Keeping the Republic: Power and Citizenship in American Politics

Christine Barbour, Gerald C. Wright

CQ Press, 2006 - Political Science - 556 pages

Harold Lasswell's who gets what and how definition of politics takes center stage in this streamlined, accessible, yet strongly analytic text. By charting who is involved, what is at stake, and how conflict is resolved, students learn to interpret political events to see how power and resources are allocated, or to determine who wins and who loses. Keeping the Republic highlights the who of Lasswell's definition to explore how citizens-of different religions, income brackets, races, ethnicities, ideologies, and genders-evaluate democracy in practice. In order to keep a republic, they must shoulder responsibilities as well as exercise their rights. Seizing on this idea, the authors challenge students to view democratic participation as the price of maintaining liberty, and as a means of evaluating how well the American system works.

Contents

• The Politics of the American Founding: 38
• Summary With Key Terms: 67
• wwwww: 68

About the author

Christine Barbour teaches in the political science department and the Honors College at Indiana University, where she has become increasingly interested in how teachers of large classes can maximize what their students learn. At Indiana, Barbour has been a Lilly fellow, working to increase student retention in large introductory courses, and has been a fellow for the Freshmen Learning Project, a university-wide effort to improve the first year undergraduate experience. She has served on the New York Times College Advisory Board, working with other educators on developing ways to integrate newspaper reading into the undergraduate curriculum. She has won several teaching awards at Indiana, including the Indiana University Student Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Faculty (19956) and the Indiana University Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Brown Derby Award (1997). She is currently working on a book about local politics, development, and the fishing industry in Apalachicola, Florida. Gerald C. Wright has taught political science at Indiana University since 1981. An accomplished scholar of American politics, his books include Statehouse Democracy: Public Opinion, and Policy in the American States with co-authors Robert S. Erikson and John P. McIver, and he has published over 40 articles on elections, public opinion, and state politics. He has long studied the relationship between citizens, their preferences and public policy. He is currently conducting research with a grant from the National Science Foundation on what influences the character of policy representation in the states and the U.S. Congress, and is writing a book about representation in the American legislatures. Wright has been a consultant for Project Vote Smart in the last several elections, and a fellow for the Freshmen Learning Project at Indiana University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Keeping the Republic: Power and Citizenship in American Politics
• Authors: Christine Barbour, Gerald C. Wright
• Edition: 2, illustrated
• Publisher: CQ Press, 2006
• ISBN: 1933116870, 9781933116877
• Length: 556 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / American Government / General; Political Science / Civics & Citizenship; Political Science / General