Sylabus
The key areas that will be covered:
The basic settings, basic principles
The United States Constitution and its origin, federalism, checks and balances, division of powers, legitimacy of the government, political culture, flexible/inflexible constitution?, civil liberties, constitutionalism
Outline of the Structure of the Government – Key players
Executive: President, Office of the White House, Departments
Legislative: Congress
Judiciary: Courts
Bureaucracy
- basic structure, who does what, basic requirements for elections into the office.
- explain structure of departments, White House Office
Elections nominations, primaries, general elections
Who can vote?
The Executive Branch
· electing the president
· the president and his powers (appointment, removal, legislative, vetoes – presidential and legislative, the power of the purse, executive agreement and treaties, the war power, the power to persuade)
· tensions between the legislative and the executive powers
· the White House Office
· the Cabinet, the Departments
· other institutions of the executive branch
· foreign and domestic policy-making
The Judiciary the structure of the judicial system the powers and role of the Supreme Court the framework within which the Supreme Court operates getting a case in front of the Supreme Court jury trials famous cases where to search for cases.
Congress
Powers of Congress
House of Representatives and Senate
Election to Congress, Members of Congress
Congressional Leadership
Committees
How a Bill Becomes a Law - process in the HoR and S
Party Politics
Political Parties, their role and organization, political parties in Congress, in States
Campaign Finance and support for party candidates
Public Opinion and Frames of Reference
Anotace
This course aims to provide the students with in-depth knowledge and understanding of the U.S. government. It focuses on the the theory, organization, functions, politics, and problems of the United States political system.
The course primarily focuses on the federal level of government, however, attention is also paid the state-level government and the interaction between the state and the federal level. The course examines the mechanics of the government, the division of powers, checks and balances.
It is mostly analytical, however, it tries to provide the historical context and follows the chronological evolution of the U.S. government. The major topics include the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government; political parties, campaigns, elections; bureaucracy; opinion and the formulation of public policy.
Issues of political culture will also be debated. The course uses a variety of textual as well as audiovisual material.