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We created this site to help you
learn about American politics and the problems posed when
ordinary citizens--who often disagree over the relative
value of freedom, order, and equality--rely on democratic
government to make public policy. As its title implies,
The Challenge of Democracy argues that good government
often involves difficult choices.
Our publisher (Wadsworth/Cengage
Learning) maintains its own student
site
for our book. Please go there
for a rich collection of learning aids.
Here, we offer some material not
available from the Cengage site. For example:
- Useful
Internet Links Organized by Chapters
- I have created over 300
Internet links tied to all 20 individual chapters of the
full edition of The Challenge of Democracy. Click
to go to the Table of Contents and then click on
individual chapters.
- In
Our Own Words--the Text
- Early in each chapter in The
Challenge of Democracy, a "call-out" in the margin
invites students to listen to the primary authors of the
chapters describe "In
Our Own Words--the
Audio" the teaching
objectives for that chapter. But if you don't have time
to listen to us blab, you can quickly read what we say
about each chapter by linking to the text of our
comments. Try it, we think you'll ge a good orientation
to each chapter.
- NYTimes
Tool to Cut the Deficit
- On November 13, 2010, the
Times published this interactive tool to cut the
deficit, saying: Today, you're in charge of the
nation's finances. Some of your options have more
short-term savings and some have more long-term savings.
When you have closed the budget gaps for both 2015 and
2030, you are done. Make your own plan, then share it
online. You might think you can dance, but can you
cut the deficit? Try doing it. It's not easy.
- Government
Actions in the Financial Crisis,
2008-2009
- This a chronology of actions
taken by the Bush and Obama administration to deal with
the financial crisis confronting the United States after
the collapse of the subprime mortgage msrket in 2007. It
tells what the government did and when.
- 2012
Election Quiz
- "Indeed, the latest Pew
Research Center knowledge survey finds that while voters
know many key things about the candidates and their issue
positions, voters are less familiar with Romney than with
Obama." How about you. How much do you know about either
candiate or the election itself?
- Do-It-Yourself
Examination Pretest
- Students in one of Janda's
large lecture classes devised and submitted their own
multiple-choice items for possible use on the final
examination. (If Janda used a submitted question, the
author might stand a good chance of getting it right.)
The items were then posted on the class web site without
answers as a pretest to stimulate studying. You might
find the questions similarly useful.
- Party
Platforms
- Janda maintains a site for all
major party platforms from 1840 to 2012. The site links
to a Google search engine for finding key terms. You
might find this collection useful for class projects. For
example, create a list of words concerning a given
concept (e.g., the environment, religion, taxation) and
then search each party's platforms for how often the
words occur and what the platform said. One student wrote
about the Republican and Democratic platform references
to the issue of "equal pay." Guess which party referred
to it most often.
- State
of the Union Addresses
- Janda also maintains his own
site of all presidential State of the Union Addresses
since1913. Similar research might be done with these
addresses. One undergraduate at Northwestern wrote her
thesis on which president was most likely to make
religious references in his State of the Union addresses.
For the period she covered, it was Ronald Reagan by
far.
- Global
Terrorism, Domestic Order, and the United
States
- Shortly after 9/11, a Russian
colleague asked me to write something about the event and
the U.S. response for a Russian yearbook. It focuses on
events leading to the successful routing of the Taliban
in 2001. It might be useful for students who know little
about this successful phase of the "war on
terror."
Please watch this space. In the
future, I'll add more information that I hope will be useful
to your study of American politics. Please write me at
k-janda@northwestern.edu
with comments and
suggestions.
Happy Surfing--
Kenneth Janda, Jeffrey Berry, Jerry Goldman
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