Course Overview

German and American Politics in Comparative Perspective is organized around various broad themes that allow the student to compare German and American Politics in the widest sense. For the 2009-2010 academic year the theme of the course is "Campaign, Candidates, and Elections in Germany and the United States." The distinctive feature of this course is that for 2/3 of the semester it uses an on-line classroom to connect students in Professor Jonathan Olsen's class in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside to Professor Annette Zimmer's students at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Muenster, Germany.  While Professor Zimmer is on sabbatical, Professor Christina May will be teaching the course in Muenster, assisted by Janina Ueschner.

Students analyze scholarly literature on the thematic areas of the course and then present/post their findings and refections on this literature on the web.  We then use classroom time - our "real time" chats - for a wide-ranging discussion on the day’s readings in order to compare the German and American Political experience. Our goal is to learn something about the two different political systems and to foster an intelligent interchange on the ways in which similar political experiences and challenges in each country are shaped by country-specific institutional structures, political culture, and geopolitical circumstances.

Required texts
Simon Green, et al. The Politics of the New Germany (London and New York: Routledge, 2008).

Readings on Electronic Reserve at the UWP D2L iste (Library Reserve Page) and through Professor Christina May at the University of Muenster (see Syllabus below)