The Carnegie Pulse: Pulse Scheduler: 88-317 American Legislative Institutions

88-317 American Legislative Institutions

Units:	9.0
Department:	Social & Decision Sci.
Notes:	Some seats are reserved for students in SDS.
Related URLs:	http://hss.cmu.edu/HTML/departments/sds/

The US Congress was constituted as, and largely remains, the central institution in American politics. The study of Congress connects many important themes in the study of politics. Students will develop an understanding of the relationships among actors and institutions, will develop and sharpen their analytic skills, and will acquire strong, diverse and usable communication skills. Students will learn to evaluate and design congressional electoral campaign plans, campaign finance, career-advancement strategies, and legislative strategies. The course will include an extended simulation of Congressional lawmaking that will include roll playing, debate, compromise and (possibly) legislating. We will learn how to explain, design, and solve one-dimensional and multi-dimensional spatial models of legislative politics. Students will analyze the institutional development of the Congress, and explain the role of institutional structure (e.g. committees, parties). We will study the development of the scientific study of Congress, and students will construct a research paper drawing upon the Congress literature and course contents. This course should be of interest to political science majors and non-majors alike. Focused study of this central legislative institution will provide knowledge and analytical tools useful for later careers in government, business, or non-profit sectors.

Popularity index

Rank for this semester:	#781

Rank in this department:	#13

Students also scheduled

Spring 2005 times

Sec	Time	Day	Instructor	Location
A	10:30 - 11:20 am	M	Richman	PH 126A

		W	Richman	PH 126A

		F	Richman	PH 126A