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Introduction to Political Science

by Mark Carl Rom, Masaki Hidaka and Rachel Bzostek Walker

Published by OpenStax

Social StudiesCollege

Designed to meet the scope and sequence of your course, OpenStax Introduction to Political Science provides a strong foundation in global political systems, exploring how and why political realities unfold. Rich with examples of individual and national social action, this text emphasizes students’ role in the political sphere and equips them to be active and informed participants in civil society. Learn more about what this free, openly-licensed textbook has to offer you and your students. If you have encountered a white screen while accessing your OpenStax textbook, our developers suggest closing all of your OpenStax.org tabs and then loading the book again.

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Attribution

Adapted from Introduction to Political Science by Mark Carl Rom, Masaki Hidaka, and Rachel Bzostek Walker, published by OpenStax (Rice University) under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). Access the original for free at https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-political-science. Changes: converted to CuraCourse lessons, with interactive practice added.

Table of contents

123 pages in 17 modules. Sign up to read and adopt them.

  1. Preface1 page
    1. Preface
  2. 1What Is Politics and What Is Political Science?8 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 1.1Defining Politics: Who Gets What, When, Where, How, and Why?
    3. 1.2Public Policy, Public Interest, and Power
    4. 1.3Political Science: The Systematic Study of Politics
    5. 1.4Normative Political Science
    6. 1.5Empirical Political Science
    7. 1.6Individuals, Groups, Institutions, and International Relations
    8. Practice
  3. 2Political Behavior Is Human Behavior6 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 2.1What Goals Should We Seek in Politics?
    3. 2.2Why Do Humans Make the Political Choices That They Do?
    4. 2.3Human Behavior Is Partially Predictable
    5. 2.4The Importance of Context for Political Decisions
    6. Practice
  4. 3Political Ideology10 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 3.1The Classical Origins of Western Political Ideologies
    3. 3.2The Laws of Nature and the Social Contract
    4. 3.3The Development of Varieties of Liberalism
    5. 3.4Nationalism, Communism, Fascism, and Authoritarianism
    6. 3.5Contemporary Democratic Liberalism
    7. 3.6Contemporary Ideologies Further to the Political Left
    8. 3.7Contemporary Ideologies Further to the Political Right
    9. 3.8Political Ideologies That Reject Political Ideology: Scientific Socialism, Burkeanism, and Religious Extremism
    10. Practice
  5. 4Civil Liberties8 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 4.1The Freedom of the Individual
    3. 4.2Constitutions and Individual Liberties
    4. 4.3The Right to Privacy, Self-Determination, and the Freedom of Ideas
    5. 4.4Freedom of Movement
    6. 4.5The Rights of the Accused
    7. 4.6The Right to a Healthy Environment
    8. Practice
  6. 5Political Participation and Public Opinion8 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 5.1What Is Political Participation?
    3. 5.2What Limits Voter Participation in the United States?
    4. 5.3How Do Individuals Participate Other Than Voting?
    5. 5.4What Is Public Opinion and Where Does It Come From?
    6. 5.5How Do We Measure Public Opinion?
    7. 5.6Why Is Public Opinion Important?
    8. Practice
  7. 6The Fundamentals of Group Political Activity7 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 6.1Political Socialization: The Ways People Become Political
    3. 6.2Political Culture: How People Express Their Political Identity
    4. 6.3Collective Dilemmas: Making Group Decisions
    5. 6.4Collective Action Problems: The Problem of Incentives
    6. 6.5Resolving Collective Action Problems
    7. Practice
  8. 7Civil Rights7 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 7.1Civil Rights and Constitutionalism
    3. 7.2Political Culture and Majority-Minority Relations
    4. 7.3Civil Rights Abuses
    5. 7.4Civil Rights Movements
    6. 7.5How Do Governments Bring About Civil Rights Change?
    7. Practice
  9. 8Interest Groups, Political Parties, and Elections8 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 8.1What Is an Interest Group?
    3. 8.2What Are the Pros and Cons of Interest Groups?
    4. 8.3Political Parties
    5. 8.4What Are the Limits of Parties?
    6. 8.5What Are Elections and Who Participates?
    7. 8.6How Do People Participate in Elections?
    8. Practice
  10. 9Legislatures6 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 9.1What Do Legislatures Do?
    3. 9.2What Is the Difference between Parliamentary and Presidential Systems?
    4. 9.3What Is the Difference between Unicameral and Bicameral Systems?
    5. 9.4The Decline of Legislative Influence
    6. Practice
  11. 10Executives, Cabinets, and Bureaucracies9 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 10.1Democracies: Parliamentary, Presidential, and Semi-Presidential Regimes
    3. 10.2The Executive in Presidential Regimes
    4. 10.3The Executive in Parliamentary Regimes
    5. 10.4Advantages, Disadvantages, and Challenges of Presidential and Parliamentary Regimes
    6. 10.5Semi-Presidential Regimes
    7. 10.6How Do Cabinets Function in Presidential and Parliamentary Regimes?
    8. 10.7What Are the Purpose and Function of Bureaucracies?
    9. Practice
  12. 11Courts and Law8 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 11.1What Is the Judiciary?
    3. 11.2How Does the Judiciary Take Action?
    4. 11.3Types of Legal Systems around the World
    5. 11.4Criminal versus Civil Laws
    6. 11.5Due Process and Judicial Fairness
    7. 11.6Judicial Review versus Executive Sovereignty
    8. Practice
  13. 12The Media7 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 12.1The Media as a Political Institution: Why Does It Matter?
    3. 12.2Types of Media and the Changing Media Landscape
    4. 12.3How Do Media and Elections Interact?
    5. 12.4The Internet and Social Media
    6. 12.5Declining Global Trust in the Media
    7. Practice
  14. 13Governing Regimes5 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 13.1Contemporary Government Regimes: Power, Legitimacy, and Authority
    3. 13.2Categorizing Contemporary Regimes
    4. 13.3Recent Trends: Illiberal Representative Regimes
    5. Practice
  15. 14International Relations9 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 14.1What Is Power, and How Do We Measure It?
    3. 14.2Understanding the Different Types of Actors in the International System
    4. 14.3Sovereignty and Anarchy
    5. 14.4Using Levels of Analysis to Understand Conflict
    6. 14.5The Realist Worldview
    7. 14.6The Liberal and Social Worldview
    8. 14.7Critical Worldviews
    9. Practice
  16. 15International Law and International Organizations8 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 15.1The Problem of Global Governance
    3. 15.2International Law
    4. 15.3The United Nations and Global Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)
    5. 15.4How Do Regional IGOs Contribute to Global Governance?
    6. 15.5Non-state Actors: Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)
    7. 15.6Non-state Actors beyond NGOs
    8. Practice
  17. 16International Political Economy8 pages
    1. Introduction
    2. 16.1The Origins of International Political Economy
    3. 16.2The Advent of the Liberal Economy
    4. 16.3The Bretton Woods Institutions
    5. 16.4The Post–Cold War Period and Modernization Theory
    6. 16.5From the 1990s to the 2020s: Current Issues in IPE
    7. 16.6Considering Poverty, Inequality, and the Environmental Crisis
    8. Practice