Introduction to Politics

~ Laura

I’ve got a terrible cold. Hubby took the boys to Octoberfest up at Bear Mountain. He’s meeting up with some buddies, and I’m here pouting at home. I hate when people have fun without me.

So, I’m making myself another pot of tea and settling down at the computer. I’ve got a bunch of work to do on my syllabi for next semester.

Yesterday, I worked out some of the details for an Introduction to Politics class. This is the first time I’m teaching this class, though I’ve done Introduction to American Government many times. Introduction to Politics is a requirement. It’s intended to teach students terms like power and legitimacy, so they can hit the ground running when they start taking more politics classes.

Since I’ve never taught this class before, the first thing I did was goggle “introduction to politics syllabus” to see what others have done. Then I figured out what was the most popular textbook on the topic by using amazon and google. Then, I went to the website for the text ordered a deskcopy and printed out the table of contents. How did people do this without the Internet?

I got hung up when I looked for a companion book to go along with the textbook. I wanted to offer a reader of primary material to get the students hooked on the topic. Something juicy. Something that would be a fun read and easily lead to class debate. It had to be short excerpts of a variety of material. I searched Amazon using terms like “classics” and “selected readings.” They have readers for the various subfields, but not a general overview.

Sigh. That means a course packet. How I hate putting those together. It’s lots of legwork. I don’t have time to find pristine versions in the library, so they are going to get my underlined copies of Marx and Machiavelli and Putnam.

My next step is to decide what should be in this course packet. I’m looking for short, classic, debatable, and accessable. Sometimes that’s going to get a semi-comatose teenager to jump out of his/her chair and shout “YES!” I mean something other than free booze and pornography. Taking suggestions.

Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago. 1985. p.65-82. Chapter 17 – Of Cruelty and Mercy, and Whether It is Better to be Loved Than Feared, or the Contrary, Chapter 18 – In What Mode Faith Should Be Kept by Princes, Chapter 19 – Of Avoiding Contempt and Hatred

Marx, Karl. Communist Manifesto

Key, V.O. Southern Politics in State and Nation. Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press. 1949. p.1 –35, Preface, Chapter One – Of the South, Chapter Two – Virginia: Political Museum Piece

Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2000. p.1-47, Chapter One – Thinking About Social Change in America, Chapter Two – Political Participation.

Brown v. Board of Education

Published by Laura

14 thoughts on “Introduction to Politics”

  1. How about chapter VII of the Prince? This has the infamous tale of Cesare Borgia and Remirro de Orco! (great early modern parable of “shock and awe”!)

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  2. ooo – short and debatable! (deplorable?)
    Garret Hardin, “Lifeboat Ethics”
    could pair this with Peter Singer’s “Poverty, Affluence, and Morality” from Philosophy and Public Affairs, but the latter is a bit heavy slogging for first years, maybe?

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  4. Are de Tocqueville, Vindication of the Rights of Women, and the Federalist/Antifederalist papers are too boring? I remember these getting my pulse racing when I was teenager (stop laughing), but then again I’m a big nerd. Wait, I probably didn’t have to add that last bit.
    Also, speaking as a grad student, I much prefer course packs to book lists. They’re far more varied and interesting, and allow you to get the prof’s perspective, rather than the textbook editor’s. Uh, and they’re also a lot cheaper, so I don’t think anyone will mind your underlining.

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  5. Yes, I need some Supreme Court decisions in there. I was thinking of Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Ed. Hmm. I have to take a look at bowers.
    So many tasty treats in the Prince. I was thinking that most kids can get the “it is better to be feared than loved” stuff. The fox and the lion also make for good imagery.
    yes, I’m planning on doing a ittle bit of deTocqueville. Can’t decide if I should use his chapter on American being born equal and fitting into a discussion of political socialization. Or maybe his townhall stuff in NE. Or maybe civic associations.
    I’ve assigned Federalist Papers #10 and 51 several times to intro kids and they usually do have a hard time with it. But it’s important, so I’m seesawing. Maybe I can do the Declaration of Independence.
    Vindication of the Rights of Women is a great choice. I was thinking about a chapter from Betty Friedan, too.

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  6. Here are a few more offbeat suggestions:
    1) Chapters 3 and 6-7 (maybe 8 as well) of Jonathan Rauch’s “Government’s End.”
    2) The section of Chapter 14 of “The Power Broker” that deals with the financing of the West Side Improvement.
    3) Finally, the “Agricultural Policy” chapter in “Parliament of Whores.” If you have to ask why, then you must not be a right-winger under the age of 40.

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  7. Here are a few more offbeat suggestions:
    1) Chapters 3 and 6-7 (maybe 8 as well) of Jonathan Rauch’s “Government’s End.”
    2) The section of Chapter 14 of “The Power Broker” that deals with the financing of the West Side Improvement.
    3) Finally, the “Agricultural Policy” chapter in “Parliament of Whores.” If you have to ask why, then you must not be a right-winger under the age of 40.

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  8. Thanks, Dr. Manhattan. good suggestions. I’m looking for offbeat. I was thinking about using Hunter Thompson’s account of running for office in CO under the “freak power” ticket.

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  9. I’ve taught Politics 101 kind of courses, and had great luck with–okay, this is really offbeat–Randy Shilts “Mayor of Castro Street” about the life of Harvey Milk, the first major openly gay politican. He has some chapters about retail politics in San francisco and Milk’s use of coalition building to join the Board of Supervisors.

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  10. For offbeat–anything from P J O’Rourke. I think “Eat the Rich” would be a worthwhile book to recommend on the syllabus; for one selection to put in the pack, I’d go with the chapter on Albania.
    For Supreme Court opinions–Scott vs Sanford (Dred Scott) is a great one; it has rigorous analysis (and thus shows how onerous the laws applied to free blacks in free states were) and was intended to be read and discussed by non-lawyers.
    For sort-of-conservative, contemporary, and very thought-provoking I’d recommend Thomas Sowell’s “A Conflict of Visions”; my copy is packed, but I think there’s a chapter summarizing each vision.

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  11. If you are serious about legitimacy.
    Preamable to the Constitution
    and Locke Second Treatise
    Plato’s Republic
    Something on Divine Right (I use Jean Domat and work through it line by line with high schoolers).
    Something on the Mandate of Heaven in China.

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  12. When I took Intro to Poli Sci so many years ago we used an older version of this book:
    Voices of Dissent: Critical Readings in American Politics

    I don’t remember if it was good or not, but you might check it out.

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  14. Actually, my favorite chapter in “Parliament of Whores” is the final chapter. His insight that all governments are morally wrong, was very powerful.

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