Mr. Levin Spring
2008
Office:
Phone: 801-587-9096 Tues:
4-5:30 pm
Email: daniel.levin@poli-sci.utah.edu Mon, Wed: 3-4 pm
Http://www.poli-sci.utah.edu/~dlevin/ or
by appointment
POLS 5270/6270 & PADMN 6270: Federalism
Tues 6-9 pm,
In Federalist 39, James Madison wrote that: "the
proposed Constitution therefore is in strictness neither a national nor a
federal constitution; but a composition of both." We will explore how the
national government and states interact to create
A quick note on approach and
method. My approach to the
study of American government is rooted in Ahistorical
institutionalism,@ an approach based on the insight that institutions
evolve under specific historical conditions and that their historical context
is of primary importance. This is particularly true of American federalism. We
will begin the semester with an explicitly historical approach, and will
continue that emphasis on history through the rest of our discussions on
federalism and public policy.
Required Books and Materials
John D. Donahue, Hazardous Crosscurrents,
Century Foundation, 1999.
David B. Walker, The
Rebirth of Federalism,
Martha Derthick, Keeping the
In addition, I have posted abridged versions of
academic articles, primary documents, book chapters, and court cases on the web
and have linked to other websites. Please link to these through my website
(address above). These are denoted in the syllabus as Web.
Assignments
There will be two take-home essay assignments that
will take the place of exams. These will be short (4-5) page papers that will
ask students to synthesize the material covered during approximately one half
each of the course. In addition, each student will be required to write a
substantial research paper focusing on some aspect of federalism. Students may
choose to examine a particular historical development in American federalism, a
historical conflict between the states and federal government, some aspect of
the theory of federalism, or the impact of federalism on policy in a
substantive policy area. Undergraduates will be expected to write a paper 8-10
pages in length that must use a minimum of 8 academic and primary sources;
graduate students will be expected to submit a paper approximately 12-15 pages
long (exclusive of references) and use a substantial number of academic and
primary sources (a dozen is a minimum; twenty or more references are
preferred). Websites, popular magazines, newspapers, dictionaries and
encyclopedias do not count towards these minimums; full text versions of
government documents and academic periodicals are permitted..
A paper proposal, including a thesis statement, a one to two paragraph
description, brief bibliography (3 or 4 starting resources) and short outline
is due February 12.
Your grade will be computed as follows:
|
Classroom Participation |
20 % |
Date Due |
|
Research Paper |
40 % |
April 8 (proposals due Feb 12) |
|
Midterm and Final Essays |
40% (2 x 20%) |
March 11, April 29 |
Participation:
Because we will be basing many of our discussions on the ideas developed in the
assigned readings, you are required to read the assignments before
the class session for which they are assigned. I will assume your knowledge
of the material in the readings and you will have great difficulty
participating in discussion if you are insufficiently prepared. I reserve
the right to call upon any person at any time to explain the facts or reasoning
in any assigned reading. Because of the centrality of participation, any
student who misses three class sessions without excuse will have their final
grade lowered one full grade. Any student who misses five class sessions
(over a third of the total) without excuse will automatically fail the
course.
Academic Misconduct All quotes must be cited as such and include a clear reference to the
work from which they were drawn; they will otherwise be treated as plagiarism.
All use of materials other than course materials must be accompanied by full
citations. All work in this course is assigned as individual work: working as
groups or teams is strongly discouraged (and may be treated as cheating). You
are encouraged to go to the Writing Lab for help with your work, however, you
are discouraged from seeking all but the most casual assistance with your
writing from others; this includes spouses and other family members. If you
intend to submit a paper which draws upon work for another class, or if you are
planning on submitting substantially similar papers to both myself
and another instructor, you must first receive explicit permission to do so
from both myself and the other instructor. Any form of academic dishonesty
will result in a failing grade for the course and other disciplinary action, up
to expulsion from the University.
All work must be submitted both in hard copy and
through WebCT; instructions for submitting work
through turnitin.com will be provided with the first assignment.
Policy on Late Papers, Unsubmitted Work and Incompletes: Papers will be accepted until 5 pm on
the date due. I will not accept a submitted paper that was either assigned or
due on a date for which you have an unexcused absence. Late papers will lose
one full grade if submitted within a week of due date; after a week, papers
will not be accepted. Failure to complete any assignment will result in failure
of the course. A grade of incomplete is only available in cases of documented
emergency at the semester=s conclusion.
Accommodation of Sincerely Held
Beliefs: I will work with
students who require schedule changes due to religious or other significant
obligations. I will not consider any requests based on course content. Because
modern American politics includes many debates over race, sexuality, obscenity,
religious practice and belief, and political ideology, any class that did not
address such issues would be substantially limited. Students are required to
attend all classes and to read all assignments. All assignments and lectures
are related to our subject matter, and I do not include gratuitously salacious
material. If you have any objection to the frank and open discussion of any of
the topics above, including the use of adult language when appropriate to
subject matter, please drop the class.
Americans with Disabilities Act Notice: Persons with disabilities requiring special
accommodations to meet the expectations of this course should provide
reasonable prior notice to the instructor and to the Center for Disability
Services, 162 Olpin Union Building, 581-5020 (V/TDD)
to make arrangements. Written material in this course can be made available in
alternative format with prior notification.
Disclaimer: Dates may be changed and readings may be added or deleted.
Jan. 8 - Introduction
O=Toole, Chap. 12
Web: Farber, ASovereignty@; U.S.
Term Limits v. Thornton; Printz v. U.S.
Jan. 15 - The Theory of Federalism
O=Toole, Chaps. 4, 5, 6; Walker, Chap. 1; Derthick, Chap. 1
American Federalism - An Historical Approach
Jan 22 - The American Founding and Antebellum
Federalism
Web: Articles
of Confederation; Brutus No. 1; Kentucky Resolution; Virginia Resolutions; Jackson, Nullification Message; South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification; Duncan, AMen
of a Different Faith@
Jan 29 - From the Civil War until 1960
Derthick ,Chaps. 8, 9; Walker, Chap. 3, pp. 74-88
Web: Lincoln,
First Inaugural Address; Resolutions
of Secession; Elazar, AThe Civil War and the Preservation of
American Federalism@; Graebner, AFederalism
in the Progressive Era@
Feb 5 - 1960 to 1994 - The Growth and Revision of
Cooperative Federalism
Web: Conlan, “The Bush and Early Clinton Years”
Feb 12 B
Paper Topics Due
Feb. 12 - 1994 to
Present - The States Strike Back and
the Return of the Empire
O=Toole, Chaps. 24, 25, 26, 27; Walker, Chap. 9;
Web: Conlan, “A Devolution Revolution”; Krane, “The Middle Tier in American Federalism”
Judicial Federalism and Fiscal Federalism
Feb. 19 - The Federal Courts and Federalism
O=Toole, Chap. 11; Walker, Chap. 7
Web: Cooper v.
Aaron; Alden
v. Maine, Nevada Dept.
of Human Resources v. Hibbs; Schmidhauser, AStates
Rights and the Origins of the Supreme Court=s
Power@
Feb 26 - Federalism,
the Courts, and Civil Rights
Web: Barron v.
Baltimore ,Adamson
v. California, Michigan
v. Long; Brown v. Bd II; The Southern Manifesto; Brennan,
State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights; Pinello, AJudicial
Federalism and the >Myth
of Parity=@
Mar 4 - Midterm Essay assigned, Due Mar 11
Spring Break B
March 18
March 4, 11
- Fiscal Federalism
O=Toole, Chaps. 8, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20; Walker,
Chap. 8; Donahue - Chaps. 1, 3-5
Web: Dole v. South Dakota
March 25 - The Mandates Controversy
O=Toole, Chaps. 6, 21-23.
Web: Garcia
v. SAMTA; New York v. US;
Printz v. US (reprise); Posner,
APolitics of Coercive Federalism”
Federalism and
Public Policy
April 1 - Regulatory Policy
O=Toole, Chap. 10
Web: Stephens
and Wikstrom, “Resurgent States …” ; Zimmerman,
“Congressional Preemption …”; U.S.
v. Morrison
April 1 - Environmental Policy
Web: Scheberle,
AThe Evolving Matrix Y.@;
Chaloupka, AThe County Supremacy and Militia Movements@; Rabe, “Power to the States”
April 8 - Social Policy and Health Policy
Derthick, Chap. 5; Donahue, Chaps. 2, 6-7
Web: Thompson,
AFederalism and Health Care Policy@; Allard,
“The Changing Face of Welfare”
April 8 B
Research Paper Due
April 15 - Education Policy
Donahue - Chap. 8
Web: Brimley
and Garfield, The Federal Interest in Education@; Wong,
“The Politics of Social Targeting@;
Wong
and Sunderman, “Education Accountability as a
Presidential Priority”
April 22 - The Future of Federalism
Derthick, Chap. 11; Walker, Chap. 28
Web: Greve, “Federalism’s Constituency”
April 22 - Final Essay Assigned. Due by 5 pm on April
29. Late work will not be accepted after 12 pm (noon) on May 1. Papers should be brought to my mailboxes in either the
Political Science office (