POL S 353 A: United States Congress

Complete Syllabus for POLS 353 here.

This course focuses on the U.S. Congress. The purpose of the course is to learn about both the history and development of the Congress, but also the current state of Congress. The course will examine various internal (i.e. institutional rules and procedures) and external (i.e. campaigns and elections, interest groups, public o pinion) dimensions of the Congress. A large segment of the course will also focus on the policy process, gridlock, and the interaction of legislative branch with other political actors. Other topics include representation, redistricting, organization within the Congress, partisan politics and polarization, and case studies of recent legislation.

This course engages scholarship using a range methodological and theoretical approaches including historical analyses, statistical analyses, rational choice theory, and formal theory (game theory).

The assignments in this course will be two exams (midterm and final), a paper,  and participation in section. 

Required Books:

The United States Congress, 2^nd Edition, E. Scott Adler, Jeffrey A. Jenkins, and Charles R. Shipan, Norton, 2021, 

Congress Reconsidered, 12th Edition, Lawrence Dodd, Bruce Oppenheimer, and C. Lawrence Evans, CQ Press 2020

The books may be purchased at the university bookstore. You are welcome to purchase print, kindle, or e-versions of the books that are available in these editions.

You may find these books available at a lower cost from online websites (such as Amazon or directly from Norton) for purchase new or used, in e-book format, or available for rent at a significantly reduced price.