TIMOTHY K FITZGERALD'S AMERICAN GOVERNMENT INTERNET COURSE OUTLINE
American government national, state and local. Comprehensive analysis of government structure, functions, principles and problems. Satisfies U S Government requirements.
Identify and explain our government's key components
Think critically about the nature, effectiveness, and problems facing government today
Identify and explain relevancy of American Democracy and the Federalist Papers to principles and practices of American institutions today
Relate ideas discussed in the readings and online to specific topical problems covered in the text. Relate the U S Constitution and relevant interpretations in today's political institutions and social problems. Short papers, essay midterm and final. Finishing this course you'll know the U S Constitution.
Government By the People - Burns, Peltason, Cronin, Magleby Recommended - available in paperback The federalist Papers - Hamilton, Madison, Jay Democracy in America - Alexis deTocqueville Texts
Week 1: Introduction to the Study of Government I. Why is critical thinking so important to understand government? II. Government's role past, present, future Week 2: American Political Stability I. Nature of Man and the need for government: Free or enslaved man? II. Relation between economic and social change and political stability. Week 3: Origins of "The American System," text Ch 1 I. Myths and ideals II. American system of constitutionalism Week 4: Basic Structure of American Govt, from The Federalist Papers I. Meaning of Constitution past and present II. Judicial interpretation Week 5: Founding Principles I. Federalist Papers and their importance, text Ch 3 II. Continuity and change in American government, text Ch 2 Week 6: The New Federalism, from The Federalist Papers I. Relevancy of the Federalist Papers for understanding how the branches were supposed to function, text Ch 15 II. Federalism and the Judiciary, text Ch 16 Week 7: Basic Freedoms I. Individualism vs. equality: deTocqueville's importance, text Ch 6 II. 1st Amendment freedoms, text Ch 4 Week 8: Human Rights, text Ch 5 I. 14th Amendment Freedoms, due process, Equal Protection of the Law II. New Group covered under the Constitution MIDTERM Week 9: Modern American Politics I. Political Culture, text Ch 7 II. Political Landscape, text Ch 8 Week 10: Politics and the Media I. National, state, local Govt and media's importance, text Ch 9, 10 II. DeTocqueville's relationship between media and ideals, text Ch 11 Week 11: Three Branches of Government I. Nature and future of elections, text Ch 12 II. Changing nature and role of each branch, text Ch 14 Week 12: Bureaucracy, text Ch 17 I. The real power of government II. US and USSR comparison of bureaucratic systems Week 13: State and Local Government I. Changing nature of state and local governments II. Nature of the Bureaucratic state Week 15: New Dynamics, text Ch 20 I. Crime, Drugs and Gangs: Was Hobbs Right? II. Social Welfare State Week 15: The Modern State, text Ch 21 I. Military Industrial Conflict II. Foreign Affairs Week 16: Globalization I. Peace II. Ecology and the Environment FINAL Schedule
Possible 500 points based on evaluation criteria above. Final letter grade based on percent of total points: 90 - 100 (A) 80 - 89 (B) 70 - 79 (C) 60 - 69 (D) 0 - 59 (F) Grades
My exposure to America's political process began with walking East Bay precincts near San Francisco for Bobby Kennedy in the ill-fated 1968 California primary. I since took part in 1960s civil rights action, ran for San Jose City Council, served as San Jose City Commissioner, ran for State Assembly, and served in California's state Green Party. From the time I became active on campus as an undergraduate in college government I was fascinated by the relationships. Before attaining my first degree (economics) I drafted a new student body constitution, later adopted, and was instrumental in integrating student, faculty and administration in shared responsibility in an experimental all college government. I hope to stimulate your own interest in the democratic process and responsibilities of freedom and liberty passed on from the founders. As a member of a family traveling America's frontier from the founding of Jamestown Virginia, I'm most concerned about who will do the job and how it gets done. As such I don't have an ax to grind. Over the last 200 years at least one relative was associated with one side or another of diverse political issues shaping the country's history. I won't fault you for your views so much as for your ability or inability to defend them and use resources to support your position as with any college class. Besides political activism I have 2 Masters' degrees in social sciences. I teach the course from an interdisciplinary bent considering historical development of America's political process as well as implication to political economy and culture. Some discussion will hopefully be set aside for considerations of global implications for the federal constitution and national policy in the next century.
I hope we address the dearth of interest in things political prevalent in the last decade and search for more meaningful examples in our American political heritage when dominance of one branch over another under the Marshall court or Whig congress or Reconstruction Republicanism shaped American destiny and lives from that time forward. Only in recent memory has the financial sector and Wall St dominated public interest in a way not unlike 1920s prosperity and the 1929 crash. We should measure our institutions by their mettle rather than at low ebb. Although my background is but a prototype for the Washington beltway, principles at stake function the same on any scale or level, a big reason you should want to know more about the process. Although my hands-on experience is limited with respect to the Democratic and Republican parties you don't become a player in this day and age without appreciation and respect for these parties and their patronage.
Class Subject: GLOBALIZATION Week 1: Evolution of East and West Role of trade and exchange in developing a global community The Search for the East A. Greece and Rome B. Islamic Conquest C. Crusades and Polo D. Columbus and the New World Week 2: Geopolitical Boundaries and Global Settlement Colonization of the Western Hemisphere Neo-Colonial Empires, Imperialism, the Superpowers World Domination A. Discovery and Conquest B. Trade Wars and Enlightenment C. Era of Revolt and Revolution D. Imperialism of the West Week 3: International Exchange WTO (World Trade Organization) GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) Brenton Woods Agreement World Trade and Exchange A. John Maynard Keynes B. The Great War C. After the British Pound D. Postwar Trade Week 4: Rich Nation, Poor Nation Cultural Limits on Growth Marx: Mode of Production determines Nature of Society Tradition and Custom A. Law of Comparative Advantage B. Mode of production C. Resource Allocation D. North vs South Week 5: Global Communication and Transnationalism Power of communication and Social Organization Corporate Capitalism and Monopolies Internet and Interstellar Communication A. Taming the Frontier B. Monopoly Capital C. From Reformation to Internet D. Global Markets Week 6: Future Scenarios From 1984 to the Greening of America - Prophets of Doom and Utopia Prospects for a New World Order A. Thomas More's Utopia B. Totalitarian Nightmare C. Liberty and Democracy D. Husbanding the Planet
As American political scholars we don't spend enough time reading the Constitution and identifying testable hypothesis therein. Using the constitution, identify one hypothesis relating to each of the three branches of federal government you believe literature ignores. What would answering these questions tell us about American government we don�t already know?
Economics is a Humanities and Social Science subject taught (and often) as an arm of the Department of Business. We use Social Science tools to inform us of our understanding of economic institutions and phenomena in the world today. Sorry to disappoint some of you but though I will provide the essential technical tools for the study of economics we will spend little time or interest in such phenomena as the stock market or Wall Street politics. Contrary to popular opinion, Wall Street and the Dow Jones is not �the economy.�
I have in mind all economies everywhere at any time, as fruit for discussion. Not just the Corporate Capitalism of fortress America. My points being that economic �laws� transcend time and space, and though prevalent to certain cultural matrixes, abide independent of, and upon, the societies in which they are found. Hence from Karl Marx: "The mode of production deternmines the nature of society."
To that end I invite you to raise questions about economies or economic principles that are no longer in extent, going back through Western history�s 2,500 years. Economies and economics come in varied and complex forms, not all easily understood on the first reading. 3 books that will get you up to speed on this approach to the study of the field are: Alvin Toffler�s �The Third Wave,� George Orwell�s �Down and out in Paris and London,� and John Kenneth Galbraith�s �The Affluent Society.� All of which are in print, and classics of their kind.
I come from an old school as someone who first cut their teeth on the economic arguments between Milton Friedman�s Monetary Economics and John Maynard Keynes, General Theorists. As President Richard Nixon said some 30 years ago, "We are all Keynesians now." I have little time for so called �supply siders� or their Wall Street financiers. I see the Social Sciences as an integrated, interdisciplinary whole, and teach the subjects within those disciplines in an integrated and interdisciplinary way. "No man is an island unto himself. For all are a piece of the continent" (Jonne Dunne) And much as Dunne observed centuries ago, we are all part of a larger picture, and belong to the context of a grand design - not of our making, but of our perpetuation. I come with a broad and sweeping understanding of the major forces in the economy. Forms which have dictated change in American life, from the Civil War to the Great Depression. And will liberally illustrate my points from a wide variety of data, both within and without the economic discipline itself. From the negotiations of supply and demand for housing and Real Estate, to international balance of payments and the �exodus of American Industry overseas� and consequent outsizing of American jobs, to the Production possibility of American Labour and resources, to the role of Big Business and Big Government in determining social policy - these are all fair game in the nature and causes of economics and the economy.
Beyond that we speak to the record, the political and social upheaval in the 1800s over Slavery and racism, the legitimacy of revolutionary forces that drove this county to declare its independence and the nature of Revolution as a economic weapon in anticolonial policy today, the demise of the family farm in the Midwest, the advent of 2 wage earner households, and decline of the nuclear family as we know it since the origins of the modern world. That is the study of economics. I approach Economics with respect as one of the more difficult subjects in the Social Sciences, and stand ready to help you in any way possible. This is not my first experience in the class room, and you certainly shall not make it my last. As John Kerry has recently said, �We are all in the same boat together.� I wish you God speed.