American Politics and Society, 10th Edition

This engaging introduction tackles the most recent trends in American politics and society through explanation, analyses, and interpretations of government processes - adding valuable context for students by considering these procedures and developments from an international perspective.

The completely revised and updated tenth edition will address the momentous changes occurring in the landscape of American politics. In 2016 a moderate Democratic president faced a conservative Congress and a Supreme Court finely balanced between liberal and conservative opinions. By 2018 the White House was occupied by a conservative president, and both the Supreme Court and Congress were dominated by conservative majorities.

McKay will capture these changes as well as those in the nature of the presidency. For Donald Trump was no ordinary conservative in the Reagan or Bush mould. Instead he was a populist who utilized the White House ‘pulpit’ to dramatic and highly controversial effect, in the wider context of an increasingly confrontational political environment dominated by deep divisions over questions of immigration, gender, sexual preference, race, religion and national identity.

The tenth Edition will provide a broad background to the subject including the historical and cross national context of American politics. But it will also be an audit on the Trump first term, focusing on changes to the institution of the Presidency, Presidential-Congressional relations, the creation of a ‘presidential party’, how constitutional checks and balances are performing, and how America’ s world role as leader of an international liberal order has been transformed.