How Democratic is the US Constitution?

We will explore common, civics education versions of the American constitutional system as well as critical scholarship that seeks to assess how this system shapes politics, particularly with respect to who has access to power, and what governments do (and for whom).  We will also revisit earlier periods of American history when Americans mobilized to democratize and to demand more political responsiveness to public need. The fundamental aim of the course is to provide students with a more critical understanding of how the U.S. constitutional structure shapes political power—its origins, its exercise, and its consequences—and to understand the yawning gap between our traditional conceptualizations (like checks and balances) and the actual practice of politics.

Ultimately, the course asks: how well does the U.S. Constitution meets the needs and interests of 21st century Americans?