American Government is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the single-semester American government course. This title includes innovative features designed to enhance student learning, including Insider Perspective features and a Get Connected Module that shows students how they can get engaged in the political process. The book provides an important opportunity for students to learn the core concepts of American government and understand how those concepts apply to their lives and the world around them. American Government includes updated information on the 2016 presidential election.Senior Contributing AuthorsGlen Krutz (Content Lead), University of OklahomaSylvie Waskiewicz, PhD (Lead Editor)

Civics is the study of our national government, constitution, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Topics include democracy and other forms of government; legislative, executive, and judicial functions; the political process; and foreign and domestic policies. It also includes a summary of Washington State History and local native sovereignty.

Social Studies Targets:Forms of governmentNature/Purposes of governmentIdeologies of governmentComparative governmentEconomic systems and governmentLearning Targets:Understand how the world is organized politically and nations interact (civics)Identify the differences in philosophy, structure, and the nature of different types of government (civics)Understand the role of sovereignty in the development of different governments and within governments (civics)Compare and contrast democracies with other forms of government.(civics)Understand individual rights and their accompanying responsibilities including problem solving and decision making at the local, state, and international level. (civics)Understand how cultural forces and factors influenced and were influenced by changes in government (Cultural Geography)Identify ways that power can be distributed geographically within a state (Physical Geography)Identify the different types of economic systems (Economics)Understand how different government and economic systems influence one another (Economics)Students will recognize and analyze the ideologies inherent in different economic systems. (Economics)

The way our democracies are today is not necessarily how they should be tomorrow. There probably is no perfect system out there but this resource can help students think differently about democracy, approach its problems through novel angles and find new solutions.

The first part is a detailed look at the various democratic systems across the world, including plurality voting, proportional representation and direct democracy. Pros and cons will be laid out for each while key terms such as gerrymandering, uni and bicameralism, tactical voting, the concept of the blank vote, ballot intiatives and referenda will be explained. The left-right divide will also get a mention, the need to

The second part of the lesson will look more into alternative voting systems including ranked choice, approval, star and condorcet method. Considerations on the left-right-center political spectrum and some of its limitations will also feature.

The final part will focus on the two novel ideas: quadratic voting and liquid democracy. With quadratic voting, voters have a bank of credit and can cast one or multiple votes in favour of, or opposed to, a proposition. Liquid democracy enables you to vote directly on the issues you care about, or delegate your vote, by topic, to another person or party.

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Part of the political science collection.

This course is an introduction to real-world dynamics of public policy controversies. Topics to be considered include national, state, and local policy disputes, such as smoking, hazardous waste, abortion, gun control, and education. Using a case study approach, students study whether and how those disputes get resolved. Students conduct debates and simulations in addition to writing a series of short essays.