Students will learn to apply formal models to their analysis of 
legislative, executive, judicial, and bureaucratic 
institutions. Skills developed include deductive reasoning 
and basic mathematical modeling. Those skills enhance students' 
abilities to craft testable hypotheses.

Gibbard and Arrow's Theorems
Black's Median Voter Theorem (BMVT)
BMVT applied to 
   Legislative Bodies - Committee Structures - Strategic Voting
   Executive-Legislative Relations - e.g., Veto Bargaining 
   Courts - Strategic v. Legal Rationales for Judicial Behaviors
   Court-Legislative Relations
   Bureaucracies
   Bureaucratic-Congressional Relations
   Bureaucratic-Congressional-Court Relations
   Other Institutions - Groups, Parties, Media
   Policy Implications drawn from Formal Models of Institutions

All academic work must meet the standards contained in "A 
Culture of Honesty." Students are responsible for informing 
themselves about these standards before performing academic 
work.  The penalties for academic dishonesty are severe and 
ignorance is not an acceptable defense. Also note that the 
course syllabus is a general plan for the course and that 
deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be 
necessary.