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