PS 399: American Political Parties

 

 

Prof. Keith Smith
keith@uoregon.edu

Office: 820 PLC

Office Hours: 10 AM – 12 PM, MW,
and by appointment

GTF Brent Commerer
bcommere@uoregon.edu

Office: 440M McKenzie
Office Hours: 10 AM – 12 PM, Th

 

E.E. Schattschneider (1942) famously wrote, “Modern democracy is unthinkable save in terms of the parties.” But what are parties? What roles do they play in American politics? How do they operate? What effect do they have on public policy? This course examines American parties (not political parties more generally) from three perspectives: parties in the electorate, parties as electoral organizations, and parties in government.[1]

Topics include: Why parties exist, how American parties have evolved over time, why there are only two parties in the U.S., the role of parties in presidential and congressional nominations, the relationships among national and state parties, informal party organizations, party identification, party systems and realignments, political polarization (or lack thereof), independents and third parties, congressional party government, and the effects of divided government.

Books

There are three required texts for the course:

  • Barbara Hershey, Party Politics in America, 13th Edition (New York: Pearson Longman, 2008).[2]
  • L. Sandy Maisel (ed.), The Parties Respond: Changes in American Parties and Campaigns, 4th Edition (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2002).
  • David W. Brady and Pietro S. Nivola (eds.), Red and Blue America? Vol. I (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2006).

Additional readings for the course can either be downloaded from JSTOR – followed by [J] – or the course Blackboard web site – followed by [B].

Grades/Assignments

Your course grade will come from several sources. They are:

  • Quizzes – 5%
  • Debate participation – 10%
  • Debate memo – 10%
  • Party presentation – 5%
  • Other assignments – 5%
  • Take-home midterm – 25%
  • Term paper – 15%
  • Final – 25%

Quizzes: I will, from time to time, give you a short quiz based on the readings for that class meeting. (I will give you advanced warning.) There is no way to make up these points if you miss a quiz. If you miss the class, you miss the points. I will, however, omit the missed quiz from your grade for documented medical and other emergencies.

Debate participation: Each student will participate in one of five in-class debates. The dates and topics for these debates are included in the class schedule below. Each side will be given 15 minutes to make its case, with 10 minutes of questions from the opposing side. Students not participating in the debates will have the opportunity to ask questions and must submit a written evaluation of each team’s performance (part of the “other assignments” grade).

Debate memo: Each student must submit a three to five-page memo that summarizes the argument made in class. The memos are due the class after your debate.

Party presentation and memo: Students will give 5-minute presentations on a political party or significant independent presidential candidate and submit a one- to two-page memo summarizing the presentation. The party must have or be seeking ballot status in at least one state. The presentations will cover the party’s (or candidate’s) history, platform, and other information as appropriate. If an insufficient number of parties and candidates exist, I will assign other course-related topics for students to present.

Other assignments: I am trying to arrange visits from party officials to our class. They will talk about their roles in the local Democratic and Republican Parties, what the parties do, and the parties’ relationships with candidates and the state parties. Students will be required to submit written notes about the presentations (part of the “other assignments” grade).

Take-home midterm: On Friday, May 2, I will post a series of essay questions for you to answer. Your responses must be submitted through the Blackboard system by Monday, May 5, at 10 AM. I will not accept any late exams.

Term paper: The paper will be 8-10 pages long on one of seven assigned topics. See the assignment section of the course Blackboard site for the full details.

Late policy: All papers are due at the beginning of class on the date they are due. Papers that are submitted later the same day will be penalized 1/3 of a grade (i.e., dropping a B+ to a B). Papers will be penalized an additional 1/3 grade for each day they are late (Saturdays and Sundays included).

Academic Honesty

You should be familiar with the University’s policies on academic conduct, which can be found at: <http://www.uoregon.edu/~stl/programs/student_judi_affairs/academic-dishonesty.htm>. All work submitted in this course must be your own and produced exclusively for this course. The use of sources (ideas, quotations, paraphrases) must be properly acknowledged and documented (for help in avoiding plagiarism, see http://libweb.uoregon.edu/guides/plagiarism/students/). For the consequences of academic dishonesty, refer to the Schedule of Classes published quarterly. Violations will be taken seriously, will be result in notification of Student Judicial Affairs, and are noted on student disciplinary records.

 

Course Outline. This is a preliminary class schedule. We may find that some dates need to be moved around to accommodate guest speakers and other contingencies. Readings followed by [B] are posted as pdf files on the course Blackboard site. Readings followed by [J] are available through JSTOR; a link to these articles will be posted to the Blackboard site.

The reading load varies in on average about 120 pages per week. Some weeks have more. Some weeks have considerably less. You should complete each week’s readings by the Thursday class, so plan accordingly.

How should you approach the reading? My focus in lecture/discussion will be more on the concepts and theories discussed in the readings than on names, dates, and historical events. The names, dates, and historical events will be used primarily as cases and examples. Your exams will cover both. As you read, look for common themes, theories, and approaches to the topic for that week.

Week

Dates

Topics & Readings

Event

Part I: Party Preliminaries

1

4/1 & 4/3

What are parties?

·         Hershey, Party Politics in America, 1–25. [B]

·         Aldrich, Why Parties?, 3–27. [B]

No class on 4/3

2

4/8 & 4/10

Development of American parties

·         Sibley, The Parties Respond, 1–18. [B]

·         McCormick, The Party Period and Public Policy, 144–196. [B]

·         Aldrich, Why Parties?, 68–96. [B]

·         Wilson, Political Organizations, 95-118 [B]

 

3

4/15 & 4/17

The two-party system and third parties

·         Hershey, Party Politics in America, 26–44.

·         Riker, “The Two-Party System and Deverger’s Law.” [J]

·         Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy, 114–141. [B]

·         Rapoport and Stone, Three’s a Crowd, 3–15 & 25–26. [B]

·         Burden, “Ralph Nader’s Campaign Strategy in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election.” [B]

Debate: The two-party system hurts American politics.

Part II: Organizing for Conflict

4

4/22 & 4/24

Party organizations and their interrelationships

·         Hershey, Party Politics in America, 47–63 & 64–83.

·         Bibby, The Parties Respond, 19–46.

·         Herrnson, The Parties Respond, 47–78.

·         Masket, “If We Don’t Control You, Who the Hell Does?” [B]

Class visits by party officials?

5

4/29 & 5/1

Parties, nominations, and elections

·         Hershey, Party Politics in America, 157–171.

·         Cain and Mullin, The Parties Respond, 99–120.

·         California Democratic Party v. Jones [B]

·         Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party et al. [B]

·         Herrnson, “Do Parties Make a Difference?” [J]

·         Beck et al., “Presidential Campaigning at the Grass Roots.” [J]

Debate: Open primaries are unconstitutional.[3]

 

Take-home midterm posted on 5/2! The midterm will be due at 10 AM on 5/5. No late exams will be accepted.

Part III: A Polarized Electorate?

6

5/6 & 5/8

Party systems and realignments

·         Hershey, Party Politics in America, 117–136.

·         Mayhew, “Electoral Realignments.” [B]

·         Carmines and Wagner, “Political Issues and Party Alignments.” [B]

Debate: 2008 will be a critical election.

7

5/13 & 5/15

Party identification and voting

·         Hershey, Party Politics in America, 101–117 & 248–269.

·         Miller, The Parties Respond, 79–97.

·         Keith et al., “The Partisan Affinities of Independent ‘Leaners.’” [B]

·         Bartels, “Partisanship and Voting Behavior.” [J]

 

8

5/20 & 5/22

Polarization?

·         Red and Blue Nation, Ch. 1–4.

·         Bartels, “What’s the Matter with What’s the Matter with Kansas?” [B]

Debate: Polarization is good for American politics.

Part IV: Polarized Elites

9

5/27 & 5/29

Parties in Government

·         Hershey, Party Politics in America, 248–264 & 265–278.

·         Sinclair, The Parties Respond, 209–229.

·         Mackenzie, The Parties Respond, 267–290.

Debate: Divided government affects government performance.

10

6/3 & 6/5

Is Ralph Nader right, or does it actually matter who controls the government?

·         Hershey, Party Politics in America, 279–294.

·         Erikson et al., “Political Parties, Public Opinion, and State Policy in the United States.” [J]

·         Budge and Hofferbert, “Mandates and Policy Ouputs.” [J]

We will spend part of the 6/5 meeting reviewing for the final exam. Please come with questions to the class meeting.

 


[1] This is not a comparative parties class. If you are interested in such topics, see Alan Ware, Political Parties and Party Systems (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996).

[2] The 12th Edition of this book is slightly different from the 13th. If you purchase and use the 12th Edition, you are responsible for ensuring that you cover the differences.

[3] Participants in this debate have until 5/13 to submit their debate briefs.