A Novel Approach to Politics: Introducing Political Science Through Books, Movies, and Popular Culture - Softcover

Van Belle, Douglas A.; Mash, Kenneth M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568028296 ISBN 13: 9781568028293

Verlag: Cq Pr, 2006

Inhaltsangabe

Book by Van Belle D Mash K

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Reseña del editor:

Are you tired of poor student evaluations of the textbook you adopted? Hate hearing their complaints about being assigned 30 pages of what they see as an arduous reading experience? What if we told you that a textbook could be funny and irreverent utilizing popular books, movies, music, and television shows to introduce political science concepts? This novel approach to explaining our need for government and the intrigue of politics is a reality. Van Belle and Mash do not compromise on the content you want and need, nor do they stint on real-world political examples throughout the book. The basics and the depth are all here. The added innovation? to hook students through the popular culture they re already plugged into. Simply put, you will never hear complaints that this is a typical or boring textbook. From references to 1984 and Lord of the Flies to mentions of The Matrix and A Clockwork Orange you ll be surprised by how the core concepts of political science institutions, ideology, economics, elections, culture, national politics, and international relations are interwoven with a highly entertaining discussion of popular culture. The theme of ideals clashing with reality makes fiction a useful tool for exploring the fundamentals of politics. In novels and films, it is both a common motive that drives the heroic characters and a frequent theme in the settings and contexts of interaction, the plots, and the story lines. In politics, the tension between the real and the ideal is prominent both in theory and in practice. Virtually all who engage in politics must balance the dreams they would like to accomplish if they could against the limitations imposed upon them by the real world. This bold, new book can help you integrate films and fiction in to your course should you choose to making it easier to assign a novel or two, or have students watch a few films, reinforcing themes and concepts, or creating the basis for a writing assignment. But regardless, the tie-in to popular culture will resonate with your students and get them reading effortlessly. The textbook stuff is here too chapter summaries, bolded key terms, discussion questions, and annotated web resources. Plenty to arm students with mastery of the material and get them ready for the test. On institutions... Federal systems work well in diverse countries, where variations in local conditions, economies, or cultures make it impractical or inefficient to try to impose a single system, or make it difficult to make decisions from a central location.... The Federation in Star Trek provides a perfect example. When Captain Kirk, and later his grandson or nephew or whatever Jean-Luc Picard was, puttered around the final frontier in the glorified intergalactic motor home they called the Enterprise, they talked a lot about the United Federation of Planets. ... Within the bounds of the charter of the Federation, the individual planets ruled themselves. On economics... The battle between idealism and realism in the economics of life is very clearly depicted in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a film based on Betty Smith's novel of the same name. While it is something of a disservice to the complexities of its plot, context, and character to focus only on the economic aspects, it is also clear that the contrast between the idealist and realist perspectives on the world is a critical part of this story. Set early in the twentieth century, the story centers on Francie Nolan, the child of a family beset by poverty and alcoholism, and much of its power derives from the vivid portrayal of the harsh realities of an economic system that does little to ease the pain of the struggling poor. On the media... The basic plot of Capricorn One is that one of the biggest moments in history was a complete fiction. The United States never a

Biografía del autor:

Sent to Earth shortly before Krypton exploded, Doug VanBelle was raised by gorillas in Africa and then bitten by a radioactive spider while on a high school field trip. None of that helped much at all. He misspent his youth-and a bit more-trying to find a violent competitive sport that did not cause him serious harm, but the four times he broke his nose suggest that he is slow to learn. Somewhere in there, there was a bunch of degrees and some other learnin' stuff. He was awarded a full scholarship in Chemical Engineering, dropped out after the first year, went through seven other majors, failed a creative writing elective, took a semester off to work in the Alaskan commercial fishing industry and somehow still managed to graduate on time. He is now a political science professor who writes science fiction and teaches in the media studies programme at Victoria University of Wellington. He is the former president of both the Foreign Policy Analysis and International Communication research sections of the International Studies Association, the Editor in Chief of Foreign Policy Analysis, and he has written extensively on theories of political decision making and the role of news media in international relations. Spurred on by the blatant discrimination inherent in the statement "Trix are for Kids," at age 4 Ken Mash attempted to file a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rabbit and other animals similarly situated. After three errors in one inning squashed his dreams of playing for the Mets, his overactive justice complex led him to pursue a career as a lawyer and politician. While earning his B.A. in political science he discovered what those jobs were really like. Thus, Ken's next degree was in mixology. Eighteen months later, his fiancée informed him that she was leaving town to do graduate work and that she would go either with him or without him. A couple of degrees later, he is currently a political science professor at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, where he is co-director of the honors program and the pre-law advisor. He has delivered numerous papers and talks on American politics, constitutional law, and civil liberties, and he is very active in the faculty association. He currently resides in Nanticoke, PA, with his wife and four children where he is now content in knowing that his parents were mistaken when, as a child, they told him that he was wasting his time watching T.V. and movies.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: Cq Pr
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1568028296
• ISBN 13: 9781568028293
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Anzahl der Seiten: 378