The idea of America has been influential for centuries. In the 1700s and 1800s, millions of immigrants made the journey to a new life in America. The reality of American power has been evident for more than a century. In the 1900s, the US became an economic and military superpower, on the winning side in two world wars and the cold war. In the 21st century, the US remains a linchpin, a role model, and a source of stress, fear, and hope in international affairs. The goal of this course is to deepen understanding of American politics today.

POLSC229 examines the contemporary domestic politics of the United States, in a comparative context. It discusses how the US political system is intended to work in theory, how it actually works in practice, and how it has changed over time. Exceptional or unusual aspects of US politics are considered, to investigate how and why the US is different from other modern democracies, like New Zealand. A sample of policy areas is also analysed, such as guns, abortion, welfare, immigration, and LGBT rights, to illustrate and highlight similarities and differences, and strengths and weaknesses, of the American approach to politics.

Mexican leader Porfirio Díaz lamented in 1910, “poor Mexico, so far from God, and so close to the United States.” In a globalized world, everyone is close to the United States, for good or ill, and can benefit from having a more thoughtful and informed view of US politics.

Structure
There are four parts to the course:

• Part 1: Foundations (weeks 1-3). Examines US political history and political culture, the formal rules of US politics found in constitutions and laws, and the informal norms that govern politics, such as dominant ideas, ideologies, and political parties.
  
• Part 2: Centers of Power (weeks 4-7). Focuses on the most powerful actors in US politics, the presidency and Congress.
  
• Part 3: Margins of Power (weeks 8-10). The role, power, and limits of other political actors, such as the judiciary, state governments, the media, citizens, and interest groups.
  
• Part 4: Current Issues (weeks 11-12). Four contemporary issues, chosen by students, are discussed in more detail. Possibilities include: abortion, guns, welfare, immigration, LGBT rights, economic inequality, and voting rights.

Lectures
Every week, lecture videos are posted to the Panopto section on the course website in Moodle. There will be approximately two hours of lecture content per week, divided up into four short videos of roughly 30 minutes each. One short lecture video will be posted to Moodle each weekday. The first lecture video is posted on Monday 10 July. Students can choose to watch new lecture videos daily, or to wait and bingewatch several of them at the end of the week. Lecture Powerpoint files are available in weekly sections in Moodle.

Tutorials
Students are expected to participate in one zoom tutorial held online weekly, at a day/time to be voted on by students before the trimester begins. Tutorials begin in the second week of trimester. Tutorials discuss the content from the previous week’s lectures and readings. Participation in tutorials will help students to understand the course material, and in particular help students identify the key points and questions they should focus upon. The best way to prepare for tests is to participate in tutorials.

All required and supplementary readings for this course are available for free online through the Moodle website. A sample of readings per topic has been provided in the schedule above.

The required textbook for this course is:

Krutz, G. (2021). American Government, 3rd ed. OpenStax.

This textbook is available free from the publisher under a creative commons license, and is also available on Moodle in the Teaching section. It can be read online, or downloaded as a pdf.

A secondary text you might find useful is:

McKay, D. (2013). American politics and society, 8th ed. John Wiley & Sons.

This text is available to read online through the university library.

All required resources for this course are provided on Moodle.

As optional resources, the library has numerous books and ebooks that are introductory texts on US politics. You may find these useful supplementary texts or as research sources when writing your assignments.

For example, for library books a LOC classification code beginning JKxxx.xxx is the standard code for books on US politics and government, e.g. JK276.xxx for US politics textbooks.