POL S 353 A: United States Congress

Syllabus for POLS 353 Fall 2024

Course Overview:

This course focuses on the U.S. Congress. The purpose of the course is to learn about the history and development of the Congress, in addition to 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 opinion) dimensions of the Congress. A large segment of the course will also focus on the policy process, gridlock, and the interaction of the legislative branch with other political actors. Additional topics include representation, redistricting, organization within the Congress, polarization, and recent legislation.

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.

Renting, used, and e-versions are all considerably cheaper than new paperback versions of the texts. 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. The campus bookstore may also have used copies of these books.