1 option
Practical politics : lessons in power and democracy : an introduction for students and teachers / Titus Alexander.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Alexander, Titus, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Politics, Practical.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (xx, 232 pages) : illustrations (some color
- Place of Publication:
- London : Trentham Books, an imprint of UCL IOE Press, 2017.
- [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [2017]
- System Details:
- text file
- Summary:
- Politics affects everything we do. Every citizen needs to understand how the system works and to learn the skills required to influence decisions. The world's most urgent problems are political; for democracy to work, everyone needs the ability to do politics as a basic skill, like reading and writing. This comprehensive handbook, with its wide-ranging and intriguing case studies, provides the basic text for a new subject of practical politics that should be offered in every education institution. It affords insight into power and democracy at every level: family, office and state, and shows how education in practical politics can enable people to recognize and deal with political problems. Book jacket.
- Contents:
- Part 1 Politics as a public good
- This section asks what is politics, what is it good for and where it happens to show why we need education for practical politics.
- 1 Introduction: Why we need education for practical politics 2
- The scope of practical politics
- Abuse of power
- The use of power
- Sharing power
- What is democracy?
- Why teach practical politics at university?
- Academic foundations
- Three keys to practical politics
- 2 What is politics, really? 17
- Case study: Community organizing
- Politics in practice
- What is a 'unit of rule'?
- The rule of family politics
- What are our units of rule?
- Rule-making for freedom and responsibility
- Companies as units of rule
- Defining politics: Who gets what, when and how
- The purpose of politics
- What is not politics?
- Identity politics and difference
- Summary: What is politics?
- 3 Politics as social problem solving 34
- Case study: School students act on female genital mutilation
- Confronting social problems
- The great global transformation
- Knowledge and action
- Knowledge also creates problems
- Social problems are political
- Governance as political problem solving
- Problems with democracy
- Improving governance
- 4 Political arenas: Where politics happens 47
- Case study: Gross deceptive product
- The politics of supra-politics
- The drama of public politics
- Institutional politics
- Markets and the political economy
- Politics of association
- Revolutionary politics
- Cyber politics
- Part 2 Lessons in power
- This section looks at the way in which power is used, by whom and what purposes.
- 5 Political education of the powerful 68
- Case study: Campaign consulting
- The political education of politicians
- The pedagogy of power
- Politics and business
- Corporate power
- The power broker business
- Inequality of influence
- Responsible lobbying
- Money talks: Campaign finance
- Trust in business and politics
- Political education by the media
- Conclusion: Political education and the powerful
- 6 All politics is office politics 87
- Case studies: Jubilee 2000 and the Great Crash
- All politics is office politics (almost)
- Case study: The campaign for derivatives
- Changing the story
- Taking office politics into the open
- Blowing the whistle
- Blowing the trumpet
- The Core Group
- Political ability and culture in organizations
- Who are the educators for office politics?
- The politics of accounting
- Management consultancy: Education for office politics
- Consultants, ideology and organization
- 7 Power and its uses 112
- Case study: Project for a New American Century (PNAC)
- Understanding power
- What is the nature of power?
- What is the purpose of power?
- What are the instruments of power?
- What are the sources of power?
- Power gradients Spheres of power (power petals)
- Levels of power: Local, institutional, national, continental or global
- Political spaces: What access to power do people have?
- Who takes part? What are visible, hidden and invisible forms of power?
- Degrees of freedom: How much scope do people have to exercise power?
- Part 3 Learning for democracy
- This section provides more detail on how people can learn practical politics
- 8 The Civic University: Practical political education by universities and colleges 140
- Case study: Innocence projects - learning about justice
- Teaching practical wisdom Higher education for democracy
- Learning through social action
- Intelligence services for democracy
- Learning to lead and govern
- Building capacity for democratic citizenship
- Celebrating practical political education
- Ethics for learning through action
- 9 Foundations for learning democracy 153
- Democratic education: A battle of ideas
- Schools in a global society
- Citizenship and educational achievement
- What are citizenship schools?
- Politics in the curriculum
- Political education and indoctrination
- Political education and democracy
- Political education in England
- Opportunities for renewal
- 10 Whole life learning 163
- Case study: Medellín - city of innovation
- Whole life learning
- Charities, non-profits and civil society
- Advocacy makes charities great
- Weaknesses in charity campaigning
- Local government and public services
- Political education by parties
- Civic leaders as representatives of democracy
- Political education through the media
- Adult political education
- 11 Making the case for teaching practical politics 179
- Planning for a new century
- So how do new subjects take off?
- Curriculum power struggles
- Creating a tipping point
- Riding the innovation cycle
- Your strategy for practical political education
- Dealing with opposition
- 12 How to create a curriculum for democracy 189
- Case study: How the Khan Academy creates change by providing a service
- Stepping stones on a learning journey for democracy
- Learning needs analysis
- Progression routes in practical politics
- Twelve elements of a curriculum for action.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 206-229) and index.
- Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI Available via World Wide Web.
- Description based on print version record.
- Local Notes:
- Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Bruce Alan Miller Book Fund.
- ISBN:
- 9781858567853
- 1858567858
- Publisher Number:
- 99988144468
- Access Restriction:
- Restricted for use by site license.
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.