American Government

American Government: Constitutional Democracy Under Pressure highlights the dangerous tension between our constitutional principles and institutions and the populist heat that sometimes roils our national politics, including at the current political moment. Our constitutional democracy has been under pressure for some time, but few would deny that fears for its fate have deepened in just the past few years. We assume that our political institutions will limit and contain contemporary populism, just as the Founders intended and as they have in the past, but will they? An increasingly polarized electorate, urging their representatives to fight and never to compromise, may be stressing Constitutional limits. This new edition offers to help American government teachers lead their students to a nuanced theoretical and practical understanding of what is happening in the politics of their Constitutional democracy today.

New to the Fourth Edition

• Further develops and highlights the distinguishing theme of the book, "Constitutional Democracy Under Pressure," in light of the Biden and Trump administrations.

• Expands coverage of all media aspects including fake news, social media, responsible journalism, and related topics including foreign manipulation of the news.

• Describes numerous ways in which the American political system has been affected by the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation, and security concerns.

• Evaluates the evidence for increasing polarization in public opinion, voting behavior, and legislative politics.

• Explores the implications of recent Supreme Court decisions including controversial rulings on birthright citizenship, campaign finance, mail-in ballots, racial gerrymandering, and presidential powers.

• Includes the most recent election results.

• Updates in all tables, figures, suggested readings plus photo updates throughout.