This is an introductory study of American government and politics. In the first part of the course, we will focus on the American regime’s defining political principles and examine how these principles provide the basis of the country’s primary political institutions. Particular attention will be paid to the founding period and the political thought of the framers of the Constitution. In examining the primary political institutions of the national government, we shall compare American political institutions with Canadian, considering the ways in which a congressional system of government differs from a parliamentary system.

In the second term, we shall focus on contemporary American politics. We will examine federalism, the electoral system and its effects on American politics, the ongoing primaries for the 2020 presidential elections, the American party system, and contemporary political issues.