Instructor: Keith T. Poole

Office: Room 304D Baldwin Hall
E-Mail: [email protected]
WebSite: Voteview Home Page

Office Hours: Thursday 3:00 - 5:00PM

The following texts will be used in this course:

• Matthew Levendusky. 2009. The Partisan Sort
• Morris P. Fiorina. 2011. Culture War? (3rd Edition)
  
• Nolan M. McCarty, Keith T. Poole, and Howard Rosenthal. 2013. Political Bubbles
  

1. Introduction: What is Political Polarization and Why Does it Matter?
   
   Assignment:
   
   
   • Chapter 1, The Partisan Sort
     
   • Chapter 1, Culture War?
     
     
     • Brief Overview of US Political/Social Polarization (PowerPoint)
       
2. How do We Measure Polarization of the Elites?
   
   Assignment:
   
   
   • "Measuring Ideology"
     
   • "The Decline and Rise of Party Polarization in Congress During the Twentieth Century."Extensions, Fall 2005.
     
   • "The Roots of the Polarization of Modern U. S. Politics."Revista de Ciencia Politica, December, 2008.
     
   • Growing Apart: The Mathematical Evidence for Congress' Growing Polarization, by Jordan Ellenberg
     (Note that the links to voteview.uh.edu should be pooleandrosenthal.com. The pages are still on the website.)
     Measuring Ideology (PowerPoint)
     
     
   • House and Senate DW-NOMINATE QuickTime Movie (through 1^st session of the 113^th Congress
   
   
   
3. Income Inequality and Political Polarization
   
   Assignment:
   
   
   • Chapter 1, Polarized America, Nolan M. McCarty, Keith T. Poole, and Howard Rosenthal.
     
   • Chapter 2, Polarized America, Nolan M. McCarty, Keith T. Poole, and Howard Rosenthal.
     
   • "Wages and Human Capital in the U.S. Financial Industry: 1909-2006," by Thomas Philippon and Ariell Reshef. Working Paper 14644, 2009, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.
     
   • The Evolving Structure of the American Economy and the Employment Challenge, Michael Spence and Sandile Hlatshwayo, 2011, Council on Foreign Relations
     
     
     • Handout for Topic 3 -- Brief Overview of the State of Income Inequality (Part 1, PowerPoint)
       
     • The Level and Distribution of Economic Well-Being (Remarks by Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, 6 November 2007)
       
     • Handout for Topic 3 -- Civil Rights and the Realignment of the South (Part 2, PowerPoint)
     
     
     
   • IRS Tax Tables Page
     
   • Monthly Statement of the U.S. Debt
     
   
   First Exam Study Questions
   
   
4. Post 1960s Political Polarization
   
   Assignment:
   
   
   • Chapters 2 - 7, Culture War?
     
     • Handout for Topic 4 (Part 1, PowerPoint)
       
     • Handout for Topic 4 (Part 2, PowerPoint)
       
     • Handout for Topic 4 (Part 3, PowerPoint)
       
     • Handout for Topic 4 (Part 4, PowerPoint)
       
     • Handout for Topic 4 (Part 5, PowerPoint)
       
     • Handout for Topic 4 (Part 6, PowerPoint)
       
   
   Second Exam Study Questions
   
   
5. George W. Bush and the 2000 and 2004 Presidential Elections
   
   Assignment:
   
   
   • Chapters 8 - 10, Culture War?
     
   • Chapters 2 - 7, The Partisan Sort
     
     • Levendusky Chapters 1 and 2 (PowerPoint)
       
     • Levendusky Chapter 3 (PowerPoint)
       
     • Levendusky Chapter 4 (PowerPoint)
       
     • Levendusky Chapter 5 (PowerPoint)
       
     • Levendusky Chapter 6 (PowerPoint)
       
     • Levendusky Chapter 7 (PowerPoint)
       
     • Fiorina Chapter 10 (PowerPoint)
       
       
6. The Public Policy Consequences of Political Polarization
   
   Assignment:
   
   
   • "Politics, Public Policy, and Inequality: A Look Back at the 20^th Century," by Howard Rosenthal. In Social Inequality, edited by Kathryn Neckerman. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2004.
     
   • Political Bubbles
     
     
     • Policy Consequences (Part 1, PowerPoint)
       
     • Policy Consequences (Part 2, PowerPoint)
       
       
   
   Final Exam Study Questions
   
   
7. The Future of American Politics
   
   Assignment:
   
   
   • Conclusion, Political Bubbles
     
     

Site Links

VOTEVIEW Blog
NOMINATE Data, Roll Call Data, and Software
Course Web Pages: University of Georgia (2010 - )
Course Web Pages: UC San Diego (2004 - 2010)
University of San Diego Law School (2005)
Course Web Pages: University of Houston (2000 - 2005)
Course Web Pages: Carnegie-Mellon University (1997 - 2000)
Analyzing Spatial Models of Choice and Judgment with R
Spatial Models of Parliamentary Voting
Recent Working Papers
Analyses of Recent Politics
About This Website
K7MOA Log Books: 1960 - 2015
Bio of Keith T. Poole
Related Links