Welcome to POL 106!

POL 106, US Government and Civic Practices, is a survey course on the workings of the American political system.

Summer '08 is a fun time to be taking this course: We're in the midst of one of the most exciting presidential election campaigns in American history (you can catch up on what's happened so far and keep up with new developments here), featuring two unlikely major-party candidates (Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama), unprecedented levels of youth voting, major hot-button issues (click here to see what Americans think about them), and a long string of events that have fundamentally challenged political experts' assumptions about how American elections work and opened a Pandora's Box of concerns about the American party system.

We'll be talking some about current events like the 2008 election, but the overarching goal for this course is to get some big-picture perspective on how the American political system has gotten to this point, how things might have turned out differently, how it compares to the political systems of other countries, and how it might be improved. Ideally, you'll come away from the course armed with newfound knowledge and critical sophistication that will inform your civic engagement and interpretation of political developments as they unfold into the future.

I'm looking forward to meeting you at our first class meeting on Monday, June 16 at 11 AM in 207 Schroeder Hall. In the meantime, feel free to check out the syllabus (pdf), and contact me at sgelbman@ilstu.edu if you have any questions or concerns.