First Year Seminar: The Road to City Hall (Welcome to New York)

Catalog description

This course will explore the central themes of New York City politics and government, using the 2025 mayoral and city council elections to examine the roles of the institutions, interest groups and social movements in the city. We will examine how federalism impacts candidate’s strategic decisions and study the interests which compete to influence candidates and government decisions. At the end of this class, students will be able to: identify the structure and organization of the institutions that comprise New York’s local city government, discuss the key issues and sources of power in New York city politics, and evaluate how the mayoral candidates communicate their agendas to voters.