American government and politics today brief edition 2012

Is a Nuclear-Free World Possible? Foreign Policy? They were marked by the ongoing Great Recession. They were years during which a major sector in our economy—health care—was transformed in ways that we are still trying to assess.

During these two years, the nation also saw an expansion in the federal government in scope, size, and regulation the likes of which had not been seen since the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the s and s. Finally, these years concluded with one of the most dramatic and consequential midterm elections ever.

The Democrats in the House of Representatives lost more seats than any party since Losses in the Senate were less severe, but the Democrats were still down six senators and six governors. We analyze in depth the causes of this political turnaround, considering the impact of high unemployment and the perception that the Democrats expanded the role of government to an excessive degree.

We make sure that the student comes to understand that politics is not an abstract process but a very human enterprise. These features show students how to become politically involved and why it is xxi Copyright Cengage Learning.

Online exercises found on CourseMate for each chapter show students how to access and analyze political information. Through such online interactions, your students will more easily master the materials in this text and do better on their exams. The following list summarizes the special elements that can be found in each chapter: The Politics of Boom and Bust—The nation continues to face severe economic difficulties, so we have provided this feature to show how our government and our citizens have responded to the problems.

What If. Did You Know. Which Side Are You On? Politics and. Beyond Our Borders—A feature that provides a context for American institutions by looking at the experiences of other countries. Why Should You Care? Questions for Discussion and Analysis—A series of questions at the end of each chapter that are designed to promote in-class discussions.

Chapter Summary—A point-by-point summary of the chapter text. A fully annotated copy of the U. Constitution appears at the end of Chapter 2, as an appendix to that chapter. In addition, we have included the following appendices: Copyright Cengage Learning. Federalist Papers Nos. Justices of the United States Supreme Court since Party Control of Congress since Useful material is also located immediately inside the front and back covers of this text. Together, the text and the supplements listed below constitute a total teaching and learning package for you and your students.

At CengageBrain. Students will have the option to rent their textbooks or purchase print textbooks, e-textbooks, or individual e-chapters and audio books, all at substantial savings over average retail prices. For further information on any of these supplements, contact your Wadsworth, Cengage Learning sales representative. Go to cengagebrain. These resources include video activities, audio summaries, critical-thinking activities, simulations, animated learning modules, interactive timelines, primary source quizzes, flash cards, learning objectives, glossaries, and crossword puzzles.

Chapter resources are correlated with key chapter learning concepts, and users can browse or search for content in a variety of ways. NewsNow is a new asset available on CourseMate that is a combination of weekly news stories from the Associated Press and videos and images that bring current events to life for the student. Instructors can use these slides to take a class poll or trigger a lively debate about the events that are shaping the world right now.

And because this all-in-one presentation tool includes the text of the original newsfeed, along with videos, photos, and discussion questions, no Internet connection is required! Organized by fifteen topics, the guide follows the sequence of an American government course and includes a preface with tips on how to use Internet videos in class.

How can you tell if your students are struggling with a concept? With CourseMate, you can use the included Engagement Tracker to assess student preparation and engagement. Use the tracking tools to see progress for the class as a whole or for individual students. Identify students at risk early in the course. Uncover which concepts are most difficult for your class. Monitor time on task.

Keep your students engaged. CourseMate also features an interactive eBook that has highlighting and search capabilities along with links to simulations, animated PowerPoints that illustrate concepts, interactive timelines, videos, primary source activities, case studies, tutorial quizzes, and flash cards. Founded by an instructor for other instructors, Aplia offers students premium, automatically graded assignments.

Available through a pin-code access, Aplia helps students learn the essential concepts of American government and apply them to real life through the use of interactive coursework that strengthens their critical-thinking and comprehensive reading skills. Organized by specific chapters of their textbook, students receive immediate, detailed explanations for every answer they input. Homework and class assignments help students come to class better prepared. Aplia will be available for Fall classes.

You will have access to a set of PowerPoints with outlines specific to each chapter of American Government and Politics Today: The Essentials, as well as photos, figures, and tables found in the book.

You can also add your own materials—using both types of PowerPoints and your own material to culminate in a powerful, personalized, classroom or online presentation. Political Polling questions simulate voting, engage students, foster dialogue on group behaviors and values, and add personal relevance; Copyright Cengage Learning.

Visual Literacy questions are tied to images from the book and add useful pedagogical tools and high-interest feedback during your lectures. It is available for college and university adopters only.

Resource Integration Guide—This guide outlines the rich collection of resources available to instructors and students within the chapter-by-chapter framework of the book, suggesting how and when each supplement can be used to optimize learning. For students, WebTutor offers real-time access to interactive online tutorials and simulations, practice quizzes, and Web links—all correlated to American Government and Politics Today: The Essentials.

This is the second edition of this three-DVD series and includes real video clips that show American political thought throughout the public sector.

Clips include both classic and contemporary political advertisements, speeches, interviews, and more. Available to adopters of Cengage textbooks, version 2.

Poll your students with questions created for you or create your own questions. Studying these speeches can provide tremendous insight into historical, political, and cultural events.

The Great Speeches Collection includes the full text of more than sixty memorable orations for you to incorporate into your course. Speeches can be collated in a printed reader to supplement your existing course materials or bound into a core textbook. Speeches are divided into short video segments for easy, time-efficient viewing.

This instructor supplement also features critical-thinking questions and answers for each speech, designed to spark classroom discussion. Using a database of hundreds of documents, readings, and videos, instructors can search by various criteria or browse the collection, to preview and then select a customized collection to assign their students.

The sources will be edited to an appropriate length and include pedagogical support—a headnote describing the document and critical-thinking and multiple-choice questions to verify that the student has read and understood the selection.

Students will be able to take notes, highlight, and print content. CourseReader allows the instructor to select exactly what students will be assigned with an easy-to-use interface and also provides an easily used assessment tool. The sources can be delivered online or in print format. We have made numerous changes to this volume for the — edition, many of which we list below.

We have rewritten the text as necessary, added many new features, and updated the book to reflect the events of the past two years. Chapter 1 The Democratic Republic —All the features in this chapter are new.

The pervasiveness of government is demonstrated in a new section. Definitions of liberalism and conservatism are updated and use attitudes toward health-care reform as examples. A final section describes the current political scene—disillusionment with the parties, and at the same time, extreme partisanship. Throughout the text, the Beyond Our Borders feature is shorter but now appears in almost all chapters. In this chapter, it provides a basic description of the parliamentary system.

Chapter 3 Federalism —The Politics of Boom and Bust feature describes the procyclical nature of state spending in a recession. In the text, we take note of how the National Guard is now used in wartime. A Politics and. Education feature looks at the No Child Left Behind legislation. Finally, a new E-mocracy feature explains how to find court cases online. Chapter 4 Civil Liberties —New sections describe the issues of religious displays on public property and the tax treatment of religious organizations.

The death penalty Copyright Cengage Learning. The material on abortion is updated. Sections on the political participation of minority group members and women are updated, as is the material on same-sex marriage.

We note recent developments concerning the Americans with Disabilities Act. The text adds substantial information on new media, including talk radio, cable television, blogs, and social networking sites such as Facebook. Material on the influence of demographic variables is updated. The section on the limits of relying on polling data when making policy now uses the health-care reform legislation as an example.

Federal Election Commission, the U. Supreme Court ruling that independent expenditures by corporations and other organizations is constitutionally protected free speech. The text also looks at the policies of the Obama administration toward lobbyists. Chapter 8 Political Parties —The text now describes the recent loss of support by the Democratic Party and also updates earlier material on the loss of support by the Republicans through We examine how the Republican Party has changed under the Obama administration and consider the impact of the Tea Party movement.

We include new content on political polarization and on independents. For a look at the reality behind recent political rhetoric, we include the feature Beyond Our Borders: The Real Socialists. There Were No Newspapers? We provide more detail on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The description of types of primary elections is more thorough.

The media section provides more material on the troubles of the traditional press, and also more on how candidates have made use of the Internet.

The section on press bias is updated and expanded. Chapter 10 The Congress —We have added substantial material on the Senate filibuster, including a description of how the practice affected the health-care legislative process. New language explains how budgets are handled in presidential election years.

The Politics of Boom and Bust feature focuses on the issue of federal budget deficits. Chapter 11 The President —Our account of signing statements is now based on the most recent research. Terrorism: George W. By answering all of the questions present in the paper, the student can easily find out if he is ready to take on his exam or not. The solution manual that is usually sold along with the test bank contains the correct answers of all the questions asked in the question papers.

They help the student in checking if they answered the questions correctly or not. You can use the test banks and solution manuals in getting good grades. The test bank gives you the chance to complete your revision quickly and effectively and thus help you in preparing for your exams thoroughly. After successfully solving the test bank, you will be able to solve your exam paper with full confidence and in doing so secure good marks with consummate ease.