Inside Washington: Contemporary American Politics in Critical Perspective

Catalog description

This course explores the contemporary American political landscape as it is constituted and impacted by regular midterm and presidential election cycles; ongoing deep political polarization among the electorate; radical politics on both the left and right; the role of mainstream, alternative and social media in American politics; issues of campaign financing; dynamics driving levels of prevailing voter attitudes and turnout, and emergent domestic policy issues. The point of departure for this course is an engaged examination of the themes, factors, variables and actors that constitute the complex American political landscape, as broadly examined during The Washington Center’s Inside Washington intensive seminar. This course enables students to examine more specifically those issues, events, trends, patterns, precipitous political happenings, and current political science research of interest to them, on an individualized basis.