This course offers a broad survey of American politics, beginning with the nation's founding and ending with current-day political issues. This course is divided into five parts: (1) Designing America, (2) Liberties and Rights, (3) Political Behavior, (4) Campaigns, Elections, and Political Parties, and (5) Political Institutions. Within each section, lectures and readings will focus on answering “key questions". Some questions we will consider this semester include: How did 55 guys hammer out the Constitution? Can the government regulate your sex life? What is the electoral college anyways? And is the federal government hopelessly broken?

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The content of this course is organized around key questions about American politics. Some of the questions pertain to straightforward nuts and bolts about U.S. government (How doesn’t a bill become a law? How does a case get to the Supreme Court?) Other questions provide you with multiple factors to shed light on why the system operates the way it does (Why do members of Congress almost always get reelected? Why do people join interest groups? ). And still others encourage you to consider competing arguments about U.S. politics (Did the Founders believe in democracy? Is there too much money in politics?).

This course examines U.S. presidential and congressional campaigns and elections through the lens of the 2024 cycle. How do political scientists study and understand electoral politics? What generalizations can we make about candidates, parties, campaigns, the media, the electoral context, rules of the game, and voters? How do these components and players interact? Do theory and practice converge? We will rely on analyses from political scientists, journalists, pundits, candidates, and voters as we embark on an in-depth study of Election 2024. And unlike most courses, we will teach this course from an explicitly bipartisan perspective.

This course examines public opinion and assesses its place in the American political system. Students complete a semester-long original public opinion research project on a topic of their choosing.

This course will focused on the big questions about Congress today such as: How are laws really made? How do legislative rules affect policy outcomes? Why is Congress so unpopular? What legislative reforms would help “fix” Congress?Where does money matter in Congress?

This course adopts an institutional approach to studying the U.S. Presidency. It focuses on (1) the evolution of the modern presidency, (2) the formal and informal powers of the president, and (3) inter-branch relations with the executive.