AMERICAN GOVERNMENT LAWS AND INSTITUTIONS PSCI 1040 007 COURSE SYLLABUS SPRING 2010 TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS 12 30 1 50 WOOTEN HALL ROOM 122 Instructor Professor Collins Office Wooten Hall 133 Office Hours 11 00 12 30 Tuesdays and Thursdays and by appointment E mail pmcollins unt edu Teaching Assistant Bryan Calvin Office Wooten Hall 132 Office Hours 2 00 4 00 Tuesdays and by appointment E mail BryanCalvin my unt edu OBJECTIVES The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the roles of the U S and Texas governments in the American political system We will consider the institutions processes and decisions of political actors that define American and Texas government In addition we will focus particular attention on a multitude of issues including the U S and Texas constitutions civil rights and liberties federalism as well as the three branches of government READINGS Please purchase the following books from the UNT bookstore Cox Gloria C and Richard S Ruderman eds 2009 Perspectives on American Texas Politics A Workbook for Political Science 1040 8th ed Denton University of North Texas Press hereafter Cox Fiorina Morris P Paul E Peterson Bertram Johnson and William G Mayer 2009 The New American Democracy 6th ed New York Longman hereafter Fiorina In addition a number of the readings relating to this course are available on the internet Links to those readings are provided in the course schedule section below All readings are required and listed the day they are expected to be read in the course schedule section I suggest you prepare questions to bring to class if you have any trouble understanding the readings 1 GRADES Final grades will be computed on the following basis 90 100 A 80 89 B 70 79 C 60 69 D 0 0 59 F Exams Exam 1 25 Exam 2 25 Exam 3 25 There will be three examinations in this class All exams are closed book Exams will utilize a multiple choice format Scantrons will be provided but students must bring a pencil with them to the examinations In addition students must bring their student identification cards with them to the examinations The final exam will not be cumulative Rather it will cover material addressed during the last third of the semester For the examinations students are responsible for all lectures textbook workbook and on line readings I will make review sheets for each exam available to students on the course s Blackboard page no later than the Monday preceding each exam Workbook Assignments 25 Students will complete five workbook assignments The due dates for the workbook assignments are delineated in the course schedule section below Each workbook assignment will contribute 5 to the student s grade Workbook assignments must be completed on the original workbook pages Thus photocopies of workbook pages will not be accepted Students must ensure that they procure the 8th Edition of the workbook Workbook assignments will be turned into the student s Teaching Assistant on the day they are due in class Workbook assignments must be stapled Failure to staple workbook assignments will result in a 10 point penalty on the grade for the unstapled workbook assignment Late assignments will be penalized 5 points for each calendar day they are late starting at 1 51 PM on the day the assignment is due If you wish to turn in your workbooks assignments early or late you will give them to your Teaching Assistant or place them in your Teaching Assistant s mailbox in the Department of Political Science main office Wooten Hall 125 If you intend to submit your workbook assignment to your Teaching Assistant s mailbox you must have the receptionist in the Department of Political Science time stamp your assignment If you submit your workbook assignment to your Teaching Assistant s mailbox and it is not time stamped your assignment will be considered submitted on the date and time your Teaching Assistant actually receives the assignment which may be some time after it was submitted Due to the size of this class workbook assignments will not be returned in class They may be picked up during your Teaching Assistant s office hours Extra Credit There is one opportunity for extra credit in this class The extra credit assignment is due in class by April 1 2010 and may be submitted earlier than this date Extra credit assignments should be turned into the Professor Extra credit assignments that are late will not be accepted For the extra credit assignment students will write a five page double spaced paper that discusses four newspaper articles related to one or more of the topics discussed in class To receive full credit students should make it clear how the newspaper articles are related to the topic s covered in class The extra credit 2 assignment is worth up to 3 points on the student s final grade in this class Full details on the extra credit assignment are available on the course s Blackboard page COURSE SCHEDULE 1 19 General Course Information 1 21 American Government and Politics Fiorina Chapter 1 The U S Constitution I 1 26 The U S Constitution II Fiorina Chapter 2 1 28 The U S Constitution III Cox Chapters 1 and 3 2 2 Federalism I Fiorina Chapter 3 Fiorina Federalist 10 and 51 pages 620 627 2 4 Federalism II Cox Chapter 4 Texas Origins and Constitution http texaspolitics laits utexas edu 7 1 0 html Read Introduction through Conclusion sections Workbook assignment due Exercises 4 1 4 2 4 3 and 4 6 2 9 The Presidency I Fiorina Chapter 13 2 11 The Presidency II Cox Chapter 6 Workbook assignment due Exercises 6 2 through 6 5 2 16 Catch Up and Review for Exam 1 2 18 Exam 1 2 23 The Federal Bureaucracy I Fiorina Chapter 14 2 25 The Federal Bureaucracy II Cox Chapter 7 3 3 2 The Texas Executive and Bureaucracy http texaspolitics laits utexas edu 1 1 0 html Read Introduction through The Plural Executive sections Workbook assignment due Exercises 7 1 through 7 4 3 4 The U S Congress I Fiorina Chapter 12 3 9 The U S Congress II Cox Chapter 5 3 11 The U S Congress III 3 16 No Class Spring Break 3 18 No Class Spring Break 3 23 The U S Congress IV 3 25 The Texas Legislature http texaspolitics laits utexas edu 2 1 0 html Read Introduction through Conclusions sections 3 30 Catch Up and Review for Exam 2 4 1 Exam 2 4 6 The Federal Courts I Fiorina Chapter 15 4 8 The Federal Courts II Cox Chapter 8 4 13 The Texas Judiciary I http texaspolitics laits utexas edu 3 1 0 html Read Introduction through Conclusions sections 4 15 Civil Liberties I Fiorina Chapter 16 4 20 Civil Liberties II Cox