Office Hours Monday 3:30 – 4:30, Wednesday 10:30 – 11:30

This course is an introduction to the study of the United States Congress. Students will be introduced to a number of prominent works in the field of legislative studies. The readings in the course will introduce students to important theoretical concepts and approaches to the study of legislative politics, notably the “new institutionalism” and rational choice, and apply such theories to the empirical studies of Congress. The literature on Congress and legislative politics is vast and continues to grow. I do not claim that the readings in this course are exhaustive. Rather, they serve as a representative sample of the important debates and methodologies in the subfield today. The course also serves as an important prerequisite for comprehensive exams in the field of American political institutions.

Course Requirements and Grading

Most basically, students are expected to attend class and to have completed the assigned readings by class time each week. I am virtually intolerant of absences in any course, let alone a graduate level course. Additionally, students are expected to participate in class discussions. It is crucial that students participate on class discussions. Doing so creates a far richer intellectual environment. Failure to participate in class will be construed as lack of preparation. In addition to that basic tenet of graduate education, students will be expected to complete the following assignments: Week one problem set, five (5) short reaction papers, a final exam, and a research paper.

Problem set: Hand out will follow.

Reaction papers: Students will submit brief (2 to 3 page) papers related to the readings for five weeks (chosen by the students). Each paper will be worth 20 points (for a total of 100 points).

Final Exam: The final exam will be a take home essay exam worth 100 points. One may think of this exercise as a “comprehensive exam lite.”

Research paper: A more detailed instruction sheet will follow, but the general format will have students investigating some aspect of congressional behavior at the individual level. Each student MUST clear their paper topic with me. Students will also be responsible for making a presentation of their papers in class, much like you would at an academic conference like APSA or Midwest. The paper will be worth 200 points.

Your final grade will be determined by the total points you accrue throughout the semester. I will use the traditional 100-90, 89-80, etc grading scale.

Books & Articles:

I have ordered the following books for this course. All are available at the University Bookstore, Amazon.com, buy.com, where ever you want to purchase them (and I strongly suggest you purchase the books!).

Binder, Sarah. Minority Rights, Majority Rule Cambridge:Cambridge Univ. Press.

Cox, Gary and Mathew McCubbins. Legislative Leviathan Berkeley:California

Fiorina, Morris P. 1989. Congress: Keystone of the Washington Establishment New Haven:Yale.

Krehbiel, Keith. Information and Legislative Processes Ann Arbor:University of Michigan.

Mayhew, David. Congress: The Electoral Connection

Poole, Keith T. and Howard Rosenthal. Congress: A Political-Economic History of Roll Call Voting. New York:Oxford

Rohde, David. Parties and Leaders in the Post-Reform Congress Chicago:University of Chicago

Shepsle, Kenneth and Barry Weingast, eds. Positive Theories of Congressional Institutions Ann Arbor:University of Michigan.

Shepsle, Kenneth and Mark Bonchek. Analyzing Politics New York:Norton (RECOMMENDED)

Oleszek, Walter J. Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process Washington, DC: CQ Press (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

In addition, I will assign a number of articles throughout the semester. Many of them will be available via JSTOR – most any article from JOP, AJPS, and APSR should be available on JSTOR. If not, I should have them in my office for you to copy. You will be responsible for obtaining assigned articles not available on JSTOR (possibly from the instructor).

NOTE: I am not assigning the Oleszek book. It will serve as a general reference on procedural matters and rules in both the House and Senate.

Course Schedule

Week 1 (Aug 21) – Where we stand. Studying Congress

Analyzing Congress, Chapter 1

Shepsle and Weingast. Foreward, Introduction, Positive Theories of Congressional Institutions Chapters.

Shepsle, Kenneth. “The Changing Textbook Congress.”

Problem Set Distributed

Week 2 (Aug 28) – The Electoral Connection – A Solid Foundation

Problem Set Due,

Mayhew, David. 1974. Congress: The Electoral Connection

Fenno, Richard. 1977. “House Members in Their Constituencies: An Exploration.” 71:883-917. [pre-cursor to Homestyle].

Miller, Warren E. and Donald E. Stokes. 1963. “Constituency Influence in Congress.” APSR 57:45-56.

Recommended:

Fenno, Richard. 1978. Homestyle

Cain, Ferejohn, and Fiorina. 1987. The Personal Vote

Week 3 (Sept. 4) LABOR DAY, NO CLASSES

Although I’d be willing to entertain a motion to hold class on Labor Day. This would actually benefit you.

Week 4 (Sept 11) – Legislative Organization – Distributive Theories & Jurisdictions

Weingast, Barry R., and William Marshall. 1988. The Industrial Organization of Congress. Journal of Political Economy 96: 132-63.

Shepsle & Weingast. 1987. “The Institutional Foundations of Committee Power” APSR 87: 85-104

Krehbiel, Shepsle, and Weingast. 1987. “Why Are Congressional Committees Powerful?” APSR 81:929-945.

King, David C. 1994. “The Nature of Congressional Committee Jurisdictions” APSR 88:48-62.

Krehbeil, 1988. “Spatial Models of Legislative Choice.” Legislative Studies Quarterly (I have a clean version you can borrow to copy).