Description
How can our history provide us with a roadmap to the future?
The Enduring Democracy provides the essentials of American government with a focus on placing current issues and debates into a historical perspective. By looking back, students can understand how the challenges and controversies characterizing American government today have been successfully tackled in our past. This allows them to tap into those "lessons learned" to identify, understand, and even provide solutions to today′s changing politically reality.
The highly anticipated Eighth Edition frames the 2024 presidential elections from the perspective of what they mean to students, so that they can see the relevance of American government in their daily lives.
Table of Contents
Letter to Instructors
Letter to Students
Digital Resources
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Career Opportunities: Political Science
Part I Foundations
Chapter 1 Introduction to the Enduring Democracy
Presidential Election Results 2024
Forms and Functions of Government
American Government and Politics
American Political Culture
Is American Democracy in Decline?
Chapter 2 The Founding and the Constitution
The Beginnings of a New Nation
The Constitutional Convention
The New Constitution
The Ratification Battle
Changing the Constitution
Chapter 3 Federalism
What Is Federalism?
The History of American Federalism
Why Federalism? Advantages and Disadvantages
Chapter 4 Civil Liberties
The Bill of Rights: Origins and Evolution
Freedom of Religion and the Establishment Clause
Free Expression Rights
The Right to Bear Arms and the Rights of the Criminally Accused
The Modern Right to Privacy
Chapter 5 Civil Rights, Equality, and Social Movements
Types of Equality
The Struggle for Equality: Approaches and Tactics
The Struggle for Equality: Civil Rights Battles
The Struggle for Equality: Gender, Sex, and Sexuality
Continuing Struggles Over Equality in the Modern Era
Part II Institutions
Chapter 6 Congress
Article I and the Creation of Congress
The Structure and Organization of Congress
The Committee System
How a Bill Becomes a Law
Oversight and Personnel Functions of Congress
Constituent Service: Helping People Back Home
Chapter 7 The Presidency
Who is eligible to be president, and how can he or she be removed under the Constitution?
The Evolution of the American Presidency
Express Powers and Responsibilities of the President
Implied Powers and Responsibilities of the President
Presidential Resources
Important Presidential Relationships
Chapter 8 The Federal Bureaucracy
What Is Bureaucracy?
What Does the Federal Bureaucracy Do?
The Development of the Federal Bureaucracy
Getting Control of the Growing Bureaucracy
The Organization of the Federal Bureaucracy
The Federal Workforce
Chapter 9 The Judiciary
Types of Law
The Structure of the U.S. Legal System
The Adversarial System of Justice
Judicial Review and Its Implications
Limitations on Courts
Electing and Appointing Judges
How a Case Proceeds Within the U.S. Supreme Court
Judicial Decision-Making and Debates Over the Exercise of Judicial Power
Part III Political Behavior
Chapter 10 Public Opinion
Public Opinion in American Politics
The Levels of Public Opinion
How Informed Is Public Opinion?
How Does Public Opinion Form?
How Is Public Opinion Measured?
Interpreting Public Opinion Data
Chapter 11 Interest Groups
Pluralism and the Interest-Group System
Interest Groups in Action
Types of Interest Groups
How Interest Groups Achieve Their Goals
Chapter 12 The Media and American Politics
The Media in American Politics
Historical Development of the Media
The Mass Media Today
Effects of the Media
Criticisms of the News Media
Chapter 13 Political Parties and Voting
The Development of Political Parties in the United States
The Functions of Political Parties
Why a Two-Party System?
Party Organizations
Voting
Exercising the Franchise
Participation Beyond Voting
Chapter 14 Campaigns and Elections
American Presidential Elections in Historical Perspective
The Nomination Campaign
The General Election Campaign
Campaign Funding
Congressional Campaigns and Elections
Part IV Public Policy
Chapter 15 American Public Policy
An Overview of the Policy-Making Process
Theories and Practice in Economic Policy
The Welfare State and Programs for the Poor
The Social Security System and Health Care Policy
Foreign Policy
Appendix
Glossary
Endnotes
Index
