Political Science 157
Spring 2008

Essay Assignments

You may select one from the following options, subject to the limitation that no more than one-third of the class may select any one topic.   Each topic will be graded by a different reader.   You indicate your preference ordering for each topic in class on May 7.   In case any topic is over-subscribed, students will be randomly selected for the most popular topic and then considered for the next most popular topic according to their preferences.   Students not in class on May 7 will be randomly assigned to one of the three topics

The analysis is worth 30% of the course grade and will be due no later than 12:00 noon , Friday, May 30, 2008 .   Your paper may not exceed 2000 words (or about 8 pages).   Please attach a word count.   Use margins of at least 1”, double -space.   Use in-text, parenthetical references for works assigned below or for the class.   Attach a bibliography with full citations for any other sources you use. Submit your paper, no matter what your topic, to the mailbox of Professor Woolley or any of the TAs.   After 1:00 pm 5/30, your work is late.   Late papers are penalized one full letter grade for each day late.  

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS 5/28/08:

1. Please include a title page with your paper.

2. Please write your name ONLY on the title page. Please do not write your name on page headers.

3. Please be sure to number your pages.

4. How to print a word count with Microsoft Word

a. Go to the "tools" menu.
b. Select "options"
c. Select the "print" tab
d. In the "include with document" section, check the "Document Properties" box.

Each assignment asks you to read a set of articles or chapters and to reflect on the problem or issue that they address.   In your essay you should address the questions posed for your selected problem or issue.   Additionally you should draw on relevant materials from the assigned readings for the course.   Any of the selections below may be cited if   relevant for any of the essays.   Especially relevant in that respect may be the essay by Dahl included for Topic III.   You may introduce additional source material, but your first responsibility is to draw fully on the materials assigned.   

All of the papers and chapters cited for these topics can be downloaded from the course website.

Topic I:   The Presidential Electoral Process

In 2000, a candidate who lost the popular vote became president of the United States .   In 2008 a chaotic set of Democratic primaries seemed likely to produce no clearcut winner.   Does the US presidential electoral process need to be reformed?   If so, why? And how?   If not, why not?   Why are those advocating reforms mistaken?   Make your case, drawing on presidential history as reflected in course readings and the selections below.

Below are articles that deal with the primary election process, nominating conventions, and the electoral college.   All the articles are linked online and can be downloaded through the course website:  

• Timothy Noah, “ America 's Worst College ” part I, part II, part III and part-IV, published at slate.com 2004
• Gary Gregg, “The Electoral College is Good for America ” parts I, part II and Part-III, from National Review online . 2004
• Panagopoulos, “Presidential Nominating Conventions, Past, Present, and Future,” The Forum The Berkeley Electronic Press. 2008
• Altschuler, “Selecting Presidential Nominees by National Primary” in ibid.
• “Three Proposed Constitutional Amendments” Every Vote Equal chapter 3.
• National Popular Vote campaign to replace the electoral college.

Topic II.   Women and the Presidency.

In terms of women's candidacies, 2008 is a precedent-setting year.   Women have run for US president before but without much success.   However, many first ladies have been very influential and their influence seems to have generally increased in recent decades.   Women have held leadership positions in a number of other countries (for a very thorough historical accounting see www.guide2womenleaders.com ).  

Write an essay assessing the challenges that face female candidates for the presidency.   To what extent has the US political system changed to be as open to women as to men?   Do you think the US context is distinctively hostile to women candidates?   Do you   think that Hillary Clinton's campaign marks a real turning point for women in US politics?   Why?  

In your essay draw on materials from the following sources (all available online through the course website):

• Stooksbury and Edgemon, “The First Lady Scholarship Reconsidered:   A Review Essay,”   Women and Politics 2003
• Heldman, “Cultural Barriers to a Female President of the United States .” In Rethinking Madam President Han and Heldman, eds, 2007 chapter 2
• Duerst-Lahti, “Masculinity on the Campaign Trail,” in Han and Heldman eds. Chapter 5
• Gordon and Miller, “Gender, Race, and the Oval Office,” in Watson and Gordon, Anticipating Madam President , chapter 13
• Jencik, Alicia. "Experiences of female presidential   candidates.(Scholarship)." White House Studies 5.4 (Fall 2005):   539(18).
• Anderson, Karrin and Kristina Sheeler (2005). “Hillary Rodham Clinton,” from Governing Codes: Gender, Mmetaphor, and Political Identity . Oxford : Lexington Books.

Other articles that may be of interest:
Noonan, "Sex and the Sissy," Wall Street Journal May 23, 2008
Applegate, "Two Can Make History," New York Times May 25, 2008
Chaudhry, "What Women See When they See Hillary," The Nation, July 2, 2007

Topic III.  The Presidency and Democracy:   The Challenge of the Imperial Presidency

For decades—perhaps since the founding--students of the Presidency have been troubled by the potential for the Presidency to grow to be monarchical—despotic.   Some have suggested that the presidency is a fundamental obstacle to democratic government.   About the time of   Nixon's resignation, Arthur Schlesinger published a famous book, the Imperial Presidency.   With Bush43 the term is back in vogue.   Read the following selections which include a famously pessimistic view from Corwin and an equally famously optimistic view from Rossiter—both from the 1950s.     In your essay discuss the problem of democracy and the presidency.   The course readings on Bush will be relevant as well.   What reforms might mitigate the problem?   Or, explain why critics like Schlesinger and Savage have got it wrong.

• Zinn vs Hook:   “How Democratic is America ?” (links to external site)
• Schlesinger, “After the Imperial Presidency,” the Epilog to The Imperial Presidency 1989 (it's a long essay, so skim and sample)
• THE SCHLESINGER READING HAS BEEN DIVIDED INTO TWO PARTS (for some reason it doesn't download correctly as one document)
• Schlesinger part I, first 20 pp
• Schlesinger part II, ending
• Savage, “The Politics of Presidential Power,” Chapter 13 from Takeover:   The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy .   2007
• Corwin, Selections from The President, Office and Powers   1957 (pp 291-313)
• Rossiter, “The Limits of the Presidency, from The American Presidency 1960
• (r) Dahl, “On Removing Certain Impediments to Democracy in the United States ,” Political Science Quarterly Spring 1977.