Course Meeting Times
Seminars: 1 session / week, 2 hours / session
Course Description
The purpose of this class is to prepare graduate students for professional research into congressional politics in particular and legislatures more generally. When the semester is finished, you should be well enough acquainted with the sweep of the congressional literature, both historical and contemporary, that you could do well on a PhD general exam question about Congress, in addition to doing original research in the field.
Readings
We will be reading excerpts from numerous books during the semester. I suggest you buy them all, so that you can read them through later on your own time, and can refer to them throughout your career. Large enough portions of the following books will be read that I strongly encourage you to purchase your own copies, rather than attempt to read them online:
- David R. Mayhew. 2004. Congress: The Electoral Connection. 2nd ed. Yale University Press. ISBN: 9780300105872. [Preview with Google Books]
- Keith Krehbiel. 1998. Pivotal Politics. University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 9780226452722. [Preview with Google Books]
- David W. Rohde. 1991. Parties and Leaders in the Postreform House of Representatives. University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 9780226724072. [Preview with Google Books]
- Gary W. Cox and Matthew D. McCubbins. 2005. Setting the Agenda. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9780521619967. [Preview with Google Books]
I am also assuming that everyone is familiar with the basics of congressional politics. I will include the second edition of my textbook, Analyzing Congress. Because it is twelve years old, it is out of date with respect to recent developments, but its general approach is what I will be pursuing in this class. If you’d like a more contemporary textbook to use, I’d recommend Steven S. Smith, Jason M. Roberts, and Ryan J. Vander Wilen, The American Congress or E.Scott Adler, Jeffery A. Jenkins, and Charles R. Shipan, The United States Congress.
For further detail, see the Readings section.
Assignments
Attend all classes, with all the reading done, ready to discuss
- I will assign class members to take responsibility for keeping the discussion going, on a rotating basis. There is a lot of reading. Don’t get behind.
Discussion agenda memos
Lead your share of class discussions
- Every member of the seminar is responsible for setting the agenda for several class sessions. Depending on the number of people taking the class, this can range from 2 to 3 sessions (probably). I will make assignments right after the first class meeting. Rather than being on your own, I’ll assign pairs of people to be in charge.
“General exam” essays
For detail on the discussion agenda memos and the “general exam” essays, see the Assignments section.
