MA Seminar: American Political Culture and Institutions 4219-ZS120-AM

This seminar is meant for the students who wish to write their thesis in the broadly defined "domestic politics" area. You may sign up for this seminar if you are interested in any of the following fields of study:

1. institutions of American democracy (the Presidency, Congress, the Supreme Court)

2. the policy process (making public policy, relations of power in the public sphere, bureaucratic dynamics, implementation)

3. political behavior (elections, lobbying, interest groups, political parties, social movements, minorities and politics of identity);

4. political culture (values, attitudes, political consciousness, legitimacy, collective identity, political symbols and rituals, political heroes and myths);

5. political marketing: language of politics, political communication: verbal and symbolic;

6. political leadership (role of individuals in the system, presidents, great politicians, African-American leaders);

7. political psychology (presidential character and style);

8. ideologies (classic and post-New Deal liberalism, republicanism; political extremism)

9. foreign policy (foreign policy decision-making, foreign policy rhetoric, crisis rhetoric, foreign policy lobbying, American role in the world)

If you are not sure if your interests and current state of mind (and knowledge) fall within any of the areas mentioned above please see me before registration.

Sample topics of M.A. theses (in each of the above issue areas):

1. Lyndon Johnson and the Civil Rights - Presidential use of extra-constitutional powers

2. Political power of the bureaucracy at the stage of policy implementation

3. The impact of the undisciplined character of American parties on the legislative process

4. Politics of commemoration - political uses of memory in the public spaces

5. Presidential crisis rhetoric - George Bush and the war in Iraq

6. The populist tendency in American political leadership

7. Richard Nixon - a psycho-biographic study of leadership

8. Democratic Fundamentalism in America

9. Making Barack Obama's vision of the World come true

REQUIREMENTS AND SCHEDULE:

The deadlines are general guidelines for people who write a standard thesis, consisting of three chapters, introduction and conclusions. If your work is divided differently there will be special arrangements to match the character of your research project. University rules require me to give you a grade for each semester of the M.A. seminar. Since your work may be a "work in progress" i.e. a version without final revisions, I feel it would be unfair to base this grade solely on the quality of the chapter handed in. Therefore, I will base my grading on how precisely you stick to the schedule we agree on. A good paper handed in on time will earn you a 5. However, please note, that fives for the first and the second semester do not need to result in your overall grade for the thesis being 5. The grades for the semesters reflect my evaluation of your hard work, responsiveness to discussions about your work, discipline in handing in the work on time. Therefore I can imagine that one can get three 5s and an overall three for the thesis.

First semester: regular attendance and participation in class discussions. Homeworks. In the first semester of the seminar you will be asked to prepare several small (1-2 pages) homework projects that will be a reflection of your familiarity with methodological matters. Class readings and lectures will be devoted mainly to issues of methodology in order to find the best approach for your research. The bulk of your grade will come from my evaluation of your thesis prospectus. The prospectus is due no later than the last regular class of the semester.

Second semester: you are supposed to submit the first chapter of your thesis by mid-December. Also, I am expecting a detailed bibliography at the same time.

Third semester: the third chapter of your work is due by the end of February and the final, third chapter is due by May 10. The whole project should be finished BEFORE vacations i.e. no later than June 15.

COMMUNICATION:

All work should be submitted in printed form. Full chapters only. I will not accept "drafts", "almost finished", "so close to finishing" works. Each time you submit a piece of your thesis include a plan that we have agreed on, it helps me see where this piece should fit in.

After we meet in person and discuss your work, you are expected to correct your chapter by incorporating the revisions we have talked about. All corrections MUST be typed in bold print so that I can see the progress easily. The fact that you are working on revisions should not hold back your work on the next chapter (unless the scope of revisions is really staggering). After you submit your work (on time) you can expect that I will read it in no later than two weeks.

For communication please use email (Szklarscy@poczta.onet.pl, or Bohdan.Szklarski@uw.edu.pl (in that order of preference) and sms or in extra special cases a telephone. My number is: 606839856. Please use it judiciously. In communication with me please always identify yourself. We can always find a time to meet that suits both of us.

FINAL NOTE:

If you do not agree to the following terms, please do not register for my M.A. Seminar as exceptions to these rules will be extremely scarce