PSC 212: American Policy System, Time Table for SPS.

Janda Website; US politics.

1. What is distinctive about the US policymaking process?  [Janda]
2. What types of public policy are there?  [Janda]
3. What types of ideology are there, and how do you fit in these schemes of belief? [Janda; Idealog]

Serow 9:
Liberties 
& Rights

49: Miranda v Arizona (1966, rights of accused) [Case Notes]
50: Richard Posner, "Security vs Civil Liberties." [+]
56: Alderman & Kennedy, "In Our Defense" (Native American right to religion, 1991).
57: De Grazia, "Girls Lean Back Everywhere." (1992, 2 Live Crew CD).

1. What types of civil liberties are there in a liberal democracy?  [Janda]
2. In what sense do civil liberties compromise society's need for order and security? [Posner]
3. What sort of need can justify a state overriding the right to religious practice? [Alderman]
4. Should a claim of artistic merit be sufficient to override a need to prevent obscenity? [De Grazia]

Serow 9:
Liberties 
& Rights

48: Anthony Lewis, "Gideon's Trumpet" (1964, Right to counsel.)
51: Richard Kluger, "Simple Justice: Brown v Board ..." (1975, schools desegregation) 
52: Ellis Cose, "Rage of Privileged Class" (Black mid class frustration, 1993).
53: Bron Taylor, "Affirmative Action at Work" (CA Parks Dept, 1991)
58: Mary Ann Glendon, "Rights Talk" (what do rights mean, 1991)

1. How are civil rights anchored in the US Constitution?  [Janda]
2. What types of equality are there and which ones are valued in the US?  [Janda]
3. How was the right to counsel for criminal defendants established? [Lewis]
4. How did school desegregation come about?  [Kluger]
5. Why is the black middle class said to be frustrated? [Cose]
6. What are the difficulties of implementing affirmative action, and how do people's rights conflict? [Taylor; Glendon]

Serow 15:
Political 
Economy

89: JK Galbraith, "The Affluent Society" (1958, govt role social balance)
90: Milton Friedman, "Free to Choose" (1980, individualism)

1. What types of economic policy are there, and with what effects? [Janda]
2. What does political economy mean? [Brewster]
3. Is there really private affluence and public squalor in modern America? [Galbraith]
4. What are the virtues of the free market? [Friedman]

Serow 16:
Public 
Welfare

91: Michael Harrington, "New American Poverty" (1984)
92: Thomas Sowell, "Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality?" (1984)
94: Theresa Funiciello, "Tyranny of Kindness" (1993, welfare debate)

1. What types of entitlements are provided in the US, and to what groups in society?  [Janda]
2. To what extent is there poverty in the modern US? [Harrington]
3. Did civil rights and the War on Poverty really remove economic inequality between the races? [Sowell]
4. Is it fair to say welfare benefits breed dependency instead of a helping hand? [Funiciello]

Serow 16:
America
in Changed
World

95: Ben Barber, "Jihad vs. McWorld" [+] 
96: Sam Huntington, "Clash of Civilizations." [+]
97: Eric Alterman, "Who Speaks for America?" (1998, experts v public) 
98: George Kennan, "Around the Cragged Hill" (1993, Warnings for C21st).
AWAC [Montgomery meetings with great speakers on world affairs]
Old and New diplomacy; Multilateralism v Unilateralism (Lewis, lecture outline.)

Responses
1 page per.

1. What are the constitutional bases of presidential and congressional authority in foreign policy?  [Janda]
2. Which major organizations assist in making foreign policy?  [Janda] 
3. What have been the phases of the last century of US foreign policy from isolationism to the present?  [Janda]
4. Is public opinion capable of exerting influence on US foreign policy?  [Alterman]
5. What should replace the cold war as a theme of US foreign policy for the 21st century? [Kennan]
6. Has the cold war simply been replaced by a more dangerous clash of local identity against the global business dominance? [Barber] 
7. Has the cold war been replaced by a more dangerous clash of Civilizations? [Huntington]

1. What are the key concepts of international relations?  [Janda]
2. How can the world function safely without a world government?  [Janda] 
3. Should nation states conduct their foreign policy by realism -- or is there room for idealism?  [Janda]

Brewster

2: Education: Everybody's Opportunity, Nobody's Responsibility 
Lecture & Discussion points.

1. What are the problems of US education system, and what reforms have been suggested or tried? [Brewster]
2. What is the federal role in US education, and should it be increased? [Brewster]

1. What are the problems of the US health care system, and what policies have been tried to improve the situation? [Brewster]
2. Would a national health care (single payer) system be more efficient than the market? [Brewster]

Brewster

5: Terrorism [New to 5/e]

1. Is the criminal justice system so irrational that it is failing to control crime? [Brewster]
2. Should the war on terrorism actually have extended to Iraq, and why? [Brewster]
3. Should we allow some civil liberties to be infringed in order to search out terrorists? [Brewster; and see Posner above]

1. What are the central beliefs of Plunkitt about local politics? [Riordan]
2. Is there anything about Plunkitt's argument that fits your own state's politics today? [Riordan]
3. To what degree was George Wallace a southern version of Plunkitt -- and what are the contrasts between those men? [Riordan and Lewis]

1. What are the characteristics of Alabama politics? [Almanac]
2. How is the public administration of Alabama improving? [Walters in Governing]
3. What's wrong with taxing and budgeting in Alabama? [Murray]
4. In what ways do job discrimination continue to haunt Alabama? [Jubera]

1. Write about the recent legislative session (April/May) from articles on Alabama politics that you find from AL.com. [Give author, title, URL and date].