Table of Contents

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE
Political culture: the core principles of American government
    a. the American creed—liberty, self-government, equality, individualism, diversity, and unity
    b. the power of ideals
    c. the limits of ideals
Politics: the process of deciding upon society’s goals
    a. government, power, authority, and policy
    b. the rules of the game of politics
        1. democracy
        2. constitutionalism
        3. capitalism
    c. theories of power
        1. rule by the people: majoritarianism
        2. rule by groups: pluralism
        3. rule by a few: elitism
        4. who does govern?
The U. S. political system
    a. governmental structure and individual rights
    b. the demands people and groups place on government and the support they provide
    c. the nation’s elective and appointed institutions and how they function
    d. economic, social, and foreign policy

CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY
Before the Constitution: the Colonial and Revolutionary experiences
    a. “the rights of Englishmen”
    b. the Declaration of Independence
    c. the Articles of Confederation
    d. Shays’s rebellion: a nation dissolving
Negotiating toward a Constitution
    a. the great compromise: a two-chamber Congress
    b. the North-South compromise: the issue of slavery
    c. a strategy for ratification
    d. the Framer’s goals
Providing for a limited government
    a. grants and denials of power
    b. using power to offset power
    c. separated institutions sharing power: checks and balances
        1. shared legislative powers
        2. shared executive powers
        3. shared judicial powers
    d. the Bill of Rights
    e. judicial review
Providing for self-government
    a. democracy versus republic
    b. limited popular rule
    c. altering the Constitution: more power to the people
        1. Jeffersonian democracy: a revolution of the spirit
        2. Jacksonian democracy: linking the people and the presidency
        3. the progressives: Senate and primary elections
Constitutional democracy today

FEDERALISM
Federalism: national and state sovereignty
    a. the argument for federalism
        1. protecting liberty
        2. moderating the power of government
        3. strengthening the union
    b. the powers of the nation
        1. enumerated power
        2. implied power
    c. the powers of the states
Federalism in historical perspective
    a. an indestructible union (1789-1865)
        1. the nationalist view: McCulloch v. Maryland
        2. the states’-rights view: the Dred Scott decision
    b. dual federalism and laissez-faire capitalism (1865-1937)
        1. judicial protection of business
        2. national authority prevails
Federalism today
    a. interdependency and intergovernmental relations
    b. government revenues and intergovernmental relations
        1. fiscal federalism
        2. categorical and black grants
    c. devolution: a new federalism
        1. budgetary pressures and public opinion
        2. the Republican revolution

CIVIL LIBERTIES
Freedom of expression
    a. the early period: the uncertain status of the right of free expression
    b. the modern period: protecting free expression
        1. free speech and assembly
        2. press freedom and prior restraint
    c. free expression and state government
        1. the Fourteenth Amendment and selective incorporation
        2. limiting the authority of states to restrict expression
    d. libel and slander
    e. obscenity
Freedom of religion
    a. the establishment clause
    b. the free-exercise clause
The right of privacy
Rights of persons accused of crimes
    a. selective incorporation of procedural rights
    b. restricting defendants’ rights
        1. the exclusionary rule
        2. habeas corpus appeals
    c. crime and punishment
The courts and a free society

EQUAL RIGHTS
The struggle for equality
    a. African Americans
        1. the Brown decision
        2. the black civil rights movement
    b. women
        1. women’s legal and political gains
        2. job-related issues: family leave, comparable worth, and sexual harassment
    c. Native Americans
    d. Hispanic Americans
        1. legal and political action
        2. growing political power
    e. Asian Americans
    f. other groups and their rights
Equality under the law
    a. equal protection: the Fourteenth Amendment
    b. equal access: the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968
        1. accommodations and jobs
        2. housing
        3. equal ballots: the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended
Equality of result
    a. affirmative action
        1. opinions on affirmative action
        2. affirmative action in the law
    b. social integration: busing
        1. the Swann decision
        2. the course and impact of busing
Superficial differences; deep divisions

PUBLIC OPINION AND POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION
The nature of public opinion
    a. defining public opinion
    b. how public opinion is formed
    c. measuring public opinion
        1. public opinion polls
        2. problems with polls
Political socialization: how political values are formed/learned
    a. the process of political socialization
        1. primacy tendency
        2. structuring tendency
        3. age-cohort tendency
b. what influences our political values
        1. the importance of family
        2. educational influence on public opinion
        3. peers and peer group influence
        4. the influence of economic status and occupation
        5. the influence of the mass media
        6. the influence of political events, political leaders, and opinion leaders
        7. churches
Frames of reference: how Americans think politically
    a. cultural thinking: common ideas
    b. ideological thinking
        1. conservatives
        2. liberals
        3. populists
        4. libertarians
    c. group thinking
        1. religion
        2. class
        3. region
        4. race and ethnicity
        5. gender
        6. age
    d. cross-cutting cleavages
Partisan thinking: the line that divides
The influence of public opinion on policy

VOTING AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
Voter participation
    a. factors in voter turnout: a comparative perspective
        1. registration requirements
        2. frequency of elections
        3. party differences
    b. why some Americans vote and others do not
        1. feelings of civic duty, alienation, and apathy
        2. age
        3. education
        4. economic class
    c. the impact of the vote
Conventional forms of participation other than voting
    a. campaign activities
    b. community activities
    c. lobbying group activities
    d. following politics in the news
    e. virtual participation
Social movements and protest politics
Participation and the potential for influence

POLITICAL PARTIES, CANDIDATES, AND CAMPAIGNS
Party competition and majority rule: the history of U. S. parties
    a. the first parties
    b. Andrew Jackson and grass-root parties
    c. Republicans vs. Democrats: realignments and the enduring party system
    d. a new realignment?
    e. the dealignment thesis
Electoral and party systems
    a. the single-member-district system of election
    b. policies and coalitions in the two-party system
        1. seeking the center, usually
        2. party coalitions
    c. minor parties
        1. single-issue parties
        2. ideological parties
        3. factional parties
        4. independent candidates
Party organizations
    a. the weakening of party organizations
    b. the structure and role of party organizations
        1. local party organizations
        2. state party organizations
        3. national party organizations
        4. the parties and money
The candidate-centered campaign
    a. running for office
        1. seeking funds: “the money chase”
        2. creating organization: “hired guns”
        3. devising strategy: “packaging the candidate”
        4. going public: “air wars” and “spin”
Parties, candidates, and the public’s influence

INTEREST GROUPS
The interest-group system
   a. economic groups
        1. business groups
        2. labor groups
        3. agricultural groups
        4. professional groups
    b. citizens’ groups
        1. public interest groups
        2. single-issue groups
        3. ideological groups
    c. governments: a special category of interest group
Inside lobbying: seeking influence through official contacts
    a. lobbying Congress
    b. lobbying executive agencies
    c. lobbying the courts
    d. webs of influence: groups in the policy process
        1. iron triangles
        2. issue networks
Outside lobbying: seeking influence through public pressure
    a. constituency advocacy: grass-roots lobbying
    b. electoral action: votes and PAC money
The group system: indispensable but biased
    a. the contribution of groups to self-government: pluralism
    b. flaws in pluralism: interest-group liberalism and economic bias
    c. a Madisonian dilemma

THE NEWS MEDIA
The development of the news media: from partisanship to objective journalism
    a. from a partisan press to an “objective” press
    b. the development of broadcast media
        1. radio and television, the truly national media
        2. government licensing and regulation of broadcasters
    c. the emergence of the Internet
Freedom and conformity in the U. S. news media
    a. domination of news production
    b. news values and imperatives
Roles the press can and cannot perform
    a. the signaler role
    b. the common-carrier role
    c. the watchdog role
    d. the public representative role
Organizing the public in the media age

CONGRESS
Why Congress was created
The powers of Congress
    a. the lawmaking function of Congress
        1. the limits of fragmentation on Congress’s role
        2. Congress in the lead: fragmentation as a policymaking strength
    b. the representation function of Congress
        1. representation of states and districts
        2. representation of the nation through parties
    c. the oversight function of Congress
Election to Congress
    a. using incumbency to stay in Congress
    b. the pitfalls of incumbency
        1. troublesome issues
        2. personal misconduct
        3. turnout variation: the midterm election
        4. strong challengers: a problem for senators
        5. redistricting: a problem for House members
    c. safe incumbency and representation
Congressional leadership
    a. party leadership in Congress
        1. the House leadership
        2. the Senate leadership
        3. the power of party leaders
    b. committee chairpersons: the seniority principle
    c. oligarchy or democracy: which principle should govern?
The committee system
    a. committee membership
    b. committee jurisdiction
How a bill becomes law
    a. committee hearings and decisions
    b. from committee to the floor
    c. leadership and floor action
    d. conference committees and the President
Congress: too much pluralism?

THE PRESIDENCY
Foundations of the modern presidency
    a. the need for presidential leadership of an activist government
        1. foreign policy leadership
        2. domestic policy leadership
    b. the campaign for nomination
    c. the campaign for election
        1. election strategy
        2. media and money
        3. the winners
Staffing the presidency
    a. presidential appointees
        1. the executive office of the president
        2. the president’s cabinet
        3. other presidential appointees
    b. the problem of control
Factors in presidential leadership
    a. the force of circumstance
    b. the stage of the president’s term
    c. the nature of the issue: foreign or domestic
    d. relations with Congress
        1. seeking cooperation from Congress
        2. the president’s partisan support in Congress
        3. colliding with Congress
    e. nurturing public support
        1. events and issues
        2. the televised presidency
        3. the illusion of presidential government

THE BUREAUCRACY
The federal bureaucracy: form, personnel, and activities
    a. the federal bureaucracy in American’s daily lives
    b. types of administrative organizations
        1. cabinet departments
        2. independent agencies
        3. regulatory agencies
        4. government corporations
        5. presidential commissions
    c. federal employment
    d. the federal bureaucracy’s policy responsibilities
Development of the federal bureaucracy: politics and administration
    a. small government and the patronage system
    b. growth in government and the merit system
The bureaucracy’s power imperative
    a. the agency point of view
    b. sources of bureaucratic power
        1. the power of expertise
        2. the power of clientele groups
    c. accountability through the presidency
        1. reorganization
        2. presidential appointments
        3. the executive budget
    d. accountability through Congress
    e. accountability through the courts
    f. accountability within the bureaucracy itself
        1. whistle-blowing
        2. demographic representativeness
Reinventing government

THE JUDICIARY
The federal judicial system
    a. the Supreme Court of the United States
        1. selecting cases
        2. deciding case
        3. issuing decisions and opinions
    b. other federal courts
        1. U. S. district courts
        2. U. S. courts of appeals
        3. special U. S. courts
    c. the state courts
Federal court appointees
    a. selecting supreme court justices and federal judges
        1. supreme court nominees
        2. lower court nominees
    b. justices and judges as political officials
        1. the role of partisanship
        2. other characteristics of judicial appointees
The nature of judicial decision making
    a. the legal context of judicial decisions
        1. the constraints of facts
        2. the constraints of the law
            (a) interpretation of the Constitution
            (b) interpretation of statutes
            (c) interpretation of precedent
    b. political influences on judicial decisions
        1. outside influences on court decisions
        2. inside influences: the justices’ own political beliefs
Judicial power and democratic government
    a. the debate over the proper role of the judiciary
        1. the doctrine of judicial restraints
        2. the doctrine of judicial activism
    b. the judiciary’s proper role: a question of competing values

ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Regulating the economy
    a. efficiency through government intervention
        1. preventing restraint of trade
        2. making business pay for indirect costs
        3. curbing overregulation
        4. deregulation
    b. equity through government intervention
    c. the politics of regulatory policy
        1. the reforms of the Progressive and New Dealers
        2. the era of new social regulation
Government as protector of the environment
    a. conservationism: the older wave
    b. environmentalism: the newer wave
Government as promoter of economic interests
    a. promoting business
    b. promoting labor
    c. promoting agricultural
Fiscal policy: government as manager of the economy
    a. taxing and spending policy
        1. demand-side stimulation and the deficit problem
        2. supply-side stimulation
        3. controlling inflation
    b. the process and politics of fiscal policy
        1. the budgetary process
    c. partisan differences
Monetary policy: government as manager of the economy
    a. the “Fed”
    b. the politics of the “Fed”

SOCIAL WELFARE AND EDUCATION POLICY
Poverty in America: the nature of the proble
    a. the poor: who and how many?
    b. living in poverty: by choice or chance?
The politics and policies of social welfare
    a. job training
    b. education initiatives, i.e. Head Start
    c. income and tax measures
Individual-benefit programs
    a. social insurance programs
        1. Social Security
        2. unemployment insurance
        3. Medicare
    b. public assistance programs
        1. Supplemental Security Income
        2. aid to needy families
            (a) TANF
            (b) food stamps
            (c) subsidized housing
            (d) Medicaid
Education as equality of opportunity: the American way
    a. equality, inequality, and public opinion
    b. public education: leveling through the schools
    c. the federal role in education: political differences
Culture, politics, and social welfare
    a. inefficiency: the welfare web
    b. inequity: the middle-class advantage

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE POLICY
The roots of U. S. foreign and defense policy
    a. The United States as global superpower
        1. the doctrine of containment
        2. the cold war
    b. The limits of American power: The Vietnam War
        1. d鴥nte
        2. disintegration of the “evil empire”
        3. a new world order
The process of foreign and military policymaking
    a. the policymaking instruments
    b. the policymaking machinery
        1. defense organizations
        2. intelligence organizations
        3. diplomatic organizations
        4. economic organizations
The military dimension of national security policy
    a. defense capability
    b. the uses of military power
        1. unlimited nuclear warfare
        2. limited nuclear warfare
        3. unlimited conventional warfare
        4. limited conventional warfare
        5. counterinsurgency
        6. police-type action
    c. the politics of national defense
        1. public opinion and elite conflict
        2. the military-industrial complex
The economic dimension of national security policy
    a. a changing world economy
    b. American goals in the global economy
        1. global trade
        2. access to natural resources
        3. relations with the developing world
    c. the politics of global economic policy

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