POL 238 - Topic: State & Local Politics

This course examines state and local politics within the federal system. Our detailed consideration of America’s “laboratories of democracy” will provide historical, political, and institutional context for understanding the contemporary challenges facing subnational levels of government in the United States. Topics to be investigated include: structure, functions, and governance of state politics; nationalization of local politics; election administration and state political actors; participation, representation, and the role of state political parties and social movements; policymaking and state legislatures; ballot initiatives and direct democracy; rural vs. urban political divisions; and the relationships between local, state, and federal governments.