The textbooks language is not as direct and as appealing to the pedagogical style of this new generation of students. democracy: key principles, institutions and problems professor david beetham 21 the judiciary in democratic governance: some insights from the indian experience ms. justice m. fathima beevi 31 some important problems and aspects of democracy in the context of the black african states professor abd-el kader boye 37 Issues related to race, ethnicity, gender, and class are addressed in appropriate ways. I saw no problems and particularity liked the emphasis on voter registration in the Voting and Elections unit. Democracy and government, the U.S. political system, elected officials and governmental institutions Americans are generally positive about the way democracy is working in the United States. The sources cited, within the sections of each of the various chapters, are from reputable, recognizable experts in their fields of study. In fact, Kurtz et al. Overall, this is a solid choice in terms of comprehensiveness. In some cases, students are somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of information presented in the text, but I have found that guiding their attention to certain key sections can help to avoid this obstacle. One issue, however, that might be addressed is with the word "media." All the chapters have commendable "Finding Middle Ground," "Insider Perspectives," and "Links to Learning" website listed. The authors updated the contents reflecting current events and political landscape. The clearer organization is a benefit to undergraduate students who may be taking the course as a required course. line-height: 1.5 !important;
For the most part, this book does as good a jobif not betterat sidestepping this capsules in time and offering something that need not be edited or updated often (though, some updates are always necessary as government is constantly evolving). The historical approaches in many chapters provide contextualization of concepts. One of many things I like about this textbook is that it is well organized throughout. The book's seventeen chapters are well-divided into five parts. Analysis of political institutions is well-balanced with substantial attention to the role of the individual and collective action. Books.Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy . American Government 2e offers a comprehensive survey of the core aspects of the US political system. It is a well planned and logical progression of chapters and topics. For example, when discussing the Boston Tea Party, the authors claim, "Today, many who do not agree with the positions of the Democratic of Republican Party have organized themselves into an oppositional group dubbed the Tea Party (41)." Nearly every chapter has classic and current concepts to understand the evolution and development of institutions. In particular, I would like to see some more/more direct discussion of motivated reasoning. The book is comprehensive, covering the major topics one would expect to find in a U.S. government textbook. 3. While I am generally unfamiliar with how open-resource textbooks are supposed to be ideally positioned, the book provides excellent navigational tools on the left side of the bar that made it easy for me to find what I wanted. There are numerous ways to define or describe political power, and they should be conveyed in the textbook. I would like the links available, but not mixed in with the text. However, chapters are sometimes questionably or confusingly organized, and compress wider subjects that usually receive broader treatment into footnotes or brief passages. It would be easier if the chapters would focus on the 2016 and 2018 elections. One area it could be more inclusive is by including more primary sources and perspectives from underrepresented groups both as parts of chapters and suggested readings/bibliography citations. I have detected nothing in the text that could be considered culturally insensitive or offensive. Well, longevity is a tough matter for this kind of text. This is a pragmatic generation of learners. By reorganizing the information contained in the chapters, it will be easier for the reader to follow the data if it is in a table format. I encourage any professor of U.S. Government to take a good look at this text and strongly consider its adoption. The fact that it is free is even more impressive. Certainly this could just be a matter of preference, and obviously an instructor can teach topics and assign chapters in whatever order they desire, but I am puzzled by this decision. margin-bottom: 1rem !important;
As always, you have the flexibility to organize the course content as you like. read more. There are some chapters I would probably not use (the policy chapters) and I would prefer the chapters in a different order (institutions before }
Not every one covers Civil Rights and Liberties or Foreign and Domestic Policy, but this text does offer a chapter on each of those. I am especially impressed by its multi-dimensional approach to topic coverage. Arrive Math (K-8) Achieve3000 Literacy (2-12) C; Achieve3000 Math . The supplementary material within each chapter/section like Finding Middle Ground and Milestone can be an effective tool for the instructor to use for additional student engagement or an activity as such go deeper into a particular concept than mere text can. Sections open with learning objectives that tell students the 2-5 most important things to take away from that reading, and quiz questions populate the text at the end of sections to help students self assess their understanding of the reading. This book is very comprehensive. Founding Father James Madison may have best described the difference between a democracy and a republic: "It [the difference] is that in a democracy, the people meet and exercise the government in person: in a republic, they assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents. To learn about the specific purchase options for this program, please contact our Customer Service team at 800-338-3987. The textbook does not include much material on current elections, but an instructor can easily add his or her own supplemental materials. The book is accurate with but few exceptions. And while all the topic areas you would anticipate are present, the structure is different. I find this a potentially helpful framework to shape my courses. The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. Analyze a variety of primary and secondary sources including text excerpts, political cartoons, photographs, graphs, charts, and maps. V. Democracy (pp. Equality in voting 2. Teachers Edition:The print Teacher Wraparound Edition is built on the principles of Understanding by Design. The text is highly segmented, which may seem overwhelming at first, but flows in a way that makes sense. Complex ideas were synthesized inlanguage that was easy to understand. From an aesthetic perspective, the textbook has a fair amount of graphic material that is appealing to students. The Organization of American States (OAS) is the world's oldest regional organization, dating back to the First International Conference of American States, held in Washington, D.C., from October 1889 to April 1890. For example, the section on ideology equates authoritarianism with the right side of the political spectrum, even though authoritarianism as a ruling style can also be commonly found in communist or socialist polities; students might be led to conclude that communists and socialists aren't about control. Offers many examples and insights to a wide variety of political views and cultures. A Constitutional Democracy Interactive Notebook, which works for both print and Google Drive, investigates and helps gain an understanding of how the federal, state, and local governments in the United States work under the Constitution and the responsibilities of citizenship. As for "flow," here again I suggest that there are too many "Note" interruptions to the readings. Table 17.1 on page 643 is useless. However, it does do a nice job of considering the broader themes that characterize United States politics today. The framework of the text is consistent and simple to understand. There is a vibrant discussion in modern research on the balance between socialization and genetics in public opinion research that should be included. I clicked on many, but was not taken to that particular resource. The text being published in 2016, there are several locations that need to be updated. Defining Democracy 1. United States Government: A Textbook. This looks like an excellent resource--well researched and in depth. For example, I may not get the chance to dedicate a whole class to elections but I can use sections of the chapter on elections in relation to civil rights, to Congress and to the Executive. Each chapter is clearly divided into main sections with learning objectives, and there the text is further divided under clearly delineated sub-section heads. }
The writing is clear and concise. And the book is missing some introductory material on theory of collective action/game theory that I is included in other texts that I like to teach in my course. The concepts Direct Democracy and Representative Democracy are key to an American Government course. Of course, where to draw those lines is subjective and not all will see the value. This book contains everything I need for intro American government classes. I am skeptical that instructors can get through 17 chapters in a normal semester, but the material is nice to have if desired. I found the text to be eminently user friendly with no issues what so ever navigating within the chapters. The Bill of Rights. Learning objectives are clearly identified for each unit, and each unit concludes with a concise summary of main points followed by multiple-choice and short answer questions. The content is accurate, straightforward, and unbiased. However, when I went over each chapter in detail I realized that there is no consistency throughout the textbook regarding the film selection. There are long stretches of well written but long winded paragraphs. Each subsection has a quick review at the end to help readers see if they understand the section. Building Democracy for All is an interactive, multimodal, multicultural, open access e-book for teaching and learning key topics in United States Government and Civic Life. All of the topics you would expect to be covered in an American government 101 course are here: origins of our republic, institutions, individual action and collective action. I choose this title because it underlines student political participation. However, clearly, the information in this textbook is presented, in a manner that allows for updating as changing occur with major political events, elections, Supreme Court decisions, demographical data, and public opinion. I really like that a section on state and local government is included. The Colonial Experience. read more. My preferred text, The Logic of American Politics (Kernell et al. Yes, the book is internally consistent in terms of its discussion and its presentation of information. You can replace that space with something more relevant? The organization of the text is fairly traditional, with the decision to include the topic of bureaucracy under the Outputs of Government as one less conventional approach. Students may struggle with somewhat dated, routine examples. Additionally, if I made any additions to the text, you may not have them. The textbook was first published in 2019. This text can definitely be broken down not only by chapter but by sections. Engaging for an open textbook. I have no comment or assessment of either the usefulness of "supplementary" stuff like outside websites or discussion questions. The textbook utilizes a wide array of references to various cultures, both in its written content and its supplementary graphics. Overall, I found the text to be clear and readable. This is tricky, as some American politics textbooks emerge from an activist mentality of pointing out howfor lack of a better termmessed up American culture can be. read more. The textbook is sensitive to a range of minority communities including African Americans, immigrants, the LBGQT community, gender and womens issues, and persons who practice the Muslim faith. Mediating Institutions and Collective Action 4. I would have included in most, if not all chapters after the constitution, sections where students would be guided on how to engage with politics effectively in the context of each chapter. The text uses the 2016 election, in particular, to help the reader better understand the varying voting methods within the Electoral College by stating: "In 2016, Republican Donald Trump won one congressional district in Maine, even though Hillary Clinton won the state overall. Students at all levels will have no difficulty with the language used therein. In my view, chapters four and five are stellar and provide alternative voices to the narrative. The attention to both content and process in the chapters on policy is useful. Language is neutral and seems to avoid leading or biased undertones. This organization allows instructors and students to easily reference particular sub-units of content. I did not notice anything offensive, but the textbook could be updated in the future on the topic of transgender individuals. I spotted no factual inaccuracies, and the text does not belay any obvious political bias. Particularly well written is the "Approach to Foreign Policy, p. 650, especially, the "Classic Approach" and the more recent history of U.S. foreign policy. However I do feel that stylistically the presentation of in-text citations is cumbersome and distracting. Instead the chapters information jumps around and the data needs organizing. Digital Teacher Lesson Center: Easily access all teaching resources and classroom management tools for the curriculum. The book covers all of the basic components of American government. Also, the authors do not explain the Electoral College sufficiently as it relates to the 2 parties. It offers an excellent collection of concepts and ideas useful to political science students. The textbook is highly relevant with topics that will continue to be important to include in a foundational study of U.S .government. read more. Although it lacks some of the additional material that other traditional textbooks provide (i.e., more information on judicial decision-making or constitutional interpretation), the text accomplishes its goal--to provide a clear and accessible overview of the American political process. The chapter summaries, quizzes, the suggestions for extra activities in particular are useful. The text of each chapter does form a consistency. There are a few points the author may want to consider. So do be sure, if adopting this text, to carefully preview the chapters for any issues like this. For instance, right off the bat, the critique of socialism seems to take the position that socialism is inherently and entirely distinct from our system, which isnt accurate. Many varied examples and leaders are highlighted. I am impressed with the comprehensiveness of the textbook. read more. This is somewhat backwards to how I teach the course in my mind. At the same time, given the overall quality of this book and the money my students would save if I assigned it, I am seriously considering changing texts for the first time in over a decade. The material could easily be reorganized or covered in a different sequence at the discretion of the instructor without much disruption. But by sticking to institutional logic, historical examples, and well-established topic controversies that are not going to go away (abortion, executive orders and the use of force, the civil service), the book does an excellent job at avoiding the publishing industrys penchant for planned obsolescence. The text covers the full range of standard American Government textbooks, from government and civic engagement, to civil liberties and rights to branches of government and foreign policy. The book is clearly and accessible written. In summary, this is a high-quality book that has most everything anybody would want. In a couple instances such as above, they simply need to be done. The text covers everything that an introduction to American government should. Some texts may cover only one additional chapter other than the basic chapters one would expect.
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