Course Description
Communication strategies and activities in the executive and legislative branches of local, state, and national government. Case study approach incorporated into the class.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Additional graduate student requirements will include: (1) reading
and discussion or written summary and analysis of the equivalent
of approximately 12 academic journal articles or book chapters,
(2) a major written research project that includes a substantial
literature review and some original research and analysis, and (3)
class time permitting, oral presentation of that project to the
class.
Athena Title
Comm Strategies in Government
Prerequisite
COMM 3300 or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101S or POLS 1105H or INTL 3300 or ADPR 3860 or AGCM 3200 or HIST 4060/6060 or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Not offered on a regular basis.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course is designed to help students understand the flow of communication within the U.S. governmental institutions and the way in which those flows shape our lives. The course will highlight the circulation patterns of communication within and between legislatures, executive branches, legal systems, and residents at the national, state, and local levels. It will provide a critical understanding of the ways in which different components of the rhetorical flow of discourse function and the ways in which different interests shape those flows to produce the society in which we live. Students will apply their learning via written work and examinations.
Topical Outline
1. Review of communication fundamentals 2. Review of government fundamentals 3. Communication in the Executive branches: The Presidency, The Executive Bureaucracy, State Governors, Local Regulatory Bureaucracies 4. Communication in Legislative Branches: House and Senate Hearings, Athens-Clarke County Commission 5. Judicial Communication: The Supreme Court, Local/State Courts and the Police 6. International Communication: Nongovernmental organizations, Intergovernmental organizations 7. Interviewing Skills Overview 8. Free Speech Issues: From Flag Burning to Hate Speech 9. Direct Democracy in a Web-based era
Syllabus
Public CV