Course Description
Required Texts
Course Requirements
Appendix of Additional Assignments

Course Description

This course examines the formal institutions of American governance, including the US Congress, Presidency, federal courts, and the bureaucracy. The course relies on extensive role-playing to equip students with a hands-on understanding of the procedures utilized by all three branches of government, the complexity of public policy decision-making, and the motivations and resources of various governmental actors. Over the course of the semester, all students will adopt the roles of various formal and informal government actors, including members of Congress, interest groups, the President, the White House Press Secretary, Supreme Court Justices, Supreme Court clerks, and litigants engaged in cases before the Supreme Court. In their roles, students will simulate real life political events, including a congressional hearing, congressional debate on the House floor, a presidential Rose Garden address and a presidential press conference, oral argument before the Supreme Court, and more. Contemporary policy issues are incorporated to provide a common point of departure for the simulated activities.

Required Texts

Baum, Lawrence. 2000. The Supreme Court. 7th edition. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

Dolan, Julie, and Marni Ezra. 2001a. CQ’s Legislative Simulation: Government in Action.  Washington, DC: CQ Press.

Dolan, Julie and Marni Ezra. 2001b. CQ’s White House Media Simulation: Government in  Action. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

Dolan and Ezra. 2002. CQ’s Supreme Court Simulation: Government in Action. Washington,  DC: CQ Press.

Pfiffner, James P. and Roger Davidson. Understanding the Presidency. 1st or 2nd edition (1997 or  2000). New York: Addison Wesley Longman or Allyn & Bacon Longman.

Price, David E. 2000. The Congressional Experience. 2nd edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Additional readings (marked with an ‘*’ throughout syllabus).  These are all available either online or on reserve in DeWitt Wallace Library.

Course Requirements

 1) Class participation (25%)
 2) Three papers (60%)
 3) Various written assignments for simulation exercises (15%)

1) Participation (25%)
The full participation of all students is expected.  This means that students will be on time and well prepared for all class sessions.  You should do the assigned readings and come to class prepared to discuss and question them. Your attendance matters a great deal and you cannot participate if you are not in class. I do take attendance daily and regularly monitor students’ participation. Tardiness is NOT acceptable.  Being tardy for class three times will be treated as missing one entire class. If you have difficulty attending class regularly or arriving on time, you should NOT be enrolled in this class.

The bulk of your participation grade will be based on your contribution to various in-class simulation exercises. Almost all class sessions will include at least one simulation exercise where you are expected to role-play a specific character. Each student in the class is required to adopt a total of three different roles, one for each of the three branches of government we will cover (legislative, executive, and judicial). These roles will be assigned on the first evening of class (January 28th). In addition, to ensure that student responsibilities are divided as equitably as possible, every student must play one of the following major roles: legislative committee chair, legislative committee ranking member, presidential press secretary, Supreme Court Justice, or lawyer going before the Supreme Court. Besides playing one of the aforementioned roles, each student will also play two additional roles. Every person enrolled in the class must actively participate in the simulation exercises.  Your participation grade will be lowered at least 10 points for each of the simulated exercises you miss!

2) Three Papers (60%)
All students are required to write three major papers over the course of the semester, consisting of one paper that corresponds to each branch of government. These papers are designed to assist you in preparing for your specific roles throughout the various simulations. The specific papers that each student will write will correspond with the roles he or she has selected for each of the three simulations. These paper topics and due dates are explained in further detail in the Appendix. If you have ANY QUESTIONS about the various written assignments required of you, be sure to get these questions answered as early in the semester as possible. Late work will not be accepted except under extraordinary circumstances. Each of these papers is worth 20% of your final grade.

3) Various Written Assignments for Simulation Exercises (15%)
Depending on the simulation roles you adopt, you will be required to complete a variety of shorter writing assignments (see Appendix for further details). Each of these assignments MUST be completed on or before the due date specified. Failure to comply with the due dates will result in a failing grade.