Books:

R. Douglas Arnold, The Logic of Congressional Action (Yale, 1990)
Richard Hall, Participation in Congress (Yale, 1997)
John W. Kingdon, Congressmen’s Voting Decisions, 3rd ed. (Michigan, 1989)
John McDonough, Experiencing Politics (California, 2000)
Walter Oleszek, Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process, 5th ed. (CQ Press, 2001)
Alan Rosenthal, Decline of Representative Democracy: Process, Participation, and Power in State Legislatures (CQ                 Press, 1998)

Other occasional readings may be found on-line (through the library’s “Blackboard” on-line reserve system [note: requires Internet Explorer software], or via links through this course homepage.
 

Course requirements:

• Attendance and participation (25%).  Each student will be responsible for taking the lead in discussion in one class session (excluding the Harrisburg sessions).  This means preparing discussion questions and leading your classmates through the issues raised by the readings that week.  The fact that it is not “your” week, of course, does not exempt you from being prepared for class.  If you cannot be present for a given class session you must notify me in advance.

• Short response papers and questions for outside speakers (25%).  Discussion topics will be distributed in advance of each class session, along with a question to which students should respond using the readings in a brief (c. 2 pages) essay.  For  sessions involving outside speakers, this will normally incorporate developing questions, based on the readings, for those
speakers.  You may “pass” on two weeks during the semester (thus you will write ten response papers during the semester, graded on a check-minus/check/check-plus basis).

• Research paper (50%) of 18-20 pages on an approved topic related to legislators or legislatures.  This is a very open topic, obviously, and you should start thinking about it early in the semester. While you do not need to do primary research you do need a clear hypothesis, appropriate means for testing that hypothesis, and relevant data for conducting that test.  Each member of the class will provide a 5-7 minute presentation on their topic in class at the end of the semester.  This paper is due at the time normally scheduled for the course final: May 12 at 5 p.m.

(*) indicates readings available through Blackboard
 

January 21.  Introduction.  The Context and the Players.

The United States Constitution
Federalist #51, 53, 56-57, 62, 70


I. Underlying Models

January 28.  Legislative Representation: What Does It Mean?
    Rosenthal, Ch. 1
    McDonough, Introduction, Ch. 4-5
    Hall, pp. 1-8

February 4.  Policy Models, and Policy
    McDonough, Ch. 3, 6-8
    (*) Michael Kirst, “Who’s in Charge? Federal, State, and Local Control,” in Ravitch and Vinovskis, eds., Learning from             the Past (Johns Hopkins, 1995)
    Rudalevige, “Accountability and Avoidance: The No Child Left Behind Act,” in Peterson and West, eds., Taking Account             of Accountability (Brookings, forthcoming)
    National Commission on Excellence in Education, "A Nation at Risk" and "Recommendations"  from A Nation at Risk
    Center for Education Reform, "A Nation Still at Risk," (1998)


II. Thinking About Lawmaking   

February 11.  Legislative Process in the States, and United States - I
    Rosenthal, Ch. 2, 4
    Oleszek, Ch. 1
    Kingdon, Ch. 1-2
    Arnold, Ch. 1

February 18.  Legislative Process in the States, and United States - II
    Kingdon, Ch. 3
    Arnold, Ch. 2-4
    Hall, Ch. 1-2
   
February 25. Legislative Strategies, Drafting and Formulation
    Arnold, Ch. 5-6
    (*) Steven Gillon, That’s Not What We Meant to Do, (Norton, 2000), Introduction and Ch. 5
    Jonathan Weisman, “A House-Poor Formula?” Washington Post (December 13, 2002)

    Lori Litchman, “Suit Challenging Harrisburg School Takeover Can Proceed Against State,” Pennsylvania Law Weekly 22         (June 28, 2001)
    Jay Mathews, “The Philadelphia Experiment,” Education Next (Winter 2003): 50-6.
    Sara Rimer, “Philadelphia School’s Woes Defeat Veteran Principal,” New York Times (December 15, 2002)
  
March 4.  The View from Committee.
    Oleszek, Ch. 3, 8
    Hall, Ch. 3-6

March 11. Harrisburg panel.

March 18. Spring Break

March 25.  The View from the Floor.
    Hall, Ch. 7   
    Oleszek, Ch. 4-7   

April 1. Parties and Leaders
    (*) Robert Caro, "The Orator of the Dawn," The New Yorker (March 4, 2002)
    Rosenthal, Ch. 5, 7
    Kingdon, Ch. 4

April 8.  The View from the Chief Executive’s Office
    Rosenthal, Ch. 8
    Kingdon, Ch. 6

April 15.  Interest Groups, Lobbyists, and the Media
    Kingdon, Ch. 5, 7-8
    Rosenthal, Ch. 3, 6
    (*) Timothy Cook, Governing with the News, Ch. 1, 5

   
April 22: Implementation and Oversight
    Oleszek, Ch. 9   

April 29. Concluding Thoughts
    Rosenthal, Ch. 9
    Hall, Ch. 9
    Oleszek, Ch. 10

PAPERS DUE MAY 12, 5 p.m.