Welcome to the American Studies Institute
 

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1:                       Introduction

Week 2:                       The Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution

Week 3:                       Federalism

Week 4:                       Branches of Government

Week 5:                       American Presidency

Week 6:                       American Judiciary

Week 7:                       American Legislative Process

Week 8:                       MIDTERM

Week 9:                       Media and Politics

Week 10:                     Public Opinion

Week 11:                     Interest Groups

Week 12:                     Political Parties

Week 13:                     Elections

Week 14:                     Freedoms and Civil Rights

Week 15:                     REVIEW

Week 16:                     FINAL EXAM

REQUIRED MATERIALS:

TEXTBOOK:

• INTODUCTION TO GOVERNMENT by Larry Elowitz. Harper Collins Publishers, 1992.
   

REFERENCES:

• Abshire, David and Brower, Brock. Putting America’s House in Order: The Nation as a Family. Westport,CT: Praeger, 1996.
• Browne, Harry. Why Government Doesn’t Work. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995.
• Ehrenhalt, Alan. The United States of Ambition: Politicians, Power and the Pursuit of Office. New York: Random House, 1991.
• Lasser, William. American Politics. Lexington, Mass.: DC Heath, 1996.
• Patterson, Thomas. The American Democracy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997.
• Peters, Charles. How Washington Really Works. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1992.

Recommended Films: 

• All the President’s Men. Starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. [Color. 135 minutes]

Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman star as the Washington Post reporters whose persistent investigation broke open the Watergate cover-up. Based on Bernstein and Woodward's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, the story traces key events from the break-in of June 1972 to Nixon's resignation in August 1974.