Author: Chris Koski
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538105489
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 651
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Book Description
By putting students in direct touch with the inner workings of the political system, The Real World of American Politics provides them with direct, concrete access to the nuts-and-bolts—the real world—of American government. In all the standard areas of American political practice, working documents provide serious insight into the stakes, values, and processes that drive and inform the political system. For example, looking carefully at the text of an actual bill deeply enhances learning about the legislative process, and the strengths and weaknesses of public opinion polling become clearer if a student has an opportunity to examine a real life survey instrument. Organized thematically to reflect the way that many introductory courses are taught, the documents are accompanied by brief, accessible, and informative introductory materials that place them in their proper historical, political, and theoretical contexts. Each section also includes study questions to guide student reading and inquiry. Whether used as the core text or in conjunction with a standard textbook, The Real World of American Politics is the only book on the market that takes students inside the political process as it actually unfolds. Features A well-organized and carefully curated volume that includes a wide variety of on-the-ground documents composing a representative selection of raw materials, procedures, and outcomes characteristic of the political process itself. Brief, accessible, and informative introductory discussions that place each document in its proper historical, political, and theoretical context. Carefully chosen study questions, designed both to guide student inquiry and to suggest possible paper topics or exam questions, accompanying each document
Author: Richard Hofstadter
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307388441
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 370
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Book Description
This timely reissue of Richard Hofstadter's classic work on the fringe groups that influence American electoral politics offers an invaluable perspective on contemporary domestic affairs.In The Paranoid Style in American Politics, acclaimed historian Richard Hofstadter examines the competing forces in American political discourse and how fringe groups can influence — and derail — the larger agendas of a political party. He investigates the politics of the irrational, shedding light on how the behavior of individuals can seem out of proportion with actual political issues, and how such behavior impacts larger groups. With such other classic essays as “Free Silver and the Mind of 'Coin' Harvey” and “What Happened to the Antitrust Movement?, ” The Paranoid Style in American Politics remains both a seminal text of political history and a vital analysis of the ways in which political groups function in the United States.
Author: John J. Coleman
Publisher: Longman Publishing Group
ISBN: 9780205688609
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
In an election year that has defied expectations, scuttled predictions, and demonstrated that “politics as usual” is often anything but, a distinctive new textbook publishes that helps students make sense of our politics and government. This engaging new book’s unique approach emphasizes and explores causal questions in American politics. It gives student critical thinking tools–tools pulled directly from a social scientist’s playbook–to start answering those questions, see past today’s headlines, and understand why things really happen in our political world. This exciting new text is written in a clear, straightforward style brimming with rich, real world examples. It not only covers the fundamentals of American government and politics in a highly accessible, engaging fashion, but also arms students with the tools to separate political fact from fiction. Using this book, students will develop the skills to see through the simplistic sound bites and partisan assertions they’re subjected to by the pundits and politicians. Students reading this text will be fitted with armor against the partisan bickering and hyperbolic media coverage that causes so many of them to become cynical about politics. They will come away from the text not only excited by political questions, but with the means to explore possible answers as more thoughtful, critical, and empowered citizens.
Author: John J. Coleman
Publisher: Longman Publishing Group
ISBN: 9780205798285
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Updated to reflect the current political landscape, this book is emphasizes and explores causal questions in American Politics. It helps readers apply critical thinking tools-tools pulled directly from a social scientist's playbook-to start answering those questions, see past today's headlines, and understand why things really happen in our political world. Containing chapters on political culture, media and politics, and interest groups, readers will come away from this book able to think and view their world critically. Readers will come away from the book not only excited by political questions, but with the means to explore possible answers as more thoughtful and empowered citizen The Texas version of Understanding American Politics and Governmentcontains the same information as the National version, plus 7 additional chapters on Texas state government and policy.
Author: William T. Bianco
Publisher: W. W. Norton
ISBN: 9780393932867
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 539
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Book Description
Finally, American politics demystified. There is a common belief among college students that American politics and government are broken, or too complicated to understand, or completely illogical. With a student-friendly analytical framework and vivid, current examples, American Politics Today demystifies the political process and shows students how the system actually works-effectively and powerfully. KEY FEATURES Three key ideas-integrated throughout the text, the pedagogical features, and the student emedia-help students develop the skills they need to make sense of politics. · First, politics is everywhere. Debates over what government should do or who should be in charge are not separate from society or from Americans' everyday lives. Politics is a fundamental part of everyone's life, governing what people can and cannot do, their quality of life, and how they think about events, other people, and situations. · Second, political process matters. Governmental actions are the result of conscious choices made by voters, elected officials, and bureaucrats. The media often covers political issues in the same way it does sporting events, and while this makes for entertaining news, it also leads citizens to overlook the institutions, rules, and procedures that have a decisive influence on American life. Politics really is not just a game. · Third, politics is conflictual. The questions debated in elections, and the policy options considered by people in government, are generally marked by disagreement at all levels. Making policy typically involves important issues on which people disagree, sometimes strongly; so compromise, bargaining, and tough choices about trade-offs are central parts of the process. Fresh, contemporary examples show the reality of the American political system and encourage in-depth exploration of political issues. Students often arrive in class with a decidedly negative impression of government-they see it as dysfunctional, unpredictable, and generally puzzling. American Politics Today uses engaging, current examples to help students understand how politics really works. Boxed features reinforce the three key ideas. Boxes distill critical concepts ('Nuts and Bolts'), offer more real-world applications ('Politics Is Everywhere'), introduce students to relevant political and governmental issues in other countries ('Comparing Ourselves to Others'), provoke critical thinking about conventional wisdom in politics ('Challenging the Conventional Wisdom'), and prompt students to think analytically by making their own political decisions ('You Decide'). STUDENT RESOURCES Student StudySpace Students will have free and open access to the online Studyspace, which offers review materials (chapter summaries, flashcards, and quizzes) and additional tools such for student enrichment such as: Everyday Politics Blog This current, engaging blog provides discussions of political news and events from a variety of perspectives and ties directly into the main themes and core concepts of Norton's American government texts. Everydaypoliticsblog.com Critical Thinking Exercises These exercises help students understand the analytical framework of the text through a variety of online resources and critical-thinking activities. Video Exercises Streaming video selections that relate to key ideas in the text are paired with questions for thought and analysis. INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES Instructor's Manual, Test Bank and Computerized Test Bank and Lecturer PowerPoints.
Author: Jason Gainous
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442210494
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 235
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Book Description
"Going beyond theory and guess-based forecasts, this book systematically explores and measures the implications of the growing use of the Internet in the American political landscape. The authors show that the Internet changes the way voters process information and explain how the use of the Internet is causing a marked shift not just in who votes but in who wins. Breaking away from conjecture, the book demonstrates how the new digital world is changing the very heart of American politics."--Publisher description.
Author: Frank M. Bryan
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226077985
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 333
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Book Description
Relying on an astounding collection of more than three decades of firsthand research, Frank M. Bryan examines one of the purest forms of American democracy, the New England town meeting. At these meetings, usually held once a year, all eligible citizens of the town may become legislators; they meet in face-to-face assemblies, debate the issues on the agenda, and vote on them. And although these meetings are natural laboratories for democracy, very few scholars have systematically investigated them. A nationally recognized expert on this topic, Bryan has now done just that. Studying 1,500 town meetings in his home state of Vermont, he and his students recorded a staggering amount of data about them—238,603 acts of participation by 63,140 citizens in 210 different towns. Drawing on this evidence as well as on evocative "witness" accounts—from casual observers to no lesser a light than Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn—Bryan paints a vivid picture of how real democracy works. Among the many fascinating questions he explores: why attendance varies sharply with town size, how citizens resolve conflicts in open forums, and how men and women behave differently in town meetings. In the end, Bryan interprets this brand of local government to find evidence for its considerable staying power as the most authentic and meaningful form of direct democracy. Giving us a rare glimpse into how democracy works in the real world, Bryan presents here an unorthodox and definitive book on this most cherished of American institutions.
Author: John J. Coleman
Publisher: Longman Publishing Group
ISBN: 9780205798315
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Updated to reflect the current political landscape, this book is emphasizes and explores causal questions in American Politics. It helps readers apply critical thinking tools–tools pulled directly from a social scientist’s playbook–to start answering those questions, see past today’s headlines, and understand why things really happen in our political world. Containing chapters on political culture, media and politics, and interest groups, readers will come away from this book able to think and view their world critically. Readers will come away from the book not only excited by political questions, but with the means to explore possible answers as more thoughtful and empowered citizen The Texas version ofUnderstanding American Politics and Governmentcontains the same information as the National version, plus 7 additional chapters on Texas state government and policy.
Author: Byron E. Shafer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384
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Book Description
Where did the Era of Divided Government come from? What sustains split partisan control of the institutions of American national government year after year? Why can it shift so easily from Democratic or Republican presidencies, coupled with Republican or Democratic Congresses? How can the vast array of issues and personalities that have surfaced in American politics over the last forty years fit so neatly within-indeed, reinforce-the sustaining political pattern of our time? These big questions constitute the puzzle of modern American politics. The old answer—a majority and a minority party, plus dominant and recessive public issues—will not work in the Era of Divided Government. Byron Shafer, a political scientist who is regarded as one of the most comprehensive and original thinkers on American politics, provides a convincing new answer that has three major elements. These elements in combination, not "divided government" as a catch phrase, are the real story of politics in our time. The first element is comprised of two great sets of public preferences that manifest themselves at the ballot box as two majorities. The old cluster of economic and welfare issues has not so much been displaced as simply joined by a second cluster of cultural and national concerns. The second element can be seen in the behavior of political parties and party activists, whose own preferences don't match those of the general public. That public remains reliably left of the active Republican Party on economic and welfare issues and reliably right of the active Democratic Party on cultural and national concerns. The third crucial element is found in an institutional arrangement—the distinctively American matrix of governmental institutions, which converts those first two elements into a framework for policymaking, year in and year out. In the first half of the book, Shafer examines how dominant features of the Reagan, first Bush, Clinton, and second Bush administrations reflect the interplay of these three elements. Recent policy conflicts and institutional combatants, in Shafer's analysis, illuminate this new pattern of American politics. In the second half, he ranges across time and nations to put these modern elements and their composite pattern into a much larger historical and institutional framework. In this light, modern American politics appears not so much as new and different, but as a distinctive recombination of familiar elements of a political style, a political process, and a political conflict that has been running for a much, much longer time.
Author: Joel Spring
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1136881522
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 295
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Book Description
Turning his distinctive analytical lens to the politics of American education, Joel Spring looks at contemporary educational policy issues from theoretical, practical, and historical perspectives. This comprehensive overview documents and explains who influences educational policy and how, bringing to life the realities of schooling in the 21st century and revealing the ongoing ideological struggles at play. Coverage includes the influence of global organizations on American school policies and the impact of emerging open source and other forms of electronic textbooks. Thought-provoking, lucid, original in its conceptual framework and rich with engaging examples from the real world, this text is timely and useful for understanding the big picture and the micro-level intricacies of the multiple forces at work in controlling U.S. public schools . It is the text of choice for any course that covers or addresses the politics of American education. Companion Website: The interactive Companion Website accompanying this text includes relevant data, public domain documents, YouTube links, and links to websites representing political organizations and interest groups involved in education.
