Political Science 103A

California Politics

 

Prof. Thad Kousser                                                  Fall 2008

tkousser@ucsd.edu, 534-3239                                   Lecture: T/Th 2:00-3:20pm, York 2622

Office Hours: 369 Social Science Building               Final: Thursday, December 11, 3-6pm

9:45-11:45am Mondays

                       

Required Reading

› The three texts are available for purchase at the bookstore: William Fulton’s The Reluctant Metropolis (Johns Hopkins, 2001), Gerald Lubenow’s Governing California, Second Edition (Institute of Governmental Studies Press, 2006), and Frederick Douzet, Thad Kousser, and Kenneth Miller, The New Political Geography of California (Berkeley Public Policy Press, 2008). 

 

› Note that Governing California, Second Edition is quite different from the First Edition, so make sure you buy one with a yellow map of California on the cover, not the one with the red map that your roommate is trying to sell you, cheap).  Also note that there is no longer a reader for this course, so don’t buy an old one from your conniving roommate, either.  

 

› The course webpage, located at http://weber.ucsd.edu/~tkousser/PS103A.htm, will contain information such as lecture slides, course announcements, and study guides.

 

 

Course Assignments

› 25% Midterm (Thursday, October 23rd in class)

› 30% Paper (due Thursday, November 20th, in class)

› 40% Final Exam (Thursday, December 11th, 3-6pm)

› 5% “Section” Attendance and Participation

           

Class Meetings: Lectures will last from 2-3pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with 3:00-4:20pm generally reserved for discussion sections.  Each student will need to attend four sections over the quarter, and be prepared to discuss the readings assigned for the lecture that day.  Note that we do NOT meet on November 11th (Veterans Day) or November 25th (everyone will be ditching because of Thanksgiving anyway). 

 

Assignments: There will be an in-class midterm on Thursday October 23rd, as well as a final exam on Thursday, December 11th.  The final will be comprehensive, but will feature topics from the second half of the course more prominently.  All exams will be closed book, and composed of identifications, short answers, and essays.  You will also write a 5-7 page paper advising a state legislator about how she should vote on a bill or whether she should take an official position on a ballot proposition, and hand it in on Thursday, November 20th (I’ll hand out a paper prompt after the midterm). The paper will be graded on both substance and style.  Each student must do his or her own work, adhering to university regulations prohibiting plagiarism and cheating.  

 

Grade Changes and Extensions: All requests for grade changes must be made in writing, to me, within a week of receiving the graded assignment.  Requests must be typed and double spaced, and review of a grade by the other grader or by me may result in either a higher or lower grade.  Extensions on assignments and make-up exams will only be granted in cases of documented illness or family medical emergencies.  Please contact me as soon as possible if you need to request one.      

 

 

Lecture Notes How do I read them?

    If you don't have Microsoft Power Point, you can read and print these slides by going to the Microsoft website and downloading their Power Point Viewer.  If you copy this link into your web browser: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?amp;displaylang=en&familyid=d1649c22-b51f-4910-93fc-4cf2832d3342&displaylang=en   and click on download in the upper right corner, you should be all set.

    If you want to print six slides per page to spare some trees, then when you are on the print menu, just select "Handouts" in the "Print What?" area, and you can print many per page.

 

Teaching Assistant Contact Info

 

Matt Kearney

mckearne@ucsd.edu

SSB 323

Office Hours: Thursday, 3:30-4:30pm

 

Robert Bond

SSB 322

Office Hours: Thursday, 12:30-1:30pm

 

 

Lecture Podcasts at http://podcast.ucsd.edu/

 

 

California Current Events at www.rtumble.com

 

 

Course Outline

 

 

Part I. Political Institutions in Flux

 

1.      Thursday, September 25th. Course Introduction.

 

2.      Tuesday, September 30th. The Progressive Movement I: Initiatives and Referenda.

    1. Eugene Lee, “Direct Democracy: Initiative, Referendum, and Recall,” in Governing California.

 

3.      Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive Movement II: The Recall.

    1. “Governors, Geography, and Direct Democracy,” William Chandler and Thad Kousser, The New Political Geography of California.

 

4.      Tuesday, October 7th. Professionalizing the California Legislature.  

    1. Patrick Johnston, “The Changing Legislative Landscape,” in Governing California.

 

5.      Thursday, October 9th. Term Limits and the Future of the Legislature.

a.       Bruce Cain, Thad Kousser, and Karl Kurz, “California: A Professional Legislature After Term Limits,” in Governing California.

 

6.      Tuesday, October 14th. Bargaining with Governors.  

    1. John Jacobs, “The Governor: Managing a Mega-State,” in Governing California.
    2. John Decker, “Resolving Differences and Crafting Compromise: Creating a Budget for California,” in Governing California.   

 

7.      Thursday, October 16th. Movements and Elections in California.  

    1. William Fulton, “The Beachhead,” Chapter 1 in The Reluctant Metropolis.
    2. “California’s East-West Divide,” Kenneth P. Miller and Frederick Douzet, The New Political Geography of California.

 

8.      Tuesday, October 21st. Parties and Redistricting in California.  

    1. J. Morgan Kousser, “Redistricting,” in Governing California.
    2. Bruce Cain, Iris Hui, and Karin McDonald, “Sorting or Self-Sorting? Competition and Redistricting in California,” The New Political Geography of California.

 

9.      Thursday, October 23rd. Midterm (in class). Bring two blank blue books.

Midterm Study Guide 

 

 

Part II. The Politics of Diversity

 

10.  Tuesday, October 28th. Diversity and Participation.

    1. Jack Citrin, “Immigration,” in Governing California.

 

11.  Thursday, October 30th. Political Incorporation of Minority Groups.

    1. William Fulton, “Suburbs of Extraction,” Chapter 3 in The Reluctant Metropolis.
    2. Urban Change and Neighborhood Politics in San Diego: A Comparative Perspective,” Gerald Billard and Emmanuelle Le Texier, The New Political Geography of California.

 

12.  Tuesday, November 4th. Incorporation in Urban Politics: The Case of Los Angeles.

    1. William Fulton, “Whose Riot Was This, Anyway,” in The Reluctant Metropolis.
    2. Raphael J. Sonenshein and Mark H. Drayse, “The Political Geography of Coalitions in an Age of Immigration: The Case of Los Angeles,” The New Political Geography of California. 

 

Extra Credit Opportunity!  We will raise your grade 5 percentage points on the midterm if you either:

A.    Attend the Election Night 2008: A Political Party! event at the Great Hall held on Tuesday, Nov. 4th from 7:15-9:30pm. In addition to listening to the “expert” panel, go talk to one of the 15 senior seminar students who will be standing by posters that describe a battleground state.  Write a short (one page) report that focuses on one of these battleground states and tells me about what you learned from the senior seminar student, what you learned from the expert panel that had anything to do with it, and what the result of the election was in this state.  Hand it in at lecture on or before November 13th, or

B.     If you cannot attend the party, use websites such as http://us.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/ and http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/ to learn about one battleground state, and use the information to write the one-page report described above.  

 

 

13.  Thursday, November 6th. Race as a Political Issue: Demographics and Initiatives.

    1. Morris P. Fiorina and Samuel J. Abrams, “Is California Really a Blue State?” The New Political Geography of California. 
    2.  “The San Joaquin Valley: Political Realignment and its Limits,” Kenneth P. Miller and Justin Levitt, The New Political Geography of California. 

 

Paper Resources                                 Paper Topic                            List of Initiative Endorsements

 

 

14.  Thursday, November 13th. Moving On Up to Sacramento. 

    1. William Fulton, “Perestroika Co-opted,” in The Reluctant Metropolis.
    2. “Has California gone Colorblind?” J. Morgan Kousser, The New Political Geography of California. 

 

 

 

Part III. Perspectives on Policy.

 

15.  Tuesday, November 18th. Crime and Punishment I: The System.  

    1. Preble Stoltz, Jerry Uelmen, and Susan Rasky “The Courts,” in Governing California. 

 

16.  Thursday, November 20th. Crime and Punishment II: Race and Crime. 

    1. “The Impact of the ‘Three Strikes and You’re Out Law’ on California’s Justice System,” California Legislative Analyst’s Office, http://www.lao.ca.gov/laoapp/PubDetails.aspx?id=1037

 

17.  Tuesday, December 2nd. The Layers of California Government.   

a.       Revan Tranter, “Cities, Counties, and the State,” in Governing California. 

    1. William Fulton, “Welcome to Sales Tax Canyon,” in The Reluctant Metropolis.

 

18.  Thursday, December 4th. Environmental Politics.

    1. William Fulton, “Redefining Chinatown,” in The Reluctant Metropolis. 
    2. William Fulton, “The Politics of Extinction,” in The Reluctant Metropolis.

 

 Final Exam: Thursday, December 11th, 3-6pm, location to be announced (but probably York 2622).   

 

                        Final Study Guide

 

 

 

Capitol Fellows Program

     To learn more about a great opportunity to work as a legislative, executive, or judicial staffer after college, click on the Capitol Fellows Link

 

UC in Sacramento Center

Intern in Sacramento for Academic Credit

  http://uccs.universityofcalifornia.edu

*You must schedule a meeting with the AIP Sacramento counselor   

  in order to be eligible for application to the UCCS Program

 

Trick or Vote

A group including Progressive San Diego, Common Cause, the N3TWORK, and  The Bus Project is working together on a Halloween night voter mobilization project.  The say “We are looking to have 100 or more young volunteers who will canvass an area that will have a high concentration of young college students, most likely in the SDSU area,  dressed in costumes, getting out the vote by greeting people with "Trick-or-Vote" at their 

doors.    It will occur on Halloween(Oct 31) from 4 - 8 PM followed by a party at the Joyce Beers Center in Hillcrest, from 8 - 10:00 PM 

We should have a band, pizza, non-alcoholic. One of our members, from the Bus Project, has been involved in this project in Oregon and is the central organizer.”