PSCI 410 - Senior Seminar in American Politics: Interpretations of American Politics

Institution:

Williams College

Subject:

Political Science

Description:

Current assessments of the state of American politics vary widely. Though recent polls show that as many as 60 percent of Americans think that the country is headed down the wrong-track, it is not clear what that means. Critics on the left worry that the United States is on an imperial quest, extorting resources from the global many for the advantage of an elite few. Critics on the right worry that the U.S. has abandoned the traditions that made it strong and has entered a period of moral decay. What are we to make of these different assessments? What do left and right see when they survey the nation, and why is what they see so different? Any diagnosis of contemporary maladies is premised on a vision of what a healthy functioning republic looks like. Our task in the seminar is to uncover and interrogate those visions. We will do this by exploring different interpretations of American politics, each with its own story of narrative tensions and possible resolutions. We will then use our investigation of how different authors, and different traditions, understand the nation to help us assess contemporary politics and come to our own conclusions about what animates it.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

At least one class in American politics

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Seminar

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.williams.edu

Phone Number:

(413) 597-3131

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Four-one-four plan

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