Jeffrey Tulis

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Close readings from primary texts that have shaped or that reflect deeply upon American democracy, including the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and Tocqueville's Democracy in America.  Fulfills second half of the legislative requirement for government. May be taken for credit only once. Government 312R and 312P may not both be counted for credit.

This course is an introduction to American government and politics.  While the main focus is on the national level, additional attention is paid to the state and local governments of Texas. Topics will include U.S. political history, political institutions, elections, public opinion, rights and freedoms, and public policy issues.

Please check back for updates.

Close readings from primary texts that have shaped or that reflect deeply upon American democracy, including the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and Tocqueville's Democracy in America.  Fulfills second half of the legislative requirement for government. May be taken for credit only once. Government 312R and 312P may not both be counted for credit.

Please check back for updates.

This course is an introduction to American government and politics.  While the main focus is on the national level, additional attention is paid to the state and local governments of Texas. Topics will include U.S. political history, political institutions, elections, public opinion, rights and freedoms, and public policy issues.

Seminar in American Government and Politics.

Close readings from primary texts that have shaped or that reflect deeply upon American democracy, including the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and Tocqueville's Democracy in America.  Fulfills second half of the legislative requirement for government. May be taken for credit only once. Government 312R and 312P may not both be counted for credit.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

GOV 310 (Honors)

Fall 2017

TTH 3:30-5:00pm, CBA 4.338

Introduction to American Politics

This honors seminar offers an introduction to American politics that emphasizes the confluence of ideas, mores, institutions, and interests, in the constitutional system. This course covers more theory, and the readings are more demanding, than other versions of GOV 310. 

One of the main objectives of the course is to deepen your understanding of the practical aspects of contemporary public affairs by developing your ability to understand the theoretical foundations of American politics.  Although we cover the nuts and bolts of politics there is much more theory in this version of GOV 310. If you have registered for this section mainly because 310 is a legislative requirement that you need to fulfill, this is not the right version for you.  There is a substantial workload in this class.

Regular attendance, thorough and timely preparation, and active participation are all necessary to do well.

Course requirements:

1. Four essays (approximately 1000 words each).  Three of these will be assigned analytic essay topics. The last will be a book review of a title chosen by the student from a long list of provided possibilities.   (15% each essay, 60% of total course grade)

2. Two in-class tests. These will count 15% each, 30% of total course grade.

3. Class participation. (10% of course grade).  Both informed participation and occasional leadership of the seminar will be graded.

No make-up exams or late papers, except for documented medical or other emergencies.

Texts: (tentative)

Mark Landy and Sidney M. Milkis, American Government: Enduring Principles, Critical Choices, Third Edition

Mary Nichols and David Nichols, Readings in American Government, Ninth Edition

Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, Its Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism

Bruce Ackerman,Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism

GOV 379S / LAH 350/ CTI 335  Regime Perspectives on American Politics

Fall 2017

Wednesdays 3-6pm

Jeffrey K. Tulis

This is a seminar on American politics and culture.   Two purposes govern the selection of texts for the course and guide our discussion of them.  All of our texts attempt to look at American politics as a whole.  Most books and courses on America look at only a part, such as the Presidency, or elections, or popular culture.  Here we attempt to think about how the parts of America fit together.  Even when these texts speak about a part, for example an institution such as the presidency or the Congress, they present the topic from a vantage point on the whole polity.   To see the polity as a whole also means that we will have to revisit and rethink aspects of our political life that we take for granted – that we don’t examine because those parts have become so natural or familiar to us.  Seeing the polity whole enables us to render the familiar unfamiliar, to make what we take for granted strange and new.

To see the polity as a whole requires that we get some distance from our subject, much as to see the planet earth as a whole requires one to look at it from outer space.  Just as it is difficult to get visual perspective on a place living within it, it is difficult to understand the promise or pathologies of a regime from within.  To get critical distance from our politics, we will closely study three sets of texts that look at American politics from a distance.   The first part of the course will recover the perspective of the founding debate between Federalists and Anti-federalists.   This fundamental debate reveals what is a stake in the basic architecture of the American regime.  The second part of the course is a close study of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.  Regarded by many as the best book ever written on democracy and the best book written on America, Tocqueville sees our polity whole because he looks at it from the vantage point of Europe, in general, and France, in particular.  In the third part of the seminar we think about American politics from the perspective of thoughtful commentators who feel only nominally included in the polity.   Half in and half out, these extraordinary black American writers reveal fissures and fault lines in the American regime.  We end the class with a discussion of America’s place in the world today – examining a speech by a writer who articulately raises challenges to our self-understanding that are inarticulately expressed today in rage and ranting from enemies of the United States.

Requirements:

Three take home analytic essays, chosen from a list of topics I provide, each weighted 25% of the course grade.  Late essays will not be accepted, except with a doctor’s excuse or a Dean’s excuse for family emergency.

OR as an option: you may write the two short essays (both together weighted 25%) and do a longer 15 page paper on a topic of your choice in consultation with me (weighted 50% of your course grade).   Government honors students who are thinking of doing an honors thesis next year may prefer this option to begin to develop research and writing skills for longer work.  Students who prefer this option will need to designate their preferred third short essay and have discussed with me a topic for their long paper by March 30. 

Texts:

The Federalist

Selected Anti-Federalist writings

Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Essays, speeches and articles by Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

GOV 370   Seminar: The Presidency in the Constitutional Order

Spring 2017  Unique # 38840

MW  2:30 to 4pm  GDC 2.402

Jeffrey K. Tulis

            In this Seminar we will discuss a series of constitutional problems including: the problem of  executive energy in the American Constitution; presidential selection and the problem of political legitimacy; separation of powers; delegation of powers, the constitutional status of war and foreign affairs,  administration and bureaucracy and  the meaning of leadership in the constitutional order.

            Seminar will meet twice a week and regular attendance and thorough preparation for discussion is expected.  Unexcused absence from more than three classes will result in failure of the participation component of the course. There will also be pop quizzes on the reading that will count as part of your participation grade. In addition to class participation, course requirements include  four short analytic essays, and one in-class test. The course grade will be calculated as follows:

                        Seminar participation: 20%

                        In-class test: 20%

                        Three analytic essays 60%  (20% each)

            Class participation is especially important. Preparation for seminar and for your in-class test will be enhanced by careful note taking on the readings.  If students appear to be unprepared, pop quizzes will be given and the grades on them will affect the participation component of your course grade.

Texts:   (tentative)

            Joseph M. Bessette and Jeffrey K. Tulis, The Constitutional Presidency

            Michael Nelson, The Presidency in the Political System (tenth edition)

            Richard Ellis and Michael Nelson, Debating the Presidency (third edition)

            The Federalist (any edition, or online)

Please check back for updates.

GOV 310 (Honors) (38335)

Fall 2016

TTH 3:30-5:00pm, BEN 1.106

Introduction to American Politics

This honors seminar offers an introduction to American politics that emphasizes the confluence of ideas, mores, institutions, and interests, in the constitutional system. This course covers more theory, and the readings are more demanding, than other versions of GOV 310. 

One of the main objectives of the course is to deepen your understanding of the practical aspects of contemporary public affairs by developing your ability to understand the theoretical foundations of American politics.  Although we cover the nuts and bolts of politics there is much more theory in this version of GOV 310. If you have registered for this section mainly because 310 is a legislative requirement that you need to fulfill, this is not the right version for you.  There is a substantial workload in this class.

Regular attendance, thorough and timely preparation, and active participation are all necessary to do well.

Course requirements:

1. Four essays (approximately 1000 words each).  Three of these will be assigned analytic essay topics. The last will be a book review of a title chosen by the student from a long list of provided possibilities.   (15% each essay, 60% of total course grade)

1. Two in-class tests. These will count 15% each, 30% of total course grade.

1. Class participation. (10% of course grade).  Both informed participation and occasional leadership of the seminar will be graded.

No make-up exams or late papers, except for documented medical or other emergencies.

Texts: (tentative)

Mark Landy and Sidney M. Milkis, American Government: Enduring Principles, Critical Choices, Third Edition

Mary Nichols and David Nichols, Readings in American Government, Ninth Edition

Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, Its Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism

Bruce Ackerman,Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

Department of Government

GOV 381L Fall 2016

Constitutional Conflict

Jeffrey K. Tulis

Unique: 38660

W 3:30-6:30pm, BAT 5.102

Course Description:

      Many of the most important debates regarding the nature and character of contemporary American politics are essentially arguments regarding the structure of separation of powers.  In this seminar we will consider such questions as whether the American system is prone to deadlock of stalemate in the construction of national policy; whether conflict is a hindrance to institutional responsibility or an essential attribute of responsibility; whether there are “political questions” especially suitable to resolution between President and Congress; how one can distinguish salutary from pathological conflict, and whether it is truly possible to harness the ambition of office holders to the duties of their office.

      More specifically, we will review literature and arguments regarding constitutional reform; divided government; separation of powers theory; and case studies of Supreme Court appointments; the budget process; and war powers and foreign affairs. In these contexts we will also discuss current controversies surrounding war authorization, intelligence and secrecy, sequestration, government shut downs and budget resolutions, and debt ceiling politics.

      The course is designed to accommodate two different student needs: it will provide a good overview of important literature relevant to the comprehensive examination in American politics and it will provide opportunities for research.  This subject area is a treasure trove of “hot” topics, publication possibilities, subjects for MA theses and Ph.D. dissertations.   I will tailor the written requirements to the objectives of individual students.

Grading:

1. All students will prepare a short analytic essay early in the semester, and an annotated bibliography at mid-semester.  These assignments will count (30%) of the grade.

2. Students interested primarily in exam preparation will complete an examination near the end of the semester based on study questions assigned in advance. OR

   Students interested in research will write a 20-25 page paper. (60%)

3. A basic requirement of the course is that students prepare for each seminar by carefully reading the material assigned for that week.  Class discussion is an essential component of the course. (10%)

Tentative Texts:

Jones, Separate But Equal Branches

The Federalist

Silverstein, Imbalance of Powers

Wilson & Schram, Separation of Powers and Good Government

Burgess, Contest for Constitutional Authority

Farrier, Passing the Buck: Congress, the Budget and Deficits

Weissman, A Culture of Deference

Zeisberg, War Powers: The Politics of Constitutional Authority

Fisher, Congressional Abdication on War and Spending

Lowi, The End of Liberalism

GOV 379S   Regime Perspectives on American Politics

Spring 2016

Jeffrey K. Tulis

This is a seminar on American politics and culture.   Two purposes govern the selection of texts for the course and guide our discussion of them.  All of our texts attempt to look at American politics as a whole.  Most books and courses on America look at only a part, such as the Presidency, or elections, or popular culture.  Here we attempt to think about how the parts of America fit together.  Even when these texts speak about a part, for example an institution such as the presidency or the Congress, they present the topic from a vantage point on the whole polity.   To see the polity as a whole also means that we will have to revisit and rethink aspects of our political life that we take for granted – that we don’t examine because those parts have become so natural or familiar to us.  Seeing the polity whole enables us to render the familiar unfamiliar, to make what we take for granted strange and new.

To see the polity as a whole requires that we get some distance from our subject, much as to see the planet earth as a whole requires one to look at it from outer space.  Just as it is difficult to get visual perspective on a place living within it, it is difficult to understand the promise or pathologies of a regime from within.  To get critical distance from our politics, we will closely study three sets of texts that look at American politics from a distance.   The first part of the course will recover the perspective of the founding debate between Federalists and Anti-federalists.   This fundamental debate reveals what is a stake in the basic architecture of the American regime.  The second part of the course is a close study of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.  Regarded by many as the best book ever written on democracy and the best book written on America, Tocqueville sees our polity whole because he looks at it from the vantage point of Europe, in general, and France, in particular.  In the third part of the seminar we think about American politics from the perspective of thoughtful commentators who feel only nominally included in the polity.   Half in and half out, these extraordinary black American writers reveal fissures and fault lines in the American regime.  We end the class with a discussion of America’s place in the world today – examining a speech by a writer who articulately raises challenges to our self-understanding that are inarticulately expressed today in rage and ranting from enemies of the United States.

Requirements:

Three take home analytic essays, chosen from a list of topics I provide, each weighted 25% of the course grade.  Late essays will not be accepted, except with a doctor’s excuse or a Dean’s excuse for family emergency.

OR as an option: you may write the two short essays (both together weighted 25%) and do a longer 15 page paper on a topic of your choice in consultation with me (weighted 50% of your course grade).   Government honors students who are thinking of doing an honors thesis next year may prefer this option to begin to develop research and writing skills for longer work.  Students who prefer this option will need to designate their preferred third short essay and have discussed with me a topic for their long paper by March 30. 

Texts:

The Federalist

Selected Anti-Federalist writings

Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Essays, speeches and articles by Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison

GOV 382M   (38120)

Democratic Theory 

Spring 2016

Jeffrey K. Tulis

This is a graduate seminar on contemporary topics in democratic theory.  Topics to be covered include: democratic epistemology; deliberative democracy; the meaning of the people; oracular democracy; agonistic democracy; and possibly new theories of republicanism, representation and partisanship.

Texts (tentative)

Helene Landemore, Democratic Reason

Jeffrey Edward Green, The Eyes of the People

Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson, Why Deliberative Democracy?

Alan Keenan, Democracy in Question

Jason Frank, Constituent Moments

Jason Frank, Publius and Political Imagination

Nadia Urbanati, Democracy Disfigured

Russell Muirhead, Partisanship in a Polarized Age

Bryan Garsten, manuscript

Requirements:

Active seminar participation; an annotated bibliography or review essay; a research/analytic paper.

GOV 310 (Honors) (37615)

Fall 2015

TTH 2-3:30/BEN 1.106

Introduction to American Politics

This honors seminar offers an introduction to American politics that emphasizes the confluence of ideas, mores, institutions, and interests, in the constitutional system. This course covers more theory, and the readings are more demanding, than other versions of GOV 310. 

One of the main objectives of the course is to deepen your understanding of the practical aspects of contemporary public affairs by developing your ability to understand the theoretical foundations of American politics.  Although we cover the nuts and bolts of politics there is much more theory in this version of GOV 310. If you have registered for this section mainly because 310 is a legislative requirement that you need to fulfill, this is not the right version for you.  There is a substantial workload in this class.

Regular attendance, thorough and timely preparation, and active participation are all necessary to do well.

Course requirements:

1. Four essays (approximately 1000 words each).  Three of these will be assigned analytic essay topics. The last will be a book review of a title chosen by the student from a long list of provided possibilities.   (15% each essay, 60% of total course grade)

1. Two in-class tests. These will count 15% each, 30% of total course grade.

1. Class participation. (10% of course grade).  Both informed participation and occasional leadership of the seminar will be graded.

No make-up exams or late papers, except for documented medical or other emergencies.

Texts: (tentative)

Mark Landy and Sidney M. Milkis, American Government: Enduring Principles, Critical Choices, Third Edition

Mary Nichols and David Nichols, Readings in American Government, Ninth Edition

Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, Its Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism

Bruce Ackerman,Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism

GOV 370L   (37845)

Fall 2015

TTH 5-6:30  PAR 310

Jeffrey K. Tulis

The Presidency in the Constitutional Order

A study of the place of the presidency in the American political order that stresses tension between power and accountability inherent in the office and the system. Topics include: separation of powers, presidential selection, impeachment, relations with Congress and bureaucracy, emergency powers, presidential character, and leadership.

This is a very demanding writing flag class.  If you are enrolling in this class just in order to satisfy the writing flag, you are in the wrong class.  Interest in political theory and willingness to work very hard are necessary for success in this class.

Readings (tentative):

Joseph M. Bessette, The Constitutional Presidency

Andrew Rudalevige, The New Imperial Presidency

Bruce Ackerman, The Rise and Decline of the American Republic

Michael Nelson, ed., The Presidency in the Political System

Michael Nelson, ed., The Evolving Presidency

Louis Fisher, Constitutional Conflicts Between Congress and the President

Requirements:

Active and prepared class participation

Regular quizzes on the reading

Four analytic essays (approximately 1200 words).

One term paper, (approximately 5000 words).

This is a seminar on American politics and culture.   Two purposes govern the selection of texts for the course and guide our discussion of them.  All of our texts attempt to look at American politics as a whole.  Most books and courses on America look at only a part, such as the Presidency, or elections, or popular culture.  Here we attempt to think about how the parts of America fit together.  Even when these texts speak about a part, for example an institution such as the presidency or the Congress, they present the topic from a vantage point on the whole polity.   To see the polity as a whole also means that we will have to revisit and rethink aspects of our political life that we take for granted – that we don’t examine because those parts have become so natural or familiar to us.  Seeing the polity whole enables us to render the familiar unfamiliar, to make what we take for granted strange and new.

To see the polity as a whole requires that we get some distance from our subject, much as to see the planet earth as a whole requires one to look at it from outer space.  Just as it is difficult to get visual perspective on a place living within it, it is difficult to understand the promise or pathologies of a regime from within.  To get critical distance from our politics, we will closely study three sets of texts that look at American politics from a distance.   The first part of the course will recover the perspective of the founding debate between Federalists and Anti-federalists.   This fundamental debate reveals what is a stake in the basic architecture of the American regime.  The second part of the course is a close study of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.  Regarded by many as the best book ever written on democracy and the best book written on America, Tocqueville sees our polity whole because he looks at it from the vantage point of Europe, in general, and France, in particular.  In the third part of the seminar we think about American politics from the perspective of thoughtful commentators who feel only nominally included in the polity.   Half in and half out, these extraordinary black American writers reveal fissures and fault lines in the American regime.  We end the class with a discussion of America’s place in the world today – examining a speech by a writer who articulately raises challenges to our self-understanding that are inarticulately expressed today in rage and ranting from enemies of the United States.

 Requirements:

Three take home analytic essays, chosen from a list of topics I provide, each weighted 25% of the course grade.  Late essays will not be accepted, except with a doctor’s excuse or a Dean’s excuse for family emergency.

OR as an option: you may write the two short essays (both together weighted 25%) and do a longer 15 page paper on a topic of your choice in consultation with me (weighted 50% of your course grade).   Government honors students who are thinking of doing an honors thesis next year may prefer this option to begin to develop research and writing skills for longer work.  Students who prefer this option will need to designate their preferred third short essay and have discussed with me a topic for their long paper by March 30. 

Texts:

The Federalist

Selected Anti-Federalist writings

Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Essays, speeches and articles by Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison

This graduate seminar will be devoted to close readings of two principal writings of Tocqueville: Democracy in America and The Ancien Regime and the Revolution. We will also assess some of the best secondary studies of Tocqueville, including work by Sheldon Wolin, Harvey Mansfield, Delba Winthrop, Jon Elster, Francois Furet, and a book by Pierre Manent.

Course requirements will include two very short analytic essays and one seminar paper (20-25 pages).

Introduction to American Politics

This honors seminar offers an introduction to American politics that emphasizes the confluence of ideas, mores, institutions, and interests, in the constitutional system. This course covers more theory, and the readings are more demanding, than other versions of GOV 310. 

One of the main objectives of the course is to deepen your understanding of the practical aspects of contemporary public affairs by developing your ability to understand the theoretical foundations of American politics.  Although we cover the nuts and bolts of politics there is much more theory in this version of GOV 310. If you have registered for this section mainly because 310 is a legislative requirement that you need to fulfill, this is not the right version for you.  There is a substantial workload in this class.

Regular attendance, thorough and timely preparation, and active participation are all necessary to do well.

Course requirements:

1. Four essays (approximately 1000 words each).  Three of these will be assigned analytic essay topics. The last will be a book review of a title chosen by the student from a long list of provided possibilities.   (15% each essay, 60% of total course grade)

1. Two in-class tests. These will count 15% each, 30% of total course grade.

1. Class participation. (10% of course grade).  Both informed participation and occasional leadership of the seminar will be graded.

No make-up exams or late papers, except for documented medical or other emergencies.

Texts: (tentative)

Joseph M. Bessette and John J. Pitney, American Government and Politics: Deliberation, Democracy and Citizenship

Mary Nichols and David Nichols, Readings in American Government

Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, Its Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism

Bruce Ackerman,Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism

Jeffrey K. Tulis

The Presidency in the Constitutional Order

A study of the place of the presidency in the American political order that stresses

    tension between power and accountability inherent in the office and the system.

    Topics include: separation of powers, presidential selection, impeachment,

    relations with Congress and bureaucracy, emergency powers, presidential

    character, and leadership.

This is a very demanding writing flag class.  If you are enrolling in this class just in order

to satisfy the writing flag, you are in the wrong class.  Interest in political theory and willingness

to work very hard are necessary for success in this class.

Readings (tentative):

Joseph M. Bessette, The Constitutional Presidency

Andrew Rudalevige, The New Imperial Presidency

Bruce Ackerman, The Rise and Decline of the American Republic

Michael Nelson, ed., The Presidency in the Political System

Michael Nelson, ed., The Evolving Presidency

Louis Fisher, Constitutional Conflicts Between Congress and the President

Requirements:

Active and prepared class participation

Regular quizzes on the reading

Four analytic essays (approximately 1200 words).

One term paper, (approximately 5000 words).

This is a seminar on American politics and culture.   Two purposes govern the selection of texts for the course and guide our discussion of them.  All of our texts attempt to look at American politics as a whole.  Most books and courses on America look at only a part, such as the Presidency, or elections, or popular culture.  Here we attempt to think about how the parts of America fit together.  Even when these texts speak about a part, for example an institution such as the presidency or the Congress, they present the topic from a vantage point on the whole polity.   To see the polity as a whole also means that we will have to revisit and rethink aspects of our political life that we take for granted – that we don’t examine because those parts have become so natural or familiar to us.  Seeing the polity whole enables us to render the familiar unfamiliar, to make what we take for granted strange and new.

To see the polity as a whole requires that we get some distance from our subject, much as to see the planet earth as a whole requires one to look at it from outer space.  Just as it is difficult to get visual perspective on a place living within it, it is difficult to understand the promise or pathologies of a regime from within.  To get critical distance from our politics, we will closely study three sets of texts that look at American politics from a distance.   The first part of the course will recover the perspective of the founding debate between Federalists and Anti-federalists.   This fundamental debate reveals what is a stake in the basic architecture of the American regime.  The second part of the course is a close study of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.  Regarded by many as the best book ever written on democracy and the best book written on America, Tocqueville sees our polity whole because he looks at it from the vantage point of Europe, in general, and France, in particular.  In the third part of the seminar we think about American politics from the perspective of thoughtful commentators who feel only nominally included in the polity.   Half in and half out, these extraordinary black American writers reveal fissures and fault lines in the American regime.  We end the class with a discussion of America’s place in the world today – examining a speech by a writer who articulately raises challenges to our self-understanding that are inarticulately expressed today in rage and ranting from enemies of the United States.

Requirements:

Three take home analytic essays, chosen from a list of topics I provide, each weighted 25% of the course grade.  Late essays will not be accepted, except with a doctor’s excuse or a Dean’s excuse for family emergency.

OR as an option: you may write the two short essays (both together weighted 25%) and do a longer 15 page paper on a topic of your choice in consultation with me (weighted 50% of your course grade).   Government honors students who are thinking of doing an honors thesis next year may prefer this option to begin to develop research and writing skills for longer work.  Students who prefer this option will need to designate their preferred third short essay and have discussed with me a topic for their long paper by March 30. 

Texts:

The Federalist

Selected Anti-Federalist writings

Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Essays, speeches and articles by Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison

Course Description:

     Many of the most important debates regarding the nature and character of contemporary American politics are essentially arguments regarding the structure of separation of powers.  In this seminar we will consider such questions as whether the American system is prone to deadlock of stalemate in the construction of national policy; whether conflict is a hindrance to institutional responsibility or an essential attribute of responsibility; whether there are “political questions” especially suitable to resolution between President and Congress; how one can distinguish salutary from pathological conflict, and whether it is truly possible to harness the ambition of office holders to the duties of their office.

     More specifically, we will review literature and arguments regarding constitutional reform; divided government; separation of powers theory; and case studies of Supreme Court appointments; the budget process; and war powers and foreign affairs. In these contexts we will also discuss current controversies surrounding war authorization, intelligence and secrecy, sequestration, government shut downs and budget resolutions, and debt ceiling politics.

     The course is designed to accommodate two different student needs: it will provide a good overview of important literature relevant to the comprehensive examination in American politics and it will provide opportunities for research.  This subject area is a treasure trove of “hot” topics, publication possibilities, subjects for MA theses and Ph.D. dissertations.   I will tailor the written requirements to the objectives of individual students.

Grading:

1. All students will prepare a short analytic essay early in the semester, and an annotated bibliography at mid-semester.  These assignments will count (30%) of the grade.

2. Students interested primarily in exam preparation will complete an examination near the end of the semester based on study questions assigned in advance. OR

   Students interested in research will write a 20-25 page paper. (60%)

3. A basic requirement of the course is that students prepare for each seminar by carefully reading the material assigned for that week.  Class discussion is an essential component of the course. (10%)

Tentative Texts:

Jones, Separate But Equal Branches

The Federalist

Silverstein, Imbalance of Powers

Wilson & Schram, Separation of Powers and Good Government

Burgess, Contest for Constitutional Authority

Farrier, Passing the Buck: Congress, the Budget and Deficits

Weissman, A Culture of Deference

Zeisberg, War Powers: The Politics of Constitutional Authority

Fisher, Congressional Abdication on War and Spending

Lowi, The End of Liberalism

Course Description

This course offers an over view of the place of the presidency in the American political order.  Topics covered include: constitutional design of the office; nominations and elections; legislative leadership; leadership of the bureaucracy; staffing and organizing the White House; the presidency and the judiciary; war and emergencies.  We will spend extra time this fall on the presidential campaign and election of 2012.

Grading Policy

Two in-class examinations  (50% of the final grade)

One short (1000 word) take-home essay (30% of the final grade)

Class participation and quizzes (20% of the final grade)

Texts

Richard J. Ellis, The Development of the American Presidency (Routledge, 2012)

Richard J. Ellis and Michael Nelson, eds, Debating the American Presidency, (2nd edition, CQ Press, 2009)

Packet of selected primary texts (to be linked or posted on Blackboard).

Course Description

This course offers an over view of the place of the presidency in the American political order.  Topics covered include: constitutional design of the office; nominations and elections; legislative leadership; leadership of the bureaucracy; staffing and organizing the White House; the presidency and the judiciary; war and emergencies.  We will spend extra time this fall on the presidential campaign and election of 2012.

Grading Policy

Two in-class examinations  (50% of the final grade)

One short (1000 word) take-home essay (30% of the final grade)

Class participation and quizzes (20% of the final grade)

Texts

Richard J. Ellis, The Development of the American Presidency (Routledge, 2012)

Richard J. Ellis and Michael Nelson, eds, Debating the American Presidency, (2nd edition, CQ Press, 2009)

Packet of selected primary texts (to be linked or posted on Blackboard).

NOTE WELL:  Course meets Tuesdays, 6:30 to 9:30pm

Batts Hall  1.104

Course Description:

This is a seminar on American political thought and constitutional design.  It is designed for students of American politics and political theory.  The principal themes include: 1) the nature of founding and its constitutive significance; 2) the relation of structure and power in American politics; 3) the meaning and significance of the Federalist/Anti-Federalist debate; 4) the philosophic background of the American founding; and 5) the relevance of the founding to debate to prospects for, and pathologies of, American politics today.

We will conduct a close reading of the Madison’s Notes, of The Federalist, and selected Anti-Federalist writings.  We will also study a larger and growing body of secondary literature on the constitutional convention, ratification and early American political thought.

Texts:

James Madison, Notes of the Debates: In the Federal Convention of 1787

The Federalist (Rossiter, ed.)

The Anti-Federalist (Storing, ed.)

David Brian Robertson, The Constitution and America’s Destiny (2005)

Pauline Maier, Ratification (2012)

Gordon Wood, The Idea of America (2011)

Jack Rakove, Original Meanings: Politics & Ideas in the Making of the Constitution

Herbert Storing, What the Anti-Federalists Were For (1981)

Numerous essays and articles (to be posted on line or gathered in packet)

Grading: 

Active seminar participation, including three short papers and presentations (40%) and one article-length seminar paper (60%)

The American Founding and Problems of Constitutional Design

Instructors:

Jeffrey Tulis, Associate Professor, Department of Government

Sanford Levinson, Professor, School of Law

Description:

This Plan II seminar will be built around a close reading of the debates that informed the drafting and ratification of the U.S. Constitution.  We aim to recover the perspective of these founding thinkers -- their way of thinking -- as much as their concrete ideas, in order to raise fundamental questions about the American political order today.  Are some of the most important pathologies of American politics today rooted in design features of our original political architecture?  Are the original answers to basic founding questions (such as "how democratic is our Constitution?) still adequate for contemporary circumstances?  What features of the Constitution should we preserve and what features should we amend, if possible?  Would it be good for the polity as a whole to reconsider these questions in a new constitutional convention today, or would such an event be a political nightmare?  Our reading will include notes from the founding conventions, writings by Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and present-day critiques of the American political order.  Our aim will be to generate a dialogue between the thought of the founders and some of the best present day critics and supporters of the Constitution.

Texts/Readings:

James Madison, Notes of the Debates in the Federal Convention

The Federalist, ed. Clinton Rossiter

The Anti-Federalist, ed. Herbert Storing

Pauline Maier,  Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788

Sanford Levinson, Framed:  America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance

Bruce Ackerman, The Decline and Fall of the American Republic

Robert Goldwin, ed. How Democratic is the Constitution?

a course packet of selected articles, essays, and additional primary materials.

Requirements:

Class participation, including at least one presentation of a short discussion paper  25%

One take-home analytic essay  25%

One term paper  50%

About the Professors:

Professor Tulis's interests bridge the fields of political theory and American politics, including more specifically, American political development, constitutional theory, political philosophy and the American presidency.  He received the President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award at the University of Texas.  He has held research fellowships from NEH, ACLS, Olin Foundation, Harvard Law School, and the Mellon Preceptorship at Princeton University, where he taught before moving to Texas. He has held visiting positions at Notre Dame and Harvard. During the academic year 2008-09, he was a Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Fellow at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton.

Proefessor Levinson holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law, he joined the University of Texas Law School in 1980. Previously a member of the Department of Politics at Princeton University, he is also a Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas. The author of over 350 articles and book reviews in professional and popular journals--and a regular contributor to the popular blog Balkinization. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association in 2010. He has been a visiting faculty member of the Boston University, Georgetown, Harvard, New York University, and Yale law schools in the United States and has taught abroad in programs of law in London; Paris; Jerusalem; Auckland, New Zealand; and Melbourne, Australia.

Course Description

This course offers an over view of the place of the presidency in the American political order.  Topics covered include: constitutional design of the office; nominations and elections; legislative leadership; leadership of the bureaucracy; staffing and organizing the White House; the presidency and the judiciary; war and emergencies.  We will spend extra time this fall on the presidential campaign and election of 2012.

Grading Policy

Two in-class examinations  (50% of the final grade)

One short (1000 word) take-home essay (30% of the final grade)

Class participation and quizzes (20% of the final grade)

Texts

Richard J. Ellis, The Development of the American Presidency (Routledge, 2012)

Richard J. Ellis and Michael Nelson, eds, Debating the American Presidency, (2nd edition, CQ Press, 2009)

Packet of selected primary texts (to be linked or posted on Blackboard).

Course Description

This course offers an over view of the place of the presidency in the American political order.  Topics covered include: constitutional design of the office; nominations and elections; legislative leadership; leadership of the bureaucracy; staffing and organizing the White House; the presidency and the judiciary; war and emergencies.  We will spend extra time this fall on the presidential campaign and election of 2012.

Grading Policy

Two in-class examinations  (50% of the final grade)

One short (1000 word) take-home essay (30% of the final grade)

Class participation and quizzes (20% of the final grade)

Texts

Richard J. Ellis, The Development of the American Presidency (Routledge, 2012)

Richard J. Ellis and Michael Nelson, eds, Debating the American Presidency, (2nd edition, CQ Press, 2009)

Packet of selected primary texts (to be linked or posted on Blackboard).

see syllabus

see syllabus

This is a seminar on American politics and culture.   Two purposes govern the selection of texts for the course and guide our discussion of them.  All of our texts attempt to look at American politics as a whole.  Most books and courses on America look at only a part, such as the Presidency, or elections, or popular culture.  Here we attempt to think about how the parts of America fit together.  Even when these texts speak about a part, for example an institution such as the presidency or the Congress, they present the topic from a vantage point on the whole polity. To see the polity as a whole also means that we will have to revisit and rethink aspects of our political life that we take for granted – that we don’t examine because those parts have become so natural or familiar to us.  Seeing the polity whole enables us to render the familiar unfamiliar, to make what we take for granted strange and new.

To see the polity as a whole requires that we get some distance from our subject, much as to see the planet earth as a whole requires one to look at it from outer space.  Just as it is difficult to get visual perspective on a place living within it, it is difficult to understand the promise or pathologies of a regime from within it.  To get critical distance from our politics, we will closely study three sets of texts that look at American politics from a distance.   The first part of the course will recover the perspective of the founding debate between Federalists and Anti-federalists.   This fundamental debate reveals what is a stake in the basic architecture of the American regime.  The second part of the course is a close study of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.  Regarded by many as the best book ever written on democracy and the best book written on America, Tocqueville sees our polity whole because he looks at it from the vantage point of Europe, in general, and France, in particular.  In the third part of the seminar we think about American politics from the perspective of thoughtful commentators who feel only nominally included in the polity.   Half in and half out, these extraordinary black American writers reveal fissures and fault lines in the American regime.  We end the class with a discussion of America’s place in the world today – examining a speech by a writer who articulately raises challenges to our self-understanding that are inarticulately expressed today in rage and ranting from enemies of the United States.

Requirements:

Four take home writing assignments.  Analytic essays, each 1000-1500 words.  (Grades weighted: 10%, 25%, 25%, and 25%)  Late essays will not be accepted, except with a doctor’s excuse or a Dean’s excuse for family emergency. Regular preparation and class participation: 15%.

OR as an option:   By prior arrangement with me by the due date of the second analytic essay, students may substitute one longer research paper (15 – 20 pages) for two of the last three analytic papers  This paper will be on a topic of the students choosing , if I approve, and the due date will be the same as the last assigned analytic essay.  This project would count 50% of the students course grade.

Texts:

The Federalist

Selected Anti-Federalist writings

Selected writings by Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin

Solzhenitsyn, “A World Split Apart”

Tocqueville, Democracy in America

See syllabus

Course Description:

    A Study of the political relationship of the President, Congress and Court in the American constitutional order.  Has this relationship changed over the course of American history?  Is American national politics prone to stalemate or deadlock between the branches regarding major issues of public policy?  Do we have a new “imperial presidency?” Should the Court arbitrate disputes between the President and Congress over custody of their respective powers? Has Congress abdicated its constitutional responsibilities? We will examine questions like these in light of practical problems such as executive privilege and secrecy, the war on terror, budget politics and controversies regarding appointments to the Supreme Court.

  
Grading:

Three in class essay tests, for which study questions will be distributed in advance.  The exam questions will be chosen from the list of study questions.  (25% each)  One short take home essay (10% each). Class participation and attendance (15%).  


Tentative Texts:
The Federalist
Fisher, Congressional Abdication on War and Spending
Rudalevige, The New Imperial Presidency
Bessette and Tulis, The Constitutional Presidency
Skowronek, Presidency in Political Time
Goldsmith, The Terror Presidency
A course packet of articles and essays

Course Description:

    A Study of the political relationship of the President, Congress and Court in the American constitutional order.  Has this relationship changed over the course of American history?  Is American national politics prone to stalemate or deadlock between the branches regarding major issues of public policy?  Do we have a new “imperial presidency?” Should the Court arbitrate disputes between the President and Congress over custody of their respective powers? Has Congress abdicated its constitutional responsibilities? We will examine questions like these in light of practical problems such as executive privilege and secrecy, the war on terror, budget politics and controversies regarding appointments to the Supreme Court.

  
Grading:

Three in class essay tests, for which study questions will be distributed in advance.  The exam questions will be chosen from the list of study questions.  (25% each)  One short take home essay (10% each). Class participation and attendance (15%).  


Tentative Texts:
The Federalist
Fisher, Congressional Abdication on War and Spending
Rudalevige, The New Imperial Presidency
Bessette and Tulis, The Constitutional Presidency
Skowronek, Presidency in Political Time
Goldsmith, The Terror Presidency
A course packet of articles and essays

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L, which is a prerequiste. May be taken for credit only once.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Six semester hours of lower-division coursework in government.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Six semester hours of lower-division coursework in government.

Seminar in American Government and Politics.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Six semester hours of lower-division coursework in government.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Six semester hours of lower-division coursework in government.

Seminar in American Government and Politics.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L, which is a prerequiste. May be taken for credit only once.

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L, which is a prerequiste. May be taken for credit only once.

Seminar in American Government and Politics.

Please check back for updates.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L, which is a prerequiste. May be taken for credit only once.

Please check back for updates.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L, which is a prerequiste. May be taken for credit only once.

Please check back for updates.

Seminar in American Government and Politics.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L, which is a prerequiste. May be taken for credit only once.

Please check back for updates.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L, which is a prerequiste. May be taken for credit only once.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L, which is a prerequiste. May be taken for credit only once.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.