American Government is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the single-semester American government course. This title includes innovative features designed to enhance student learning, including Insider Perspective features and a Get Connected Module that shows students how they can get engaged in the political process. The book provides an important opportunity for students to learn the core concepts of American government and understand how those concepts apply to their lives and the world around them. American Government includes updated information on the 2016 presidential election.Senior Contributing AuthorsGlen Krutz (Content Lead), University of OklahomaSylvie Waskiewicz, PhD (Lead Editor)

Using the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to prompt the discussion about rights and equality in US society, this interdisciplinary course provides an introduction to social justice theory and practices. Students examine and conduct research on significant social justice issues in the United States today through an integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The course focuses on systems of discrimination and oppression, methods and communities of resistance, and transformative visions of democracy and freedom, with emphasis on how current conditions impact students’ lives and local communities.

This course will explore global social movements and multiple approaches toward social change using a comparative approach. Students will conduct interdisciplinary research on U.S. culture and history in a global context. Students will identify and analyze various methods of civic engagement, advocacy, and activism, focusing on individuals who act, organizations that mobilize action, and contexts that prompt collective action leading to significant social change on the local and global scale. The course highlights the roles of students themselves as civic actors and agents of change, within their educational setting, the communities to which they belong, and the world at large. Through project- and inquiry-based learning, students will practice implementing quantitative and qualitative research methods into action plans that address injustice and conflict.

In recent years both scholars and policymakers have expressed a remarkable amount of interest in the concepts of social capital and civil society. A growing body of research suggests that the social networks, community norms, and associational activities signified by these concepts can have important effects on social welfare, political stability, economic development, and governmental performance. This discussion based course examines the roles played by these networks, norms, and organizations in outcomes ranging from local public goods provision and the performance of democracies to ethnic conflict and funding for terrorism.

"Can you make a cellphone change the world? NextLab is a hands-on year-long design course in which students research, develop and deploy mobile technologies for the next billion mobile users in developing countries. Guided by real-world needs as observed by local partners, students work in multidisciplinary teams on term-long projects, closely collaborating with NGOs and communities at the local level, field practitioners, and experts in relevant fields. Students are expected to leverage technical ingenuity in both mobile and internet technologies together with social insight in order to address social challenges in areas such as health, microfinance, entrepreneurship, education, and civic activism. Students with technically and socially viable prototypes may obtain funding for travel to their target communities, in order to obtain the first-hand feedback necessary to prepare their technologies for full fledged deployment into the real world (subject to guidelines and limitations)."