Political Science

1) Brief Table of Contents

2) Full Table of Contents

1) Brief Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Politics and Political Science

Chapter 2: Theories

Chapter 3: Ideologies

Chapter 4: States

Chapter 5: Constitutions

Chapter 6: Regimes

PART II: POLITICAL ATTITUDES

Chapter 7: Political Culture

Chapter 8: Public Opinion

PART III: POLITICAL INTERACTIONS

Chapter 9: Political Communication

Chapter 10: Interest Groups

Chapter 11: Parties

Chapter 12: Elections

PART IV: POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS

Chapter 13: Legislatures

Chapter 14: Executives and Bureaucracies

Chapter 15: Judiciaries

PART VI: WHAT POLITICAL SYSTEMS DO

Chapter 16: Political Economy

Chapter 17: Political Violence

Chapter 18: International Relations

The Master Science

Key Concepts: “Never Get Angry at a Fact”

Political Power

Key Concepts: Legitimacy, Sovereignty, and Authority

Key Concepts: The Subfields of Political Science

How To... Study a Chapter

Is Politics a Science?

Key Concepts: Concepts and Precepts

Key Concepts: Politics Versus Political Science

Key Terms

Further Reference

Chapter 2: Theories

Classic Theories

Classic Works: Not Just Europeans

Contemporary Theories

How To... Make Thesis Statements

Key Concepts: Models: Simplifying Reality

Key Concepts: Politics as a Game

Key Terms

Further Reference

Chapter 3: Political Ideologies

What Is Ideology?

The Major Ideologies

Classic Works: The Origins of Ideologies

Key Concepts: Classifying Ideologies

How To... Support Your Thesis

Ideology in Our Day

Is Ideology Finished?

Comparing: Islamism: A New Ideology with Old Roots

Key Terms

Further Reference

Institutionalized Power

Key Concepts: Effective, Weak, and Failed States

Classic Works: Aristotle’s Six Types of Government

Unitary or Federal Systems

Comparing: The Shaky Lives of Confederations

Electoral Systems

Comparing: French and German Variations

States and the Economy

How To... Use Sources

Key Terms

Further Reference

Constitutions in the Modern World

Comparing: The Dangers of Changing Constitutions

Comparing: Canada’s New Constitution

The Adaptability of the U.S. Constitution

Key Concepts: What Is a Right?

Freedom of Expression in the United States

How To... List References

Key Terms

Further Reference

Chapter 6: Regimes

Representative Democracy

Key Concepts: The “Two-Turnover Test”

Democracy in Practice: Elitism or Pluralism?

Totalitarianism

How To... Write Tightly

Key Concepts: Image and Reality of Total Control

Authoritarianism

Key Concepts: Dahl’s “Influence Terms”

The Democratization of Authoritarian Regimes

Key Concepts: Why Democracies Fail

Comparing: Democracy in Iraq?

Key Terms

Further Reference

Chapter 7: Political Culture

What Is Political Culture?

Key Concepts: Civil Society

Classic Works: The Civic Culture

The Decay of Political Culture

Comparing: America the Religious

Political Subcultures

How To... Use Quotations

Comparing: Quebec: “Maîtres Chez Nous”

Key Concepts: Culture and Development

Political Socialization

Classic Works: The Authoritarian Personality

Comparing: China Builds Unity

Key Terms

Further Reference

Key Concepts: What Public Opinion Is and Isn’t

The Shape of Public Opinion

Key Concepts: Classic Opinion Curves

Public Opinion Polls

Key Concepts: A Short History of Polling

How To... Identify and Use Variables

American Opinion

Classic Works: Almond’s Three Publics

Is Polling Fair?

Key Terms

Further Reference

Communication in Politics

Classic Works: The Two-Step Flow of Mass Communications

Key Concepts: The Tendency to Media Monopoly

Key Concepts: The Elite Media

The Giant: Television

Key Concepts: The Web: The Newest Mass Medium?

How To... Define Variables

Are We Poorly Served?

Key Concepts: The Framing of News

The Adversaries: Media and Government

Key Concepts: The Media and Watergate

Key Concepts: The Media and War

Key Terms

Further Reference

What Is an Interest Group?

Key Concepts: How Interest Groups Differ from Political Parties

Key Concepts: How Government Creates Interest Groups

Key Concepts: Countervailing Power

Effective Interest Groups

Comparing: French Antipluralism

Comparing: How Powerful Are U.S. Unions?

How To... Create Tables

Interest Groups: An Evaluation

Classic Works: Olson’s Theory of Interest Groups

Key Terms

Further Reference

Functions of Parties

How To... Create a Cross-Tabulation

Parties in Democracies

Key Concepts: Parties that Ignore Voters

Classifying Political Parties

Classic Works: Duverger’s Three Types of Parties

Classic Works: Kirchheimer’s “Catchall” Party

Party Systems

Key Concepts: What Is a “Relevant” Party?

Comparing: Multiparty Systems Are More Fun

Classic Works: Sartori’s Types of Party Competition

Key Terms

Further Reference

Chapter 12: Elections

Why Do People Vote?

Who Votes?

Classic Works: Downs’s Theory of Voting

How To... Handle Tendencies

Who Votes How?

Comparing: Is the U.S. Electoral System Defective?

Electoral Realignment

Key Concepts: Partisan Polarization

What Wins Elections?

Key Concepts: Changing Positions

Key Terms

Further Reference

Part IV: Political Institutions

Presidential and Parliamentary Systems

Key Concepts: Head of State Versus Chief of Government

Classic Works: Where Did the U.S. System Originate?

Key Concepts: Bicameral or Unicameral?

What Legislatures Do

Key Concepts: Pork-Barrel Politics

How To... Conduct a Longitudinal Study

The Decline of Legislatures

Key Concepts: Congressional Overspending

Key Terms

Further Reference

Presidents and Prime Ministers

Comparing: Israel’s Directly Elected Prime Ministers

Classic Works: Lasswell’s Psychology of Power

Comparing: Authoritarianism Returns to Russia

Key Concepts: An Imperial Presidency?

Executive Leadership

Cabinets

Classic Works: American Paranoia

How To...Create Graphs

The Danger of Expecting Too Much

Bureaucracies

Classic Works: Weber’s Definition of Bureaucracies

Bureaucracies in Comparison

Key Concepts: Bureaucratic Rulemaking

Comparing: Japan: Bureaucrats in Command

The Trouble with Bureaucracy

Key Concepts: Bureaucratic Politics

Key Terms

Further Reference

Chapter 15: Judiciaries

Types of Law

Classic Works: The Roots of Law

Key Concepts: Common Law Versus Code Law

The Courts, the Bench, and the Bar

Comparing Courts

Comparing: Law in Russia

The Role of the Courts

Classic Works: Marbury v. Madison

How To... Construct a Scattergram

Key Terms

Further Reference

Part V: What Political Systems Do

Chapter 16 Political Economy

Government and the Economy

Comparing: How High Are U.S. Taxes?

How To... Create Maps

Who Is Entitled to What?

Key Concepts: What Is Poverty?

Key Concepts: Poverty and Ideology

How Big Should Government Be?

Key Terms

Further Reference

Chapter 17: Political Violence

System Breakdown

Key Concepts: Terrorism

How To... Construct a Thinkpiece

Key Concepts: Rising Expectations

Revolutions

Key Concepts: Revolutionary Political Warfare in Vietnam

Comparing: The Iranian Revolutionary Cycle

After the Revolution

Comparing: Violent vs. Velvet Revolutions

Key Terms

Further Reference

Power and National Interest

Key Concepts: Types of National Interest

Key Concepts: Why War?

Keeping Peace

Key Concepts: The Democratic Peace

Beyond Sovereignty?

How To... Avoid “They”

U.S. Foreign Policy: Involved or Isolated?

Key Concepts: The Importance of Economics

Classic Works: Klingberg’s Alternation Theory

Classic Works: Kennan’s Dinosaur Analogy

Classic Works: Thucydides on War

Key Terms

Further Reference

• Offers a comprehensive survey of the discipline from political theories, ideologies, and attitudes to political systems, interactions, and processes that prepares students to become more active citizens and to take future courses in political science.
• Emphasizes an eclectic approach to understanding politics rather than a single theory, conceptual framework, or paradigm that encourages students to think critically.
• Uses a wide range of examples from the United States and around the world to give students real-life illustrations of political science concepts.
• Develops a broader base of knowledge through three unique boxed features:
  • “How To” boxes explain the basic methods used by scholars to create a systematic understanding of politics.
  • “Classic Works” boxes introduce the ideas of seminal thinkers in the field.
  • “Key Concepts” boxes demonstrate applications of important political science concepts.
• Teaches students the language of political science through an extensive marginal glossary.
• Incorporates chapter-opening questions, photos, maps, figures, tables, and end-of-chapters lists of key terms and suggested readings to help students engage the text.
• MyPoliSciKit for Political Science (www.mypoliscikit.com) is a premium online learning companion that features multimedia and interactive activities connect concepts and current events. The book-specific assessment, video case studies, mapping exercises, comparative exercises, Financial Times newsfeeds, current events quizzes, politics blog, MySearchLab, and much more encourage comprehension and critical thinking. With Grade Tracker, instructors can easily follow students’ work on the site and their progress on each activity. Use ISBN 0-205-67305-8 to order MyPoliSciKit with this book. To learn more, please visit www.mypoliscikit.com or contact your Pearson representative.

Michael G. Roskin is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Lycoming College.

Expert Reviews

“Roskin stands out from other texts due to its focus on both content and methodological issues. A comprehensive and well-written introduction to the discipline of political science, Roskin gets students to not only consider what political scientists know but also how they know it.”–Anika Leithner, California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo

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