American Government Field Examination, Day One,  May  2004

 

Part 1 – Answer one question

 

1.   Work in the growing field of American Political Development raises questions about why and how political scientists study history.  How would you describe the field of “APD” to a political scientist who is not closely associated with it?  Do political scientists tend to study history as historians do?  Or, are there distinctive political science approaches to the study of political development in the United States?  In what sense, if any, does the American system “develop”?  Be sure that your answer includes specific examples from works in American Political Development.

 

 

2.   Many scholars argue that beginning in the 1960s a "rights revolution" transformed American public policy. What is this alleged revolution and what evidence is there that it took place?  Given the foundational status of rights in American political life, can one call this a revolution? The historical status of a rights revolution notwithstanding, are "rights" (such as freedom of speech, the right of women to choose an abortion, property rights, and budgetary entitlements like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) truly insulated from politics? Or are rights subject to political attack and renegotiation no less than any other domestic policy instrument?  If rights can indeed be curbed or scaled back, does the term "right" have any real meaning in the modern U.S. state?

 

 

 

 

Part II – Answer two questions

 

1.    Some rational choice scholars argue that American politics is best understood as a  

       chain of principal-agent relationships:  the citizenry empowers the Congress,  which       

       in turn delegates its collective power to its various standing committees, which in   

       turn delegate authority to various bureaus (e.g., the EPA, IRS, etc), which are  

       organized internally as administrative hierarchies.  From this theoretical perspective,

       the key issue is democratic control.  Good government obtains when each agent

       receives the proper incentives from its political superiors. 

 

Is principal-agent theory a useful framework for understanding American national government?   What insights does it offer that other frameworks downplay or ignore?  What if anything does principal-agent theory mask or suppress?  Justify your answer with cites to relevant works and concrete examples.

 

 

 

 

2.   Stephen Skowronek argues in The Politics Presidents Make that certain presidents in history-Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan -have played the principal part in "reconstructing" the American constitutional order during their time in office.  Have presidents truly been "regime builders'"? Or has it been political parties, or perhaps Congress? Or some relationship among presidents, Congress, and parties? What attributes of the presidency as an institution might be said to make it possible for presidents to bring about such critical transformations? What about parties or Congress?  Is the role of the regime builder compatible with the concept of republican government held by the Framers of the Constitution? Or, has the presidency played a part in history that was not anticipated by the architects of the Constitution?

 

3.   David Mayhew argues that the electoral realignments perspective on American

      political development does not hold up under scrutiny and that scholars should

      abandon its terminology entirely.  What are the major empirical claims of realignment

      theory?  Be specific.  Why does Mayhew argue that the realignments model is wrong? 

      Do you agree with Mayhew's negative assessment, or do you think the realignments

      perspective remains a valuable one?  Justify your answer.

 

4. How is the content of the policy agenda set in the United States today? To what extent

does the current agenda-setting process ensure that policymakers focus their attention of the concerns most important to average citizens?   On the concerns most important to policy experts?