35% of the course grade)
Participation in Class Discussion (In-person and Online) (worth 30% of
course grade)
1.) Every week, students will be required to propose one question for class discussion. These questions will be sent to me through the E-Learning E-mail function, no other way. The questions must relate somehow to class discussion or the reading for the current week. Students are encouraged to relate their questions to current or historical events (and will be rewarded for doing so), but the core of the question must relate to material we read or discussed during the week. The deadline for question submission each week is Thursday at 5 PM. Questions will be graded on the level of thought and care that appeared to go into the formulation of the question, its relevance to topics covered in class that week, and the use of examples or illustrations from current events or history if appropriate. The question grades will comprise 1/3 of the students’ participation grade for the course (i.e., 10% of the students’ overall course grade.)
2.) Thursday
night, I will select my three favorite questions out of these student
submissions for general class discussion on Friday and through the
weekend. Each student must participate AT LEAST TWICE in this discussion, either
by speaking in class on Friday OR by posting comments online in the Discussion
area of E-Learning for the class (the text of the three favorite questions will
be posted in E-Learning after class on Friday for reference). The deadline for submitting online comments
will be 11:59 PM Monday night. Students’
comments will be graded on the degree of thought and care that appeared to go
into their composition or vocalization, demonstration of critical thinking and
analytical skills, originality and creativity, their use of examples from
current events or history, and/or the degree to which they move the discussion
forward, showing an understanding and
knowledge of points made by previous contributors to the discussion (especially
if they are submitted late into the discussion) AND going beyond just repeating
previous points. The answer grades will comprise 2/3 of the students’ participation
grade for the course (i.e. 20% of the students’ overall course grade).
VI.
CLASS POLICIES
DISABILITY
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.
ATTENDANCE AND
MAKEUPS
Attendance will not be taken on a daily basis.
However, especially given the accelerated pace of the summer term, daily attendance
and effective, personal note-taking
is effectively essential in order to perform adequately on exams and in
discussion.
Makeups for the exams or for the discussions will be allowed only in cases of verified illness or family emergency covering the exact dates of the missed work. It is entirely the student’s responsibility to produce adequate verification and to schedule makeup exams in a timely fashion.
ACADEMIC HONESTY
The University of Alabama’s policy on academic dishonesty can be viewed at http://www.teaching.ua.edu/policies/handbook/appendixpdfs/c.pdf
I will strictly adhere to and enforce this policy. Penalties for academic dishonesty can be as severe as indefinite suspension from the University.
CLASSROOM DECORUM
Discussion is a major part of the course grade. Although I understand that participants in
class discussion may have strong opinions and feelings about the persons and
issues discussed in class, remember that all class discussion should take place
in an atmosphere of civility and mutual respect for other student’s opinions
and motives, and that your contributions should relate primarily to how current
events reflect issues and concepts discussed in class, rather than making
short-term political predictions, assessing winners and losers in current political
battles, sharing gossip, or evaluating the morality or intelligence of certain
political figures, parties, groups, or policies. Class
contributions that flagrantly violate these principles will receive low grades
or “0” grades.
VII.
ORDER OF TOPICS AND READINGS
Note: this schedule is approximate. One of the many advantages of regular class
attendance is that there will never be any doubt about what topic is being
covered or what readings should be done one a day-to-day basis.
Remember on Fridays, at least 50 minutes of class time will be devoted
to discussion of the three top student-submitted questions for that week.
WEEK I (July 7-10): Constitutional Origins of the Presidency; the 19th
Century Presidency; the Progressive
Presidency
Section 1 Introduction (by Pfiffner and Davidson)
Readings #2 and #3 (Federalist Papers, by Hamilton)
Reading #4 (Anti-Federalist Paper, by Clinton)
Reading #6 (by Taft)
Reading #7 (by T. Roosevelt)
Reading #9 (by Lincoln)
WEEK II (July 13-17): The Modern and “Post-Modern” Presidencies, Perspectives
on Presidential Power,
The White House Office
Reading #10 (by Greenstein)
Reading #11 (by Skowronek)
Reading #32 (by Schlesinger)
Reading #33 (by Neustadt)
Reading #34 (by Howell)
Reading #46 (by Rudalevige)
WEEK III (July 21-24): The White House Office and the Executive
Office of the President, Managing the Bureaucracy
Reading #20 (by Rozell)
Reading #24 (by the Brownlow Commission)
Reading #25 (by Pfiffner)
Reading #26 (by Heclo)
Reading #27 (by Patterson and Pfiffner)
TEST on July 20th!!
WEEK IV (July 27-31): Leading the Executive Branch, Congress, and
the Courts; the Public/Rhetorical
Presidency
Reading #28 (by Davidson)
Reading #31 (by Maltese)
Reading #19 (by Heclo)
Reading #21 (by Mayer)
Reading #22 (by Edwards)
Reading #23 (by Heldman)
WEEK V (August 3-5): The Presidential Nomination and Election
Process, and Summing Up
Reading #12 (Campbell)
Reading #13 (Brown)
Reading #15 (Pomper)
Reading #5 (Pfiffner)
Reading #44 (Wilentz)
Reading #45 (Rove)