This course explores the role, nature and consequences of money in American politics. The debate goes to the heart of the U.S. Constitution, pitting the First Amendment rights of speech, assembly and petition against the perceived fairness and efficacy of a republican government awash in increasingly unaccountable money.
Campaign finance issues lie at the crossroads of a bewildering number of analytical perspectives. We examine the work of historians, social scientists, legal scholars and interested parties on all sides of the debate in an effort not only to assess current policy debates but also to understand how and why we arrived where we are.
This course should appeal to students across a wide range of subfields within political science, including American Politics, Political Behavior, Public Law and Public Policy.
Government is the home department for this course.