Realignment


1) Normal elections. This is when people vote their normal party identifications because no major events cause a significant number of people to do otherwise.
2) Critical elections. Sometimes these are called realigning elections. These are those elections in which some dramatic crisis or set of events causes large groups of people to adopt new party identifications.
3) Dealigning Elections. These usually precede critical elections. What happens here is that events and failures of the current majority party to deal with those events cause people to drop their old party identifications WITHOUT moving to the other party--they are likely to become independents.
4) Deviating Elections. Deviating elections are characterized by temporary issues and factors that cause those people with party ID's to vote for the candidate of the other party, but not change their party ID. In the next election they are likely to go back to their own party in voting as the issue passes or as the temporary factor disappears. These temporary factors and issues can be such things as an issue position on which voters strongly disagree with their party's candidate.

Generations


What is a generation? - Special cohort-group whose lenth matches that of a basic phase of life. Events shape generational personalitiesaccording to their phase of life.

Generations come in cycles. The authors produce the following model:

Generation

Birth Years
Age in 1991
Age in 2013
GI
1901 – 1924
66-89
88-111
Silent
1925-1942
48-65
70-87
Boomers
1943-1960
30-47
52-69
Xers
1961-1981
9-29
31-51
Millenials
1982-2003
0-8
9-30
Unnamed
2004 - ??
Not alive
0-8



Generations are shaped by “Social Moments” – an era, typically lasting about a decade, when people perceive historic events are radically altering their social environment.

2 types of Social Moments

Secular Crisis – when society focuses on reordering the outer world of institutions and public behavior

Spiritual Awakenings – when society focuses on changing the inner world of values and behavior

These 2 types of social moments tend to alternate
Generation Types



Idealists (Boomers) – Grows up after a secular crisis, comes of age in a spiritual awakening, narcissitic as rising adults, moralistic midlifers, visionary elders


Reactives (Xers) – underprotected youths during spiritual awakening, risk taking adults, pragmatic midlifers, respect as elders


Civics (Gis, Millenials) – protected youths during spiritual awakening, comes of age in secular crisis, achieving as rising adults, builds institutions as midlifers, and busy elders during spiritual awakening


Adaptives (Silent, Unnamed) – overprotected youths during secular crisis, risk avers rising adults, indecisive midlife during spiritual awakening, influence as sensitive elders






















GI
Silent
Boomers
Xers
Millenial
Unnamed
Civic
Crisis
Adaptive
Idealist
Spiritual Awakening
Reactive
Civic
Crisis
Adaptive















































The authors argue that “peer personality” is driven by non-elites. Is this the case? What kind of a role do opinion leaders play in setting a generation’s tone?


Do Millenials have a “peer personality”? Are they shaped more by the 90s or the current decade?

What is your assessment of the Generations theory? Is it too impressionistic?

From Puritanism to Modern Morality Politics



Morone’s argument:

American political culture based on Puritan/Calvanist foundation

Moralist movements have rose from both the right and left

Debates based on an US vs THEM dichotomy

Morone’s theory mirrors Eckstein’s Culturalist Theory


Morone’s Moralist Cycle:

1. Conversion
2. Government Intervention
3. Institution building



The Social Gospel
The New Puritans
Early Puritans










The New Puritans – 4 General “sin” categories in society


Laziness

Drinking/Drugs

Violence

Sex







Post office Example – History may be repeating itself with debates over Internet policy



The Social Gospel – Social pressures to blame for people’s sins

Example: Poverty driving people to drink

Drug abuse as a disease

Sex as a public health issue




Does Morone’s theory adequately account for policy change in American political history?

How well can modernization theory explain periodic revivals in American political history?

Is “The New Puritanism” on the rise or decline in contemporary public policy? Is “The Social Gospel” returning?


Generations


What is a generation? - Special cohort-group whose lenth matches that of a basic phase of life. Events shape generational personalitiesaccording to their phase of life.

Generations come in cycles. The authors produce the following model:

Reactive (Gis) 1925 - 1942
Idealist (Boomers) 1943-1961
Adaptives (Xers) 1962 - 1981
Civic (Millenial) 1982 - 2000


Generations are shaped by “Social Moments” – an era, typically lasting about a decade, when people perceive historic events are radically altering their social environment.

2 types of Social Moments

Secular Crisis – when society focuses on reordering the outer world of institutions and public behavior

Spiritual Awakenings – when society focuses on changing the inner world of values and behavior

These 2 types of social moments tend to alternate

American Political Development (Orren and Skowronek) –

A Durable Shift in Governing Authority




Governing Authority –

Exercise of control over persons or things that are enforceable by the state


What is Authority?

1. Designated in advance

2. Works through Institutions

3. Enforceable by law

4. Works through perceptions



Shift –

Authority moves or is transferred from one position to another


Examples:


Department of Homeland Security

Pendleton Act of 1883



Durability –

Shift in authority must be lasting over time


Examples:

New Deal

Post World War II National Security

Non-Durable Shifts:

Prohibition


Is this Definition Limiting?


Patterns



Intercurrence











Path Dependency and Policy Change

Juncture 1
Policy A
Policy B
Random Event or
Unanticipated Consequence
Policy B
Policy A
Transaction Costs














Political Culture

Syllabus

POS 4931: American Political Development
Spring 2009

Instructor: Office Hours:
Dan Cicenia
301 Anderson Hall
Email: dcicenia@ufl.edu

Course Description

This course focuses on the evolution and transformation of political institutions at various points in American political history. We will begin with the Jeffersonian era, working our way up through the Reagan era. A particular focus will be placed on the Presidency, the Party system and Policy change. We will also examine the role Social Movements play in fostering political change over time. The syllabus assumes you have taken at least POS 2041 and Junior or Senior standing in the Political Science major.

Books Required for Purchase. A coursepack is also required, and is available at Orange and Blue Textbooks, at 309 NW 13th Street.
Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform (Vintage/Knopf/Random House: 1955)
Doug McAdam, Political Process and Black Insurgency (University of Chicago: 1985)
James Morone, The Democratic Wish (Yale, 1998)
Stephen Skowronek, Politics Presidents Make (Belknap/Harvard: 1997)
James Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System (Brookings: 1983)

Grades/Assignments

All grading is on a 0-100 scale. The cutoffs for final course grades are as follows: A=90, B+=87, B=80, C+=77, C=70, D=60, F<60. Course averages just below each cutoff might be given the higher grade if there is significant progress over the semester. Borderline grades will also be discounted by attendance.

Your grade will be based on the following:

Quizzes 10%
Midterm #1 25%
Midterm #2 25%
Final exam 30%
Participation 10%

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Students are bound by the University of Florida's Student Code of Conduct. Anyone who commits an act of academic dishonesty, such as cheating on exams or committing plagiarism on written assignments, will suffer appropriate sanctions and be referred to university authorities for further action.

Any student with a special need should notify me (and coordinate with Student Services at 202 Peabody Hall) as soon as possible at the beginning of the semester. Every effort will be made to accommodate your situation within the guidelines set forth by the university.





INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW


WHAT IS AMERICAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT?
Karen Orren and Stephen Skowronek, The Search for American Political Development (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 120-32. (coursepack)

POLITICAL CULTURE AND INSTITUTIONS

Harry Eckstein, “A Culturalist Theory of Political Change,” American Political Science Review, 82(3) (September 1988): 789-804.
Samuel Huntington, American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony (Harvard: 1981), Ch. 3, pp. 31-60 (coursepack)
Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America (1955, 1991), chap. 1 "The Concept of a Liberal Society," pp. 3-32. (coursepack)

POLITICAL CULTURE RECONSIDERED

Sven Steinmo, "American Exceptionalism Reconsidered", in L. Dodd and C. Jillson, eds., The Dynamics of American Politics (Westview: 1994), Ch. 5, pp. 106-131 (coursepack)
Rogers M. Smith, "Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions in America," American Political Science Review 87 (3) (September 1993): 549-66. (course pack)

RELIGION AND CYCLICAL CHANGE

· James A. Morone, Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History, pp 1-33. (coursepack)
· William Strauss and Neil Howe, Generations, (William Morrow: 1991), pp 1-40., 58-96 (coursepack).

PARTY REALIGNMENT THEORY

Walter Dean Burnham, Critical Elections (Norton: 1970), Ch. 1, pp. 1-10 (coursepack)
James Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System (required textbook), chs 1, pp. 1-10

PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP

Stephen Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make (required textbook), chs. 2-3
· James Morone, The Democratic Wish (required textbook), p. 1-15

SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY

Ann Costain and Andrew McFarland, Social Movements and American Political Institutions (coursepack), Ch 1.
Douglas McAdam, Political Process and Black Insurgency (required text, Chs 1-3).


PRESIDENTS JEFFERSON AND JACKSON

James Morone, The Democratic Wish (required textbook), pp. 74-96
Stephen Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make (required textbook), chapters on Presidents Jefferson and Jackson
In-class film

CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION

Stephen Skowronek, Politics Presidents Make (required textbook), chapter on President Lincoln
Seth Steiner, ed., Reconstruction: A Tragic Era? (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968), pp. 1-8, 13-17, 29-36 (coursepack)
James Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System (required textbook), chs 4-5.
In class film

AMERICAN INDUSTRIALIZATION AND THE RISE OF POPULISM
Richard Franklin Bensel, The Political Economy of American Industrialization, pp.1-54 (coursepack).
Richard Hoftstadter, Age of Reform (required textbook), chs. 2 and 3
In-class film

PROGRESSIVISM I:

Richard Hofstadter, Age of Reform (required textbook), Chs. 4-5.
James Morone, The Democratic Wish (required textbook), pp. 97-128
James Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System (required textbook), chs 1
In class film

PROGRESSIVISM II:

Eileen L. McDonagh, "The 'Welfare Rights State' and the 'Civil Rights State': Policy Paradox and
State Building in the Progressive Era," Studies in American Political Development, 7 (2) (Fall 1993): 225-274. (coursepack)
James Morone, Hellfire Nation, Chs 10, 11. (coursepack)
Stephen Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make, (required textbook) Chapter on Theodore Roosevelt.

THE NEW DEAL

Ann Orloff in Theda Skocpol, ed., The Politics of Social Policy (Princeton, 1988), pp. 65-79 (coursepack)
Stephen Skowronek, Politics Presidents Make (required textbook), chapter on Franklin D. Roosevelt
Jill Quadagno in Skocpol, ed., The Politics of Social Policy (Princeton, 1988), pp. 237-247 (coursepack)
James Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System (required textbook), ch 10.
In class film

THE GREAT SOCIETY

Ira Katznelson Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order (Princetion: 1989), Ch 7., (coursepack)
Brendon O’Connor A Political History of the American Welfare System (Rowman and Littlefield: 2003), Ch 2, (coursepack)
Stephen Skowronek, Politics Presidents Make (required textbook), chapter on Lyndon B. Johnson
James Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System (required textbook), ch 10



THE RISE OF CONSERVATISM

Jonathan Schoenwald, A Time For Choosing (coursepack), Chs. 2, 5.
Stephen Skowronek, Politics Presidents Make (required text), chapter on Reagan
James Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System (required textbook), ch 18
Daniel M. Cook and Andrew J. Polsky, "Political Time Reconsidered: Unbuilding and Rebuilding the State under the Reagan Administration," American Politics Research 33 (4) (July 2005): 577-605. (coursepack)
In-class film

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Douglas McAdam, Political Process and Black Insurgency (required text), chs. 5-8
James Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System (required textbook), ch 17
In-class film

CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Ann Costain and Andrew McFarland, Social Movements and American Political Institutions (coursepack), Ch 4.
Jane Mansbridge, Why We Lost the ERA (University of Chicago, 1986), Chs 1, 10. (coursepack)
James Morone, Hellfire Nation, Chs 15. (coursepack)

POLITICAL REFORM

James Morone, The Democratic Wish (required textbook), pp. 322-338
James Sundquist Constitutional Reform and Effective Government (Brookings, 1992) Chs 1, 9. (coursepack)


Important Dates:

CLASS CANCELLED JANUARY 9: CONFERENCE

NO CLASS JANUARY 19: MLK HOLIDAY

EXAM 1 – (FEBRUARY 6, 9)

EXAM 2: (MARCH 20, 23)

CLASS CANCELLED APRIL 1 – 3: CONFERENCE

FINAL EXAM (Tuesday, April 28 at 12:30)