Skagit Valley College

Catalog Course Search Details

 Course Title:   State and Local Government

 Title Abbreviation:   STATE & LOCAL GOVT

 Department:    POLS

 Course #:    204

 Credits:    5

 Variable:     No

 IUs:    5

 CIP:    451001

 EPC:    n/a

 REV:    2018

 Course Description  

Governmental forms used in our states and various units of local governments - counties, cities, etc. Focuses on local political institutions and the relationship of citizens to them.


Prerequisite: Appropriate placement or grade of 2.0 or higher in ENGL 099.

Additional Course Details

Contact Hours (based on 11 week quarter)

Lecture: 55

Lab: 0

Other: 0

Systems: 0

Clinical: 0

Intent: Distribution Requirement(s) Status:  

Academic Social Sciences  

Equivalencies At Other Institutions

Other Institution Equivalencies Table
Institution Course # Remarks
CWU 230
Other Junior-level course
WSU 206
WWU 353

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, the student will be able to:

  1. Understand the function of state constitutions and be aware of their content
  2. Understand the nature of our federal system of government and the relationship of the national government, the states, and cities and towns under federalism
  3. Appreciate the nature of our national Bill of Rights, state bills of rights, and the protections they afford
  4. Comprehend the overall political-party systems in our states because of our federal setup
  5. Understand the functioning of election systems in our states
  6. Describe the nature and interrelationship of the three branches of state government
  7. Comprehend the nature and functions of our basic units of local government

General Education Learning Values & Outcomes


Course Contents

  1. The basic structure and content of state constitutions
  2. The use of state constitutions as protection for the pet ideas of special interest groups
  3. The federal structure of government in the United States and the positions of the national, state, and local units (counties, cities, etc.) of government in our federal system
  4. Our national Bill of Rights and state bills of rights as applied to the states
  5. The structure and functioning of our national political-party system and the variations of party systems as found in the states of our nations
  6. Basic approaches to elections as found throughout the United States
  7. The interrelationship of the three branches of government (legislative, executive, and judicial) in the states of our nations
  8. The structure, duties, and functioning of the legislative bodies of the various states of the United States
  9. The general nature of the executive branch of government in our states and variations among the states in the organization and functioning of state executives
  10. The nature and operations of state bureaucracies thoughout the United States
  11. The structure of the basic forms of court systems found in the United States and their interrelationship to the federal court system of the U.S.
  12. The charactersitics of various units of local government (counties, cities, towns, townships, special districts of vairous kinds, etc.) found in the United States
  13. The role of the states as repositories of ALL political power in the U.S. other than that ""delegated to the national government by the U.S. Constitution""
  14. The day-by-day functioning of various units of local government