CHAPTER 1. Introducing the Ancient Debate: The Ideal Versus the Real
Classical Theory, Modern Reality, and Stuff
You’re Just a Mime Trapped in an Invisible Box
Fiction as a Tool for Exploring Politics
Utopias in Fiction and Politics
Ideologies
What Is Politics?
What Is Political Science?
Key Terms
Chapter Summary
Study Questions and Exercises
Websites to Explore
CHAPTER 2. Why Government? Security, Anarchy, and Some Basic Group Dynamics
Security Crushes Anarchy, Rock Smashes Scissors, but Will Someone Please Explain How Paper Beats Rock?
A Model for the Emergence of Cooperation: Bobsville
Collective Action
Security
Power
Anarchy
The Context of Hierarchy
Alliances
Groups and Group Identities
Key Terms
Chapter Summary
Study Questions and Exercises
Websites to Explore
CHAPTER 3. Governing Society: We Know Who You Are
Leadership Benefits
The Panopticon
Collective Action, Revolution, and the Use of Force
Legitimacy and Government Control
Key Terms
Chapter Summary
Study Questions and Exercises
Websites to Explore
CHAPTER 4. Government’s Role in the Economy: The Offer You Can’t Refuse
Government All Up In Your Business, Yo
The Tragedy of the Commons
Karl Marx—Student of Capitalism?
Socialism
The Yin and Yang of Capitalism and Socialism
Modern Stuff
Conclusionoscopy
Key Terms
Chapter Summary
Study Questions and Exercises
Websites to Explore
CHAPTER 5. Structures and Institutions
Structures or Institutions?
Human Nature and Political Institutions
The Reality of Political Institutions
Key Terms
Chapter Summary
Study Questions and Exercises
Websites to Explore
CHAPTER 6. El Grande Loco Casa Blanca: The Executive (in Bad Spanish)
Oh Captain, My Captain
The Scorpion King on Grandpa’s Farm
Kings and Presidents
The Democratic Executive
Key Terms
Chapter Summary
Study Questions and Exercises
Websites to Explore
CHAPTER 7. The Confederacy of Dunces: The Legislative Function (Not in Bad Spanish)
Boring History Stuff
A Dreary Discussion of Democratic Legislatures
A Redundant Repetition of the Theme: Contrasting Legislatures in Parliamentary and Presidential Systems
A Tired Attempt to Make Coalition Politics Interesting with a Lame Example
A Dreary Bleakness in the Authoritarian Gloom: Dictators Endure Legislative Institutions, Too
Key Terms
Chapter Summary
Study Questions and Exercises
Websites to Explore
CHAPTER 8. Brazilian Bureaucracy: Do I Even Need to Bother with the Jokes?
Bureaucracy, It Goes to Eleven
So . . . What Is a Bureaucracy?
There Be Flaws in Yonder Bureaucracy, Obviously
The Endy Part
Key Terms
Chapter Summary
Study Questions and Exercises
Websites to Explore
CHAPTER 9. Courts and Law: Politics behind the Gavel, Obviously, but What’s under the Gown?
Law and Politics
The Political Functions of Courts
Trial and Appellate Courts
Legal Systems
Jurisprudence
Types of Law
Constitutional Review
Key Terms
Chapter Summary
Study Questions and Exercises
Websites to Explore
CHAPTER 10. Not Quite Right, but Still Good: The Democratic Ideal in Modern Politics
Arrow’s Theorem
Democracy and the Liberal Ideal
An Economic Theory of Democracy
The Real versus the Ideal, Again
Key Terms
Chapter Summary
Study Questions and Exercises
Websites to Explore
CHAPTER 11. Media, Politics, and Government: Talking Heads Are Better Than None
Reality and Beyond
The Whole China Charade
Your New Brain and the Creation of Reality
News Media and Politics
A Vast Conspiracy?
Understanding the Distortions Is the Key
Key Terms
CHAPTER 12. International Politics: Apocalypse Now and Then
Causes of War
Back to Anarchy
World War I Was Unpleasant
Realism and War
Challenging the Realist Paradigm
Key Terms
Chapter Summary
Study Questions and Exercises
Websites to Explore
CHAPTER 13. Secret Government: Spies, Lies, and Freedom Fries
CHAPTER 14. Political Culture: Sex and Agriculture, Getting Rucked Explains It All
Political Culture
Applying Political Culture
Back to the Question of “What Is Culture?”
Key Terms
Chapter Summary
Study Questions and Exercises
Websites to Explore
CHAPTER 15. The Lastest and Bestest Chapter: The Study of Politics
Here’s Where the Story Ends
The Study of Politics
The Applied Subfields
Conclusion
Appendix A: Fiction Appendix
Appendix B: A Strategic Approach to Writing for the Classroom
Glossary
Notes
Index