PSC 523: American Politics
Field Seminar
Course Material
Syllabus
Course Schedule (updated throughout semester)
January 18 – Introduction
No Reading
January 25 – Voting Behavior, Part 1
[1] Downs, Anthony (1957). An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: HarperCollins, Chapters 1, 7-8, and 12.
[2] Campbell, Angus, Philip E. Converse, Warren E. Miller, and Donald E. Stokes (1960). The American Voter. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Chapters 6-7.
February 1 – Voting Behavior, Part 2
[1] Alesina, Alberto, and Howard Rosenthal (1995). Partisan Politics, Divided Government, and the Economy, Chapter 3, 6, and 7.
[2] Lau, Richard R. and David P. Redlawsk (1997). Voting Correctly. American Political Science Review 91: 585-98.
[3] McKuen, Michael B., Robert S. Erikson, James A. Stimson (1992). Peasants or Bankers? The American Electorate and the U.S. Economy. American Political Science Review 86:597-611.
[4] Zaller, John (2004). “Floating Voters in U.S. Presidential Elections.” In Studies in Public Opinion: Attitudes, Nonattitudes, Measurement Error, and Change, ed. William E. Saris and Paul M. Sniderman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
February 8 – The Media
[1] Iyengar, Shanto (1987). Television News and Citizens' Explanations of National Affairs. American Political Science Review 81:815-832.
[2] Lenz, Gabriel S. (2009). Learning and Opinion Change, Not Priming: Reconsidering the Priming Hypothesis. American Journal of Political Science 53:821-837.
[3] Gerber, Alan S., James G. Gimpel, Donald P. Green, and Daron R. Shaw (2011). How Large and Long-lasting are the Persuasive Effects of Television Campaign Ads? Results from a Randomized Field Experiment. American Political Science Review 105:135-150.
February 15 – Representation
[1] Miller,
Warren E., and Donald E. Stokes (1963). Constituency
Influence in Congress 57:45-56.
[2] Fiorina, Morris P., Samuel J. Abrams, and Jeremy C. Pope (2005). Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. New York: Longman, Chapters 2 and 4.
[3] Abramowitz, Alan
[4] Lax, Jeffrey R., and Justin H. Phillips (forthcoming). The Democratic Deficit in the States. Forthcoming in American Journal of Political Science.
February 22 – The Electoral Connection
[1] Fenno, Richard F. (1977). U.S. House Members in Their Constituencies: An Exploration. American Political Science Review 71:883-917.
[2] Mayhew, David R. (1974). Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven: Yale University Press.
[3] Jacobson, Gary C. (1989). Strategic Politicians and the Dynamics of U.S. House Elections, 1946-86. American Political Science Review 83:773-793.
[4] Shepsle, Kenneth A., Robert Van Houweling, Samuel J. Abrams, and Peter C. Hanson (2009). The Senate Electoral Cycle and Bicameral Appropriation Politics. American Political Science Review 53:343-359.
February 29 – Congress, Part 1
[1] Binder, Sarah (1996). The Partisan Basis of Procedural Choice: Allocating Parliamentary Rights in the House, 1789-1990. American Political Science Review 90:8-20.
[2] Cox , Gary W., and Matthew D. McCubbins (2005). Setting the Agenda: Responsible Party Government in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Chapters 2 and 5.
[3] Smith, Steven S. (2007). Party Influence in Congress. New York: Cambridge University Press, Chapters 5 and 7.
[4] Richman, Jesse (2011). Parties, Pivots, and Policy: The Status Quo Test. American Political Science Review 105:151-165.
March 7 – Congress, Part 2
[1] Fenno, Richard F. (1973). Congressmen in Committees. Boston: Little, Brown, Chapters 1-4.
[2] Hall, Richard L. (1987). Participation and Purpose in Committee Decision Making. American Political Science Review 81:105-27.
[3] Cox , Gary W., and Matthew D. McCubbins (1993). Legislative Leviathan. Berkeley: University of California Press, Chapters 7 and 10.
March 21 – Congress, Part 3
[1] Krehbiel, Keith (1991). Information and Legislative Organization. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, Chapters 2 and 3.
[2] Poole, Keith T. and Howard Rosenthal (1997). Congress: A Political Economic History of Roll Call Voting. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 3.
[3] Cox, Gary W. and Jonathan N. Katz (2002). Elbridge Gerry’s Salamander. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Chapters 5-7.
March 28 – Race and Gender
[1] Shotts, Kenneth W. (2002). Gerrymandering, Legislative Composition, and National Policy Outcomes. American Journal of Political Science 46:398-414.
[2] Washington, Ebonya (2006). How Black Candidates
Affect Voter Turnout. Quarterly Journal
of Economics 121:973-998.
[3] Lawless, Jennifer L, and Kathryn Pearson (2008). The Primary Reason for Women’s Underrepresentation? Reevaluating the Conventional Wisdom. Journal of Politics 70:67-82.
[4] Anzia, Sarah F., and Christopher R. Berry (2011). The
Jackie (and Jill) Robinson Effect: Why Do Congresswomen Outperform Congressmen?
American Journal of Political Science
55:478-493.
April 4 – The Presidency
[1] Neustadt, Richard E. (1990). Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents. New York: Free Press, Chapters 3-5.
[2] Kernell, Samuel (1993). Going Public: New Strategies of Presidential Leadership. 2nd ed. Washington: CQ Press, Chapters 1-2.
[3] Cameron, Charles M. (2000). Veto Bargaining: Presidents and the Politics of Negative Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Chapters 4 and 6.
[4] Canes-Wrone, Brandice, William G. Howell, and David E. Lewis (2008). Toward a Broader Understanding of Presidential Power: A Reevaluation of the Two Presidencies Thesis. Journal of Politics 70:1-16.
April 11 – Courts
[1] Segal, Jeffrey A. and Harold J. Spaeth (1996). The Influence of Stare Decisis on the Votes of United States Supreme Court Justices. American Journal of Political Science 4:971-1003.
[2] Gordon, Sanford C. and Gregory A. Huber (2007). The Effect of Electoral Competitiveness on Incumbent Behavior. Quarterly Journal of Political Science 2:107-138.
[3] Bailey, Michael and Forest Maltzman (2008). Does Legal Doctrine Matter? Unpacking Law and Policy Preference on the U.S. Supreme Court. American Political Science Review 102:369-384.
[4] Clark, Tom S., and Benjamin Lauderdale (2010). Locating Supreme Court Opinions in Doctrine Space. American Journal of Political Science 54:871-890.
April 18 – Bureaucracy
[1] Lewis, David E. (2007). Testing Pendleton’s Premise: Do Political Appointees Make Worse Bureaucrats? Journal of Politics 69:1073-1088,
[2] Ting, Michael M. (2008). Whistleblowing. American Political Science Review 102:249-267.
[3] Gordon, Sanford C. (2009). Assessing Partisan Bias in Federal Public Corruption Prosecutions. American Political Science Review 103:534:554
[4] Clinton, Joshua D., Anthony Bertelli, Christian Grose, David E. Lewis, and David C. Nixon (forthcoming). Separated Powers in the United States: The Ideology of Agencies, Presidents, and Congress. Forthcoming in American Journal of Political Science.
April 25 – Interest Groups and Parties
[1] Olson, Mancur (1971). Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Intro and Chapters 1-2.
[2] Hall, Richard, and Frank Wayman (1990). Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees. American Political Science Review 84:797-820.
[3] Lowery, David, and Virginia Gray (1995). The Population Ecology of Gucci Gulch, or the Natural Regulation of Interest Group Numbers in the American States. American Journal of Political Science 39:1-29.
[4] Aldrich, John H. (1995). Why Parties? Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Chapters 1-2 and 6.
May 2 – State and Local Politics
[1] Erikson, Robert S., Gerald C. Wright, and John P. McIver (1994). Statehouse Democracy: Public Opinion and the American States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Chapters 4-6.
[2] Kousser, Thad, Jeffrey B. Lewis, and Seth E. Masket (2007). Ideological Adaptation? The Survival Instinct of Threatened Legislators. Journal of Politics 69:828-843.
[3] Gamm, Gerald, and Thad Kousser (2010). Broad Bills of Particularistic Policy? Historical Patterns in the American State Legislatures. American Political Science Review 104:151-170.
[4] Shor, Boris and Nolan McCarty (2011). The Ideological Mapping of American Legislatures. American Political Science Review 530-551