POL 3910. Honors Seminar: Landmarks in Political Science.
(4.0 cr; prereq 55 cr, 3.00 GPA in Pol courses, ?; A-F only)
Selected books and essays considered to be outstanding contributions to political
science. The works' arguments and contribution to political science.
We will be studying the long-standing debate in American political science between the "elitists", who believe the United States is dominated in some way by an elite (defined variously by different theorists), and the "pluralists", who believe that even though some inequalities of power might exist or appear to exist, the United States is nevertheless a democracy (again, defined variously by different theorists). The debate has gone back and forth for at least eighty years; we'll be reading some of the original, seminal works.