Spring 2004
Fully Enrolled

SOCS 621 (AMST)
Prelude to Political Choice: American Politics and the 2004 Elections

Eisner,Marc A.

01/26/2004 - 05/08/2004
Monday 06:00 PM - 08:30 PM

Public Affairs Center 136

How does one make sense of contemporary American politics? The past decade has witnessed unified Republican control of the Congress, the Contract with America, historic reforms in the welfare system, an impeachment, a presidential contest decided in the Supreme Court, terrorist attacks, dramatic shifts in foreign policy, war in the Middle East, conflicts over how to reconcile civil liberties and domestic security, and unprecedented budget deficits followed by unprecedented surpluses and the return to deficits.

This course begins with a survey of contemporary critiques of American politics. It turns to examine a set of core policy debates in domestic and foreign policy designed to reveal the competing policy positions and the important decisions facing the nation in the upcoming presidential election. On the domestic side, we will be particularly concerned with education, welfare, and economic policy. On the international side, we will explore the collapse of the Kyoto Protocol and the Bush doctrine of preemption.

Students will be graded on class participation, presentations, and brief analytical essays.


Marc Eisner (B.A. University of Wisconsin; M.A. Marquette University; M.B.A. University of Connecticut; Ph.D. University of Wisconsin) is professor of government and Henry Merritt Wriston chair in public policy. He is author of six books, including Governing the Environment: The Transformation of Environmental Governance (Lynne Rienner, 2007), and is past president of the New England Political Science Association. Click here for more information about Marc Eisner.

ENROLLMENT INFORMATION

Consent of Instructor Required: No

Format: Seminar

Level: GLSP Credits: 3 Enrollment Limit: 18

Texts to purchase for this course:
James Carville, HAD ENOUGH? (Simon & Schuster) Hardcover

Fred Greenstein, THE GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENCY (John Hopkins University Press) Paperback

Nat Hentoff, THE WAR ON THE BILL OF RIGHTS AND THE GATHERING RESISTANCE (Seven Stories Press) Hardcover

David Horowitz, HOW TO BEAT THE DEMOCRATS AND OTHER SUBVERSIVE IDEAS (Spence Publishers) Paperback

Jonathan Rauch, THE GOVERNMENT'S END (PublicAffairs) Paperback

John White, VALUES DIVIDE (Chatham House) Paperback

Fareed Zakoria, THE FUTURE OF FREEDOM (W.W. Norton) Hardcover

READING MATERIALS AVAILABLE AT BROAD STREET BOOKS, 45 BROAD STREET, MIDDLETOWN, 860-685-7323

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