POSC 215 – Spring 2003

Federalism, State and Local Politics

Bert Johnson

bnjohnso@carleton.edu

Office: x7170

Home: 645-6338 (not after 10pm please)

Office Hours, Willis 413

Tuesdays 10am-12:00noon; 4:00pm-6:00pm

Thursdays 4:00pm-6:00pm

and by appointment

Federalism, the division of power between the national government and the state governments, is a fundamental feature of the political structure in the United States, but it is little studied and less understood by political scientists and laypeople.  Invented in its modern form by the founders of the U.S., this feature has spread to governments around the world, from India, to Australia, to Germany, to Mexico.  Why is federalism so attractive as a system of government?  Is there something normatively "good" about federalism, or does it just arise from political necessity?  Does the meaning of the term change over time as the United States and its constitution adapt to new challenges?  Can we predict the effects of federalism on the economic and political environment?

Like federalism itself, state and local governments are often relegated to the fringes of the study of American politics.  This is strange, given the number and variety of state and local government systems in this country. Many interesting questions, therefore, remain to be fully addressed: How do the roles of state and local governments differ from those of the national government?  What public policies should we expect state and local governments to implement and how?  What can the study of state and local governments teach us about U.S. politics in general?

In this course, we will attempt to consider, if not answer, all of the above questions.  This will require a significant amount of dedication and effort on all of our parts.  Just as you should expect thorough preparation from me, I expect the same of all of you.  Therefore, it is important that everyone complete the assigned readings and come to class prepared to discuss them.  I anticipate lecturing little this term and listening a lot.

Evaluation this term will be as follows.  1) Regular participation - 20% of semester grade.  2) Four 2-page response papers based on the readings - 30% of semester grade.  3) Discussion leadership during last week - 20% of grade.  4) Final paper - 30% of semester grade.

Details will follow on policy roundtables and final papers.  Response papers should be based on a reading or readings assigned for the day students hand them in (though they may incorporate insights from other readings) – you are not expected to do outside research for these short papers!  You are free to choose what to write about, though papers should make an argument (more than one argument is probably too much for a short paper).  You have some degree of choice over when to write these papers, but you must write your first by the end of week two (April 11), your second by the end of week four (April 25), your third by the end of week six (May 9), and your fourth by the end of week eight (May 23).  I will grant extensions only in cases of serious emergencies beyond a student's control.

Books available at the Carleton College Bookstore:

• Ronald Weber and Paul Brace, Eds. American State and Local Politics: Directions for the 21^st Century, (New York: Chatham House), 1999.
• Daniel Elazar, Virginia Gray, and Wyman Spano, Minnesota Politics and Government, (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press), 1999.

• Jacob Lentz, Electing Jesse Ventura: A Third Party Success Story, (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers), 2002.

Other materials are either Handouts, are available on reserve (RR) at Gould Library, and/or are available through my website: www.fas.harvard.edu/~bnjohns . 

1 – Monday, March 31 – Introduction

• Articles of Confederation (website)
• Constitution of the U.S. (website)

The Political Theory of Federalism

2 – Wednesday, April 2

• Johannes Althusius, Politics (1603), Chapter 9: “Political Sovereignty and Ecclesiastical Communion” (website)

· Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1660), Chapter 29: “Of Those Things that Weaken or Tend to the Dissolution of a Commonwealth” (website)

3 – Friday, April 4

• Federalist Papers 9, 10, 37, 46 (website)
• Anti-Federalist Papers: (website)

· Agrippa IV (Dec. 1787)

· Melancton Smith, speech, 27 June 1788

Separatism and Dual Federalism

4 – Monday, April 7

· Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1799) (website)

• John C. Calhoun, “The Fort Hill Address” (1831) (website)
• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) (website)

5 – Wednesday, April 9

· The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 (excerpt) (RR)

• “Southern Manifesto” (1956) (website)
• Martin Luther King, Jr. et al., “Letter to the President of the United States” (1958) Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers, V. 4 (1992) (RR)

6 – Friday, April 11

• David Walker, The Rebirth of Federalism (New York: Chatham House, 2000) Chapter 3: “Variations on Dual Federalism, 1789-1930” (RR)
• V.O. Key, Jr., Southern Politics in State and Nation, (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1984 [1949]), Chapter 1: “Of the South” (RR)

Cooperative Federalism and the New Federalisms

7 – Monday, April 14

· Morton Grodzins, “The Federal System,” in American Intergovernmental Relations (2^nd Edition), Lawrence O’Toole, Ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1993), pp.57-66. (RR)

• Timothy Conlan, “The Politics of Block Grants from Nixon to Reagan,” Political Science Quarterly 99:2 (1984) (RR)

8 – Wednesday, April 16

• United States v. Lopez (1995) (website)
• Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett (2001) (website)

States and Cities – Their Place in the System

9 – Friday, April 18

· William Riker, “Federalism” in American Intergovernmental Relations (2^nd Edition), Lawrence O’Toole, Ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1993), pp. 89-96. (RR)

• Weber and Brace, Chapter 2 “Devolution and Challenge for State and Local Governance”

10 – Monday, April 21

· Charles M. Tiebout, “A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures,” Journal of Political Economy 64:5 (1956) pp. 416-424. (RR)

• Paul Peterson, The Price of Federalism, (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1995) Chapter 2: “Functional and Legislative Theories of Federalism” (RR)

11 – Wednesday, April 23

• Weber and Brace, Chapter 1 “States and Localities Transformed”
• Weber and Brace, Chapter 4 “The Institutionalized Legislature and the Rise of the Anti-Politics Era”

12 – Friday, April 25

· Elazar, Gray, and Spano, Chapter 1 “Minnesota as a Polity”

· Elazar, Gray, and Spano, Chapter 2 “Epitome of the Moralistic Political Culture”

States and Cities – Politics and Elections

13 – Monday, April 28

· Weber and Brace, Chapter 9 “State and Local Parties in a Candidate-Centered Age”

· Weber and Brace, Chapter 10 “The Opening up of State and Local Election Processes”

14 – Wednesday, April 30

• Elazar, Gray, and Spano, Chapter 5 “Political Parties, Elections, and Campaign Finance”
• Elazar, Gray, and Spano, Chapter 6 “The State Legislature”

15 – Friday, May 2

• Elazar, Gray, & Spano, Chapter 4 “Public Opinion, Participation, and Lobbying”

Monday, May 5 (MID-TERM BREAK)

16 – Wednesday, May 7

• Weber and Brace, Chapter 7 “The Embattled Mayors and Local Executives”

17 – Friday, May 9

• Weber and Brace, Chapter 8 “The Resurgent City Councils”

19 – Monday, May 12

· Lentz, Ch. 1-2

20 – Wednesday, May 14

· Lentz, Ch. 3

21 – Friday, May 16

• Lentz, Ch 4, Conclusion

States and Cities – Public Policy

22 – Monday, May 19

· Weber and Brace, Ch 12 “Policy Change in the American States”

23 – Wednesday, May 21

· Weber and Brace, Ch 13 “Policy Change in American Cities and Counties”

New Ways of Thinking about Federalism

24 – Friday, May 23

• Morris Fiorina, “Divided Government in the American States: A Byproduct of Legislative Professionalism?” American Political Science Review, 88:2 (June, 1994). (RR)

25 – Monday, May 26

• Theda Skocpol, Marshall Ganz, and Ziad Munson, “A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States,” American Political Science Review, 94:3 (September 2000). (RR)

Student Policy Paper Presentations

26 – Wednesday, May 28

27 – Friday, May 30

28 – Monday, June 2

Conclusion

29 – Wednesday, June 4

• Martha Derthick, “Up-to-Date in Kansas City: Reflections on American Federalism”, PS: Political Science and Politics, 25:4 (December 1992), pp. 671-675. (RR)