2 Course Contents at a Glance

The following list shows a summary of the topics covered in this course. To see all of the course pages, visit the Table of Contents.

Module 1: American Government and Civic Engagement

• What is Government?
• Who Governs? Elitism, Pluralism, and Tradeoffs
• Engagement in a Democracy

Module 2: The Constitution and Its Origins

• The Pre-Revolutionary Period and the Roots of the American Political Tradition
• The Articles of Confederation
• The Development of the Constitution
• The Ratification of the Constitution
• Constitutional Change

Module 3: American Federalism

• The Division of Powers
• The Evolution of American Federalism
• Intergovernmental Relationships
• Competitive Federalism Today
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Federalism

Module 4: Civil Liberties

• What Are Civil Liberties?
• Securing Basic Freedoms
• The Rights of Suspects
• Interpreting the Bill of Rights

Module 5: Civil Rights

• What Are Civil Rights and How Do We Identify Them?
• The African American Struggle for Equality
• The Fight for Women’s Rights
• Groups: Native Americans, Alaskans, and Hawaiians
• Equal Protection for Other Groups

Module 6: The Politics of Public Opinion

• The Nature of Public Opinion
• How Is Public Opinion Measured?
• What Does the Public Think?
• The Effects of Public Opinion

Module 7: Voting and Elections

• Voter Registration
• Voter Turnout
• Elections
• Campaigns and Voting
• Direct Democracy

Module 8: The Media

• What Is the Media?
• The Evolution of the Media
• Regulating the Media
• The Impact of the Media

Module 9: Political Parties

• What Are Parties and How Did They Form?
• The Two-Party System
• The Shape of Modern Political Parties
• Divided Government and Partisan Polarization

Module 10: Interest Groups and Lobbying

• Interest Groups Defined
• Collective Action and Interest Group Formation
• Interest Groups as Political Participation
• Pathways of Interest Group Influence
• Free Speech and the Regulation of Interest Groups

Module 11: Congress

• The Institutional Design of Congress
• Congressional Elections
• Congressional Representation
• House and Senate Organizations
• The Legislative Process

Module 12: The Presidency

• The Design and Evolution of the Presidency
• The Presidential Election Process
• Organizing to Govern
• The Public Presidency
• Presidential Governance: Direct Presidential Action

Module 13: The Courts

• Guardians of the Constitution and Individual Rights
• The Dual Court System
• The Federal Court System
• The Supreme Court
• Judicial Decision-Making and Implementation by the Supreme Court

Module 14: State and Local Government

• State Power and Delegation
• State Political Culture
• Governors and State Legislatures
• State Legislative Term Limits
• County and City Government

Module 15: The Bureaucracy

• Bureaucracy and the Evolution of Public Administration
• Toward a Merit-Based Civil Service
• Understanding Bureaucracies and their Types
• Controlling the Bureaucracy

Module 16: Domestic Policy

• What Is Public Policy?
• Categorizing Public Policy
• Policy Arenas
• Policymakers
• Budgeting and Tax Policy

Module 17: Foreign Policy

• Defining Foreign Policy
• Foreign Policy Instruments
• Institutional Relations in Foreign Policy
• Approaches to Foreign Policy