CORNELL COLLEGE
Department of Politics
111: Introduction to Politics
September 2005
Dr. David W. Loebsack, Instructor
Consulting Librarian, Mandy Sywgart-Hobaugh
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The following Supplements to this Course Description can be found on the Web: |
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Instructor:
David W. Loebsack, 308 South Hall.
Telephone: Office, 895-4300. Phone messages may be left with faculty
secretary Cheryl Dake 895-4283 or in her voice mail box or on the
answering machine at my office.
For quickest response, e-mail your questions and comments to
my office (dloebsack@cornellcollege.edu
).
Office Hours: Normally, I will be in my office Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 11-12. Often, I will be around from 2-3:30 p.m. Feel free to make an appointment.
E-Mail: In order to take better advantage of technological innovations recently available, I encourage you to deliver your paper and/or rough draft by means of e-mail attachments. If you work on a PC, please save your papers and other submissions in either WordPerfect or Word. Please name your file xxxxx-y, where xxxxx are the first five letters of your last name and y is your first initial. Attach your file to an e-mail addressed to dloebsack@cornellcollege.edu.
Feedback: Whether or not you are asked to complete a standardized course evaluation, I am interested in your comments and suggestions for improvement of the course, the readings, the assignments and this course description. Feel free to send comments as you think of them. E-mail: dloebsack@cornellcollege.edu.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Class Meets: South 302; M-F 9-11
Purpose
This course is intended to introduce the beginning student to the discipline of political science and, more particularly, to the subfields dealt with in the Department of Politics at Cornell College. Recognizing the broad area that must be covered in this course, we begin with the issue of the necessity of government. Is government necessary? If so, why? If not, why not? At this point, we explore some of the philosophical underpinnings of these questions as well as the discipline of political science.
Next, we proceed for much of the course thematically and analyze the United States and other countries on a number of fronts. We begin by discussing how individuals participate in the political process in various countries. Next, we look at how governments make and implement public policy. Then, we analyze international politics and the extent to which government exists at that level and how nation-states and non-nation-state actors interact in the international system.
Finally, we take a retrospective look at the material covered in the course to link the disparate elements presented during the preceding three weeks. Are there any themes that have been consistent throughout the entire course?
Readings --
- Ursula K. LeGuin, The Dispossessed
- Kay Lawson, The Human Polity (Second Edition)
Requirements --
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Two exams, the first worth 30% of the course grade, the second 40%.
*Note: The exams are essay and short-answer and it is recognized that some first-year students may not have had much of an opportunity to express themselves in written form. I am, of course, concerned that students learn the material and demonstrate their knowledge on exams. But I also wish to teach them how best to express their thoughts via written communication. Hence, I place a large amount of emphasis upon form and style as well as content.
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One 6-7 page paper worth 20% of the course grade. This paper may be either a “thinkpiece” or a research paper. In either case, the paper will deal with a topic relevant to this course. On the last page of this syllabus you will find a list of possible paper topics. As you will note, this list is by no means exhaustive. It is intended only to provide you with a few “possible” topics. If you would like to investigate another issue, you must obtain my approval of your topic by the end of the first week of class.
If you decide to opt for the thinkpiece, your paper will largely be a theoretical discussion of the topic with few if any footnotes or documentation. On the other hand, if you decide to write a research paper, I expect full documentation via footnotes and a bibliography. In either case, the paper is due on Monday, September 26 at 9 a.m. Finally, while a roughdraft is not required, an outline of the paper is due on Monday, September 19, at which time there will be individual paper conferences in my office.
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Class participation worth 10% of the course grade. Participation is essentially your contribution to the discussion portion of this course. I encourage and indeed expect participation from students. Although some of you will be reluctant to speak up, I can assure you that our classroom will have an environment that fosters a free exchange of ideas and points of view.
* You also should be following politics in the United States as well as recent developments in various parts of the world outside our borders. To this end, you ought to be reading a good newspaper or newsmagazine such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal (this one is not free) or Christian Science Monitor or the weekly news magazine, the Economist. Of course, there is also the ever-popular CNN.
There are also innumerable resources on the World Wide Web that vary dramatically in quality. I encourage you to explore the resources available but be wise as to which ones are serious sources of information and which are simply purveyors of silly or otherwise outrageous pseudo-knowledge.
Schedule --
Week 1 -- September 5-9
Monday - Introduction - What is politics? How does political science as discipline analyze politics? Lawson, chapter 1.
Tuesday - 9-10 - Political ideologies. Lawson, chapter 2, begin LeGuin.
10-11 - Information literacy assessment. Library 126.
Wednesday - Political philosopy and the necessity of government. ; LeGuin.
Thursday - 9-10 - Library instruction in Library 127.
10-11 -
Is government necessary? LeGuin.
Friday - Is government necessary? Finish LeGuin.
Week 2 -- September 12-16
Monday - Political Culture. Lawson, chapter 3.
Tuesday - Individuals and groups. Lawson, chapters 4 and 5. Special guest, Tom Hanschman.
Wednesday - Political parties. Lawson, chapter 6.
Thursday - Exam 1
Friday - Lawmaking. Lawson, Chapter 8.
Week 3 -- September 19-23
Monday - No class. Paper conferences morning and afternoon.
Tuesday - Implementing laws. Lawson, Chapter 9.
Wednesday - Public policy. Lawson, Chapter 10
Thursday - Judiciary. Lawson, Chapter 11.
Friday - Levels of government. Lawson, Chapter 12.
Week 4 - September 26-28
Monday - Paper due at 9 a.m. International Politics. Lawson, Chapters 7, 13.
Tuesday - International Politics - globalization. Lawson, Chapter 14.
Wednesday - Exam 2 - 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
POSSIBLE TOPICS FOR THE THINKPIECE
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In light of our basic premise that government is necessary, evaluate whether such can be said for the international system as well. In addition, evaluate the feasibility of world government.
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Can political science ever become a truly scientific discipline? What are the requirements for such and what might be the obstacles the discipline would have to overcome to become a science?
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Is it necessary that the president be the primary policy initiator in the American political system?
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Do nation-states continue to play the primary role in international affairs?
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Is the coexistence of a market economy and a communist political system possible?
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Assess the validity of the elitist theory of rule as it applies to the United States.
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Does the increase in power of “special” interests necessarily endanger democracy in the United States?
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Assess the likelihood that the two-party system in the United States will be transformed into a multi-party system in the next decade or so.