POL S 351 A: The American Democracy

POL S 351 The American Democracy

Scott Lemieux, slemieux@uw.edu

Gowen Hall 114

Office Hours: M 1:15-2:15, or virtual by appointment  

TA:  Yi Zhang, yiz42@uw.edu; GWN 32; Office Hours: M/W: 1-2 pm, or by appointment

 Course objectives: This course will examine both the history and current state of American democracy. We will consider issues including the democratic legitimacy of American political institutions, immigration, voting rights, and equal citizenship, and healthcare. Students will be asked to reflect on what democratic values are and how American politics meets and fails to meet them.

General Requirements and Class Policies:

• Online interactions should follow the "netiquette" guidelinesLinks to an external site. of the university. Always treat your peers and instructors respectfully. 
• Plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of academic dishonesty (Links to an external site.) will result in a grade of “0” for the given exam/assignment, and students will also be subject to the UW’s disciplinary procedures. All material submitted online may be subject to VeriCite or other plagiarism detection software.
• Please inform an instructor if you have a disability that will require accommodation.  You will be provided with any accommodation mandated by the Americans With Disabilities Act, state and local regulations, and university policy.
• Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/)

. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/)

Exams and grade distribution:

This course will have three, non-cumulative online exams. Each will be worth one third of the grade.

Grade appeals process: 

1. If you would like to appeal your grade, please wait 24 hours after receiving your assignment. After 24 hours have elapsed, submit a typed and printed appeal and that explains why you deserve a better grade and the graded assignment to the TA. Please note that your entire assignment will be regraded.
2. Once the TA has reviewed your appeal, he or she will set up a virtual "appointment" to discuss your appeal.
3. If you are still unsatisfied with your grade, the TA will take your assignment and appeal to the professor. Please note that the professor will not review your appeal until the TA has made an assessment of your appeal.
4. Note that if you request a re-grade by the professor your grade may be lowered, raised, or left unchanged once you have submitted your grade appeal.
5. All grade appeals must be submitted within one week of the graded assignment being handed back.

Course books:

 The books for the course are available for purchase at the University Bookstore and all major online booksellers"

Liliana Mason, Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity (University of Chicago Press, 2018)

Michelle Adams, The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North (Macmillan: 2025)

Mary Ziegler, Abortion and the Law in America (Cambridge University Press, 2020.)

Class Schedule

Note: Articles marked with an asterisk (*) are available as PDFs in the "Course Files" section of Canvas as well as academic databases.

3/30 Class Introduction

I. A Crisis of American Democracy?

4/1 Matthew Yglesias, "Juan Linz's Bad News For America."

Scott Mainwaring and Matthew S. Shugart, "Juan Linz, Presidentialism, and Democracy: A Critical Appraisal."*

4/6 Benjamin Wallace-Wells, "Examining the Case Against the Filibuster," The New Yorker, February 4, 2021

Joe Manchin, "I Will Not Vote to Weaken or Eliminate the Filibuster"

Mary Clare Jalonick, "New Majority Leader Thune kicks off Senate session with pledge to preserve filibuster"

II. The Causes and Effects of Elite Polarization 

4/8 Sam Rosenfeld, "Two Cheers For Polarization"

Mason, Uncivil Agreement Ch. 1-2

4/13 Mason, Ch. 3-6

4/15 Mason Ch. 7-8

First Midterm Exam Distributed April 17.  Exam due via Canvas by 6 PM on April 20.

Lecture cancelled April 20.

III. The Supreme Court and American Democracy 

4/22-27 Michael Klarman, "The Degradation of American Democracy," Harvard Law Review (134: 2020) 1-66; 178-262

[Reply:] Thomas Griffith, "The Degradation of Civic Charity"  

Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak, "The Inside Story of Five Days that Remade the Roberts Court" [gift link]

Steve Vladeck, "Chief Justice Roberts and the Clean Power Plan"

Jack Goldsmith, "The NYT and the Shadow Papers"

4/29 Ari Berman, "The Lost Promise of the Voting Rights Act," The Atlantic, August 5, 2015

IV. The Supreme Court and School Desegregation After Brown 

5/4-13 Michelle Adams, The Containment 

5/4 Ch. 1-8

5/6 Ch. 9-14

5/11 Ch. 15-19

5/13 Ch. 20-24, Epilogue 

Second Midterm Exam distributed May 15. Due through Canvas by May 18 at 6 PM. 

Class cancelled May 18. 

IV. American Democracy and the Politics of Abortion 

Ziegler, Abortion and American Politics 

5/20: Introduction, Ch. 1-2. 

5/27: Ch 3-5

6/1: Ch. 6-7

6/3 Conclusion, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health [excerpts]*

Final exam distributed Friday, March 14. Exam due through Canvas at 6PM on Wednesday, March 19.