The Spring 2018 Political Science senior capstone course will be an
in-depth analysis of democratic representation, with a focus on the
US Congress, marginalized populations, and public policy outcomes.
In this course, we will analyze the concept of representation and
explore how differing forms of representation serve to legitimize
the democratically elected US government. This course will be run
similar to a graduate seminar, with a great deal of reading and
writing. In the first half of the course, students will gain a
richer understanding of the theoretical and practical dimensions of
liberal representation, the fundamental premise for a functional
democracy. During the second half of the course, we will be taking
a deeper look at US public policy formation and lawmaking as a
substantive outcome of representation. Students will gain a
comprehensive understanding of the origins of American social
policy and critically analyze how populations interests are
represented in the process. Questions that guide the seminar will
be as follows: What counts as representation? Whose interests are
represented? Are some interests overrepresented? Are some interests
underrepresented? Who defines a group’s interests? How does the
effectiveness of representation have an impact on the quality of
the US democracy? How does representation affect the policy
formation process? What are potential tactics to improve the
democratic representation of marginalized populations? How does the
US democracy allow for the representation of the interests of
majority and minority factions? What are the strengths and
weaknesses of these models? Students will be expected to write a
significant final
research paper, where they craft an original argument, draw on
their own original research and secondary academic texts, and make
future recommendations. Students will present their findings to the
broader campus community on the Undergraduate Research, Scholarship
and Creative Arts (URSCA) Presentation Day in the Spring.
- Teacher: Sara Angevine