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212-346-1146 cmalone@pace.edu  

PACE UNIVERSITY
Department of Political Science

POL 220        Dr. Christopher Malone
Fall 2002        Office 55W Choate House
Tuesday 2:30-3:30/Thursday 1:30-3:30    email: cmalone@pace.edu
Office hours:  Tuesday12pm-2:30
Thursday 11:30-1:30

Political Parties and Interest Groups

Citizens and political actors in the United States are connected to each other through a variety of institutions. Among the most important of these "linkage institutions" are political parties and interest groups. These play a role as a bridge between, on one side, the mass public, active citizens and, on the other, office-seeking and office-holding politicians who seek to communicate information and mobilize social resources in political competition. Parties and groups also help to make governance possible in an American political system characterized by fragmentation (e.g., separation of powers, federalism, checks and balances).

Important as political parties and interest groups may be, however, it is not obvious why they arose and why they have persisted. The Constitution says nothing overtly about either political parties or interest groups. And yet, both parties and groups organized around specific interests have been in existence since right after the Founding. This semester we shall examine political parties and interest groups in detail to ask and subsequently answer a few questions: what are they? How do they interact? Why have they persisted? How have they changed and resisted change over time? Why have political actors decided to invest their effort and resources in creating, sustaining, and reforming them? Given our two-party system, what are the prospects for third parties?
The focus of the course, then, is on political parties and interest groups as political organizations and as instruments of governance.

Course Requirements
1) PLEASE TURN ALL CELL PHONES OFF BEFORE ENTERING CLASS! Any student whose cell phone goes off during class will be asked to leave.
2) Complete assigned reading before class meetings, unless otherwise noted. (See attached schedule.) I reserve the right to give surprise quizzes and to call on students to summarize arguments presented in readings.
3) Attend class regularly and on time. Attendance will factor into your final grade.
4) Participate in class discussion. Your grade will also reflect your contribution to class meetings.
5) Complete all written assignments. Written work for the course consists of two essay exams (one a take-home exam) and one paper of 10-12 pages.
6) Read the New York Times regularly. While I will not require you to purchase a subscription of the Times for the semester, I expect you to know what's going on in the world of American politics and beyond. Any surprise quizzes given during the semester will most certainly contain questions about current events.
Grading
In the calculation of the written component of the grade, each written assignment will be given equal weight, or 30% of your overall grade. The final 10% will consist of attendance, participation, and quiz grades. Any missing exam or paper counts as an "F."

I expect you to complete written assignments on time. If you miss an exam, you will be permitted to take a make-up test only when you have a valid excuse supported by written documentation. Late papers, without a documented, valid excuse, will be penalized through grade deductions. Incompletes will be granted only with a documented excuse and only for a limited time (usually no longer than the time you were incapacitated), the duration to be set at the time the incomplete is approved.

Books
Three books have been ordered and can be found in the Pace bookstore. However, if you can find these texts cheaper somewhere else, by all means do so.

L. Sandy Maisel. Parties and Elections in America, Third Edition (Rowman and Littlefield).
Micah Sifry. Spoiling for a Fight: Third Party Politics in America (Routledge).
Allan Cigler and Burdette Loomis. Interest Group Politics, Sixth Edition.

Course Schedule
The dates below are only approximate. As this schedule is subject to revision, students are responsible for keeping up with any announced changes, including changes in test dates. If you miss a class, e-mail me to confirm the next assignment.

September 5: Introduction to Political Parties and Interst Groups
Madison, Federalist Paper #10 (handout)

Part One: Political Parties

September 10: NO CLASS - Election Day in New York City
Reading Assignment: Maisel, chapter 1

September 12th - 17th: An Overview of American Political Parties.
Maisel, chapter 2

September 19th - September 26th: Parties in the Electoral Process
Maisel, chapters 4-5
Maisel, pp. 191-209, 219-44, 287-307, 323-378:  Selections from “State and Local Nominations”; “State and Local Elections”; “Presidential Nominations’; “Presidential Elections”

October 1st: Campaign Finance
Maisel, chapter 11

October 3rd and 8th: PartOrganizations and Party in Government
Maisel, chapters 3 & 13

OCTOBER 10TH - MIDTERM EXAM

Part Two: Third Party Politics in America

October 15th and 17th: Challenging the Duopoly
Micah Sifry, Spoiling for a Fight, introduction and chapters 1-2 (pp.1-64)

October 22nd and 24th: Organizing the Angry Middle
Sifry, pp.65-144

October 29th and 31st: Organizing the Left
Sifry, pp.145-222, 279-310

NOVEMBER 5TH - NO CLASS ELECTION DAY

Part three: Interest Groups

November 7th The Interest Group "Explosion" in Contemporary Politics.
Burdett A. Loomis and Allan J. Cigler, "Introduction: the Changing Nature of Interest Group Politics," #1 in Cigler and Loomis, eds. Interest Group Politics.

November 12th  and 14th:  Why Interest Groups? Mobilization for Collective Action.
#2 in Cigler and Loomis.
#13 in Cigler and Loomis.

November 19th: The Quintessential Interest Group: A Look Inside the National Rifle Association.
#6 in Cigler and Loomis.

November 21st, 26th, and December 3rd: Lobbying.
Beth L. Leech and Frank R. Baumgartner, "Lobbying Friends and Foes in Washington," #10 in Cigler and Loomis.
William P. Browne, "Lobbying the Public: All-Directional Advocacy," #16 in Cigler and Loomis.
Brian Anderson and Burdett A. Loomis, "Taking Organization Seriously: The Structure of Interest Group Influence," #4 in Cigler and Loomis.
Constance E. Cook, "The Washington Higher Education Community: Moving beyond Lobbying 101," #5 in Cigler and Loomis.

December 5th and 10th: Parties, Interest Groups, and Political Action Committees.
Paul S. Herrnson, "Parties and Interest Groups in Postreform Congressional Elections," #7 in Cigler and Loomis.
James L. Guth et al., "Thunder on the Right? Religious Interest Group Mobilization in the 1996 Election," #8 in Cigler and Loomis.

Week of December 16th: Take-Home Final Exam Due.