May 01, 2024  
2012-2013 College of Liberal Arts Catalog 
    
2012-2013 College of Liberal Arts Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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PSCI 218 - State and Local Politics

4 credits
The United States is quite remarkable in the world for the extent to which our political system is decentralized and for the amount of governmental power that is placed in the hands of sub-national actors. This course will provide an overview of the operation of America’s federal system and of the politics, institutions, and policies of state and local governments. These governments are the ‘closest to the people’ and affect our daily lives in innumerable ways but Americans tend to know very little about them. We will examine the tremendous diversity that exists within and between states through a comparative analysis of their constitutions, institutions, electoral processes, and policies. We will also explore why states have chosen to govern themselves in different ways and the impact which these choices have had on the character of their politics and policymaking and on the lives of their citizens. CLA- Breadth/Social Sciences



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