POLI 385 - Seminar on American Presidency, Power, and Transformational Leadership

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

This seminar grapples with one of the fundamental paradoxes of the American presidency. On the one hand, Americans tend to believe that the president is responsible for much of what happens to the country. If the economy performs well, the president gets the credit. If a natural disaster is mishandled, the president takes the blame. Structured around the problem of presidential power, the seminar provides a framework for analyzing presidential action, the growth and transformation of the office, and how it has come to assume its dominant place in the political landscape. Topics include the president’s role as a public leader, the president’s place in the legislative process, the president’s military responsibilities, and the president’s position within the executive branch. Students study individual presidents to understand not only their own times but also salient issues with which they are associated (Thomas Jefferson and John Adams with the rise of parties; Andrew Johnson with impeachment; etc.).We look at how presidents transform the political landscape during elections and the tenure of their leadership as well as the legacies that they leave. Topics covered are Neustadt’s foundational text on presidential power of persuasion. More recent selections include Cronin’s examination of the paradox of presidential power. Specialized study of the presidents include Andrew Jackson and the rise of the popular presidency; Lincoln, the Republican party and the Civil War; and FDR, the New Deal, and the establishment of the modern presidency. Finally, the course incorporates the most recent presidents and the rise of the unitary executive theory. Heather Mir.

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

Please email Dr. Mir at hmir@gradcenter.cuny.edu and copy saopondo@vassar.edu and dagordineer@vassar.edu.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: CLS