Course Syllabus AMERICAN POLITICS Etvs Lornd University Faculty of Law Institute of Political Science Fall Semester, 2013

Instructor: Tibor Mndi, assistant professor (mandit@ajk.elte.hu) Time and location: Wednesdays, 14:00-16:00, TBD

Course description The aim of the course is to provide a general overview of the U.S. political system and a basic understanding of American politics. It presupposes some previous general knowldge of political institutions and processes which could have been obtained in an Introduction to Political Science, Comparative Politics, Introductory, or Comparative Constitutional Law course. The topics discussed during the semester include: the exceptional nature of American society and political institutions; the historical and theoretical background of the American Founding; the significance, overall structure and most important provisions of the U.S. Constitution; the principle of federalism; the structure and workings of the different branches the legislative, the executive and judicial branch of the American government, with special emphasis given to the principle of the division and separation of powers, and the system of checks and balances; the political process, the role of the political parties, interest groups and the media; elections and election campaigns; and the future of the United States as a superpower. A special feature of the course is the frequent use of current political events and debates as starting points, or illustrations to the topics under discussion. A supplementary aim of the course is to contribute to the development of the relevant language skills of participating students, by reading and discussing different kinds of texts (historical documents, scholarly articles and book chapters, newspaper and magazine articles), listening to and watching multimedia content (political speeches and debates, political advertisments, TV shows and movies with a political significance), and having the opportunity to prepare presentations and written assignments. Students with various levels of previous knowledge and language skills are welcome, however a solid understanding of English, and a basic familiarity with political institutions and processes are requirements.

Week 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Date 09/04 09/11 09/18 09/25 10/02 10/09 10/16 10/23 10/30 11/06 11/13 11/20 12/27 12/04 12/11

Topic Registration Period Introduction, course requirements American exceptionalism Guest speaker: The American health care system The American Founding The Constitution, federalism National Holiday Fall Break Congress The Presidency The Supreme Court Political parties and elections Americas future: continued supremacy, or decline? Final Test

Readings James Q. Wilson John J. DiIulio, Jr. Meena Bose: American Government. Institutions and Policies. The Essentials. 13th edition. Wadsworth Publishing, 2012. Kenneth Janda Jeffrey M. Berry Jerry Goldman: The Challenge of Democracy. Government in America. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1992. Peter Woll (ed.): American Government. Readings and Cases. Pearson Longman, New York, 2004. Declaration of Independence http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp The Constitution of the United States http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/usconst.asp The Federalist Papers http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/fed.asp Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy in America. Edited by J. P. Mayer. Perennial Classics, 2000. Seymour Martin Lipset: American Exceptionalism. A Double-Edged Sword. W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 1997. Daniel J. Boorstin: The Genius of American Politics. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1953. 2

Gordon S. Wood: The Radicalism of the American Revolution. Vintage, New York, 1993. Bernard Bailyn: The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1992. John J. Ellis: Founding Brothers. Vintage Books, New York, 2000. Zbigniew Brzezinski: Strategic Vision. America and the Crisis of Global Power. Basic Books, New York, 2012. Joseph Joffe: The Myth of Americas Decline. Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False Prophecies. W.W. Norton & Co. forthcoming.

Required and recommended readings (book chapters and articles) will be posted on the courses Neptun space (neptun.elte.hu, in the Meet Street section) throughout the semester.

Useful websites The New York Times (www.nytimes.com) The Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) The Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com) Politico (www.politico.com) Slate (www.slate.com) The Economist (www.economist.com) The New Yorker (www.newyorker.com) National Journal (www.nationaljournal.com) The Nation (www.thenation.com) The New Republic (www.tnr.com) The Weekly Standard (www.weeklystandard.com) National Review (www.nationalreview.com) The Atlantic (www.theatlantic.com) Foreign Affairs (www.foreignaffairs.com) Foreign Policy (www.foreignpolicy.com) The American Interest (www.the-american-interest.com/) CNN (www.cnn.com) MSNBC (www.msnbc.com) Fox News (www.foxnews.com)

Course requirements/evaluation class attendance: max. 2 absences active preparation for and participation in class discussions the students who contribute most to class discussions, and demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the readings get a maximum of 2 extra points in the final test presentations (15 mins.)/essays (5-10 pp.) on approved topic (elective) students giving presentations/writing essays get a maximum of 3 extra points in the final test Erasmus students are required to submit a brief (2-3 pp.) summary of a book chapter, article, or series of articles chosen from the recommended readings by the end of the semester final test 20 question multiple choice test, based on class discussions and readings 18-20 points: 5 16-17 points: 4 13-15 points: 3 11-12 points: 2 00-10 points: 1