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Module Title |
Issues in American Studies
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Module Code |
LG331
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School |
School of Law & Government
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Online Module Resources
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| Module Co-ordinator | Professor Gary Murphy | Office Number | C239A |
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Level |
3
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Credit Rating |
5
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Pre-requisite |
None
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Co-requisite |
None
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Module Aims
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This module aims to bring together various issues from the preceding American studies modules offered in years One and Two. Thus it examines current issues in American politics, business, society and foreign policy; and through seminars explores the dynamics of how such strands interact in the America of the Twenty-First Century.
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Learning Outcomes
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Students should have a reasonably thorough knowledge of the various issues studied.Student will be familiar with the alternative schools of thought in the academic literatureon the study of the United StatesStudents will be familiar with the various methodological and conceptual debates around the study of the United States.
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Indicative Time Allowances
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Hours
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Lectures |
0
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Tutorials |
0
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Laboratories |
0
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Seminars |
0
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Independent Learning Time |
75
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Total |
75
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Placements |
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Assignments |
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NOTE
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Assume that a 5 credit module load represents approximately 75 hours' work, which includes all teaching, in-course assignments, laboratory work or other specialised training and an estimated private learning time associated with the module.
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Indicative Syllabus
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To be presented at the beginning of the semester.
This course will look at current issues in the United States and examine them from four different angles to assess how political, economic, social and foreign policy evolves.
The four areas to be examined are The Supreme Court, Congress, PresidencyBureaucracies (Various Government Departments).
Policy making as it emerges in the United States will be examined through the foci of these four lenses. Thus lectures and seminars will ask and answer questions as to how policy is made by focusing on the four institutions and ascertaining which is the most effective, least effective, most influential, least influential in the way policy is formulated. The examination of such issues will examine the effects they have on various constituent groups, and ask such pertinent questions as who is driving policy in the United States, whether it is the Courts, the Congress, the Presidency or the bureaucracies.
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| Assessment | | Continuous Assessment | 100% | Examination Weight | 0% |
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Indicative Reading List
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Foreign Policy:
Jentleson, Bruce American Foreign Policy: The Dynamics of Choice in the 21st Century (New York, 2000)
Kagan, Robert. - Of paradise and power : America vs. Europe in the new world order (New York, 2003)
Economic Policy
Lehne, Richard, Government and Business: American Political Economy in Comparative Perspective (New York, 2001)
Post, James et al, Business and Society : Corporate Strategy, Public Policy, Ethics. (New York, 1999)
Social Policy
Hames, Tim and Nicol Rae, Governing America (Manchester, 1996)
Goldstein, Kenneth M, Interest groups, lobbying, and participation in America. (Cambridge, 1999).
Politics
Richard Pacelle, The Role of the Supreme Court in American Politics: The Least Dangerous Branch? (New York, 2001)
Peele, Gillian, Christopher Bailey, Bruce Cain and B. Guy Peters, Developments inAmerican Politics (London, 1998)
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Programme or List of Programmes
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| BSSA | Study Abroad (DCU Business School) |
| BSSAO | Study Abroad (DCU Business School) |
| ECSA | Study Abroad (Engineering & Computing) |
| ECSAO | Study Abroad (Engineering & Computing) |
| HMSA | Study Abroad (Humanities & Soc Science) |
| HMSAO | Study Abroad (Humanities & Soc Science) |
| IR | BA in International Relations |
| SHSA | Study Abroad (Science & Health) |
| SHSAO | Study Abroad (Science & Health) |
| Archives: | |
