Essentials Of American Politics

Essentials of American Politics, Second Edition, is the ideal alternative to larger, more expensive American government texts.

This refreshed and dynamic Eighth Edition of Keeping the Republic revitalizes the twin themes of power and citizenship by adding to the imperative for students to navigate competing political narratives about who should get what, and how they should get it. The exploding possibilities of the digital age make this task all the more urgent and complex. Christine Barbour and Gerald Wright, the authors of this bestseller, continue to meet students where they are in order to give them a sophisticated understanding of American politics and teach them the skills to think critically about it. The entire book has been refocused to look not just at power and citizenship but at the role that control of information and its savvy consumption play in keeping the republic.

Essentials of American Politics is an undergraduate text with a novel analytical and comparative focus. It takes as a central theme the increasing tension in American politics between a general philosophy of limited government and particular public demands for more and better government programs and services. While this has always been a feature of the American polity, recent events have brought it into sharp focus. Both a Republican Congress and Democratic president extol the virtues of less government but continue to grapple with demands for improved education, health care, transportation and almost every other area of social and economic life. All praise the virtues of lower taxation and at the same time promise improvements in the quality of public services. A similar tension applies in the courts, in state politics and indeed throughout the system. Recent successes such as a balanced budget have been achieved in part because the limited government philosophy has been on the ascendant and has won support from all shades of political opinion. But conflicts over the distributional questions of who gets what has hardly subsided.In few other democracies is this tension as well defined as in the United States and Essentials reminds readers of this fact through comparison with democratic processes in other countries, and in particular with European countries.Essentials weaves this theme into a discussion of American national politics. Up to date and well organized chapters are devoted to beliefs and values, the Constitution, federalism, Congress, presidency, the federal bureaucracy, interest groups and the courts. Policy chapters include economic, social and foreign affairs. In all chapters the analytical approach explains to students some of the main controversies in American political science. At all times Essentials seeks to impart basic information on American politics in an analytical but stimulating manner.Features:Concise format of 17 chapters that cover institutions, behavior and policy arenas.Theme of American's general philosophy of limited government versus our particular demands for expanded government programs and services.Rich, comparative examples (Britain, Canada, and Mexico versus U.S.) throughout the book's narrative.

Completely revised and updated to take full account of the mostrecent and dramatic changes in the nature of American government,the sixth edition provides a clear and concise introduction to USpolitics for all students of political science and Americanstudies. Explains, analyses and interprets the processes of USgovernment and, crucially, appraises them from a non-USperspective. Includes commentary on the 2004 presidentialelection. Fills in the social background to American political andeconomic life, preparing the ground for the central discussion ofthe book: the institutions of the federal government, Congress, theSupreme Court and the Constitution, the federal system, thePresidency, the party bandwagons and the electoral system. Reduced emphasis on limited government and greater emphasis onforeign and domestic policy linked into the War on Terror. Reworkedthroughout to reflect recent developments, with two completely newchapters on The Media and American Politics, and The SecurityState. Supported by a website, www.blackwellpublishing.com/mckay,including information on the book; its detailed contents; theauthor; controversies; sample chapters; selected tables; relatedtitles; and links to other web resources. It will be regularlyupdated to ensure teachers and students have access to the mostrecent data.

The Fifth Edition of American Politics Today is designed to show students the reality of politics today and how it connects to their own lives. New features--from chapter opening cases that address the kinds of questions students ask, to full-page graphics that illustrate key political processes--show students how politics works and why it matters. All components of the learning package--textbook, InQuizitive adaptive learning tool, and coursepack--are organized around specific chapter learning goals to ensure that students learn the nuts and bolts of American government.