Seminar in category Offizielle Lehrveranstaltungen
First date
Wednesday, 13.04.2011 12:15 - 13:45
Participants
Studierende des Master-Studienganges "Parlamentsfragen und Zivilgesellschaft" (max. 12 Studierende);
Studierende im Hauptstudium (PO D, MA, Lehramt Gymnasium) (max. 20 Studierende)
Pre-requisites
- Zulassung zum Masterstudiengang (wünschenswert: erfolgreicher Abschluss der politikwissenschaftlichen Module des 1. Semesters)
- bestandene Zwischenprüfung/Vordiplom
Performance record
Voraussetzung für den Erwerb eines Leistungsscheins sind regelmäßige und aktive Teilnahme, Referat, Textpräsentation bzw. Diskussionsleitung, Hausarbeit
This is an MA seminar intended to fulfill the requirements of the parliamenarism module. The seminar will be conducted in English, and most but not all of the course readings will be in English.
The course will examine the concept of political leadership, primarily in the US governmental system. The lectures will focus on the role of the American president and the formal party leaders in the Congress and their interaction in the making of public policy. In addition, the different role and styles of party leaders in the American House and Senate will be examined, as will the concepts of separation of powers. The course will examine the evolution of national political parties in the United States and the relationship between national/state/local political party leadership, and the role of government leaders as leaders of national party organizations. Reform of leadership structures in government and of the political party structures will be discussed, as will the role of dissenting political organizations such as the Tea Party Movement.
The seminar will be organized as folllows: after the initial class organization session, the next several class sessions will be devoted to lectures by the professor to survey the major topics and research sources available in the seminar. By the third class session, student presentations will begin and will continue each week.
Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to deliver one in class oral presentation, and to complete a semester paper on either the subject of their oral presentation or, with the professor's prior approval, on another topic relevant to the seminar.
Books for the course include:
Cox, Legislative Leviathan
Cronin, The Paradoxes of the American Presidency
Smith, S. Party Influence in Congress
Korzi, A Seat of Popular Leadership: the presidency, political parties, and democratic government
Students are also expected to utilize electronic sources such as academic journal articles, current affairs magazines such as The Economist, newspapers and news gathering sources such as Huffington Post, The Drudge Report, and other such rapidly changing sources.
