Politics, Persuasion, and the Press

Catalog description

This course, conducted in the wake of a brutal presidential election, an assault on the Capitol, and a second impeachment, is intended to examine American politics and to look at how the political system in the United States and its interchange with the press shape the process of making policy. It is one part history, one part political science, one part policy studies, with special emphasis on local and national politics. In this course, students will be exposed to the 18th century Constitutional origins of the American political system as well as the 21st century implications of the American political systemall in the context of political upheaval in a country that, until recently, cultivated an air of stability. Through challenging readings, guest speakers, and yeasty class conversation, this course is intended to provide insights into the political system of the preeminent power in North America and, even now, around the world. In addition to the course readings alluded to below, students will be expected each day to have read in detail the Post-Gazette and either The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times, plus websites of your choice. (Rationale: Even in the Internet age, it remains the case that, in the United States, when one person involved in politics and government encounters another by 9 AM, each will have assumed of the other that they have read both The Journal and The Times.)