Week 7 — Readings & Resources · Political Institutions I: Legislatures & Executives

Course: Introduction to Political Science (POLS 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Halloran
Objectives covered: Objective 5 (legislatures, executives, and the parliamentary/presidential/semi-presidential distinction).

How to use this page

Everything here is a link to an external resource — open it in your browser, the same way you'd open a YouTube link. Nothing needs to be downloaded, and there is nothing to buy.

This week's load is deliberately light: 2 short readings + 1 video + the two primary texts you'll use in the workshop, grouped by the ideas from the lecture, plus a couple of optional references. Read or watch one item per group and you're ready for the quiz; do all of them and you'll be very comfortable. Total time is roughly 45–55 minutes if you do everything, far less if you pick one per group.

Order that matches the lecture: ① legislatures and executives, head of state vs. head of government → ② parliamentary, presidential & semi-presidential systems compared → ③ the week's primary texts (for the workshop).

A habit to start now: before you trust any claim about "who's in charge" in a given country — in these resources or anywhere — ask the questions from class: is the executive fused with the legislature or separate from it? Is there one executive office or two?

① Legislatures, Executives & the Head-of-State/Head-of-Government Split

Maps to Lecture Segments 2–3. What legislatures do; unicameral vs. bicameral; the two executive roles and the classic mix-up.

Reading — "Legislatures" (OpenStax, Introduction to Political Science)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-political-science/pages/11-introduction
Why it's assigned: a free, readable overview of what legislative bodies do and how they're organized — representation, lawmaking, and oversight, the three jobs this week's lecture opens with. (If the section-level link has moved, use the book's contents page below and navigate to the chapter on legislatures.)
⏱ ~12 min

Reading — "The Chief Executive" (OpenStax, Introduction to Political Science)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-political-science/pages/12-introduction
Why it earns the click: the companion chapter on executives — heads of state and heads of government, and how different constitutions organize (or split) those roles.
⏱ ~10 min

② Parliamentary, Presidential & Semi-Presidential Systems, Compared

Maps to Lecture Segments 4–7. The three institutional designs; government formation and removal; the Linz debate.

Video — "Understanding Comparative Government and Politics" (CrashCourse Government & Politics, YouTube)
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOfse2ncvffeelTrqvhrz8H
Why it's assigned: CrashCourse's Government & Politics playlist includes accessible entries comparing how different democracies organize their executive and legislative branches — a good visual companion to this week's parliamentary/presidential/semi-presidential map. Pick any comparative-institutions episode from the playlist.
⏱ ~10 min

Reading — "Comparative Politics: Political Institutions" (Khan Academy)
🔗 https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-government-and-civics
Why it earns the click: Khan Academy's civics hub includes short explainers on how executive and legislative power is organized differently across systems — useful for double-checking your own classification of a country before the quiz.
⏱ ~8 min

③ The Week's Primary Texts (for the Workshop)

You'll analyze these in Political Analysis Workshop 7. Read both before the workshop so you arrive ready to source them and compare their design logic.

Primary text 1 — Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution (1867), Chapter "The Cabinet"
🔗 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4351 (Project Gutenberg — full text)
Why it's assigned: the single most famous argument ever made for fusing executive and legislative power — Bagehot's case that the Cabinet, straddling both branches, is the British constitution's "efficient secret." This week you read the argument for fusion in the words of the person who coined the phrase.
⏱ ~12 min (the Cabinet chapter)

Primary text 2 — The Constitution of the United States (1787), Articles I & II
🔗 https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript (National Archives — the official transcription)
Why it's assigned: the classic argument for separating executive and legislative power, built directly into a founding document — Article I vests "all legislative Powers" in Congress; Article II vests "the executive Power" in a separately elected President. Same design question as Bagehot, opposite answer.
⏱ ~8 min (Art. I §1 and Art. II §1 specifically)

Optional one-stop references (free online)

• OpenStax, Introduction to Political Science — the free survey text this course's link set returns to; a solid reference for any week.
  🔗 https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-political-science
• Khan Academy — US Government and Civics. Short explainers on institutions and comparative design.
  🔗 https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-government-and-civics
• The National Archives — America's Founding Documents. The Constitution, the Declaration, and the Bill of Rights in official transcription; we link into this set repeatedly (Weeks 6, 7, 10).
  🔗 https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs

Pick-one quick path (≈25 min total)

In a hurry? Do exactly these and you'll be ready for the quiz:
1. Read the OpenStax legislatures chapter intro (group ①) — what legislatures do.
2. Read Bagehot's "Cabinet" chapter and the U.S. Constitution's Art. I §1 / Art. II §1 (group ③) — for the workshop; this is the week's real substance.

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell Prof. Halloran and use the OpenStax contents page or the National Archives founding-documents hub above in the meantime.