What I've Learned This Semester!

This is where I share the wealth of knowledge I've gained with my lovely readers.  If all goes well, this will be my very last post on this topic!  I'll miss it but at the same time, it will be a relief not to have an overabundance of homework always pressuring me to get it done every second of every day.

POLS 403 Introduction to Public Administration

I'm really enjoying this one so far.  I just wish it wasn't a night class.

• Closed vs. Open Systems
• Closed systems focus on the organization, its internal structures, internal dynamics, and decision making processes.
• Open systems assume the external environment influences the organization in a wide variety of ways.
• Organizations are dynamic entities impacted by both internal and external factors.

POLS 403 Urban Politics

This is much more of a history lesson than politics.

• Three Factors of Production According to City Limits (book by Paul Peterson, 1981)
• Land:  This is the only one that cities can control.  Land use decisions are critical.
• Labor:  Cities can't control the movement of people, but they can try to attract only the "right kind" or residents
• Capital:  States can't control the movement of capital.  It can, however, minimize taxes, and build good infrastructure.  Cities compete with one another.

POLS 414 Comparative State Politics

This one comes with a lot of homework, but it's been pretty interesting.

• Elazar's Political Subcultures
• Individualist:  Limited government, politics viewed as dirty/corrupt
• Moralist:  Emphasizes the commonwealth, government is a political force
• Traditionalist:  Government used to maintain existing social hierarchy, politics are for the social elite

POLS 414 American Political Thought

I took this on the advice of a friend who swore I'd absolutely love it!!!  Yeah, not so much...  This is my third class with this professor, and it's *CONSIDERABLY* more difficult than the other two.  It's the only class that I seriously dislike this semester.

Brief summary of Federalist 10:

We must break and control the violence of factions.  We must remove the cause for factions, or control its effects.  The only way to remove it is to remove liberty, or to give citizens the same opinions.  Since this is not possible, we must control the effects by creating more factions.  The more we have, the weaker they become individually.

**All pictures courtesy of Google Images