American Politics Graduate Seminar / Advanced Topics in American Politics

This seminar examines prominent classical and contemporary works in the two major subfields of American politics: political institutions and political behavior. The seminar addresses topics such as Congress, the presidency, the bureaucracy, and the courts, but also public opinion, elections, campaigns, political parties, and the importance of geography, wealth, ethnicity, gender, and religion in politics. There is an emphasis on analyzing and appraising the theory, methodology, and contributions of the selected readings, and on discussing their complementarity. Intensive discussions and written essays are key components of the course.