Washington, D.C. Program

The Government Department's off-campus program in Washington, D.C. provides students with internship opportunities in legislative and executive offices as well as the chance to conduct research involving the national government. Students receive three credits, for Government 93, 94 and 95. In Government 93, Essays, students write weekly essays relating to his or her work experience in an internship with a public or private agency or organization intended to give students practical experience in political life in the nation’s capital. These essays relate the student’s work experience to broader issues in political science (Dist: SOC). Government 94 and 95 are seminars taught by the director of the program.

A key feature of our Washington, D.C. Program is the opportunity to hear from top officials who work in D.C., among them leaders in the US Senate and House of Representatives (including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand '88 and Congressmen Mike Capuano '73 and Paul Hodes '72), DNC, RNC, NRCC, DSCC, Federal Election Commission officials, Democratic/Republican pollsters, and others.

Professor Joseph Bafumi directed our Washington, D.C. Program last spring, and he will direct it again in spring 2010. The two seminars he will offer are:

Congress, the Presidency, Courts and Policy-making at the Federal Level (94)

This course will investigate the complex relationships between and within the three branches of the federal government (with a heavy focus on the presidency and Congress) as they bargain over policy. Several theoretical tools will be introduced and used to explain recent and historical policy change (and gridlock). These include ideal point theory, simple spatial models, delegation, and bargaining theory. Dist: SOC

The Federal Budgetary Process (95)

This course will investigate the process by which the federal government passes an annual budget. It will focus on both what is supposed to happen and what actually happens in pursuit of a budget compromise. Students will gain an in-depth understanding of the revenue generating and expenditure decisions made by the federal government. Much of the course will be spent considering possible reforms that can be made to the federal budgetary system and the costs and benefits of these reforms. Dist: SOC

Applications

The application deadline for the spring 2010 Washington, DC Program is November 2, 2009; for students who are off campus in fall 2009, the deadline was July 24, 2009. More detailed information may be obtained from the Off-Campus Programs Office, 44 North College Street, and at the following website: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ocp/