Political Science Textbooks

Filters

Open Judicial Politics - 2nd Edition

Contributors: Solberg, Diascro, and Waltenburg

Publisher: Oregon State University

License: CC BY-NC-SA

The impetus for this volume was a multitude of conversations regarding pedagogy and teaching related to our judicial process courses. Based on these conversations, we identified four main threads or needs of our colleagues: First, many of us bring or want to bring more “political science” into our classes, though we also want to avoid the high costs of reinventing successful existing courses to do so. Second, our programs all require a political methodology course, and we want to reinforce those lessons in our substantive courses. We want to encourage our students’ understanding of how to read and understand research studies as well as how to craft their own research questions. Third, we want to keep our courses as current as possible. And fourth, we wanted to find a way to bring the cost of our courses down, as we see so many students struggle with the high costs of a college degree. This volume (as well as any future editions) addresses each of these concerns. Open Judicial Politics is a compilation of new and original research in judicial politics written specifically for the undergraduate audience, thus providing accessible examples of political science research that also address some of the more current concerns and controversies in our field. Additionally, every article is accompanied by some type of classroom activity—from basic discussion questions to full-blown simulations—that makes it easier for instructors to adapt the material to their courses and enhance classes with interactives. The chapters of the volume generally follow the well-worn path of most textbooks of judicial politics, making the volume an easy companion for adoption, and the material should fit seamlessly into the preestablished structures of most courses. Finally, the volume is an open-source resource, and adoption of the text adds no cost for our students. Whether one uses one or ten articles, the cost remains nil. This volume includes twenty-two original contributions that we have grouped into nine parts. The studies cover the breadth and scope of the field of judicial politics, with attention to appellate and trial courts, national high courts and intermediate appellate courts, and US courts and their international counterparts, thus providing a large range of materials to complement any judicial process course or text. We are especially pleased that undergraduate students played key roles in the creation of several of these studies, performing data collection and analysis as well as complete authorship from stem to stern. For the second edition, we have added fifteen articles that continue to illustrate key concepts and aspects of judicial politics, following the same formula of empirical research tailored to an undergraduate audience, accompanied by a variety of classroom activities.

No ratings

(0 reviews)

Attenuated Democracy: A Critical Introduction to U.S. Government and Politics

Contributor: Hubert

Publisher: Salt Lake Community College

License: CC BY-NC-SA

The U.S. political system suffers from endemic design flaws and is notable for the way that a small subset of Americans—whose interests often don’t align with those of the vast majority of the population—wields disproportionate power. Absent organized and persistent action on the part of ordinary Americans, the system tends to serve the already powerful. That’s why this text is called Attenuated Democracy. To attenuate something is to make it weak or thin. Democracy in America has been thin from the beginning and continues to be so despite some notable progress in voting rights. As political scientists Benjamin Page and Martin Gilens wrote, “The essence of democracy is not just having reasonably satisfactory policies; the essence of democracy is popular control of government, with each citizen having an equal voice.” (1) Since this is likely to be your only college-level course on the American political system, it is important to point out the structural weaknesses of our system and the thin nature of our democracy. Whenever you get the chance—in the voting booth, in your job, perhaps if you hold elected office—I encourage you to do something about America’s attenuated democracy.

(6 reviews)

Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience - 2nd Edition

Contributors: Farrington, Powell, Graham, and Anyanwu

Publisher: Encompass Digital Archive

License: CC BY

Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience gives instructors, students, and general readers a comprehensive and up-to-date account of African Americans’ cultural and political history, economic development, artistic expressiveness, and religious and philosophical worldviews in a critical framework. It offers sound interdisciplinary analysis of selected historical and contemporary issues surrounding the origins and manifestations of White supremacy in the United States. By placing race at the center of the work, the book offers significant lessons for understanding the institutional marginalization of Blacks in contemporary America and their historical resistance and perseverance.

(5 reviews)

State and Local Government and Politics: Prospects for Sustainability - 2nd Edition

Contributors: Simon, Steel, and Lovrich

Publisher: Oregon State University

License: CC BY-NC-SA

Our book represents a unique opportunity for three generations of scholars to reflect upon and collectively consider their decades’ long research, and the meaning of that research to both the broader society and to students of contemporary politics. Nicholas Lovrich served as a graduate school mentor to Brent Steel, and Brent in turn mentored Christopher A. Simon as an undergraduate and guided him to study with Lovrich. Steel and Lovrich have collaborated on research for over 30 years, while Simon has frequently collaborated with Steel and Lovrich for nearly 20 years.

(7 reviews)

Community Resilience to Climate Change: Theory, Research and Practice

Contributors: Hellman and Shandas

Publisher: Portland State University Library

License: CC BY-NC-SA

This reader is an Open Educational Resource, meant to accompany a graduate or higher-level undergraduate university course in climate change resilience, adaptation, and/or planning. While the material is geared toward students in urban and regional planning, it may also be of interest to students of urban studies, public health, geography, political science, sociology, risk management, and others.

No ratings

(0 reviews)

A Quick Guide to Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences

Contributor: Davies

Publisher: University of Wales Trinity Saint David

License: CC BY-NC

This resource is intended as an easy-to-use guide for anyone who needs some quick and simple advice on quantitative aspects of research in social sciences, covering subjects such as education, sociology, business, nursing. If you area qualitative researcher who needs to venture into the world of numbers, or a student instructed to undertake a quantitative research project despite a hatred for maths, then this booklet should be a real help.

(9 reviews)

Australian Politics and Policy - Senior Edition

Contributors: Chen, Barry, and Butcher

Publisher: Sydney University Press

License: CC BY-NC-SA

This book is a broad introduction to Australian politics and public policy. This field of study is important for Australians to understand the exercise of political power, their history and the scope for change. It is also important for analysts outside Australia looking for comparative cases. Within this volume are diverse topics and perspectives, demonstrating that the study of Australian politics and policy is not ‘fixed’. Rather, it is a contested field of academic scholarship. Indeed, the volume’s editors do not all agree on the content of this introduction!

No ratings

(0 reviews)

Principles of Political Economy - Third Edition

Contributor: Saros

Publisher: Valparaiso University

License: CC BY-NC-SA

This textbook is unique among economics textbooks. It contains many of the same topics as mainstream textbooks, but it includes and takes very seriously heterodox critiques and alternatives to the mainstream approach to economics. It includes a whole range of alternative theories, including Post-Keynesian, Austrian, Marxian, radical, feminist, institutionalist, and other approaches. The purpose is to teach students about alternative schools of economic thought but also to deepen their understanding of the dominant, neoclassical approach to economics. In this sense, it draws a great deal of inspiration from Richard Wolff and Stephen Resnick’s Contending Economic Theories. Following Wolff and Resnick, an even broader objective is to teach students that economics is a discourse and that no single voice can rightfully claim to have a monopoly on the truth about economics.

(2 reviews)

International Relations Theory

Contributors: McGlinchey, Walters, and Scheinpflug

Publisher: E-International Relations

License: CC BY-NC

This book is designed as a foundational entry point to International Relations theory – structured to condense the most important information into the smallest space and present that information in an accessible manner. The first half of the book covers the theories that are most commonly taught in undergraduate programmes. The book then expands to present emerging approaches and offer wider perspectives. Each chapter sets out the basics of a theory whilst also applying it to a real-world event or issue, creating a lively, readable and relevant guide that will help students to see not only what theories are – but why they matter.

(7 reviews)

Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice: The Capability Approach Re-Examined

Contributor: Robeyns

Publisher: Open Book Publishers

License: CC BY

How do we evaluate ambiguous concepts such as wellbeing, freedom, and social justice? How do we develop policies that offer everyone the best chance to achieve what they want from life? The capability approach, a theoretical framework pioneered by the philosopher and economist Amartya Sen in the 1980s, has become an increasingly influential way to think about these issues.

(1 review)