New Questions in American Politics

This course is major restricted to Political Science juniors, Political Science seniors and graduate students. Most of the conventional wisdom about American politics was formed decades ago, and is now being tested by a series of unforeseen or unprecedented political developments. This course will explore how empirical academic scholarship is making sense of important recent changes in the operation of American political institutions and the behavior of the mass public. Topics will include the evolution of the two major parties, the transformation of the media landscape, the centralization of congressional policy-making, new debates over the proper relationship between politics and science, and the rising popular salience of conflicts over cultural values.