THE VERMONT POLITICAL SYSTEM

(POLS 123 A 11555 and VS 123 A 11258)

Spring 2005

                       

 

Time: 

Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays  12:20 – 1:10 pm

Place:

Lafayette 100

Professor

Frank Bryan

Tel:      

802-656-0570

Office:

Room 540 Old Mill Building

Office Hours:

Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays 8-11 am, and by appointment

Web Page:

http://www.uvm.edu/~fbryan

Email:

frank.bryan@uvm.edu

WebCT:

http://webct.uvm.edu:8900

 

 

 Examinations

Date

Weight

First Hour Test

Friday, February 18

20%

Second Hour Test

Friday, April 1

20%

Paper Due

Friday, April 22

40%

Final Exam

Tuesday, May 10, 4 pm

20%

  

TEXTS:

Frank Bryan and John McClaughry, The Vermont Papers (on electronic reserve)

Frank Bryan and Bill Mares, The Vermont Owner’s Manual

Frank Bryan, Real Democracy: The New England Town Meeting and How it Works

Michael Sherman (ed.) Vermont State Government Since 1965 (on electronic reserve)

 

Plus assigned readings on reserve.  Reserve readings are a key requirement of the course.  Be sure to consult the readings list at the end of each section of lectures.

 

TOWN MEETING DAY ACTIVITY (Required) Saturday, February 26 (limited number available); Monday night February 28; Tuesday day March 1; Tuesday evening March 1 (limited number available). 

 

Attendance at class Friday, February 25 and Monday, February 28 is mandatory.

 

 

     CLASSROOM PROTOCOL

 

1.        Students are expected to attend and be prepared for ALL regularly scheduled classes.

 

2.        Students are expected to arrive on time and stay in class until the class period ends.  If a student knows in advance that s/he will need to leave early, s/he should notify the instructor before the class period begins.

 

3.        Students are expected to treat faculty and fellow students with respect.  For example, students must not disrupt class by leaving and reentering during class, must not distract class by making noise, and must be attentive to comments being made by the instructors and by peers.

 

4.        Instructor will inform students of any special additions.

 

5.       Students are expected to check their UVM and WebCT email for this course on a regular basis.

 

 

Introduction:  This course treats the government and politics of the state of Vermont in the context of conceptual frameworks found in political science.  It therefore has two goals:

 

1.   To give the student a firm grounding in the governmental institutions and the political processes that make the Vermont political system work.

 

2.   To deal with some of the "great questions" that political scientists seek to answer.  Here the intent is to teach basic concepts by using Vermont as a case study.

 

To do this each section deals with one or more fundamental questions in political science and asks:  What light does the Vermont experience shed on this question?  Is what we have learned about any given general construct (by studying Vermont) particular to Vermont?  Is it different elsewhere?  In America at large?  In other American states?

 

Obviously knowing the Vermont case thoroughly is essential.  But it is equally essential to be able to think about Vermont in terms of what it teaches us about social science.  Examples are:

 

·        Does the coming of a two-party system in Vermont verify the hypothesis that competitive party systems are beneficial to the less fortunate in society?

 

·         Does the proliferation of interest groups in Vermont since the 1960's bear out the hypothesis that as "special interest politics" grows in influence the power of democratically elected legislatures declines?

 

·         Does Vermont's two-year term for governor support the hypothesis that longer terms for executives are more conducive to efficient government?

 

·        Does the Vermont town meeting show that the founders were right when they warned about the dangers of direct democracy?

 

 

Method of Instruction:  Lecture-Discussion, individualized projects (optional) and a "participant observer" town meeting project.

 

Writing Assignment:  Town Meeting Paper (10-15 pages) Some library research required plus self-generated town meeting data.

 

LECTURES

Part I:                        Vermont Politics in a Systems Context

 

A.   ". . . I shan't be gone long" Does the “real Vermont” exist?

B.     Living in the Backbeyond—Historical Footprints

C.   Above the “Optimum Climatic Area”–the Socio-Economic Setting

Required Reading:            Bryan & Mares, The Vermont Owner’s Manual

                        Bryan & McClaughry, The Vermont Papers–Chapter 3

                        Frank Bryan, “The Back Beyond” (on reserve)

Duane Lockard:  Vermont:  Political Paradox (on reserve)

 

Note:  Bryan & McClaughry, The Vermont Papers Parts I and II should be read before the first hour test.

 

Suggested Reading:            Earle Newton, The Vermont Story

Charles Morrissey, Vermont:  A History

 

Part II:            The Constitutional Context—Constraints on Political Action

 

A.  Vermont in the Federal Matrix

 

B.  The Vermont Constitution

 

C.  Changing the Vermont Constitution

 

 

Required Reading:            Frank M. Bryan, “Reducing the Time Lock on the Vermont Constitution”             Vermont History (Winter, 1976), pp. 38-47 (on reserve).

 

                        Hill, in Sherman 17-30 (on reserve)

 

Suggested Reading:                        Murray Bookchin, The Vermont Constitution

 

Part III:            Political Socialization

 

A.  The Political Culture of Ruralism

 

B.  Country Mouse and City Mouse

 

C.  Technology and the Axioms of Conflict

 

Required Reading:            Frank Bryan, Politics in the Rural States–Introduction (on reserve)

 

Frank Bryan, “How to Preserve the Vermont Character,” (on reserve).

                       

                        Porter and Terry, in Sherman 107-137 (on reserve)

 

 

 

Part IV:            Town Meeting

 

A.                          The Town's Role in Vermont Politics

 

B.   The Nature of Town Meeting

 

C.   Patterns in Attendance and Participation

 

D.   What the Future Holds

 

Required Reading:            Frank M. Bryan, Real Democracy: The New England Town Meeting and How it Works needs to be read in its entirety before the second hour test.

                       

 

Suggested Reading:            Jane J. Mansbridge, “Town Meeting Democracy” in Peter Collier (ed.) Dilemmas of Democracy (New York:  Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1976), pp. 148-177.

 

John Guy LaPlante, “What Killed the Town Meeting.” Nation 180

(February, 1958), pp. 96-97.

 

Andrew Nuquist, Town Government in Vermont (Government Research Center, The University of Vermont, 1964).

 

Frank M. Bryan, “Town Meeting Still Supported in Vermont,” National Civic Review (July, 1972), pp. 348-351.

 

Part V:                        Interest Groups, Parties and Elections

 

A.  The Changing Nature of Interest Group Politics

 

B.  The One-Party Era

 

C.  Breakthrough Politics

 

D.  New Patterns in the Election Fabric

 

 

Required Reading:            Bryan, in Sherman 53-76 (on reserve)

 

Clark Bensen and Frank Bryan, “Strengthening Democratic Control: Vermont’s 1986 Election in Historical Perspective,” Vermont History (Fall, 1988).  (on reserve)

 

Graff, in Sherman 77-91 (on reserve)

 

Suggested Reading:            Bensen and Bryan (two other articles on the elections of 1984 and 1982, published in Vermont History, fall of 1985 and fall of 1983).

 

Edward P. Brynn, “Vermont’s Political Vacuum of 1845-1856 and the Emergence of the Republican Party,” Vermont History 38 (1970), pp. 113-123.

 

George T. Mazuzan, “Vermont's Traditional Republicanism vs. the New             Deal:  Warren R. Austin and the Election of 1934,” Vermont History39 (1971), pp. 128-141.

 

Melvin S. Wax, “Vermont’s New Dealing Yankee,” Nation (1949)

pp. 659-660.

 

 

Part VI:            The Legislature

 

A.  The Reapportionment Revolution

 

B.  Correlates of Voting 1947-1982

 

C.  The Politics of Innovation and Metamorphosis Denied

 

Required Reading:            Frank Bryan, “Pivot Point for Democracy,” (on reserve)

 

                        Sanford and Doyle, in Sherman 31-52 (on reserve)

 

Suggested Reading:            Frank Smallwood’s Free and Independent (in paper) published by Stephen Greene press (1976) is the best account of legislative politics in Vermont.  It is enjoyable reading and should be on the shelf of every serious scholar of the Vermont political process.

 

Vic Maerki, “A Vermont House Gets Remodeled,” Reporter 33 (October, 1965).

 

William J. Smith, “My Poetic Career in Vermont Politics,” Harper's Magazine 228 (January, 1964), pp. 54-62.

 

Part VII:            The Governorship

 

A.  The Governor in Comparative Perspective

 

B.  Ranking the Governors

 

 

Required Reading:            Fitzhugh, in Sherman 91-106 (on reserve)

 

 

Suggested Reading:            Frank Bryan, “The Governorship:  People, Position, and Power” in

                        Joseph Milbourn (ed.) New England Politics (on reserve)

 

Part VIII:            The Bureaucracy:  Implementing Policy

 

A.  The Structure of Bureaucracy

 

B.  Overlays of Confusion

 

C.  Where is the buck, anyway?

 

Required Reading:            Frank Bryan, “The War on Wanda’s:  Aging, Regulatory Policy, and the Public Interest, A Case Study” (video on reserve)

 

                        Douglas, in Sherman 137-156 (on reserve)

 

Part IX          The Judiciary, Adjudicating Policy

 

A.     The Judicial System

 

      B.   Choosing Judges

 

Required Reading:                        Dooley, in Sherman 187-242 (on reserve)