What are the main foreign policy goals of the United States? How do the president and Congress interact in the foreign policy realm? In what different ways might foreign policy be pursued? This chapter will delve into these and other issues to present an overview U.S. foreign policy.

What is public policy? How do different areas of policy differ, and what roles do policy analysts and advocates play? What programs does the national government currently provide? And how do budgetary policy and politics operate? This chapter answers these questions and more.

What roles do professional government employees carry out? Who are they, and how and why do they acquire their jobs? How do they run the programs of government enacted by elected leaders? Who makes the rules of a bureaucracy? This chapter uncovers the answers to these questions and many more.

How do state and local governments gain the authority to make these decisions, and how are their actions guided by cultural and other differences between the states? What tensions exist between national and state governments on policy matters, and what unique powers do mayors and governors enjoy? By answering these and other questions, this chapter explores the role of state and local governments in our lives.

Chapter 14 -  State and Local Government.  An audiobook production of American Government 3e, an OpenStax textbook. This textbook provides an  introduction to US government and civics, and is used widely in college-level Political Science courses. OpenStax textbooks and this podcast are offered under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-SA). Text available for free at https://openstax.org. Narrated by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya ([email protected]).     

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How do the courts make decisions, and how do they exercise their power  to protect individual rights? How are the courts structured, and what  distinguishes the Supreme Court from all others? This chapter answers  these and other questions in delineating the power of the judiciary in  the United States.

Chapter 13 - The Courts. An audiobook production of American Government 3e, an OpenStax textbook. This textbook provides an introduction to US government and civics, and is used widely in college-level Political Science courses. OpenStax textbooks and this podcast are offered under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-SA). Text available for free at https://openstax.org. Narrated by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya ([email protected]).

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0:00:00 - Welcome

0:00:31 - Introduction

0:02:11 - Guardians of the Constitution and Individual Rights (13.1)

0:26:14 - The Dual Court System (13.2)

0:43:24 - The Federal Court System (13.3)

1:00:00 - The Supreme Court (13.4)

1:15:05 - Judicial Decision-Making and Implementation by the Supreme Court (13.5)

1:29:36 - Credits

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This is an audio adaptation of American Government 3e by OpenStax.  Access for free at openstax.org.  Some editorial changes were made to ensure a better listening experience.

The audio from this project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY-SA-4.0).  The video portion only of this project includes some licensed components and is not covered under the Creative Commons license.

The intro and outro music is “Take Me Higher” by Jahzzar (CC-BY-SA).  [https://bit.ly/jahzzarsong]

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You can contact the producer of this project by emailing [email protected]

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The funding for this project was provided by CC-ECHO (California Consortium for Equitable Change in Hispanic Serving Institutions Open Educational Resources).  You can learn more about CC-ECHO at https://www.hancockcollege.edu/ccecho.

What are the powers, opportunities, and limitations of the presidency?  How does the chief executive lead in our contemporary political system?  What guides the chief executive's actions, including unilateral actions?  If it is most effective to work with others to get things done, how does the president do so? What can get in the way of this goal? This chapter answers these and other questions about the nation’s most  visible leader.

Chapter 12 -  The Presidency.  An audiobook production of American Government 3e, an OpenStax textbook. This textbook provides an introduction to US  government and civics, and is used widely in college-level Political Science courses. OpenStax textbooks and this podcast are offered under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-SA). Text  available for free at https://openstax.org. Narrated by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya ([email protected]).   

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How exactly does Capitol Hill operate?  What are the different structures and powers of the House of Representatives and the Senate? How are members of Congress elected? How do they reach their decisions about legislation, budgets, and military action? This chapter addresses these aspects and more as it explores “the first branch” of government.

Chapter 11 -  Congress.  An audiobook production of American Government 3e, an OpenStax textbook. This textbook provides an introduction to US government and civics, and is used widely in college-level Political Science courses. OpenStax textbooks and this podcast are offered under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-SA). Text  available for free at https://openstax.org. Narrated by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya ([email protected]).

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In this chapter, we answer several key questions about interest groups.  What are they, and why and how do they form? How do they provide avenues for political participation? Why are some groups advantaged by the lobbying of government representatives, while others are disadvantaged?  Finally, how do interest groups try to achieve their objectives, and how are they regulated?

Chapter 10 -  Interest Groups and Lobbying.  An audiobook production of American Government 3e, an OpenStax textbook. This textbook provides an introduction to US government and civics, and is used widely in college-level Political Science courses. OpenStax textbooks and this podcast are offered under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-SA). Text available for free at https://openstax.org. Narrated by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya ([email protected]).    

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This chapter will explore why the party system may be the most important component of any true democracy. What are political parties? Why do they form, and why has the United States typically had only two? Why have political parties become so highly structured? Finally, why does it seem that parties today are more polarized than they have been in the  past?

Chapter 9 - Political Parties. An audiobook production of American Government 3e, an OpenStax textbook. This textbook provides an introduction to US government and civics, and is used widely in college-level Political Science courses. OpenStax textbooks and this podcast are offered under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-SA). Text available for free at https://openstax.org. Narrated by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya ([email protected]).  

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What does it mean to have a free news media? What regulations limit what  media can do? How do the media contribute to informing citizens and  monitoring politicians and the government, and how do we measure their  impact? This chapter explores these and other questions about the role  of the media in the United States.  

Chapter 8 - The Media. An audiobook production of American Government  3e, an OpenStax textbook. This textbook provides an introduction to US  government and civics, and is used widely in college-level Political  Science courses. OpenStax textbooks and this podcast are offered under a  Creative Commons license (CC-BY-SA). Text available for free at https://openstax.org. Narrated by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya ([email protected]).  

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