Syllabi-GOVT2301-Summer+2009

This is ready to go. I may edit for style, but this is complete information for the summer classes.

Kevin Jefferies Office: D-225 Office Phone: 281-756-3736 email:** **kjefferies@alvincollege.edu**
 * Government 2301
 * class blog:** [|**http://theweakerparty.blogspot.com/**]

GOVT 2301 - INC**
 * GOVT 2301 - 03


 * //Note://** //This course is designed to be used by both lecture students and internet students. Though textbooks are available at the bookstore (see below) all readings are available online. This requires you to have a reliable internet connection. Talk to me if this poses problems for you. Also be sure to let me know if links no longer work.//


 * Course Description:** This is the first of two required courses designed to familiarize students with the nature of national, state, and local government. I focus principally on the factors which led to the development of the Constitution (both U.S. and Texas), and the nature of the institutions which have evolved in the Constitution’s wake. This will involve an analysis of the basic terminology of government and politics, readings of the founding documents (The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, The U.S. and Texas Constitutions, and the Federalist Papers). We will also pay serious attention to documents and developments dating from British and Roman history, since so much of our constitutional system (like the concepts of separated powers and individual liberty) is based on concepts dating back to those eras.

We will analyze the evolving realtionship between the national, state, and local governments, including lingering controversies concerning which level of government should be responsible for what policies. Each level claims to be sovereign, but this invites conflict. We will come to grips with how these conflicts have been worked out through our history, and what conflicts exist currently. This also allows us to begin to understand the specific relationship that exists between Texas and local government (the greater Houston area) and the national government. It also allows us to approach the evolution of government from a historical standpoint.

We will adopt a similar overview of the evolving electoral process, as well as the party system in the nation and state. Elections are vitally important in democratic systems, without elections there is no democracy. But the process has changed dramatically, especially if we consider how attitudes towards democracy, as well as the nature of democracy, has changed over time. We will see that governing system had strong elite components early on, but mass participation has increased substantively over our history. The organization of parties and the strength of individuals candidates has also evolved.

Perhaps the most important concept in American government is the idea that it is based on individual freedom. While the Constitution establishes a system that allows the government sufficient strength to provide the security and economic foundation upon which a nation can be built, checks have been introduced in order to protect individuals (or attempt to protect individuals) from the arbitrary and capricious use of governmental power. The very reason these limits exist is due to the idea expressed in the Declaration of Independence that the very purpose of government is to secure the unalienable rights of the people. This is the heart of the concept of civil liberties, freedoms that individuals possess and are protected by the systems of separated powers and by the Bill of Rights. We will analyze both the US and Texas Bills of Rights and see how each has changed over time, and the controversies over how these liberties are defined.

Three specific protections established in the Bill of Rights have led to the development of three key outside influences on government: public opinion, interest groups and the media. These are relate respectively to the freedoms of speech, press and peacefull assembly to petition government for a redress of grievances. We explore the impact each has on the governing process as well as the constitutional controversies associated with each.

We will conclude with a discussion of civil rights, and special attention to the Fourteenth Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause. Whereas civil liberties concern the freedoms people have from government, civil rights concerns the obligations that government have in order to ensure (1) that people have a basic level of freedoms and (2) are treated equally before the law. During most of human history, governing systems have included some class system that grants privileges to one group and restricts them from others. The establishement of the United States itself can be considered to be a step in the process by which these privileges have been removed, but the process has been, and continues to be, contentious. We will discuss controversies associated with the expansion of equality across different groups and issues associeted with what in fact it means to be equal and how equality is best obtained.


 * Readings**: All of the readings in this class are available online. Look at the calendar below and you will notice a variety of subjects listed next to dates. Click on the appropriate subject and you will be taken to a separate page that will contain some basic text, plus a variety of links taking you to additional information about the subject matter. You will also see a variety of study guide questions and the appropriate assignment, which will vary depending on whether you are a lecture or online student.

You'll notice that I often link to Wikipedia pages, the open-sourced web based encyclopedia. Wikipedia is often criticized as being unreliable and subject to manipulation. In some cases entries are edited by people who wish to bias the information contained in the article for self interested reasons. In some cases this is true, but the site has become increasingly reliable, especially with relatively non-controversial or hisltorical topics. I have found the range of articles available to be impressive. There is easily accessible information available there, that simply cannot be found elsewhere. I have found it to be very useful for my purposes. Perhaps its best feature is that it records all edits and allows for discussions of controveries associated with how subjects are discussed.

Here are some links that touch on controversies associated with Wikipedia:

- [|Dean's World]. - [|EDUCAUSE]. - [|Reliability of Wikipedia, from Wikipedia itself].

//Lowi, Theodore, Benjamin Ginsberg and Kenneth Shepsle. American Government. 10th Edition. New York: W.W. Norton. Brown, Lyle et al. Practicing Texas Politics. 13th Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.//

You will notice that [|I also maintain a blog where I post], more or less, daily items pertaining to the subject matter of the class. want you to go to the page and subscribe to it (you will see a button on the right hand side of the page that allows you to do so). That way you will be able to receive information regarding not only what we will cover in the class, but also notices about the class itself.


 * Grading:** A = 89.5 - 100; B = 79.5 - 89.5; C = 69.5 - 79.5; D = 59.5 - 69.5; F 59.5 - 0

Your grade will be based on the following:

Cumulative Final (20%) Paper #1: Political Autobiography (10%) Paper #2: Outline of a Bill Before the Texas Legislature (10%)**
 * Weekly Quizes and/or Written Assignments (60%)


 * Weekly Quizes and/or Written Assignments**: Each week we will have a quiz on the material we covered that week, if you are a lecture students, or a small set of written questions, if you are an internet student. This is meant not only to evaluate your understanding of the material but to give me an idea about how well I am communicating it. For my lecture students, there will be no specific format for these quizes. They can be a combination of multiple choice questions, true and false questions, fill in the blanks and short answers. The internet students will be given almost exclusively short answer questions. I will feel free to ask questions about current events as well as lecture material.


 * Cumulative Final**: On the last day of class I will give you a cumulative exam which will cover the range of material we covered in the previous lectures.


 * Paper #1: Political Autobiography:** I want you to investigate your own political opinions and explain why you have them. Describe what factors have led to your political affiliations, attachment or repulsion to certain political figures, and positions on various policy issues. Even if you are not that interested in politics, explain why that is the case as well. Think about the impact of your family, yoru peers, the schools you have attended and the various events that have happened over the course of your life that have had an impact on you. Write at least 1000 words. This is an informal assignment, reasonable efforts will be rewarded. I want this done quickly, It will be due by midnight Sunday June 21. Email this to me (either using microsoft word, or pasted into an email) at this address: **kjefferies@alvincollege.edu**


 * Paper #2: Outline of a Bill Before the Texas Legislature**: The Texas Legislature just wrapped up its 81st Session. It would be appropriate for us to review its activities. In my lecture class, we will review a list of some of the key bills passed in the session. I want you to select a bill and thoroughly describe the bill and pay special to the political conflicts associated with it. This will include an analysis of where the various interest groups in Texas line up on the legislation as well as the nature of the members who wrote, sponsored and co-sponsored the legislation. I have been posting information on some of the bill in the legislature on my blog. You can view them by clicking on the tab labelled [|81st Session]. You can also look up bills on your own by going to the [|Texas Legislature Online]. I don't want repetition, so please claim a bill for yourself as soon as possible. My recently completed 3 week minimester did this assignment, and they selected a handful of bills to analyze. Do not select these bills. You can find the bills they worked on by going to this page.

I would like you to put your work on this wiki site, on the page I linked you to in the last sentence. I will work you through the process soon. I'll set up a page for you and have you do the work on the page itself -- you can use the work the minimester students did as a guide. I want your work to be accessible to everyone. The completed work is to be at least 1000 words long and must be finished by the morning of Wednesday August 12th, which is the last day of class.

We will discuss these repeatedly in class.


 * Regarding Student Behavior:** You are adults and will be expected to act accordingly. This is true whether you are in my lecture or online classes. Lecture students, do not sleep or engage in idle chatter in the classroom. Unruly students will be asked to leave. I encourage active discussion, so be prepared to state your opinions and justify them. I also expect you to come to class prepared to discuss the material at hand. Be ready to be called on at any moment to answer questions about the subject matter.

Online students, I expect you to do your own work. This means that you will not ask anyone else to write papers for you, or you will not simply copy text from various sources and tell me you did it.

Among the Founders, proper behavior was considered to be a necessary mark of a civilized person and a requirement for political participation. Read through Washington's [|Rules for Civility and Decent Behavior] are a great example. Consider adopting a few.

//Please Not: If you have any disabilities or other special needs that will affect your ability to learn in this class, please inform me of them. Appropriate steps will be taken to make reasonable accomodations and assiist you with your needs.//


 * Scholastic Dishonesty:** If you cheat in any way in this class and are caught, you will fail the course. Do not download items from the internet and pass them off as your own.

Calendar:

Please note: - Lecture students will be quized on each week's material at the start of each class, the following Tuesday (Ex: the week one quiz will be on July 16th) - Online students are to email me their written work by midnight Sunday folloing each week (Ex: the week one answers will be due July 14)

Week One (June 9 - 11) - Natural Rights and the Declaration of Independence. //Lecture Student's Quiz on June 16 Online Student's Written Work due: June 14//

Week Two (June 15 - 18) - Federalist #10 and the Violence of Factions. //Lecture Student's Quiz on June 23 Online Student's Written Work due: June 21//

Week Three (June 22 - 25) - Federalist #51 and the Separation of Powers. //Lecture Student's Quiz on June 30 Online Student's Written Work due: June 28//

Week Four (June 29 - July 2) - The United States Constitution. //Lecture Student's Quiz on July 7 Online Student's Written Work due: July 5//

Week Five (July 6 - 9) - The 10th Amendment, Federalism and the Texas Constitution. //Lecture Student's Quiz on July 14 Online Student's Written Work due: July 12//

Week Six (July 13 - 16) - The Electoral System //Lecture Student's Quiz on July 21 Online Student's Written Work due: July 19//

Week Seven (July 20 - 23) - The Development of Political Parties. //Lecture Student's Quiz on July 28 Online Student's Written Work due: July 26//

Week Eight (July 27 - 30) - Civil Liberties and the Bill of Rights. //Lecture Student's Quiz on August 4 Online Student's Written Work due: August 2//

Week Nine (August 3 - 6) - The Rights of Speech, Press, Assembly and Petition. //Lecture Student's Quiz on August 11 Online Student's Written Work due: August 9//

Week Ten (August 10 - 12) - Civil Rights and the Equal Protection Clause. //Lecture Student's Quiz on August 17//

Week Eleven (August 17) //Online Student's Written Work (paper #2) due: August 18// Finals are Cancelled