POLS 4015 - Constitutional Politics

• Students will be able to critically consider the role of constitutional checks on political institutions, use constitutional theory scholarship to analyze constitutional conflicts, and distinguish a partisan claim from a constitutional claim.
• Students will be able to state the implications of constitutional decay and state a thesis and conclusion on the imperatives of maintenance of a constitutional democracy.
• Students will be able to make connections between theories of constitutional politics with studies of American politics, foreign policy, or comparative politics and identify the constitutional elements of political conflicts.
• Students will be able to use information sources to develop comprehensive analyses of constitutional conflicts, recognizing complexities and limitations.
• Students will be able to reflect on the distinct perspective offered by constitutional theory as an alternative to political ideology and apply theories of constitutionalism to ongoing political affairs.
• Students will be able to discuss the variety of ethical perspectives in the analysis of constitutional conflicts and recognize the placement of their own partisan and ideological beliefs in constitutional conflicts.
• Students will be able to evaluate ethical issues by viewing the presence and absence of constitutional principles in different constitutional conflicts.
• Students will be able to analyze constitutional arguments for decision making using an ethical lens.
• Students will be able to evaluate alternative ethical perspectives within a decision-making situation by evaluating their effect on the health of the constitutional order
• Students will be able to apply skills and theories from across disciplines to analyzing constitutional conflicts and connect those analyses to their own experiences.
• Students will be able to create written analyses of constitutional conflicts that use a format and language that enhance meaning and that build on reflection and self-assessment.