Textbook focusing on American Government and the specificities of the American political system. In covering American government and politics, this text:
• introduces the intricacies of the Constitution, the complexities of federalism, the meanings of civil liberties, and the conflicts over civil rights;
• explains how people are socialized to politics, acquire and express opinions, and participate in political life;
• describes interest groups, political parties, and elections—the intermediaries that link people to government and politics;
• details the branches of government and how they operate; and
• shows how policies are made and affect people’s lives.

This course contains five projects that are organized around the following question: “What is the proper role of government in a democracy?” Each project involves political simulations through which students take on roles that help contextualize the content required by the new College Board course framework.

Founders' Intent
Elections
Supreme Court
Congress
Government in Action

Openly licensed PDF unit plans of all the above units are available at this Sprocket Lucas Education Research Platform (scroll to bottom of web page).

Alternately, educators may sign up for free access to the online AP U.S. Government and Politics course that includes additional instructional supports:
https://sprocket.lucasedresearch.org/users/sprocket_access

This course introduces the unique characteristics of militaries and explores the roles they play in the societies they are constructed to defend, with a special focus on the relationships between the military and their civilian leaders and popular publics. Topics include a modern history of relations between US presidents and the military, coups and military governments, public trust in the military, racial integration of the military, and the military-industrial (and tech!) complex.

This class examines how and why twentieth-century Americans came to define the “good life” through consumption, leisure, and material abundance. We will explore how such things as department stores, nationally advertised brand-name goods, mass-produced cars, and suburbs transformed the American economy, society, and politics. The course is organized both thematically and chronologically. Each period deals with a new development in the history of consumer culture. Throughout we explore both celebrations and critiques of mass consumption and abundance.

This class examines how and why twentieth-century Americans came to define the “good life” through consumption, leisure, and material abundance. We will explore how such things as department stores, nationally advertised brand-name goods, mass-produced cars, and suburbs transformed the American economy, society, and politics. The course is organized both thematically and chronologically. Each period deals with a new development in the history of consumer culture. Throughout we explore both celebrations and critiques of mass consumption and abundance.

 American Government is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the single-semester American government course. This title includes innovative features designed to enhance student learning, including Insider Perspective features and a Get Connected Module that shows students how they can get engaged in the political process. The book provides an important opportunity for students to learn the core concepts of American government and understand how those concepts apply to their lives and the world around them. American Government includes updated information on the 2016 presidential election.Senior Contributing AuthorsGlen Krutz (Content Lead), University of OklahomaSylvie Waskiewicz, PhD (Lead Editor)

Contents include:

1. Why Government? Why Politics? 2. The U.S. System of Constitutional Government 3. Congress 4. The Presidency 5. The Judiciary 6. Federalism 7. The Media, Government, and Politics 8. Public Opinion 9. Political Ideology 10. Political Participation 11. Political Parties 12. Interest Groups 13. Public Policy 14. Economic Policy 15. Food Policy 16. Crime Policy 17. Global Affairs 18. Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

American Government is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the single-semester American government course. This title includes innovative features designed to enhance student learning, including Insider Perspective features and a Get Connected Module that shows students how they can get engaged in the political process. The book provides an important opportunity for students to learn the core concepts of American government and understand how those concepts apply to their lives and the world around them. American Government includes updated information on the 2016 presidential election.

Originally published as American Government and Politics in the Information Age in 2011 as CC BY-NC-SA.
Updated by James J. Tuite in 2020. This is a textbook for the first part of an introductory course on the American political process. Teaches the structure, operation, and process of national, state, and local governments.

Video lectures are available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCInj8bmD5BUa9UnNrtAblznm6skFNZJh

We will explore the changing political choices and ethical dilemmas of American scientists from the atomic scientists of World War II to biologists in the present wrestling with the questions raised by cloning and other biotechnologies. As well as asking how we would behave if confronted with the same choices, we will try to understand the choices scientists have made by seeing them in their historical and political contexts. Some of the topics covered include: the original development of nuclear weapons and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the effects of the Cold War on American science; the space shuttle disasters; debates on the use of nuclear power, wind power, and biofuels; abuse of human subjects in psychological and other experiments; deliberations on genetically modified food, the human genome project, human cloning, embryonic stem cell research; and the ethics of archaeological science in light of controversies over museum collections.

This course introduces the ethnographic study of politics, i.e., what anthropologists understand to be “political” in various social and economic systems, from small-scale societies to liberal democratic states. It examines politics across three contemporary contexts: electoral politics, public spheres, bureaucracies and humanitarian governance. Students consider and analyze how questions of authority, coercion, and violence have been theorized to relate to the political, and how some aspects of social life are regimented in explicitly non-political ways.

This course examines the birth and international expansion of an American industry of political marketing. It focuses attention on the cultural processes, sociopolitical contexts and moral utopias that shape the practice of political marketing in the U.S. and in different countries. By looking at the debates and expert practices at the core of the business of politics, the course explores how the “universal” concept of democracy is interpreted and reworked through space and time, while examining how different cultural groups experimenting with political marketing understand the role of citizens in a democracy.

This book is a broad introduction to Australian politics and public policy. This field of study is important for Australians to understand the exercise of political power, their history and the scope for change. It is also important for analysts outside Australia looking for comparative cases. Within this volume are diverse topics and perspectives, demonstrating that the study of Australian politics and policy is not ‘fixed’. Rather, it is a contested field of academic scholarship. Indeed, the volume’s editors do not all agree on the content of this introduction!

Philip Cowley, Reader in the University’s School of Politics and International Relations, was recently nominated for the Times Higher young researcher of the year award. In this podcast, Philip discusses his research into back bench rebellions within the British parliament. Philip describes his research as practical politics, linking academic research to the real world of political debate.

Since the British Labour party’s re-election with a reduced majority of 66 MPs in May 2005, some back bench Labour MPs have continued to vote against their own party, led by Prime Minister Tony Blair. This has forced the British government to make a series of concessions on a range of legislation. After the election, it was widely anticipated that Labour party MPs, with a reduced majority, would have to tow the party line. Philip discusses his research into back bench behaviour, highlighting that the British back bench MPs have traditionally been more rebellious than many people may expect.

Philip also discusses the issues behind the bank bench revolts, in particular highlighting that back bench rebellions are now at a post war high–ironically, as the new Labour government of 1997 was determined not to be a ‘split’ party like the previous Conservative government led by John Major. Philip also discusses the impact of the Tony Blair’s announcement that he will step down as leader of the Labour party, and whether this has affected the frequency of revolts.

Philip Cowley, Reader in the University’s School of Politics and International Relations, was recently nominated for the Times Higher young researcher of the year award. In this podcast, Philip discusses his research into back bench rebellions within the British parliament. Philip describes his research as practical politics, linking academic research to the real world of political debate.

Since the British Labour party’s re-election with a reduced majority of 66 MPs in May 2005, some back bench Labour MPs have continued to vote against their own party, led by Prime Minister Tony Blair. This has forced the British government to make a series of concessions on a range of legislation. After the election, it was widely anticipated that Labour party MPs, with a reduced majority, would have to tow the party line. Philip discusses his research into back bench behaviour, highlighting that the British back bench MPs have traditionally been more rebellious than many people may expect.

Philip also discusses the issues behind the bank bench revolts, in particular highlighting that back bench rebellions are now at a post war high–ironically, as the new Labour government of 1997 was determined not to be a ‘split’ party like the previous Conservative government led by John Major. Philip also discusses the impact of the Tony Blair’s announcement that he will step down as leader of the Labour party, and whether this has affected the frequency of revolts.

This course explores the physical, ecological, technological, political, economic, and cultural implications of big plans and mega-urban landscapes in a global context. It uses local and international case studies to understand the process of making major changes to urban landscape and city fabric, and to regional landscape systems. It includes lectures by leading practitioners. The assignments consider planning and design strategies across multiple scales and time frames.

This course explores the physical, ecological, technological, political, economic, and cultural implications of big plans and mega-urban landscapes in a global context. It uses local and international case studies to understand the process of making major changes to urban landscape and city fabric, and to regional landscape systems. It includes lectures by leading practitioners. The assignments consider planning and design strategies across multiple scales and time frames.

Biomimetics is based on the belief that nature, at least at times, is a good engineer. Biomimesis is the scientific method of learning new principles and processes based on systematic study, observation and experimentation with live animals and organisms. This Freshman Advising Seminar on the topic is a way for freshmen to explore some of MIT’s richness and learn more about what they may want to study in later years.