American Government

A consistent and effective analytical framework

Politics is messy, complex, and contentious. How do we make sense of what seems too large and impossible to explain? Throughout the text, the authors repeatedly draw on five fundamental principles of politics:

• All political behavior has a purpose.
• Institutions routinely solve collective action problems.
• All politics is collective action.
• Political outcomes are the products of individual’s preferences and institutional procedures.
• History matters.

In the Eleventh Edition, the authors have revisited the ways that the successful Five Principles framework is used in the text and maximized its usefulness for students—integrating the principles more deeply within the chapter text and adding new chapter introductions that focus the students on the principle(s) most relevant to that chapter’s analysis.

“Analyzing the Evidence” units explore the political science behind the political phenomena discussed in each chapter

In Chapter 1, a new primer on “Analyzing Evidence” explains how political scientists use data to test arguments, how to read tables and figures, and how to think analytically. Then, in each subsequent chapter, two-page “Analyzing the Evidence” units—including many new to the Eleventh Edition—use bold graphics to show how data and basic methodology yield important insights into topics discussed in the chapter. StudySpace exercises based on the “Analyzing the Evidence” units give students the opportunity to work through related exercises using the approach modeled in the text.

New and reworked chapters on political behavior offer a contemporary perspective

Building on American Government: Power and Purpose’s longstanding strength in the coverage of institutions, new co-author Stephen Ansolabehere has thoroughly reworked the chapters in the political behavior section of the book, sharpening the analysis and employing the Five Principles framework from Chapter 1. Rewritten chapters on public opinion and elections bring a contemporary perspective to these topics, and a deep revision of the media chapter highlights the media as an institution.

Supplementary PowerPoint Presentations provide additional data examples

This supplementary set of PowerPoint slides, created by Kevin Esterling (University of California, Riverside), explores additional data examples that build on the material in the chapter text. Each module presents recent empirical evidence, using graphs, tables, and maps, and provides thorough notes that highlight the significance of the findings and their relationship to the concepts in the textbook. With two modules to accompany every chapter in American Government, the "Analyzing the Evidence" PowerPoints are perfect for use in lecture or discussion sections.