POLS-620 American Political Development
How did we get here? This course investigates how the American state has changed over time and how its current form emerged. American Political Development is a subfield of American Politics concerned with long-term institutional change: how political institutions are built, how they change, and most importantly, how they shape the lives of the people they govern. We move roughly chronologically from the Founding to the present, covering topics that include political parties, social movements, immigration, and modern conservatism. The course is reading intensive and discussion based, designed to provide students with an advanced understanding of American governance through a developmental lens.