Fall 2006

GOV 312L • Issues and Policies in American Government

Course Description

Offered on the letter-grade basis only. Fulfills second half of legislative requirement for government. May be taken for credit only once. Tentatively, the course will examine the foundations, aims, and limits of American liberal democracy by examining the conceptual, moral and political justifications of American Political institutions as they are expressed in founding documents, fundamental debates, and principle problems, in the development of American democracy. We will examine the fundamental arguments for and against rights, revolution, liberty, and property, as well as those for and against disenfranchisement, enslavement, and conquest, in order to deepen our understanding of the vicissitudes of democracy in America, and illuminate the place of contemporary American democracy in this complex and often tragic historical trajectory.

Texts

Course Packet More TBA

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