Teaching the Presidency When Democratic Legitimacy Is Questioned

Session Submission Type: Virtual Short Course Half Day

Session Description

This Short Course will be held off of APSA's Virtual Platform on Monday, September 27th. Please register for the course here: https://forms.gle/RFHLiqrKuxt8qrU4A

Key Contacts: Please contact if interested in a formal presenter or breakout moderator role.
Scott McLean, Quinnipiac University (scott.mclean@quinnipiac.edu)
Nancy Kassop, SUNY New Paltz (kassopn@newpaltz.edu)

This half-day short course is designed to introduce professors to approaches for integrating into their presidency courses the ideas of the decay and renewal of democratic legitimacy. Concepts such as institutional legitimacy, political norms, political identity, popular culture, and popular movements are more frequently the focus in courses in political theory, comparative politics, political movements, gender studies, cultural politics, political psychology, and racial and ethnic politics. The objective of this short course will be to consider how professors might integrate into the design of presidency courses, more insights from these fields.

The presidency of Donald Trump and the tensions of an increasingly pluralistic society have propelled professors, unavoidably, to address topics outside the traditional subject matter in U.S. Presidency courses. These topics include the presidency’s relationship to popular distrust of the U.S. government, partisan division, political polarization, the demands for equity and recognition in new political movements, and the erosion, or restoration, of political norms. The Biden presidency offers an opportunity to encourage a national conversation about the underlying conditions that have fueled wide-scale dissatisfaction with government. Students will, therefore, look to their political science professors for thoughtful guidance on navigating these challenging and dynamic topics, as they unfold in real time. Understanding how presidential actions may not only disrupt government legitimacy, but also repair it, will be imperative in presidency courses of the future.

The Short Course is organized into two parts, each with a substantive, introductory roundtable, followed by a workshop on how to integrate materials on the topic with more traditional topics in presidency courses. It is designed so that roundtable panelists will share and discuss their experiences and examples on how to select accessible readings, how to construct innovative assignments and how to guide informed civil classroom discussions about presidents and democratic legitimacy. Then for each session, participants enter three Breakout rooms moderated by experienced presidency teachers who will continue the discussion on exemplar course readings, and ideas for assignments and classroom discussion.

Part One focuses on teaching students the ways presidents engage with various forms of disruption or restoration of democratic forms of legitimacy. Part Two extends the same kind of multi-disciplinary insight into the role that presidents play in partisan polarization and cultural divisions. Panelists and moderators will explore ways of teaching how mass political movements interact with the presidency.

SHORT COURSE AGENDA
Teaching the Presidency When Democratic Legitimacy Is Questioned
(Total Short Course Duration: 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm)

Intro to Short Course: 1:00 pm to 1:10 pm
Chair:
Meena Bose, Hofstra University

Part ONE: Teaching about Constitutional Norms, Democratic Legitimacy and Popular Media Culture - 1:10 pm to 3:00 pm

Roundtable 1:10 to 2:00
Chair:
Nancy Kassop, State University of New York at New Paltz
Panelists:
Chris Edelson, American University
Will Howell, University of Chicago
Terri Bimes, University of California, Berkeley

Breakout Rooms: 2:00 to 2:30
(Three Breakout Rooms, Three moderators)
Rachel Bzostek Walker, Collin College
Jeffrey Crouch, American University
Todd Belt, George Washington University


Open Discussion and Feedback: 2:30pm to 3:00 pm


*BREAK 3:00 pm to 3:15 pm:


PART TWO: Teaching about Political Movements, Identity Politics and Partisan Polarization- 3:15 pm to 5:00 pm

Roundtable 3:15 to 4:00pm
Chair:
Scott McLean, Quinnipiac University
Panelists:
Lilly Goren, Carroll University
Mark Rom, Georgetown University
Ken Mayer, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Breakout Rooms: 4:00pm to 4:30
(Three Breakout Rooms, Three moderators)
Andrew Rudalevige, Bowdoin College
Michael Genovese, Loyola Marymount University
Julia Azari, Marquette University


Open Discussion and Feedback: 4:30pm to 5:00 pm
Chair:
Meena Bose, Hofstra University

Sub Unit

• APSA Panels and All Meetings and Receptions

Chair

• Scott L. McLean Quinnipiac University

Presenters

• Nancy Kassop SUNY New Paltz

• Yu Ouyang Purdue University Northwest