Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics, Chapter 1 Learning Obejctives

Chapter 1 Learning Objectives

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Date: Class (Blue or Gold):

Discuss the 2000 presidential election.
Discuss the impact of government on people
Distinguish among the fundamental concepts of government, politics, and public policy.
Understand how government, politics, and public policy are interrelated.
Ascertain how people can influence the government's policy agenda.
Describe the basic concept of the political system.
Determine the essential principles of traditional democratic theory.
Examine the three contemporary theories of American democracy: pluralism, elite and class theory, and hyperpluralism.
Discuss and analyze the challenges to democracy.
Address the issue of the scope of government and explain how the scope of government is relevant to an understanding of democracy.
Describe how liberals and conservatives differ in their positions concerning the appropriate role and scope of government.
Understand the importance of individualism in limiting the scope of American government.
Begin to assess the two questions that are central to governing and that serve as themes for course in Advanced Placement United States Government and Politics: "How should we be governed?" and "What should government do?"

I acknowledge that I have reviewed the above Learning Objectives for Chapter 1, "Government and People."

Chief Justice Richard Barajas
Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics
Cathedral High School, El Paso, Texas
Last updated: August 2001