Perpustakaan UIN Jurai Siwo Lampung

Welcome to the fourth edition of American Democracy Now! In this program, we share our pas¬sion for politics while providing students with the foundation they need to become informed citizens in a rapidly changing democracy. In creating the first edition of American Democracy Now, we sought to merge our years of experience as classroom instructors and our desire to captivate students with the compel¬ling story of their democracy into a student-centered program. We refined those goals with an integrated learning program for American government to maximize student performance in the second edition. The third edition revolutionized how we think about American democracy by incorporating for the first time a chapter on Politics and Technology, demonstrating the extent to which technology has become integral to how citizens participate in their democracy and how governments serve their citizenry.

The fourth edition of American Democracy Now continues our tradition. Relying on data garnered from thousands of students who have used our Connect and LearnSmart platforms, we have revised our program to ensure greater clarity in areas that have proven complex for past student readers. We have continued to integrate an examination of the increasing role that technology is playing in politics. And we have continued our quest to create a student-centered program that increases students' sense of political efficacy by exciting them about the political conversations of the day and by integrating a critical thinking framework that not only explains the past and present of politics, but also asks them to think critically about the future: What's next for their democracy? In American Democracy Now, fourth edition, students learn how the fundamental principles of American democracy inform their understanding of the politics and policies of today, so that they can think about the policies they would like to see take shape tomorrow. In short, they learn to inquire: How does then and now shape what's going to happen next? This "Then, Now, Next" approach to critical thinking serves as the basis for student participation.

American Democracy Now, fourth edition, takes a broader view of participation than other programs. To us, participation encompasses a variety of activities from the modest, creative, local, or even personal actions students can take to the larger career choices they can make. And today, technology plays an enor¬mous role in shaping political participation—particularly the participation of young people. By recogniz¬ing the legitimacy of new forms of political participation, we are giving students the tools needed to define what participation means to them and to make active choices about where, when, and how to participate. And choosing how to participate makes American government matter.

Today's partisan politics and ever-changing technology provide challenges for those seeking to ensure that the rights guaranteed by the Constitution are protected, and they present opportunities for those striving to fulfill the responsibilities that come with living in a constitutional democracy. American Democracy Now, fourth edition, enables students to garner a solid understanding of the essential ele¬ments, institutions, and dynamics of national government and politics, while fostering critical thinking skills that are essential to meeting these novel challenges and realizing these new opportunities.

Facilitating success—as students, but also as citizens and participants—means honing their critical think¬ing skills, harnessing their energy, and creating tools that foster success in the American government course and in our polity. We know we have succeeded when students apply their knowledge and sharpened skills to consider the outcomes they—as students, citizens, and participants—would like to see.

Creating this success means joining increasingly diverse students where they are so they can see the rel-evance of politics in their everyday lives. The fourth edition of American Democracy Now further integrates technology into our students' study of politics, so that their engagement with content is seamless. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram are not only powerful social networking tools, but also powerful political and educational tools. New technologies help politicians to communicate with citizens, citizens to communi¬cate with each other, and you to communicate with your students.

We are excited to present you with this revised edition of American Democracy Now, and we wish you and your students success.