Review Sheet for Exam #1

POLS 220

BERCH

SPRING 15

 

Review for Exam #1

 

Exam #1 takes place during class time on Monday, February 9.  You simply need to bring pencil, Scantron form 882-E, and photo ID.  The exam will consist of 20-25 true-false and/or multiple choice questions.  You should answer all questions, as there is no penalty for guessing. 

To prepare for the exam, you should read through the blog assignment, In terms of material covered in class, you should be familiar with the first set of lecture notes.  Specifically, from class, you should be familiar with:
Why we compare states.

The three types of political culture.

The origins of the federal system.

The major events in the development of federalism over time.

The different types of fiscal federalism.

The importance of conditions of aid.

The changes to fiscal federalism under Ronald Reagan.

Why some states get more federal aid than do others.

The interaction between Dillon's Rule and Home Rule
Why some states give more power to local government than do others.

The role of regional bodies.

.

I will have my usual office hours on the day of the exam, in case you want to ask questions.  You can also email them to me at the email address on the syllabus, until 9 pm on February 8.  Finally, you may post questions to the blog under this topic.  I’ll answer any questions posted on the blog by 8 pm on February 8.  Good luck!--NB

Update:  I'm in hospital (exam is still on as scheduled).  I'll try to answer blog questions as late as possible on Monday.  If you have a very late question, you can call 412-445-3957 during office hours.  Depending on medical tests, I'll try to talk with you. 

Lecture Notes #1

 

Introduction

 

Overview of Course

A.       Setting/Rules of Game/Context/Federalism

B.       How Citizens Try to Influence Government:  Parties and Elections

C.       Who They Influence:  Institutions

D.       Policy Outcomes

 

Why Study State and Local Politics?

A.       Look at Newspapers

B.      Look at WVU tuition, admissions standards—demographics, geography matter

C.      Why are welfare payments higher in Connecticut than Mississippi?  Wealth and ideology

D.      Why does Idaho have a higher percentage of women in the state legislature than New York?  Rules matter, and so does culture.

E.       Why does New York’s legislature make fewer technical mistakes than West Virginia’s?

F.       Why is voter turnout higher in Maine than in Missouri?  Political culture, rules.

G.      States make a great laboratory; similar but not the same.

 

Why Have States Anyway?

 

Political Culture—Elazar

A.       Individualistic—politics as marketplace

B.      Moralistic—politics to improve society

C.      Traditionalistic—politics to maintain the existing order

 

 

Federalism

 

A History of Federalism

A.       Origins

1.        Problems with Articles of Confederation

a.        Lack of national unity

b.      Lack of coordination

2.        Options

a.        Unitary system

b.      Confederation

c.       Federalism

B.       10^th Amendment

C.       Federalists vs. anti-Federalists

1.        Alien and Sedition Acts

2.       Interposition and Nullification—VA and KY Resolutions

D.       Marbury v. Madison

E.       Louisiana Purchase

F.       McCulloch v. Maryland

G.      Civil War

H.      13^th Amendment

I.        14^th Amendment

J.        15^th Amendment

K.      16^th Amendment

L.       Government Assumes Welfare Role

M.    Civil Rights Decisions

 

Fiscal Federalism

A.       Major source of money for states and localities

B.      Two ways of classifying different types

1.        Level of discretion

a.        Categorical grants—least discretion, very specific purposes

b.      Block grants—moderate discretion—general areas—most money in these

c.       General Revenue Sharing—total state or local discretion—good points and bad points.  Abolished in mid 1980s

2.        Method of allocation

a.        Project—many categorical grants but not much money—application process, class bias

b.      Formula grants—virtually all block grants, some categorical, and (before abolition) all revenue sharing

C.       Conditions of aid allow policy control that cannot be mandated

1.        Speed limit enforcement

2.       Drinking age

3.       Blood Alcohol level

4.       No Child Left Behind

5.       Extortion?  Or good public policy?

 

The Reagan Years

A.       Irony:  let states do more, but give them less money

B.      Some movement from categorical to block grants

C.      Elimination of Revenue sharing

D.      Reduction in overall grant money—largely restored in Bush (Papa) administration.

E.       Consequences

1.        States and localities do more with less

2.       Fiscal crises

3.       Governors are blamed

4.       Attempts at creativity

a.        WV higher education

b.      Oregon health care

c.       Not likely to be enough to compensate

 

Some States Do Better Than Others

A.       Huge variation from state to state

B.      Some is obvious—AK, WY highways

C.      Small states did better in early 1980s—ganged up on California

D.      Large states did better in mid 1980s—critical mass

E.       Not California—homogeneity, unity important

F.       Lobbying offices

G.      Governor in Congress—knows ropes, sees potential (governor is growing in importance)

H.      Did Byrd matter?

1.        Committee assignments, seniority don’t figure in model

2.       We notice project grants, but money is in formula grants

3.       Byrd didn’t do grants so much as federal expenditures

4.       Maybe Byrd was the exception that proved the rule

 

Summary of History

A.       Shift from state to national control

B.      Shift from layer cake (dual) to marble cake (cooperative) federalism

 

Larger and Smaller Governments

A.       Regional Bodies

1.        Relates to question of why states

2.       Examples:

a.        NW Power Supply

b.      Port Authority of NY and NJ

c.       Appalachian Regional Commission

3.        Is this a trend?

B.       Localities

1.        Dillon’s Rule

2.       Home Rule

3.       Lots of state-to-state variation--$ is often key

4.       Most centralized states:  DE, NM, WV, HI

5.       Least centralized states:  CO, OR, TX, NY, NH

6.       Why?  Not sure, perhaps homogeneity

7.       WV:  Caperton tried to change through amendment, voters turned down

Blog Assignment #1 due 2 pm January 28--now February 2

Hi, everyone!  Before I get to the assignment, please note that you submit by commenting below.  You need to register on blogger so I know who you are.  The assignment is worth up to 4 points, with a good, solid answer being worth 3 points.  Better answers address the reading, comment on other students' comments, and offer further evidence (maybe links to other discussion on the topic).  You also may want to wait until after Monday's class, which will give you more to work with.  Finally, I'm also posting the first set of lecture notes (what you got in class) just after I post the assignment.

As the first few weeks of class have shown, since 1787, power in the US has shifted from the states to the national government.  Some think this has been a bad trend (see http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2012-06-26/federal-mandates-are-almost-always-a-bad-idea),  Others think it has been a good trend (see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leon-friedman/the-myth-of-states-rights_b_4057947.html)  Considering these readings, other reading you do on your own, and what we've done in class, what do you think and why (in about 2 paragraphs),

Blog comments are due by 2 pm on Wednesday, January 28.--NB
Update:  Due to my error on syllabus, the deadline is extended to 2 pm, Monday, February 2