The Polarization of American Politics

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POLS 8790: THE POLARIZATION OF AMERICAN POLITICS

Spring Semester AY2010-2011
Department of Political Science
University of Georgia
Athens, GA, 30602-1615

Classroom: Baldwin 302
Time: 3:35 - 6:35PM Mondays

Instructor: Keith T. Poole

Office: Room 304D Baldwin Hall
E-Mail: ktpoole@uga.edu
WebSite: Voteview Home Page

Office Hours: Thursday 3:00 - 5:00PM

The following texts will be used in this course:

Morris P. Fiorina. 2011. Culture War?

Gary C. Jacobson. 2011. A Divider, Not a Uniter

Nolan McCarty, Keith T. Poole, and Howard Rosenthal. 2006. Polarized America

Eric Hoffer. 1951 (2002). The True Believer

Thomas Sowell. 1987 (2007). A Conflict of Visions

John Gerring. 1998. Party Ideologies in America, 1828 - 1996

Timothy Snyder. 2010. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin

J. Anthony Lukas. 1997. Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America

Requirements

Grades will be determined by a series of 4 short (10 double-spaced pages or less) required papers evaluating the readings. The papers will be due approximately every 3-4 weeks.

Course Outline

Introduction: Defining the Subject Matter

Assignment:

The Nature of Belief Systems

Assignment:

A Conflict of Visions
"The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics," by Philip E. Converse, in Ideology and Discontent, edited by David E. Apter, New York: Free Press, 1964.

The Fanatic

Assignment:

The True Believer
Federalist Number 10 (Annotated)
Is History A Fraud?, in The Inequality of Man, J. B. S. Haldane, London: Pelican Books, 2nd edition, 1937.
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, by Timothy Snyder. New York: Basic Books, 2010.

Recommended:

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, by Simon Sebag Montefiore. New York: Vintage, 2003.
The Black Book of Communism, by Mark Kramer, Jonathan Murphy, Stephane Courtois, and Jean-Louis Panne. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.

Overview: American Politics, 1879 - 1947

Assignment:

Chapters 1 and 2, Polarized America
Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Party Ideologies in America, 1828 - 1996

Income Inequality and Political Polarization

Assignment:

"The Polarization of American Politics," by Keith T. Poole and Howard Rosenthal, Journal of Politics, 46 (Nov.): 1061-1079, 1984.
Chapters 3 and 4, Polarized America
Chapter 8, Party Ideologies in America, 1828 - 1996

Political Polarization After 1990

Assignment:

Culture War?

Political Polarization After 2000

Assignment:

"The Relationship Between Information, Ideology, and Voting Behavior," by Thomas R. Palfrey and Keith T. Poole, American Journal of Political Science, 31 (August):511-530, 1987.
A Divider, Not a Uniter
"Does Gerrymandering Cause Polarization?," by Nolan M. McCarty, Keith T. Poole and Howard Rosenthal, American Journal of Political Science, 53 (July):666-680, 2009.

Recommended:

The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy, by Alan I. Abramowitz. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010.
Disconnect: The Breakdown of Representation in American Politics, by Morris P. Fiorina. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009.
Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State, by Andrew Gelman et al. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010 (expanded edition).
Party Polarization in Congress, by Sean Theriault. New York: Cambridge, 2008.
The Big Sort, by Bill Bishop. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2008.

The Public Policy Consequences of Political Polarization

Assignment:

Chapters 6 and 7, Polarized America
The Evolving Structure of the American Economy and the Employment Challenge, Michael Spence and Sandile Hlatshwayo, 2011, Council on Foreign Relations
The American High School Graduation Rate: Trends and Levels, James J. Heckman and Paul A LaFontaine, 2007, IZA DP No. 3216, IZA, Bonn, Germany.
Chapters 1 - 3, Political Bubbles, by Nolan M. McCarty, Keith T. Poole, and Howard Rosenthal (forthcoming)