Keeping the republic

Harold Lasswell's who gets what and how definition of politics takes center stage in this streamlined, accessible, yet strongly analytic text. By charting who is involved, what is at stake, and how conflict is resolved, students learn to interpret political events to see how power and resources are allocated, or to determine who wins and who loses. Keeping the Republic highlights the who of Lasswell's definition to explore how citizens-of different religions, income brackets, races, ethnicities, ideologies, and genders-evaluate democracy in practice. In order to keep a republic, they must shoulder responsibilities as well as exercise their rights. Seizing on this idea, the authors challenge students to view democratic participation as the price of maintaining liberty, and as a means of evaluating how well the American system works.