Spring 2005

GOV 370L • Politics of Voting Rights in the U S

Course Description

Course number may be repeated for credit when topics vary. Upper-division standing required. This course will cover the politics of defining the American electorate. How and why have individuals’ sex, race, literacy, age, citizenship status, property holding, and criminal records been used to define their electoral rights? Looking both to history and to contemporary debates, we will examine the strategies of groups seeking new voting rights, the interests that have sought to curtail voting rights, and the responses of the political system, including political parties, elected politicians, and appointed government officials. Important in our investigation will be attention to the role of federalism and the reservation of significant power to the states to define voting rights, which can provide both impediment to and opportunity for change.

Grading Policy

Midterm Exam: 20% Major Paper: 25% Debate/Presentation: 15% Final Exam: 25% Participation and Quizzes: 15%

Texts

Banaszak, Lee Ann. Why Movements Succeed or Fail: Opportunity, Culture, and the Struggle for Woman Suffrage. Keyssar, Alexander. The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States. McAdam, Doug. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970. Coursepack.

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