This course provides a broad understanding of the dynamics of political participation. The goals of this course are two-fold. First, it comprehensively examines both individual and group participation, as well as the many ways in which participation manifests itself in the democratic process, namely in the form of electoral (voting, campaigning) and non-electoral behavior ("civicness", group action, etc). As such, this course will include topics in public opinion, the electoral process, and voting behavior. Second, the approach is both empirical - and theoretical. This course examines results of electoral behavior (primarily U.S. national and state elections), complemented with competing theoretical approaches which serve to explain and better understand this behavior.
