The aim of the class is to present the nuts and bolts of how the American republic functions. American Government will introduce the students to the different branches of power, the life of parties, the voters, the race to the White House, the pressure groups, the Supreme Court as well as Congress and various other topics relevant to the subject.

We will also examine civil liberties, civil rights, the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. The world is changing and sometimes we are under the impression that the United States is not, withdrawing into itself, practicing unilateralism and pretending the rest of the world does not exist. It is therefore essential to understand what is this America that fascinates as well as repulses Old Europe and why the US, despite its flaws, still embodies a freedom we are hard put to understand and a power we sometimes so much loathe. Because we believe it is difficult to grasp the present if we don’t explain what happened in years gone by, the course will be based on a grounding in American history. In that respect, there will be time and again references to past events, the evocation of those men who have built America and contributed to doing what it is today.

The guidelines will be reading, writing, and speaking (in English) naturally. The emphasis will be on language as well as content, and will offer ample time for revising and practicing grammar, vocabulary, expression being at least as important as ideas expressed. Students will be given written and oral assignments, they will be invited to present arguments, debate ideas, challenge assumptions. They will also be urged to keep a close, closer, closest look at current events. None of the aspects of language will be overlooked. They will rest on a solid bedrock of documents, videos, exercises, composition, expression.

The objective is to enhance not only your knowledge but also your ability to express yourself so as to build your self-confidence, through the discovery and the exploration of a culture and system that, hopefully, will be less foreign to you once the course has been completed.

Bibliography : Andréani, Jacques, L’Amérique et nous, Odile Jacob, Paris, 2000 Astre, Georges-Albert, Lépinasse Pierre, La Démocratie Contrariée, La Découverte, Paris 1985. Bernheim, Nicole, Où vont les Américains ?, La Découverte, Paris, 2000 Birnbaum, Pierre, La structure du pouvoir aux Etats-Unis, PUF, 1971. Boorstin, Daniel, Histoire des Américains, vol. 1 : L’aventure coloniale ; vol. 2 : Naissance d’une nation ; vol. 3 : L’expérience démocratique, Paris, Armand Colin, 1981. Titre original, The Americans, Random House, New York, 1958. Brown, Bernard E., ed., Great American Political Thinkers, Avon Books, 2 vols. 1982. Brown, Bernard E., L’Etat et la politique aux Etats-Unis, P.U.F., Paris 1994. Burgess Françoise, Les institutions américaines, 3e ed., Paris, PUF, Coll. “Que sais-je ?” 1986. Cohen-Tanugi, Laurent, Le droit sans l’État: sur la démocratie en France et en Amérique, PUF, Paris 1985. Crozier, Michel, Le Mal américain, Paris, Hachette 1984. Denenberg, R.V., Understanding American Politics, Wilkin Collins, Londres, 1987, (traduit en français sous le titre, Le système politique des Etats-Unis, Economica, 2e ed., 1987). Fichou, Jean-Pierre, La Civilisation Américaine, PUF, collection Que sais-je ?, Paris, 1987. Ghorra-Gobin Cynthia, Les États-Unis entre local et mondial, Presses de Sciences Po, Paris, 2000 Kaspi, André, La Vie Politique aux Etats-Unis , A.Colin, 2e édition, 1977. Kaspi, André, Les Américains : les Etats-Unis de 1607 à nos jours, Seuil, Paris, 1986. Kaspi, André, Les États-Unis d’aujourd’hui, Plon, Paris1999 Lassale, J.-Pierre La Démocratie Américaine, Armand Colin, 1991. Lennkh Annie et Toinet, Marie-France, eds., L’état des Etats-Unis, La Découverte, Paris, 1990. Lerner, Max, America as a Civilization, Holt, New York, 1957-1987. Marshall Terence, Vie et institutions politiques des Etats-Unis, Ed. Erasme, Nanterre, 1989. Martin, Jean-Pierre et Royot, Daniel, Histoire et Civilisation des Etats-Unis, Textes et Documents commentés du XVIIe siècle à nos jours, Nathan, Paris, 1988. Molnar Thomas, Le modèle défiguré: L’Amérique de Tocqueville à Carter, PUF, 1978. Nouailhat, Yves-Henri, Histoire des Doctrines Politiques aux Etats-Unis, PUF, 1969. Schlesinger Arthur M. Jr., The Cycles of American History, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1986. Schlesinger Arthur M., ed., The Almanac of American History, Bison Books, New York 1983. Shafritz, Jay M., The HarperCollins Dictionary of American Government & Politics, concise edition, HarperCollins Publishers, New York 1993. Skidmore Max J., Tripp Marshall Carter, La Démocratie américaine, ed. Odile Jacob, 1988 (traduit de l'américain American Government. A Brief Introduction, 1985). Smith, Hedrick, The Power Game, Ballantine Books, New York, 1989. Toinet, Marie-France, Le Système Politique des Etats-Unis, PUF, 1987.

Dernière mise à jour : mardi 7 avril 2009