John M. Elliott came to the Department of Political Science in 1970, where he has taught a variety of courses in American politics. Elliott has recently offered courses in public policy, the presidency, the making of American foreign policy, and on the role of the news media in American politics.
Along with faculty members from the Department of Economics, he has often co-taught the capstone course for the public policy concentration, and he regularly teaches courses in twentieth century American political history with a colleague from the Department of History.
Elliott is completing a book entitled Political Journalism in a Pluralist Democracy and has published chapters on the subject. Recently he served as chair of the department, and for three years he served as chair of the College's Resource Allocation and Assessment Committee. For many years he has been co-chair of the Public Policy concentration, which he helped found.
Areas of Expertise
American politics, public policy, the news media and American politics.
Education
1974 — Doctor of Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University
1968 — Master of Arts from Johns Hopkins University
1966 — Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University
Courses Recently Taught
PSCI 200D
Liberal Democracy in America
PSCI 200D
The course explores the guiding principles, major institutions and national politics of the American political system. The Founders' view of liberal democracy and of the three branches of our government (presented in the "Federalist Papers") will provide the basis for consideration of the modern Supreme Court, presidency, bureaucracy, Congress, news media, and political parties and elections. The course concludes with Tocqueville's broad overview of American democracy and its efforts to reconcile liberty and equality. The themes of the course will be illustrated by references to current political issues, events and personalities. This course is the same as AMST 200D. This course must be taken as PSCI 200D to count toward the social science requirement. This course counts toward the American politics requirement for the major and the politics, culture and society requirement for the American studies major. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or first-year students currently enrolled in PSCI 102Y. Offered every year.
PSCI 301
The American Presidency
PSCI 301
This course explores different views of the presidency and the nature of presidential leadership. The Founders' view will be compared with developments since Franklin Roosevelt, including the imperial and post-imperial presidencies. A central concern will be understanding the constitutional powers of and restraints on the modern president. We will study presidential selection, the president's relations with other parts of the government and the president's role in domestic and foreign policymaking. The course concludes with a study of presidential leadership and of the proper ends and means by which to exercise political power, with particular attention to the presidencies of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. This counts toward an upper-level American politics course for the major. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Offered every two years.
PSCI 440
Senior Seminar in Public Policy
PSCI 440
This seminar brings together a political scientist and an economist to consider how these disciplines approach the study of public policy. The course will concentrate on applying both of the disciplines to the study of a selection of public policies, ranging from poverty to budget deficits or globalization. We will explore the substantive issues and the process of governmental policymaking in specific policy domains. How is policy made? What should the policy be? The work of scholars in each discipline will be studied to better understand the differences in approaches and to consider the potential for combining them. What does political science contribute to the study of economic policymaking? What can the tools and perspective of economics contribute to the study of a topic like welfare reform or global warming? This seminar is required for students completing the Public Policy Concentration, and it is open to other seniors. This course is the same as ECON 440 listed in the economics curriculum. Prerequisite: ECON 101, 102 and one course in American politics or permission of instructor.