A concise and engaging introduction to American politics organized around the themes of self-interest and representation. The authors assess American policy-making institutions and examine contemporary challenges to governance and representation.

Walter J. Stone is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at University of California, Davis. He has taught the introductory American politics course for more than four decades at Davis, Grinnell College, and the University of Colorado. He is the author of Candidates and Voters (Cambridge 2017) and, with Ronald B. Rapoport, Three's a Crowd (The University of Michigan Press, 2005).

Preface to the second edition; Introduction; 1. Some enduring questions and relevant concepts; 2. Big answers, bigger questions: Madison's theory of the republic; 3. Citizen participation in politics: an interest in self-interest?; 4. Who's in charge here? Voting choice in elections; 5. Interest groups and pluralist theory: self-interest in the republic reconsidered; 6. Political parties: an alternative to the republic?; 7. A pivotal politics model of the policy process: the separation of powers re-imagined; 8. Congress: representation and power; 9. Presidential leadership: beyond self-interest?; 10. The Supreme Court: another way out of the problem of self-interest?; 11. Conclusion: self-interest and representative government; Appendix Federalist 10 and 51 by James Madison; References; Index.