Congress and the American Political System I
This MIT OpenCourseWare course examines how the United States Congress works and why, treating it as the most open and heavily studied branch of the federal government. Lectures and readings cover the internal organization of the House and Senate, including committee structures, leadership, and procedural rules, alongside the broader question of how Congress fits into the wider American political system. Students engage with competing scholarly approaches to studying congressional behavior, from institutional analysis to theories of representation and electoral incentives. The course includes a syllabus, lecture notes, and assignments drawn from MIT's political science curriculum, offering a systematic grounding for anyone wanting to understand how legislation, oversight, and political bargaining actually function on Capitol Hill. Materials are freely available online with no cost to access or study.