Miroff, Seidelman, & Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate: An Introduction to American Politics

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Conference Discussion

In the American government course, I have used Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom's The Democratic Debate: An Introduction to American Politics since its first release in 1995. I teach the introductory course 2 - 3 times per year, with class sections of 40 - 50 students at Mesa State College, in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Thematic approach I believe that the American Government course should be taught with the goal of providing students with the critical skills necessary for democratic citizenship. Students should leave the course with a "toolbox" of skills they can use to for effective citizenship. One of those skills, is the ability to critically analyze political events and statements made by politicians. We can not simply describe American politics; we must analyze and explain it. One of the reasons I use the Miroff text is because the book's theme. The Democratic Debate critically analyses American politics through the lens of "the democratic debate" between elite and popular democrats. The book examines every topic from the perspective of elite and popular democracy. The authors make no bones about their position on the debate: they are strong advocates of popular democracy.

One of the reasons I like the book is that the authors sustain their theme throughout the text, and not just in the opening chapter. Moreover, I find the theme to be a compelling one, which students can learn from. The fact that the book is somewhat left-of-center is not a detraction either.

Substantive Content While the theme of the Democratic Debate is a compelling one; without solid content, the book would not be worth the paper it is printed on. I find the chapters to be well written, and students seem to respond well to the book. More importantly, there are two chapters in the text that are essential for me: The Constitution, and Political Economy.

The Constitution Chapter The Miroff text is organized around the popular-elite debate, and that debate originates in the founding of the republic. The chapter on the founding of the constitution is especially strong. Miroff bases his understanding of the founding in the ideology of classical republicanism, and the text does a good job of explaining the founding in the framework of republicanism. Thus, instead of viewing the Constitution as the culmination of the Revolution, the text treats the Constitution as a "counter-revolution." The book is based on the most current historical knowledge about the founding period; and does not over-simplify its understanding of the Constitution. I find too many American Government texts try to gloss over the circumstances leading up to the Constitution and falsely describe the Articles of Confederation as "the first national government", rather than as the league of independent states which it was. Miroff does not do this.

Political Economy Very few American government textbooks even have a chapter on the topic of political economy. I find that I can not even pretend to teach students about American government unless I am able to discuss the influence that corporations and big business have on American politics. The chapter on political economy in Miroff is strong. It is very important to understanding the theme of the popular and elite democratic debate. Unless a textbook has a chapter on political economy, I will not use it.

Over-all impressions and a caveat I have now used Miroff's Democratic Debate since its first edition in 1995. Until my own text is on the market in 2001, I will probably continue to use it. I find that the book works extremely well with the way I teach American politics. While the text is full-sized, little attempt is made to provide all of the glitz and useless ancillaries that accompany many of its competitors. The second edition is entirely in black-and-white, and it only costs students $36. The test-bank and instructors manual has been improved for the second edition. The only thing I wish the text had was more electronic access to some of the tables and charts, which I could then incorporate into PowerPoint presentations.

A Caveat in My Assessment But a caveat is in order here. I studied in graduate school under both Bruce Miroff and Todd Swanstrom, and served as a teaching assistant for both professors during the years the book was in development. I was also Bruce Miroff's research assistant, and I wrote part of the book's glossary and two of the "feature boxes" that appeared in the first edition. One of the reasons I know the book so well, is because I listened to the lectures that became the nucleous of the book as a teaching assistant. Moreover, I owe much of my own development as a teacher to the ability to observe and work with Bruce Miroff during graduate school. It is thus, not surprising that I find his book to be appealing to me for my own classes.

In the final analysis, I find the Miroff text to be a strong American politics text that meets all of my criteria. The students seem to like the book and its price is not so expensive that I can't use other materials to supplement the text.