POLI 210 - American National Government

3 Credits: (3 lecture)

Course Description
This course is the study of the basic process of National Government: the Congress, the President, and the Judiciary. Other topics covered include federalism, political parties, elections, interest groups, civil liberties, and public policy.

Text
Bardes, Barbara A., Marc C. Shelley II, and Steffen W. Schmidt. American Government and Politics Today: The Essentials. 20th ed. Cengage: 2022.

Objectives
The student will be able to:

A. Identify the basic operations of the national government and the national political system.

B. Classify politics as a system in which inputs flow from the electorate, political parties, and interested groups to the decision-making structure.

C. Demonstrate his/her responsibilities in the operation of the American system of government.

D. Show knowledge of work involved in effective and efficient government.

Content
The setting of the American System: Ideological foundations, constitutional framework structure of federalism, structure of the election system.

B. Inputs for the Political System: Political attitudes, functions of American Political parties; nominations, campaigns, and elections; and interest groups.

C. Structures of National Government: A description of congress and its policymaking power, office of the President and its policy-making power, the Bureaucracy and its policy-making power, the Judicial System and its policy-making power.

D. Outputs of the Political System: Civil liberties, civil rights, foreign policy, and the response of the system to the needs of the people

Student Evaluation
Evaluation will be on the basis of quizzes, tests, a final examination, classroom participation, assignments, and attendance.Bibliography
America Votes. Washington, D. C.: Congressional Quarterly, biennial.

Barber, James. The Presidential Character: Predicting Performance in the White House. 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1985.

Barone, Michael and Grant Utifusa. The Almanac of American Politics. Washington, D.C. National Journal, 1994.

Berns, Walter, ed. After the People Vote: A Guide to the Electoral College. Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, 1992.

Birnbaum, Jeffrey H. The Lobbyists: How Influence Peddlers Get Their Way in Washington. New York: Times Books, 1992.

Blumenthal, Sidney. Pledging Allegiance: The Last Campaign of the Cold War. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1990.

Boorstin, Daniel J. An American Primer. New York: Meridian, 1995.

Burns, Peltason, and Cronin. Government by the People. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1993.

Carter, T. Barton. The First Amendment and the Fifth Estate: Regulation of Electronic Mass Media. 2nd ed. Westbury, NY: Foundation Press, 1989.

Congressional Quarterly. C Q’s Guide to Current American Government. Washington D.C., CQ Press, 1993.

Corwin, Edwin. Presidential Power and the Constitution: Essays: Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1976.

Friendly, Fred and Martha J. Elliott. The Constitution: That Delicate Balance. New York: Random House, 1984.

Glennon, Michael Jay. When No Majority Rules: The Electoral College and Presidential Succession. Washington, D. C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1992.

Gordon, William A. The 4th of May: Killings and Coverups at Kent State. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1990.

Halberstam, David. The Best and the Brightest. New York: Random House, 1972.

Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States from George Washington 1789 to George Bush, 1989. Bicentennial ed. Washington, D. C.: U. S. G.P.O. 1989.

Keefe, William J. Parties, Politics, and Public Policy in America. 5th ed. Washington, D.C.: C Q Press, 1987.

Mason, Alpheus and D. Grier Stephenson. American Constitutional Law. 8th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice hall, 1987.

Noonan, Peggy. What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era. New York: Random House, 1990.

Powers of the Presidency. Washington, D. C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1989.

Rosensteil, Tom. Strange Bedfellows: How Television and the Presidential Candidates Changed American Politics, 1992. New York: Hyperion, 1993.

The Collapse of Communism. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1990.

The First Amendment–The Challenge of New Technology. New York: Praeger, 1989.

Video Cassette

FDR. The American Experience: PBS.

The Civil War. Ken Burns: PBS.

The Constitution: That Delicate Balance. Media and Society Seminars of the Columbia University Graduate School, New York: 1984.