The thoroughly revised Fifth Edition of California Politics: A Primer concisely explains how California’s history, political culture, rules, and institutions come together to shape politics today and how they will determine the state of affairs tomorrow. Author Renee B. Van Vechten begins with a brief political history of California, then walks through direct democracy, the legislature, executive branch, and court system. She covers local government and concludes with a discussion of the state’s budget process, campaigns and elections, political engagement, and policy issues. From the structure of the state's government to its local representatives, policies, and voter participation, California Politics: A Primer delivers the concepts and details students need. New to the Fifth Edition An emphasis on California’s place in the federal system provides you with context around the state leadership's resistance to Trump administration policies on things like California’s sanctuary state status, immigration, the environment, and more. Increased coverage of policy topics throughout the book helps you see how recent policy has impacted issues such as greenhouse gas emissions regulations, attempted “fixes” for water- and drought-related issues, new transportation projects, and prison reform. Extended discussions of elections-related innovations introduce you to recent elections-related topics such as the Top-Two Primary, efforts to increase voter registration, all vote-by-mail elections, and redistricting. New coverage of the “Five Californias” gives you a better understanding of California’s political geography and how distinct segments of the population are primed for political engagement or disaffection. New lists of key terms with clear definitions at the end of each chapter enable you to review the content more effectively. New and updated maps and graphics depict important topics such as California’s newly proposed high-speed rail project.

California is full of myths and legends, but its political system shouldn’t be. In this refreshingly critical take, Edgar Kaskla brings an analysis of power—how it is distributed, how it is used, and to what end—to bear on California’s political system and the many troubling issues it currently faces. Starting from the premise that California is in deep crisis politically, economically, culturally, and environmentally, Kaskla traces the state’s economic and political development as a process controlled by and for the elite, be they land barons, the Hollywood glitterati, or Silicon Valley execs. Kaskla focuses on what he calls growth machine politics—elites and their land use as promoters of development and redevelopment—to show students how the gap between the rich and poor in California continues to widen. As minority communities increase in size, as the cost of campaigning in the state balloons, and as the state’s debt crisis mounts, the socio-economic and cultural issues at play in California add up to a real threat to democratic governance. Kaskla clearly outlines how each of the state’s institutions are organized, but also shows how they are affected—indeed distorted—by a host of serious economic and social inequalities. Not one to mince words, Kaskla is in places irreverent, but his text is thoroughly researched and well argued, never crossing the line into the polemical. Tables, figures, maps, and lists for further reading help reinforce the book’s substantive points and critical approach, and a host of student and instructor ancillaries help with study, review, and preparation.

Underscoring the essentials, Van Vechten's concise text delivers on the concepts and details students need to understand how California's political system works. The thoroughly revised second edition retains all the strengths of the first edition.

Politics and Government in California is an even-handed, comprehensive account of the organization and function of California state and local governments.Focusing on how state and local governments can most effectively address the challenges facing California today, the Seventeenth Edition is thoroughly updated to include the most recent data and events.

Critical Theorist Carlos Alberto Torres offers a political sociology of adult learning and education, based on Critical Social Theory and the always inspiring work of Paulo Freire. Empirically grounded and theoretically sophisticated, this new book follows the footsteps of his classic book published in the early nineties The Politics of Nonformal Education in Latin America. Torres book offers comparative and international sociological analyses of adult learning and education, an area in which there is an obsession with ‘practice’ and an aversion to theory, with some notable and laudable exceptions, but which has the potential to provide avenues for social justice education in ways that no other systems and policies can. This book revitalizes social theory in education, and provides ample evidence of the power of adult learning and education, examining a variety of policy documents connected with the various adult education congresses promoted by the UNESCO, which are thoroughly scrutinized for what they bring to or omit from the policy agenda. In the context of new developments in adult learning and education, particularly the impact of multiple globalizations, neoliberalism, and the new role of international organizations in reconceptualizing lifelong learning, new evidence-based research, new narratives, and the vibrancy of social movements striving for a new and possible world, it is clear that new theoretical designs were needed making this is a must-read book.

Public Opinion, Public Policy, and Smoking tracks Americans’ changing attitudes about cigarette smoking over the last century. With data from more than five thousand public and privately conducted polls, this book carefully examines how Americans came to understand the health risks of smoking; how the tobacco industry sought to reframe smoking; and how public opinion support for tobacco control affected lawsuits, elections, and public policies. This book tests several well-known linkage models that connect public opinion with public policy. It shows that conventional wisdom about public opinion and tobacco control policy is often mistaken. This book offers the first in-depth look at American public opinion and cigarette smoking during the last century.

Combining insights from urban, western, and environmental history, Elkind examines the ways that people's reactions to their natural surroundings drive both demand for improved public services and political reform. She traces public works development in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era to explain how these programs united each city with its suburban neighbors, creating new political entities and allowing Boston and Oakland to appropriate rural resources and thus overcome the environmental limits to their continued growth and prosperity. She also shows how, when the power of regionalism is turned to urban development, environmental and social costs are sometimes overlooked.

Hailed for its timelessness and timeliness, Public Administration in Theory and Practice examines public administration from a normative perspective, and provides students with an understanding of the practice of public administration. Combining historical, contextual and theoretical perspectives, this text give students a truly comprehensive overview of the discipline and focuses on the practical implications of public administration theory. Features Normative perspective focuses on the practice of public administration and helps students understand what public administrators do. Historical, contextual and theoretical perspectives provide comprehensive coverage of the subject matter. A thematic overview reinforces the multiple conceptual frameworks or lens through which we see public administration. Students will learn to think through to practical and realistic solutions that acknowledge an historic precedence and theory. Emphasis on performance measures and assessments