Political Theory and the American Vice Presidency - Einzelansicht

The modern Vice Presidency differs funamentally from its previous form, when basically all the Vice President did was being "one heartbeat away from the presidency". How did that change and which modern Presidents and their Vice Presidents shaped the office and made it more powerful and important? What are the roles the Vice President has to fulfill and which tasks do the Vice Presidents get from their Presidents? What kind of political theory and understanding of the internal powerstructure of the government do these Vice Presidents and their tasks represent?
The seminar will begin examining the shift in importance with the Carter-Mondale-Pairing (1977) and we will work our way through time to have a look at the development until today. Suggestions which topics should be discussed are welcome and encouraged. 

The specific texts which we will read for the seminar will be uploaded online to moodle.

Die konkreten Auszüge der im Seminar zu behandelnden Literatur werden online zur Verfügung gestellt

Wer die erste Sitzung der Lehrveranstaltung versäumt, ohne sich vorher schriftlich oder persönlich zu entschuldigen, kann den Anspruch auf einen Platz in der LV verlieren, wenn es mehr Interessenten als Plätze gibt. Dies gilt ungeachtet der Platzzuweisung durch Friedolin und ist im Einklang mit der grundsätzlichen Aufhebung der Anwesenheitspflicht.

Continuous participation and preparation of the seminar-texts as well as the term paper at the end of the semester