Syllabus finalized, January 4, 2011

PS 4253/6253
Southern Politics
Spring 2011
Time: 12:30 TTH
Classroom: 270 Bowen
Professor: Dr. Stephen D. Shaffer
Office: 198 Bowen
Phone: 662-325-7861 (use only in an emergency)
Office Hours: 11-12 M-TH
website: http://sds17.pspa.msstate.edu/classes/southern/southern.html
e-mail: kauai@pspa.msstate.edu

This course on Southern Politics examines the political history of the eleven states of the old Civil War confederacy with a special focus on Mississippi. A special feature this semester is an effort to provide students a greater understanding of the other ten southern states by focusing on an unpublished manuscript of the professor's, which is available on-line. As students gain a greater knowledge of all of the southern states, their ability to pursue campaign consultant jobs across the South may be enhanced. We will be studying southern political history by focusing on the competition between the two major political parties.

We begin the course by pointing out how the South has fit into the national political system, and how national partisan competition has shaped politics in the South. We therefore chart the six different party eras throughout our nation's history, and then discuss how presidential elections since 1948 have affected southern politics. We then turn to the special historical legacy of the South, which is racial segregation. We study segregation from a personal perspective using biographies, and from an historical-legalistic-political perspective. The Deep South states of Mississippi and Alabama provide ample examples of how segregation was implemented, and how politicians promoted it. We then turn to how the modern South has changed, as biracial coalitions within the Democratic Party have emerged, often focused on progressive and economic issues. The Deep South states of Louisiana and Georgia illustrate these themes of racial moderation and economic progress, respectively.

After the midterm exam, we focus on the factors that have helped the Republican Party grow in strength in the South, and other factors that have kept the Democratic Party at parity with the rising GOP. The racial issue among other ideological issues, especially evident in the 1960s, led South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond to switch to the Republican Party, and today South Carolina is a Republican stronghold. Yet some Democratic public officials have outstanding interpersonal skills that they employ to win office, as is quite evident in the Democratic stronghold of Arkansas. Other Democratic officeholders are adroit at maintaining biracial coalitions centered around popular education and economic issues, as has been evident with North Carolina governors. Republicans have been helped by the Democratic Party's ideological shift to the left, evident in the 1970s in Virginia and more recently in Texas. A fairly even balance of these ideological and racial issues helping the Republicans, and economic and educational issues and personality factors helping the Democrats has produced a very competitive two party state in Tennessee. A study of Southern state legislatures contrasts the racial progress made in Mississippi with some divisiveness that has hurt the Democrats in Florida. We conclude the course with an assessment of how the southern political parties have realigned along ideological lines to resemble the national parties.

READINGS:

The required readings shall come from the following unpublished book, which will be available to you on-line:

Shaffer's unpublished book on southern politics, Southern Politics in the New Century. You can access each chapter of this book by clicking on the following list of chapters:

• Chapters 1-2, Introduction and a National Context
• Chapter 3, South in the Modern Party Era
• Chapter 4, Mississippi
• Chapter 5, Alabama
• Chapter 6, Louisiana
• Chapter 7, Georgia
• Chapter 8, South Carolina
• Chapter 9, Arkansas
• Chapter 10, North Carolina
• Chapter 11, Virginia
• Chapter 12, Tennessee
• Chapter 13, Texas
• Chapter 14, Florida
• Chapter 15, Conclusions
• References chapter
• Party Identification Table

ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS:

Undergraduates will have three grading opportunities, each of which shall count equally in computing your course grade. They are: a midsemester essay examination; a final, noncumulative essay exam; and a book report on the assigned unpublished book for the class. Graduate students will meet these requirements, as well as write a research paper on a topic of interest that is approved by the professor.

The book report will be unlike any other book report you will ever be doing, and will be discussed in class. My primary concern is that you demonstrate that you have learned some important themes about the politics in each of the southern states. I suggest you have an introductory and concluding paragraph, and then a couple of paragraphs on each of the 11 southern states. What are the important themes found in each state, and how has the past evolved into the current pattern of politics in each state. Be specific by providing specific examples to illustrate your points. Finally, for each chapter, evaluate how understandable each chapter was, how it contributed to your understanding of politics in that state, and how you suggest that the chapter be improved. The report's length will be from 10 to 20 pages, typed double spaced. As you read each of Shaffer's chapters, please review his references chapter, which includes information on the citations for each chapter.

Failure to complete any of these grading requirements results in an automatic failure grade for the course. Class attendance is very important, since those with higher attendance usually do better gradewise. Also, failure to maintain a high attendance leaves the poor impression that a student is unable to meet the minimum requirements of any job, resulting in faculty refusal to offer any positive recommendations for jobs or graduate or law school. Even if you can do well gradewise by not attending many classes, you still have an obligation to attend class in order to contribute to the classroom discussion and to be a teamplayer in this organization.

Academic Honesty- The university is strictly enforcing an Academic Misconduct university policy, and anyone engaging in any academic misconduct such as plagiarism will be reported to the university and risk receiving an F grade for the course. Provost memo of August 1, 2001: "It is extremely important that all instances of academic misconduct be appropriately documented and forwarded to the Secretary of the Academic Honesty Committee in accordance with the procedures outlined in the Bulldog Handbook." Read the university policy on Academic Misconduct at: http://www.msstate.edu/dept/audit/PDF/1207.pdf.

Classroom Behavior. Cell phone usage is banned in all classes. If you come to class late, or if you leave early, you should indicate in writing to the professor why you were late, or why you must leave early. Take a blank sheet of paper, print your last name and first name at the top, put your written explanation of your behavior on it, sign your signature, and submit it to the professor when you leave class. If you are absent for class for any reason, do the same, but submit the paper at the next class period. Also, you should not interrupt anyone else who is speaking, including the professor. Always raise your hand if you wish to be recognized to say anything. Also, please focus on the classroom subject when you are in class, so do not read the newspaper, play on your computer, talk to other students, or engage in any other activity that suggests that you are inattentive to the professor. These are elementary rules of good work behavior, and minimal expectations for positive recommendations when seeking jobs or graduate or law school entrance. Most importantly, be on time for every test, and don't be late with your paper.

COURSE OUTLINE:

WEEK 1: January 6
The South in a National Context
(Lectures on Political Party Eras and Modern Presidential Elections)
Read Shaffer, Chapters 1-2 (National)

WEEK 2: January 11, 13
From One-Partyism to a Two-Party Region
(Lectures on Presidential Elections in South, other offices)
Read Shaffer, Chapter 3 (Sub-regions)

WEEK 3: January 18, 20
Legacy of Racial Segregation- the Personal Perspective
(Lectures on Medgar Evers and Douglas Conner's books)
Read Shaffer, Chapter 4 (Mississippi)

WEEK 4: January 25, 27
Legacy of Racial Segregation- the Historical Record
(Lectures on 1996 APSA paper, and Black Votes Count book)
Read Shaffer, Chapter 5 (Alabama)

WEEK 5: February 1, 3
Modern Racial Reconciliation- a Biracial Coalition
(Lecture on Mississippi Poll data)
Read Shaffer, Chapter 6 (Louisiana)

WEEK 6: February 8, 10
Modern Racial Reconciliation- Economic Progress
(Lecture on economic and social differences between sub-regions)
Read Shaffer, Chapter 7 (Georgia)

WEEK 7: February 15
Midterm Examination Review

MIDSEMESTER ESSAY EXAMINATION, FEBRUARY 17

WEEK 8: February 22, 24
Racial Issues Initiate Republican Party Growth
Read Shaffer, Chapter 8 (South Carolina)

WEEK 9: March 1, 3
Interpersonal Skills Preserve Democratic Party Strength
Read Shaffer, Chapter 9 (Arkansas)

WEEK 10: March 8, 10
Ideologically Inclusive Governors Preserve Democratic Advantage
(Lecture on Mississippi's governors)
Read Shaffer, Chapter 10 (North Carolina)

Spring Break, March 14-18; No Classes Held

WEEK 11: March 22, 24
Ideological Issues Sustain Republican Party Growth
(Lecture on Shaffer and Breaux's NSF projects)
Read Shaffer, Chapter 11 (Virginia)

WEEK 12: March 29, 31
A Competitive, Two-Party South
Read Shaffer, Chapter 12 (Tennessee)

WEEK 13: April 5, 7
Liberal Democracy Produces a One-Party Republican State
Read Shaffer, Chapter 13 (Texas)

WEEK 14: April 12, 14
Racially Divided Democrats Aid the Republican Party
(Lecture on Shaffer and Menifield's book)
Read Shaffer, Chapter 14 (Florida) before writing paper

APRIL 14: WRITTEN BOOK REPORTS DUE

WEEKS 15: April 19, 21
Campaign Politics in the Modern South
Read Shaffer, Chapter 15 before writing paper

GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH PAPERS DUE: APRIL 21

FINAL NON-CUMULATIVE ESSAY EXAMINATION: TUESDAY, APRIL 26: NOON