Origins and Design

About the lecture

In this module Dr David Andersen introduces us to the Electoral College, focusing in particular on: (i) its origins and design; (ii) the Founding Fathers’ attempts to reconcile the need to establish a central authority with their hesitancy around bringing a “king-like” figure into the American polity and their desire to avoid making this central authority too powerful; (iii) the original functions of the US President and the importance of the figure of George Washington to this vision; (iv) James Madison’s reflections in The Federalist No. 51 (1788) on the Founding Fathers’ project; (v) the Electoral College as a form of indirect election modelled on the Catholic Church’s College of Cardinals; (vi) the role of the states in this process.

About the lecturer

Dr. David Andersen is an expert on American politics and government whose research focuses primarily on political psychology and political behaviour. After receiving his PhD in 2011, he worked for two years at the Eagleton Institute of Politics before transferring to Iowa State University in 2013 as an Assistant Professor of American Government. He remained at Iowa State until 2019, when he moved across the pond to join Durham University as an Assistant Professor in United States Politics. His research has been published in a number of well-regarded academic journals, including the American Journal of Political Science, and he is particularly interested in the research question: "How do people learn about politics?"