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* Chapter 2: "The Constitution" Describes the various aspects of the U.S. Constitution, the drafting of this document, and presents arguments on its strengths and weaknesses. * Chapter 3: "Federalism" Discusses the concepts and history of federalism, how it relates to today's political world, the current trend of decentralization, and money management. * Chapter 5: "Public Opinion" Talks about polls, surveys, what Americans think about political issues, and how sometimes, polls cannot be trusted to reflect what the public thinks. * Chapter 6: "Political Participation" Elaborates on differences in voter turnout, gives possible explanations for American's relatively low voter turnout rates, and describes other forms of political participation. * Chapter 7: "Political Parties" Talks about the origins of political parties, their history, and their roles today, as well as the way the public views them and treats them. * Chapter 8: "Elections and Campaigns" Discusses the process of organizing a campaign, looks at effects of elections in the past, compares the U.S. and European processes of elections and campaigns, and defines several political terms. * Chapter 9: "Interest Groups" Elaborates on the various types of interest groups, the history of interest groups, what they do, how they lobby Congress, the means by which they do so, and details trends in various types of lobbying. * Chapter 10: "The Media" Discusses the history of the media, its roles today, the way people view the media, the trustworthiness of the media, the types of media, and its role in politics. * Chapter 11: "Congress" Reviews the people in power in Congress, the ways that laws are passed, the importance of committees, the limits on power, the seesaw battle between individual influence and greater, efficient law passing ability, and basic Congressional background. * Chapter 12: "The Presidency" Compares presidents with prime ministers, goes over government gridlock, the concerns of the Founding Fathers, the Electoral College, the president's relationship with Congress, problems that presidents face, presidential appointments, veto powers, other privileges, presidential structure and transition of presidents, as well as impeachment. * Chapter 13: "The Bureaucracy" Defines bureaucracy, talks about its growth, notes its history, elaborates on its aspects, discusses its relationship to Congress and the president, reveals problems with it and gives possible solutions for reform. * Chapter 14: "The Judiciary" Talks about the history of the Supreme Court and the federal courts, their functions, the relation between state and federal courts, court powers, judicial activism versus strict-construction, causes, and modern issues with the courts. * Chapter 16: "Economic Policy" Discusses what economic policy is, explains the difficulties of forming a good, all-encompassing one, touches on history, explains about taxes and reforms, and comments on the politics of the whole thing. * Chapter 17: "Social Welfare" Elaborates upon majoritarian and client-based politics, the history of social welfare programs in America and Europe, Social Security and Medicare, problems in welfare programs, and reform measures. * Chapter 18: "Civil Liberties" Tries to explain the confusion between competing rights, explains the purposes of the Bill of Rights, freedom of expression, free speech, state government restrictions on rights, court cases regarding civil liberties, separation between church and state, crime and due process, and the exclusionary rule. * Chapter 19: "Civil Rights" Details the black civil rights movement, the founding of the NAACP, the women's movement, affirmative action, how civil rights legislation is passed, other women's issues, and rights for homosexuals. * Chapter 20: "Foreign Policy" Discusses the types of foreign policy, its legal matters in the United States, its history, the way it works, public opinion, and political elites' roles in shaping foreign policy. * Chapter 21: "Military Policy" Details military and defense policy, its make-up and organization, rivalry among the army, navy, air force, and Marine Corps, defense spending, and Congressional and presidential rivalry, plus gives a few bits of history.
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