POLS 8140: The Legislative Process
Fall 2019
Class Meeting: Thursday 6:30PM-9:15PM, Baldwin 301
Office Hours: Tuesday 9:00AM-11:00AM or by appointment, Baldwin 416
Course Syllabus
Syllabus
Course Description
This course is intended to provide students with a survey of the academic literature on the U.S. Congress. The U.S. Congress is arguably the most studied political institution in the world and the amount of literature on Congress is overwhelming. This course will focus on institutional studies of the House and Senate, but will attempt to introduce all major topics common to the study of Congress.
Calendar of Discussion Leaders
Discussion leaders have a couple of duties. First, they are responsible for identifying an additional article they think would be a good addition to the week's readings. Send me the article early in the week and be prepared to tell the class about the article. Second, they are responsible for emailing discussion questions to the class on the Thursday morning before class. Finally, they are responsible for leading the class discussion.
Introduction (August 15): Lynch
Motives and Representation (August 22): Mariliz
Institutional Analysis (September 5): Austin and Christian
Parties 1 (September 12): Mitchell and Mariliz
Parties 2 (September 19): Christian and Allison
Parties 3 (September 26): Mackenzie and Mitchell
Committees (October 3): Mitchell and Mackenzie
Rules and Procedure (October 10): Allison and Adam
Senate 1 (October 17): Austin and Christian
Senate 2 (October 24): Allison and Adam
Separation of Powers 1 (October 31): Mackenzie and Austin
Separation of Powers 2 (November 7): Adam and Mariliz
Measurement (November 14): Lynch and special guest, Tony Madonna