State & Local Government
POLI 202
Spring 2005
Prof. Moran
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Class Hours |
T: 10:00 – 11:50 W: 11:00 – 11:50 |
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Classroom |
T: G-317 W: G-221 |
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My office: |
G-246 |
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Office Hours Virtual Office Hours |
M: 10 am-12, 5-6 pm T: 2-3
pm W, 10-11 am, noon – 1pm AIM screen name: Fmoran3 |
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Phone |
201-200-3259 |
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fmoran@njcu.edu |
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Web Page |
Final Exam:
Thursday, 12 May, 10:30 in G-317
I. Description
Government and politics at the state and local level undoubtedly provide us with our closest interaction with political life. Yet despite this proximity, each of these remain among the least studied and least appreciated aspects of American political life. In this course we’ll examine the history, structure, and processes of urban government in the U.S. Throughout the course, we will pay special attention to the politics of New Jersey at the state and local level.
II. Materials
We have one required textbook for the course; both of which are available in the campus bookstore:
Burns, Peltason, Cronin & Magleby. 2004. State & Local Politics: Government by the People (11th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0-13-028790-3
I also recommend that you become fairly regular readers of the New York Times and one of the local papers in your area (e.g., The Jersey Journal, the Star-Ledger, Bergen Record, etc.) The Times is readily available around campus (it’ll cost you a buck, although you can read it for free in the library). You can also read it for free on-line at:
When you first visit the Times site you will be asked to register a username and password. It can be a pain to do, but the service itself is free.
III. Requirements
The basic requirements for the grade in this course fall into two broad areas: a midterm exam combined with a research paper/oral presentation.
Midterm Exam (20%)
The midterm exam will be a take-home affair, due sometime around spring break. I’ll distribute the questions in early February and you’ll have at least 2 weeks to complete the exam. You will be asked to submit somewhere between 7 and 10 pages of writing. The grading rubric will be distributed with the exam.
Research Paper (40%)/Oral Presentation (40%)
Each of you will write a research paper (10-15 pages) on a topic related to State and Local government that I approve, and then present a short (10-15 minutes) oral presentation of your research to the class. The oral presentations will occur the last 2 weeks of the course; the research paper will be due the day of the final. The paper replaces the traditional end of semester final exam.
IV. Meeting Schedule
18 January: Introduction:
Reading: Burns, Chapter 1
We begin our study with a quick overview of the role and importance of state and local government in our daily political life.
25 January: States
& American Federalism
Reading: Burns, chap. 2
This week we’ll explore the role and relationship of state and local governments within American federalism.
1 February: State Constitutions
Reading: Burns, chp. 3
This week we examine the ways in which state constitutions impact politics within their respective borders. We’ll pay special attention to the New Jersey Constitution.
8 February: Parties
& Elections
Reading: Burns, chp. 4
This week we’ll explore the special role of parties, interest groups, and elections at the state and local level.
16 -23 February: State
Legislatures
Reading: Burns, chap. 5
For these two weeks we’ll study the structure, processes,
and powers of state legislatures, with special emphasis on New Jersey’s
legislature.
1 March: State
Governors
Reading: Burns, chap. 6
Insofar as the governorship has become an important route to the presidency, we’ll examine the role of the governor within state politics and compare the powers of the office available to governors in the different states.
Note: Midterm 1 is due 2 March.
8 March: Spring
Break
15 March: State
Judiciaries
Reading: Burns, chap. 7
Despite the attention given to the federal courts, it is the state judicial systems that handle the vast majority of cases within the American system. For this week we’ll look at the different ways the states organize their judiciaries.
22 March: Local
Government
Reading: Burns, chp. 8
Given the diversity of local government in the country, we can only scratch the surface of this topic. For this week we’ll look at the relations between state and local government, the organization of local government, and the different types of local government.
29 Mar – 5 Apr: Making State/Local Policy
Reading: Burns, chp. 9
This week we’ll explore the basics of public policy making at the state and local level. With the federal government increasingly shifting power to the states, this topic will
12 April: Staffing & Financing
Reading: Burns, chp. 10
As with public policy, the issue of financing state and local government becomes increasingly important as the federal government shifts the burden of various programs onto the states. We can also see battles within state as state governments attempt to shift the tax burden to local officials, and vice-versa.
19 April Oral
Presentations
26 April Oral
Presentations
3 May Conclusion
12 May Final Exam: Research Paper Due
Caveats
1. This syllabus is meant as a guide for the
course. While I will do my best to maintain the pace outlined above, I am not
guaranteeing that that will in fact occur. Any substantive changes related to due
dates, course content, or course requirements will be distributed in class.
2. Please do your best to get to class on time. I
live out in the wilds of Pennsylvania and I am well aware of the joys of
traveling in this little corner of the Garden State. That being said, you all know traffic is a nightmare and parking
can be a pain, so plan accordingly. Tardiness adversely affects the
“Participation” part of the grade.
3. Keep
the food consumption to a minimum.
Coffee, tea, or something to drink is fine; a five-course meal from the
truck is not. If you’re going to chow down, bring enough to share with
everybody or keep it out of the classroom (and I strongly prefer the latter –
eat on your own time).
4. Turn
off the cell phones, pagers, two ways, Gameboys, Ipods, or whatever latest bit
of technological wizardry you possess.
If I hear or see any of these in use during class, class stops and it’s
quiz time. The grades for the quizzes
will be factored in to the “participation” part of the course.
5. Respect
your colleagues. Politics is great
fun to talk about and I want to encourage you all to express your thoughts
freely, but be mindful of the impact your words can have on others in the room.
6. Missed
and Late Exam Policy: If we have
any take home exams, all exams are due on the date assigned. Exams received after that time will be
docked 1/3 of a grade for each class day late.
In the event of missed in-class exam (including the final), you will
receive a grade of “F” for the missed work unless you give me prior
notification of the conflict and reason for missing the exam.
7. Plagiarism: All submitted work must be the product of your
own thought. If you are found to have
plagiarized all or part of an assignment, you will receive a grade of “F” for
that assignment. Furthermore,
notification of, and supporting documentation for, the violation will be
forwarded to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Dean of
Students. Consult your student handbook
for the gory details.