Intro. To Political Science Political Science 101 Mesa College Fall 2011 16-Week Session CRN 59168 Instructor: Angela Oberbauer, M.A. © 2011 Phone: 619-388-2767, Ext. 5347 Classroom: H305 Class Time: Monday Evenings 6:35 – 9:45pm Office Hours: Mondays in Room H305 from 6:00 – 6:30pm, and during 1st and 2nd half break of class. Also after class. Primary email: [email protected] Primary email: [email protected] Class website: http://classroom.sdmesa.edu/aoberbauer (my Front Page website) Blackboard/Vista Website: http://online.sdccd.edu (Access directions are attached) Required Textbooks: James N. Danziger. Understanding the Political World: A Comparative Introduction to Political Science. Tenth Edition. ISBN-10: 0-205-77875-5. Required! Sargent, Lyman Tower. Contemporary Political Ideologies A Comparative Analysis. 14th Edition. ISBN-10: 0495569399. Required! Course Objectives: This course will help each student achieve understanding of the political world, “...while linking the central analytic concepts of political science that have emerged over generations of research to the realities of the post-cold war world...” (Danziger 2009). The student will learn a great deal about contemporary political ideologies, comparative economic theories, and numerous political concepts. Students will become acquainted with powerful governmental systems, their structures, and the many influences that help define how the political decision-making process works in a comparative politics style. In addition, the student will analyze why certain economic systems play such a dynamic role in our political environment. The student will likewise learn about institutional structures of governments around the world, their strengths and their weaknesses, including how the Developed Countries have achieved their economic positions; how the Developing Countries are striving to achieve recognition, and how Transitional Developed Countries are accomplishing the many changes facing them. Student Learning Outcomes: This course will enrich the student’s political knowledge so that he/she can answer questions on the following: What is meant by politics? What are the issues that encompass political thought, and be able to explain why political decision-making results in certain political consequences for society. Each student will have attainted a much better understanding of their own political philosophy and the political philosophies of other individuals in the US and around the world, including about different cultures, religions, conflict and violence, about Globalization, and why all these factors are important to understand. The student will have acquired a good understanding of the principles of Democracy, different economic systems including Democratic Capitalism and Democratic Socialism; how Conservatism and Liberalism interpret Capitalism and Democracy. As well, have acquired knowledge about movements around the world such as Environmentalism, Feminism, Anarchism, and different religious ideologies such as Liberation Theologies, Islamic Political ideologies and many more “isms” [Belief Systems]. Further, the student will certainly have attained a broader view of the world by the completion of this course.Page 2, Syllabus STUDENT REQUIREMENTS: Class Attendance, Grading, and Code of Conduct COURSE REQUIREMENTS REGARDING GRADING: The final grade in this class will be affected by active participation, included in the following Attendance Requirements set down by this Instructor: Student Attendance is Expected in Class Each Day by this Instructor! Attendance is considered by this Instructor as “Active Participation,” and is graded as a factor in the final grading of each student! Students are expected to come to class each class meeting prepared with course assignment, ready to learn, to participate in class discussions based on required readings, current issues, based on written, oral, or research assignments, including lectures, and w hatever additional information is written on the board or in a PowerPoint lecture to enhance the student’s learning. Also spoken information that the Instructor emphasizes to the class as important, including handout materials, need to be learned. Student Grading will be evaluated to include the following: The student’s preparation, fulfillment of required assignments and Tests, “class attendance graded as active participation,” required oral presentations, voluntary oral presentations, punctual required hand-in of papers and sources, “Attendance/Active Participation in accordance with all syllabus specifications” [including attendance specifications for students who remain in the course after the last semester drop date], and all Test points earned, Quiz points earned, and all plus points earned will be calculated in the granting of grades. Further Grading Evaluation important to Attendance information: A Student who misses any class “After” the last “Withdrawal Deadline Date,” which is October 28, 2011 for this 16-Week Semester course, and remains in the course, but misses classes, yet does not bring in a “verifiable excuse for absences,” will be docked 2.00 points for missing the class. REMEMBER that Student Attendance is expected in class each day by this Instructor, AND THAT ATTENDANCE is CONSIDERED SIGNIFICANT TO CLASS ACTIVE PARTICIPATION BY THIS INSTRUCTOR, and Graded as a “factor in the final grading of each student”! 5.00 PLUS POINTS will be given at the end of the semester to those students who attend “each full class meeting, on time, throughout the semester.” Walking into class late, or leaving class early may eliminate this privilege. Also, not completing all “required assignments and Tests” will eliminate a student from this privilege. Also, inappropriate beha vior: rude, constant disruptive and disrespectful behavior that denies other students to learn and the instructor to teach class material, thereby causing a hostile environment, will eliminate this plus point privilege. STUDENTS MUST SIGN IN, “WITH SIGNATURE,” ON A “SIGN-IN SHEET EACH CLASS MEETING” [AFTER THE FIRST DROP DATE]. For three-hour classes, the “Sign-in