Regular Class Meetings: Main Building, BMCC, 199 Chambers Street
Tuesdays: 4PM – 5:15 PM in N450 and Thursdays: 4PM – 5:15 PM in N465
Service Learning / Civic Engagement Briefing: 2nd Thursdays of each Month at Community Board 1: The David N. Dinkins Municipal Building 1 Center Street, 22nd Floor. 4PM – 5:15PM.
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[Please note that some week’s content have been revised from what is listed on the syllabus based on student suggestions and interest.]
WEEK 1 – 2: Intro to politics: Politics vs government: Soft power?
1) Intro to politics: Politics vs government: Soft power?
2) Overview of Service Learning Project:
Read: Bandy, J. What is Service Learning or Community Engagement? Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University.
Week 1 ASSIGNMENT
1) See week 2 content
2) Think about the neighborhood that you live in….what activities, organizations are you interested in based on the community life? For example, think about a specific policy issue that you would like to engage in within your neighborhood.
3) Who is who in your neighborhood?
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WEEK 2
Select the committee you are most interested in learning / working with and review the committee details. You will discuss the work of the different committees in the next class by telling the class the importance of the selected issue the committee works on: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/manhattancb1/about-cb1/committees-task-forces.page
PLAN AHEAD: CITIZEN ACTION
1) Community Board 1 Monthly Meeting: SEPTEMBER https://www1.nyc.gov/site/manhattancb1/meetings/board-agendas.page
2) SERVICE LEARNING: THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH AT 4PM: Class meets at Community Board 1: #1 Center Street, 22nd Floor.
WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENT
3) Read: Wikipedia description of “Soft power” by Joseph S. Nye, Jnr. : Soft Power.pdf
4) You all identified an issue or 2 in your communities or neighborhoods. Research and find out the responsible parties, entities or individuals responsible or that should be responsible for ameliorating these conditions and what role they should play politically in doing so. In addition, identify their specific role, offices, elected positions if any in NYC or NYS government.
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WEEK 3 – 4: CONFLICT AND JUSTICE
New York City and its Neighborhoods
Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, Queens
Overview of Community Boards
Timeline: History of Community Boards http://www.nyc.gov/html/qnscb1/html/explained/explained_history.shtml
About NYC Community Boards: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/cau/community-boards/about-commmunity-boards.page
Community Board 1: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/manhattancb1/index.page
Community Boards Explained – History.pdf – http://www.nyc.gov/html/qnscb1/html/explained/explained_history.shtml
Board to Death Urban Omnibus.pdf by Rebecca Amato
Gotham Gazette.pdf by Seth Forman
Committees: we will select one of these committees for our service learning project
1) Waterfront, Parks & Cultural Committee: The Waterfront, Open Spaces & Resiliency Committee represents and promotes the interests of our waterfront, parks and other spaces under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. The committee reviews all plans for restoration of area parks, assists park neighbors in securing funding for work and restorations, raise public awareness of the importance of our parkland. The contiguous waterfront of Community Board 1 as well as Governor’s Island will be the focus of this committee. So much of our parkland, waterfront and open spaces are used for cultural events, this committee will also focus on cultural issues within CB1.
2) Battery Park City Committee: This committee deals with the unique relationship that exists with the operation of the Battery Park City Authority which is the landlord for thousands of residents in Community Board 1, collecting both ground rent and property taxes. They will focus on those items that arise out of this relationship.
NYC Resources: https://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/categories.page
Citizen in Action Worksheet by League of Women Voters
Community-Service-Dates-Proposal-log-sheets-and-Process-Reflection.pdf
ASSIGNMENT
NYC charter, week 4 content
Quiz on Social Inequality: NYC and its Neighborhoods due end of week 4.
Search for your Community Board and select a committee that you would like to be a part of and tell us why, what interests you about this committee.
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WEEK 4
GOVERNMENT
NYC GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
New York City Charter: NYC Charter.pdf
read sections:
Mayor: https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/index.page
City Council: https://council.nyc.gov/
City Legislative Affairs: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/intergovernmental/city/city-legislative-affairs.page
Borough President
Comptroller
Expense Budget
Office of Mayor on Intergovernmental Affairs: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/intergovernmental/about/about-moiga.page
Heads of Mayoral Agencies
https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/admin-officials.page
Quiz on Social Inequality: NYC and its Neighborhoods due end of week 4.
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WEEK 5: NYC GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
CITIZEN ACTION
Who is Who in NYC Government by League of Women Voters
1) Whos-Who-in-Our-Local-Government.pdf
2) Who-is-Who-in-New-York-City-Government.pdf
ASSIGNMENT
Who are the local representatives? Community Board, Police Precinct, City Council, Assembly Members, District Leaders, Borough Presidents, Coroner, District Attorneys and where are they located? Create a community map of your representatives and their contact info.
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WEEK 6: GOVERNMENT – CITY DEPARTMENTS
CITY DEPARTMENTS
Law, Police, Civilian Complaint Review Board (CRB),
Independent Investigation and Audit Board, Public Safety.
CITIZEN ACTION
Organizational Chart of the City of New York by League of Women Voters
1) NYC-Government-Position-Cards.pdf
2) NYC-Organizational-Chart-1.pdf
ASSIGNMENT
Who is who in NYC Government? Fill out chart.
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POWER
WEEK 7: NEW YORK STATE GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Local, State and National Authority:
1) State Power and Delegation.pdf
2) State Legislative Term Limits.pdf
3) Governors and State Legislatures.pdf
New York State Profile
NYC Office of the Mayor on Intergovernmental Affairs: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/intergovernmental/index.page
CITIZEN ACTION
3) NY-Expansion-of-Federal-Rights-worksheet-portrait.pdf
ASSIGNMENT
NYS-Constitution-Structure-and-Values-Worksheet.pdf
Midterm: Civic and Political Participation – due end of week 8.
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WEEK 8: POWER – COUNTY AND CITY GOVERNMENT
County and City Government.pdf
CITIZEN ACTION
1) NY-Local-Government-Map.jpg
2) Government-Position-Cards-1.pdf
3) Make-Up-of-NYS-Government-in-Comparison-to-US-Federal-Government.pdf
Midterm: Civic and Political Participation due end of week 8.
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WEEK 9 – 10 : POLITICS – INTEREST GROUPS AND LOBBYING
CIVIC ACTION
1) CitizenLobbyist_NY_Feb26_2017.pdf
2) Lobbying-Government-Influence-Citzen-Lobbying-Background-Materials.pptx
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WEEK 10: POLITICS – THE BUREAUCRACY
2) Controlling the Bureaucracy.pdf
Citizen Action
1) Fact-or-Fake-overview-June-2019.pdf
2) Citizen-in-Action-Plan-Worksheet.pdf
3) How-to-write-a-business-letter.pdf
4) Political-Action-Letter.pdf
Revised
1) SL Briefing by Mr. Reynolds from Community Board 1 Manhattan on Bureaucracy, Zoning and Land Use.
2) Voter Education by NYPIRG.
See announcement page for Extra Credit Civic Engagement Assignment
ASSIGNMENT
Write a business letter addressing ONE issue to your local or state representative?
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WEEK 11: POLITICS – DOMESTIC POLICY: Revised – Political Ideologies
Revised: Political Ideologies
POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES
Journal Articles on Political Ideologies: by The Conversation – https://theconversation.com/us/topics/political-ideology-6766
Political Typology Quiz: by Pew Research Center on US Politics and Policy – http://www.people-press.org/quiz/political-typology/
The Political Compass: https://www.politicalcompass.org/test
Film
Political Ideologies crash course – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_k_k-bHigM&t=431s
Political Ideology: Left / Right Wing explained; Socialism, Fascism, Libertarianism, Capitalism
CITIZEN ACTION
1) Make-Up-of-NYS-Government-in-Comparison-to-US-Federal-Government.pdf
2) Discussion-sentence-frames.pdfThe-Big-List-of-Class-Discussion-Strategies.pdf
3) Controversial-Discourse-in-the-Social-Studies-Classroom.pdf
4) Felony-research-Worksheet.pdf
5) Full-Lesson-Plan-Individual-Rights-2.pdf
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Week 12: Participatory Budgeting:
ASSIGNMENT
1) Start forming groups and discussing final exam presentation to Community Board 1 on participatory budgeting and the work of the committee the class is involved in for our Service Learning Project: Final presentation Action Plan.pdf
CITIZEN ACTION
2) Attend meeting or event on participatory budgeting and post reflection on blogpost
Civic Engagement Survey
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfiLnyoeE3rMtSd7Ly5zOdxe68WnTCNIFSZES2m2M4ggbAgjA/viewform
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Week 13 What is Democracy?
Review these notes on democracy for class discussion
Democracy links people and government in terms of inputs and outputs of the governing process. In thinking about this linkage, you can see that democracy presupposes certain participatory, pluralist, developmental, protection, and performance elements. If all the diverse segments of society(pluralism) are free to get involved (participatory) in the process of governing and are aware of their actions as part of a self-governing process(developmental), if government laws are not tyrannical (protective), and if government is characterized by laws and policies (performance) that reflect the direction of a self-governing people seeking their own well-being, then government is linked to the people in terms of inputs (involvement in government by all segments of a society of people aware of their acts of self governance) and outputs (laws and policies that are not tyrannical and are indicative that government is in the hands of—and thus serving the interests of – the self-governing demos).
Analyses of democracy are often subjective. Indeed, readers of this book may disagree on whether the United States is democratic. Some readers may conclude that the United States is highly democratic, whereas others may argue that the United States is not very democratic at all. Moreover, when compared to other countries, the United States may look more democratic on some points and less democratic on others. In addition, some components of democracy may exist in conflict with other components of democracy, as illustrated in the comparison of the United States and The Netherlands on the issue of energy policy.
A comparison of Switzerland and the United States on participation reveals the diversity of democratic processes. In both countries, the expansion of the electorate also expanded the meaning of participatory democracy, as voting rights were extended to additional groups. In Switzerland this has meant expanded participation possibilities not only in voting for candidates for office but also in voting on national referenda.
A comparison of Germany and the United States reveals that democracies can promote pluralism in highly divergent ways. The church tax in Germany is a means used by government to encourage a vibrant and pluralistically diverse civil society by offering assistance to institutions (churches) within civil society. In the United States, the separation of church and state outlined in the U.S. Constitution is intended to promote pluralism and diversity by preventing the government from promoting any certain viewpoint on or approach regarding religion.
Article on BB “meaning of democracy”.
“The 9 fundamental principles common to all democracies”.
Video:
What is Government: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrk4oY7UxpQ
Political Systems 101, basic forms of government explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJEuZrvNYg0
Types and forms of government: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfz1J7yGOnQ&index=2&list=RDjJEuZrvNYg0
Video: Four Horsemen – (documentary): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fbvquHSPJU&t=1199s
(we will watch this documentary in class and discuss what the main arguments or discussions are)
Forms of government: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNWVM3liOK0&list=RDjJEuZrvNYg0&index=11
Video: Four Horsemen – (documentary): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fbvquHSPJU&t=1199s
(we will watch this documentary in class and discuss what the main arguments or discussions are)
THURSDAY
Comparative politics is the study of how governments, political groups, political procedures, and citizenship vary across countries and/or time. By examining U.S. politics in reference to comparative politics, you can analyze how the United States is similar and dissimilar to other countries, and you can also see U.S. politics as part of the larger process of world politics.
Political socialization takes place in all political societies. Political socialization can either promote or discourage the realization of democracy, in that political socialization can either promote or discourage people from viewing self-government in positive, intellectually aware ways. Thus, when studying democracies from the standpoint of developmentalism, it makes sense to analyze a country’s political socialization processes to see whether citizens are being socialized to become consciously aware, self-governing individuals. In Argentina, the Newspapers in the Schools program seeks to include prodemocracy messages in the political socialization process. In the United States, advocates of Character Counts and mandatory dress codes also assert that such programs inculcate democracy-supporting values as part of the political socialization process.
Democratic governments are governments in which the people are protected from oppressive government authority; this describes the protective component of democracy. Great Britain’s protective democratic approach differs from that found in the United States because the United States has a written Constitution with a Bill of Rights, unlike Great Britain.
If the people are self-governing, then governmental outputs in the form of laws and policies should, logically, reflect the people’s desires for well-being. Thus, if we wish to examine democracy from as many vantage points as possible, we need to look at the performance of government to see if governmental performance reflects the people’s interest. Analyzing this performance component of democracy—whether looking at a high-income country such as the United States or a lower income country such as India—can entail assessing quality-of-life measurements, such as income levels, access to basic goods, and patterns of income distribution within countries.
Video
The US vs The World? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y1e_ASbSIE
Review Grigsby pgs 190 – 193.
Discussion questions
1. What is the definition of democracy? What is implied by this definition? That is, what does democracy presuppose? What is implied by the concept of transition when used in discussing democracy/non democracy?
2. Would you rank the United States as high, low, or medium on a democracy scale? Explain your answer by discussing the United States in relation to each of the five components—participatory, pluralist, protective, performance, and developmental—of democracy. Why might others find it so easy to disagree with your interpretation; that is, why are discussions of democracy often subjective?
3. What is the definition of a nondemocratic government? The chapter discusses five components of nondemocracy. Identify and discuss these five components. Give an example of a country illustrating each component.
4. Compare and contrast Great Britain and the United States on the question of protective democracy. Which of the two countries has a written constitution? Identify the following: Magna Carta, Declaration of Rights, and Charter 88.
5. Would you rank the United States as high, low, or medium on a democracy scale? Explain your answer by discussing the United States in relation to each of the five components—participatory, pluralist, protective, performance, and developmental—of democracy. Why might others find it so easy to disagree with your interpretation; that is, why are discussions of democracy often subjective?
Additional Resources
The Presidential And Parliamentary Governance Forms(1).docx
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WEEK 14: CIVIC AND POLITICAL ACTION
2) Citizen-in-Action-Plan-Worksheet.pdf
3) Your-Right-to-Vote-in-NYS-in-NYS-Homeless-Indivs.pdf
4) Your-Right-to-Vote-in-NYS-Indivs-with-Mental-Disabilities.pdf
5) Your-Right-to-Vote-in-NYS-Indivs-with-Disabilities.pdf
6) Your-Right-to-Vote-in-NYS-Indivs-Convicted-of-Crimes-or-in-Prison-or-Jail.pdf
7) Your-Right-to-Vote-in-NYS-College-Students.pdf
8) Voters-Guide_1_2019_r1 _1_.pdf
9) characteristics-of-a-NYS-Voter-cheat-sheet.pdf
10) VOTING AND ELECTIONS – discussion.pdf
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WEEK 15: GLOBAL POLITICS New York City Office for International Affairs: NYC Office on SDGs
1) NY and the SDGs: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/international/index.page
2) The New Yorkness of the UN: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/international/programs/the-new-yorkness-of-the-un.page
3) https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
CITIZEN ACTION
Attend one event, activity or program by NYC office of int’l Affairs or any event on an SDG that you are interested.
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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT 101: ELECTION DAY EXTRA CREDIT
1. Exercise your civic right by voting
Early voting ends Sunday November 3rd and General Elections are on Tuesday November 5th. See the following links for more info on voting, candidates, working for the BOE etc
NYC Board of Elections: https://vote.nyc.ny.us/html/home/home.shtml
NYS Board of Elections: https://www.elections.ny.gov/?fbclid=IwAR2YbOTdp6BLwrS4OoAJuhQVp9-kOzFubBdiy9fQ2cbpbdz-5oqF60YG37M
League of Women Voters NYC: https://my.lwv.org/new-york/city-new-york
15th Amendment Right to vote: https://guides.loc.gov/15th-amendment
For Voters – https://vote.nyc.ny.us/html/voters/voters.shtml
BOE Offices: https://vote.nyc.ny.us/html/contact/offices.shtml
ASSIGNMENT
Go vote on Tuesday November 5th. Polls open from 6am to 9pm. Post your election day extra credit (2.5 points extra overall) to the week discussion folder for week 11. (with a photo of your registration card or I voted sticker If you are not eligible). If you are not eligible to vote due to immigration or age status, you can still visit a poll site, your local board of election etc and post a picture with you visiting. Note you will not be able to take pictures in the polling site but outside with the signs is good 🙂 For those eligible to vote, don’t forget to vote on the proposals on the back of the ballot: 1) Elections 2) CBR – Civilian Complaint Review Board 3) Ethics and Governance 4) City Budget 5) Land Use
For everyone, write a 2 page paper on the importance of voting or on the importance of the 5 proposals at the back of the ballot: ContestListPreview_9-30-2019.pdf
Post on week 11 discussion board with your photos and I will offer you 2.5 points extra credit 🙂
Here is my Civic Engagement Activity
Today Sunday November 3, 2019 I participated in the early voting in my neighborhood. Today was also the last day for early voting. Regular voting resumes on Tuesday November 5th from 6am to 9pm. Here are some pictures:
2. Civic Engagement Survey – due week 12
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfiLnyoeE3rMtSd7Ly5zOdxe68WnTCNIFSZES2m2M4ggbAgjA/viewform
This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license.
