WesMaps - Wesleyan University Catalog 2023-2024       Summer Session       Winter Session       Home       Archive       Search
CS92PROD
American Political Parties
GOVT 238
Spring 2024 not offered

This course explores the origins, purposes, roles, and consequences of political parties in the American political system. After a brief consideration of the broader theories behind political party systems, we will turn our focus to the party system in the United States. V. O. Key (1964) presented a tripartite definition of political parties that we will use to structure our exploration of parties for the rest of the course: party as organization, party in government, and party in the electorate. In these sections, we will address political party polarization, party identification, parties' fundraising, and many other related topics. From this rich examination of political parties in the U.S. context, we will discuss why parties exist and enable democracy, but also discuss their potential flaws and failures.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS GOVT
Course Format: Lecture / DiscussionGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (CIVI-MN)(GOVT)(GOVT-American)

Last Updated on DEC-04-2024
Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions. Please include a url, course title, faculty name or other page reference in your email ? Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459