- Inter-faculty Studies in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Computer Science
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Mathematics
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Computer Science
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Mathematics
American Presidency - from Washington to Trump - the People and the Institution 4219-SF003-N-OG
The purpose of the class is to introduce students to the nature and functioning of today’s American presidency. We will examine the multidimensional nature of the office and see how it’s operation is determined by who sits in the Oval Office. We shall study how presidents interact with Congress, how they handle pressures coming from interest groups and how they use media to mobilize public support for their policies. Our basic framework will be Kernell’s division into three types of presidential activities targeted at: Washington insiders, the public, and the international community. In order to understand how a presidency functions in today’s politics we will follow the framework of “presidential roles”: commander-in-chief, chief diplomat, legislator, administrator, lobbyist, party leader, head of state, campaigner, and communicator. We will also look at the electoral process which brings candidates to the White House.
specific themes of classes:
A. THEORIES of PRESIDENTIAL POWER -president in the American political system
- basic conceptualizations/theories of presidential power
- modern and post-modern presidency
B. the development of the presidency: how key presidents contributed to the power of the office:
- Washington
- Jackson
- Lincoln
- TR
- FDR
- JBJ
- Ronald Reagan
- Donald Trump
C. presidents in INTERACTIONS with other actors/presidency in ACTION:
Congress, interest groups, international actors,
Presidents and the media: leadership and communication
D. HOW TO BECOME A PRESIDENT: presidential selection/election process
E. Donald Trump jako prezydent post-nowoczesny
Type of course
foreign languages
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Students will know the structure of the White House; will understand the evolution of the American presidency; will be able to recognize the diversity of actors in American politics, will appreciate the various roles the executive plays in the political system; will learn how to define and recognize power relations in democratic politics. Students will analyze determinants of political behavior, will discriminate between institutional and human limitations of power, will analyze survey data and draw generalizations from it. Students will compile and present results of independent study of political statistics. Will acquire ability to see the historical context of political phenomena. Students will acquire competence as independent researcher of simple topics; be able to review short pieces of literature, find biographical information in archives and databases
Assessment criteria
1. Accreditation (zaliczenie) in the form of an in-class written test (NOT a multiple choice test) - short answers, some choice of questions (50%); 2. presentation or a term paper (a case study of presidency in action, analysis of a particular policy as it happens in real life) (40%),
3. participation in class discussions (10%).
Bibliography
James Pfiffner, Roger Davidson, Understanding the Presidency, Longman
Richard Pious, The Presidency, Allyn and Bacon
Samuel Kernell, Going Public, CQ Press
Most of our readings will consist of single chapters or academic articles.
Additional information
Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:
- Inter-faculty Studies in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Computer Science
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Mathematics
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Computer Science
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Mathematics
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: