"Means as Ends"

Syllabus | Introduction | Unit I | Unit II | Unit III 

Syllabus

Course Description

Liberal democracies that aim to combine popular rule and protection of citizens' basic rights and liberties tend to feature numerous formal institutions, processes, and procedures that order and structure the operations of government. To promote the general ends of the regime, well-designed institutions, processes, and procedures facilitate the rule of law, distribute political power, provide channels through which citizens can influence the government, encourage deliberation among public officials, and much more.

This course is an intellectual examination of the various "means" used by liberal democracies to secure their principal ends. After initial consideration of the character of liberal democracy, the course studies the institutions, processes, and procedures associated with the rule of law and modern constitutionalism. Topics to be discussed include constitutions, judicial review, separation of powers, due process, and trial by jury. The course then takes a closer look at legislatures, placing particular emphasis on institutional design, representation, and the lawmaking process.

While many course themes are quite broad, they are discussed primarily in the context of the Anglo-American political tradition.

Texts and Readings

The texts required for this course are available at the University Bookstore. Students should purchase the following editions:

1. Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, The Federalist Papers, ed. Charles Kesler (New York: Signet Classics, 2003).
2. Jeremy Waldron, Political Political Theory: Essays on Institutions (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016).
3. Roger H. Davidson, Frances E. Lee, Walter J. Oleszek, and Eric Schickler, Congress and Its Members, 16th ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press, 2018).

All other readings are available via the Blackboard website for the course.

Recommended Audience

This course is appropriate for advanced undergraduates. Prior coursework in the history of political thought and in American institutions is recommended.

Recommended Assignments

Students read approximately 100 pages per week.

Writing assignments include one 5-6-page paper and one 10-12-page paper. Students also take a comprehensive final exam (essay format).

Schedule of Readings

The schedule contains 42 daily reading assignments, or fourteen weeks' worth of readings.

UNIT 1: CLASSIFICATIONS OF REGIMES AND THE ENDS OF
THE MODERN REGIME

• Session 1: Aristotle, The Politics, III.7-8, 13; IV.1-2, 8-9; V.8-9; Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, bks. 2-3
• Session 2: Hobbes, Leviathan, chs. XIII, XV.21, XVII-XVIII, XIX.1-2; Locke, Second Treatise, chs. II-III, VIII (§95-99), IX (§123-126), and X
• Session 3: Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, bk. 11, ch. 6; Federalist #10, 51
• Session 4: Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Author's Introduction, vol. I, pt. 1, ch. 3, and vol. II, pt. 4, ch. 6; James W. Ceaser, "What is Liberal Democracy?" in Liberal Democracy and Political Science

UNIT 2: THE RULE OF LAW AND MODERN CONSTITUTIONALISM

The Idea of the Rule of Law

• Session 5: A.V. Dicey, "The Rule of Law: Its Nature and General Applications," Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution; Lon L. Fuller, "Eight Ways to Fail to Make Law" and "The Consequences of Failure," in The Morality of Law; John Locke, Second Treatise, ch. XI
• Session 6: Plato, The Statesman, 293a-303c; Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, Politics Drawn From the Very Words of Holy Scripture (extracts in Readings in European History, vol. 2, ed. James Harvey Robinson, pp. 273-277); Hobbes, Leviathan, ch. XXVI
• Session 7: Hannah Arendt, "Ideology and Terror: A Novel Form of Government," in The Origins of Totalitarianism

Written and Unwritten Constitutions and Judicial Review

• Session 8: U.S. Constitution; James Ceaser, American Government, 7th ed., ch. 1; Robert Blackburn, "Britain's Unwritten Constitution," British Library website
• Session 9: Federalist #78; Marbury v. Madison (1803, selections)
• Session 10: Andrew Jackson, Veto Message Regarding the Bank of the United States, July 10, 1832; Abraham Lincoln, Sixth Lincoln-Douglas Debate, October 13, 1858 (selection), and First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861 (selection); Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Abigail Adams (1804); Brutus, "The Problem of Judicial Review," Part I; and Jeremy Waldron, "The Core of the Case Against Judicial Review," in Political Political Theory (selection)
• Session 11: McCulloch v. Maryland (1819, selections); Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., "The Constitution of the United States: Contemporary Ratification" (1985); Justice Antonin Scalia, "Originalism: The Lesser Evil?" in University of Cincinnati Law Review (1988-1989, selection)

Bills of Rights

• Session 12: Amendments I-X, U.S. Constitution; Herbert J. Storing, "Bill of Rights," in What the Anti-Federalists Were For; Federalist #84

Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, and the Rule of Law

• Session 13: Aristotle, The Politics, IV.14-16; Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, bk. 11, ch. 6 (review from Unit 1); Thomas L. Pangle, Montesquieu's Philosophy of Liberalism, pp. 118-126
• Session 14: Federalist #51 (review from Unit 1); Jeremy Waldron, "Separation of Powers and the Rule of Law," in Political Political Theory

Federalism

• Session 15: Federalist #39; Brutus No. 1; Tocqueville, Democracy in America, vol. I, pt. 1, ch. 8 (pp. 155-170 only, Lawrence edition)

Due Process of Law

• Session 16: Magna Carta, Chapter 39; Edward Coke, Institutes of the Lawes of England (selection); A.E. Dick Howard, The Road from Runnymede: Magna Carta and Constitutionalism in America, ch. 19
• Session 17: Amendments IV-VI & XIV of the U.S. Constitution; Henry J. Friendly, "Some Kind of Hearing," University of Pennsylvania Law Review (1975, first half)
• Session 18: Henry J. Friendly, "Some Kind of Hearing" (second half); Doe v. Alger (W.D. Va. 2016, selections)

Trial by Jury

• Session 19: Magna Carta, Chapter 52; Thomas J. McSweeney, "Magna Carta and the Right to Trial by Jury," in Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor
• Session 20: Kevin Crosby, "Bushell's Case and the Juror's Soul," Journal of Legal History (2012)
• Session 21: Amendment VII, U.S. Constitution; Federal Farmer, Essay XV; Alexis de Tocqueville, "On the Jury in the United States Considered as a Political Institution," Democracy in America, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Ch. 8 (pp. 270-276 only, Lawrence edition)

UNIT 3: LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES: BICAMERALISM, REPRESENTATION,
AND LAWMAKING

Introduction to Legislative Assemblies and Unicameralism/Bicameralism

• Session 22: Jeremy Waldron, "Representative Lawmaking," in Political Political Theory
• Session 23: John Stuart Mill, "Of the Proper Functions of Representative Bodies," in Considerations on Representative Government; Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "On Deputies or Representatives," in On the Social Contract
• Session 24: Jeremy Bentham, "Letter to His Fellow-Citizens of France, on Houses of Peers and Senates" (§1-3); Centinel, No. I
• Session 25: John Stuart Mill, "Of a Second Chamber," in Considerations on Representative Government; Benjamin Rush, "Observations on the Government of Pennsylvania"
• Session 26: Jeremy Waldron, "Bicameralism and the Separation of Powers," in Political Political Theory

The U.S. House and Senate

• Session 27: Federalist #52-57
• Session 28: Federalist #62-63
• Session 29: Tocqueville, Democracy in America (pp. 199-201, Lawrence edition); Sara Brandes Crook and John R. Hibbing, "A Not-so-distant Mirror," APSR (1997); Wendy J. Schiller and Charles Stewart III, "The 100th Anniversary of the 17th Amendment: A Promise Unfulfilled?" Issues in Governance Studies (2013)

Representation

• Session 30: Baker v. Carr (1962, selections); Reynolds v. Sims (1964, selections)
• Session 31: Edmund Burke, "Speech to the Electors of Bristol" (1774); Hanna Pitkin, "Introduction" and "Political Representation," in The Concept of Representation
• Session 32: Herbert Storing, "The Small Republic," in What the Anti-Federalists Were For; Jane Mansbridge, "Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent 'Yes,'" The Journal of Politics (1999)

The Legislative Process: Political Parties and Rules and Procedures

• Session 33: Roger H. Davidson, Frances E. Lee, Walter J. Oleszek, and Eric Schickler, "Leaders and Parties in Congress," in Congress and Its Members, 16th ed.
• Session 34: Davidson and Oleszek et al., "Congressional Rules and Procedures," in Congress and Its Members, 16th ed. (first half)
• Session 35: Davidson and Oleszek et al., "Congressional Rules and Procedures," in Congress and Its Members, 16th ed. (second half)
The Legislative Process: Committees

• Session 36: Richard F. Fenno, Jr., "Introduction" to Congressmen in Committees; John. H. Aldrich, Brittany N. Perry, and David W. Rohde, "Richard Fenno's Theory of Congressional Committees and the Partisan Polarization of the House," in Congress Reconsidered, 10th ed., eds. Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer
• Session 37: Davidson and Oleszek et al., "Committees: Workshops of Congress," in Congress and Its Members, 16th ed.
• Session 38: Joseph M. Bessette, "Deliberation and the Lawmaking Process," The Mild Voice of Reason: Deliberative Democracy and American National Government

The Legislative Process: Filibustering

• Session 39: Article I, Section 5, U.S. Constitution; Thomas Jefferson, A Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the Senate of the United States, section 17.9; Gregory Koger, "Filibustering and Parties in the Modern Senate," in Congress Reconsidered, 11th edition, eds. Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer; Matthew J. Franck, "Don't Eliminate the Filibuster—Restore and Reform It," Public Discourse (2016)

The Legislative Process: Congress and the Executive (Branch)

• Session 40: Davidson and Oleszek et al., "Congress and the President," in Congress and Its Members, 16th ed.
• Session 41: Robert J. Spitzer, "The Creation of the Veto," in The Presidential Veto: Touchstone of the American Presidency; Federalist #73
• Session 42: Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha (1983, selections)