Online courses directory (43)

Videos about how government works in the United States. PPACA or "Obamacare". The Fiscal Cliff. More Fiscal Cliff Analysis. Electoral College. Primaries and Caucuses. Deficit and Debt Ceiling. Government's Financial Condition. Social Security Intro. FICA Tax. Medicare Sustainability. SOPA and PIPA. Pension obligations. Illinois pension obligations. PPACA or "Obamacare". The Fiscal Cliff. More Fiscal Cliff Analysis. Electoral College. Primaries and Caucuses. Deficit and Debt Ceiling. Government's Financial Condition. Social Security Intro. FICA Tax. Medicare Sustainability. SOPA and PIPA. Pension obligations. Illinois pension obligations.

Public procurement is a process that occurs when a government organization or a public authority purchases from external suppliers. Public authorities in Europe spend over €2000 billion a year purchasing goods and services, and this huge purchasing power forces suppliers to become more innovative as they have to produce higher quality products at lower prices. Public authorities in Europe have introduced procurement rules which are designed to increase competition between suppliers. <br /><br />ALISON's free online diploma course has been created by Procurement Academy, an institute dedicated to training procurement professionals.<br /><br />The course covers topics such as best practices for developing specifications, what procedures are used during the procurement process, how to write the Request for Tender (RFT) document, implementing the public procurement process, and the ethics associated with the procurement process. <br /><br />This detailed procurement course will be of great interest to procurement professionals who are interested in how the European public procurement process works and the steps involved in the public procurement process itself. For businesses seeking to expand, understanding how to win EU contract business is a competitive advantage in itself. We suggest that at least one employee in every European business should study this online EU procurement course.<br />

Political issues facing the state of California, the United States, or the international community. Instructor: Alan Ros

This free online Diploma in Legal Studies course from ALISON.com gives you the opportunity to study key subjects in legal studies, greatly increasing your understanding and knowledge of legal systems and related procedures and practices.<br /><br />You will review the types of law and how they are created, how the adversary legal system operates, and what types of legal procedures there are.<br />

This course offers a serious distillation of the five basic courses taught at American law schools.

This online course will introduce you to American laws related to terrorism and the prevention of terrorism. My approach to the topic is the case-study method. Each week, we will read a case study, along with the statutes, regulations, and other law-related materials relevant to the case. We’ll see how the case was handled in court and what reforms were enacted following the trial. Each week’s assignment will include copies of the relevant laws and court rules, a glossary of terms, background readings, and other supplementary materials. The course will commence with the first attempt by Islamic militants to bring down the World Trade Center towers with a truck bomb in 1993. From there, I'll take you through the major terrorist incidents of the past 20 years, including acts perpetrated by homegrown terrorists, such as the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 and the trial of the SHAC Seven (animal rights) terrorists in Trenton (NJ) in 2006. Required materials: The textbook for this course is Counter Terrorism Issues: Case Studies in the Courtroom, by Jim Castagnera (estimated cost: $100) Find it at CRC Press

ALISON's free online Diploma in Business and Legal Studies course covers key topics in business and law such as corporate management, human resources, operations management, accounting, types of law, how laws are created, the adversary system, and legal procedures. <br /><br />This business online course offered by ALISON is ideal for those who want to gain comprehensive knowledge and understanding of business and legal systems. Having this knowledge will greatly improve your career prospects.<br />

This course reviews important principles found in business law. These principles include details on sole proprietorship, general partnerships, limited partnerships and incorporations. This course explains principles of business law in a clear and easy to understand way. The course also covers topics such as legal requirements, legal recommendations, financial status, taxation, and liability related to these principles. This free online course will be of interest to business professionals and students of law who would like a greater knowledge and understanding of laws relating to business and commerce.<br />

Research is an important component of political science; it enables us to uncover evidence, develop theories, and better understand how the political world operates. This course will introduce you to some of the basic research tools in the political scientist’s “toolkit,” and discuss why and how certain tools are used to explore certain phenomena. The course will also teach you to develop and evaluate sensible and systematic scientific research designs by addressing the ways in which data and theory intersect and examining how political scientists quantify, measure, and operationalize the concepts and variables that are key to understanding the political world. You will conclude your studies by learning about the practical implementation of research design. By the end of this course, you will better understand the qualitative and quantitative techniques that are used within the field and will be able to explain why political scientists choose to use them. In this regard, you will have the opportunity to…

This course will serve as an introduction to American government and politics. We will focus on several major themes in the course’s five constituent units. In the first unit, “American Political Foundations,” we will consider the core concepts and theoretical underpinnings of the American system of government: American political culture, the Constitution, and federalism. A solid grasp of these concepts will help you better understand the underlying reasons for the structure of the American political system. In the second unit, “American Political Behavior,” we will examine the key components of “politics” in the American system, including public opinion, the mass media, political parties, interest groups, campaigns, elections, and electoral participation. In the third unit, “American Institutions,” we will analyze the major governing bodies in the United States: Congress, the presidency and the bureaucracy, and the courts. Unit 4, “Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in America,” will high…

This course will introduce you to the international relations of the Asia-Pacific region.  In political science, the “Asia-Pacific” region is generally limited to those parts of Asia east of India, and for the purposes of this course, will include Northeast (China, Japan, Taiwan, and the two Koreas) and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines).  Countries in South and Southwest Asia, such as the Gulf States, India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, will not be covered, nor will the Commonwealth countries of Australia and New Zealand.  Globalization, economic ties, national security issues, and politico-military alliances with the U.S. make an understanding of this region important to any political science student or participant in American government. The political systems of Asia have a much longer history (dating back nearly 5,000 years) than do the systems you may be accustomed to studying in the West.  The general philosophical outlooks of the Asian…

"(Latin) America is ungovernable; all who have served the revolution have plowed the sea!"  Simon Bolivar, liberator of much of South America, spoke these famous words on his deathbed in 1830 while reflecting on what he deemed the failure of democracy to take root in Latin America in the early part of the 19th century.  Looking through the historical struggles in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last century and a half, these words continue to hold some truth.  The story of Latin America is one of inequality, complexity, failures, and unrealized possibilities.  Latin America and the Caribbean have entered into the 21st century with a legacy of persistent poverty, authoritarianism, corruption, and inequality. This course will introduce you to the politics of Latin America and the Caribbean and examine the causes and effects of the region’s development.  In many ways, Latin American/Caribbean politics defies any sort of coherent logic attempting to bring it together, a fact that is much reflect…

This course will introduce you to the field of international political economy.  International political economy combines two very important aspects of international relations: politics and economics.  The goal of this course is to make you aware of the ways in which economics and politics influence each other when it comes to creating policy.  It explores the interrelated nature of both economics (via its emphasis on markets) and politics (via its emphasis on power).  This course is thus both an economics and a politics course.  However, please note that though we will review some economics concepts, this course is not an econometrics course and does not require a background in economic methods. Economic policy can be an important instrument of statecraft and diplomacy between countries.  For example, countries often use trade relationships, promises of aid, loans, and investments to build goodwill.  On the other hand, countries can also use economic policy to punish or express disapproval towards o…

What is the best way to respond to global nuclear proliferation? Under what circumstances should American soldiers be sent to war? How should U.S. policymakers navigate a global economy? Will a global energy crisis precipitate a third world war? How does history inform contemporary U.S. foreign policymakers, and what issues will challenge future leaders? Such questions can seem beyond the scope of an individual, but they are questions that foreign policy decision makers in the United States must confront. Further, the issues that such questions raise must also be considered by members of the government bureaucracy and any citizen that wishes to be an informed participant in American democracy. The prominent role of the United States and a global leader makes examining and understanding the actions that the U.S. takes toward the rest of the world and how these decisions are made important for both American and citizens of other nations alike. This course will provide history, theory, and perspectives on curren…

How might you define, understand, and uphold justice in a global and globalizing world?  That question forms the focal point of this course.  It leads to an examination of whether or not global justice is impossible because of a chaotic and extremely diverse world, or to varying degrees, whether or not justice by its very nature demands a global context and scope of applicability.  Justice, whether considered in abstraction or applied contexts, is fundamentally about human rights.  We will begin this course with an exploration of human rights, a subject that grounds the entire course.  Embedded in the human rights context is an analysis of the political theories of justicethrough a cursory review of some of the seminal texts on global justicealong with an examination of applied and distributive justice focusing on specific issues or problems that have arisen in contemporary global dynamics.  Thus, gender/sexuality, race/ethnicity, genocide, self-determination, environmental concerns, class, and particip…

This course is ideal for students who would like to assess their aptitude for legal studies or for those interested in criminal justice or paralegal studies. It also provides an excellent introduction for anyone who wants to learn the basics of the U.S. legal system, the Constitution, and the elements of most crimes and criminal defenses. Course content includes an exploration of criminal defenses, including self-defense, consent, and insanity. Most of the coursework is an analysis of criminal offenses, including inchoate offenses such as attempt, conspiracy, and solicitation; crimes against the person like criminal homicide, sex offenses, kidnapping, assault, and battery; crimes against property, including theft, burglary, and arson; crimes against the public such as crimes involving criminal gangs, drug crimes, and prostitution; and crimes against the government like treason, sedition, espionage, sabotage, terrorism, perjury, bribery, and obstruction of justice. The textbook, Criminal Law v.1.0, will enhance the student's learning experience as it provides full explanations of each topic and many examples and exercises. The textbook is an Affordable Educational Resource (prices start at $19.95) and can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/ReU8R6 Students who complete this course (participation in quizzes and discussions and a passing grade on the final) will receive a certificate of completion from the instructor.

The purpose of this course is to provide you with a basic understanding of foreign affairs and introduce you to the fundamental principles of international relations within the political science framework. We will examine the theories of realism and liberalism as they are understood in world politics. These theories will serve as the foundation for more advanced study in the International Relations field of the Political Science major, and will help you develop the critical thinking skills you need in order to analyze conflicts between states. We will also explore issues that relate to the politics of global welfare, such as war, world poverty, disease, trade policy, environmental concerns, human rights, and terrorism. You will learn about the ethics of war, the global distribution of wealth, the concept of the balance of power and its relationship to the causes of war, and what happens in the international system when the balance of power collapses. At the end of this course, you will have a comprehensive…

The study of public policy is intended to offer every citizen an understanding of the various and vast roles played by the different branches of the U.S. federal government as well as by state, county, and local governments in various areas of contemporary American life.  It is also a field that focuses on the priorities of American society as portrayed in the public policy choices that elected representatives make on the part of citizens and the size of different interest groups that advocate on behalf of particular policy goals.  This course looks at the process of making public policy from beginning to end and in a wide array of particular policy areas that are of importance to contemporary American society.  Moreover, because the process of public policymaking is best explored by examining particular instances of public debate over a wide array of specific policy areas, this course will adopt a case study approach to explore particular topics. Unit 1 will introduce this case study approach as well va…

Political thought, or political philosophy, is the study of questions concerning power, justice, rights, law, and other issues pertaining to governance. Whereas political science assumes that these concepts are what they are, political thought asks how they have come about and to what effect. Just as Socrates’s simple question “How should we be governed?” led to his execution, the question “What makes a government legitimate?” leads to political turmoil when posed at critical times. Political thought asks what form government should take and why; what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any; and when it may be legitimately overthrown, if ever. Generally speaking, political thought, political philosophy, and political theory are terms often used interchangeably to mean the study of philosophical texts related to politics. This course examines major texts in the history of political thought. Many of these texts pose difficult questions concerning the political community, social order,…

This course will provide you with a basic understanding of two core concepts in International Relations and, more generally, Political Science: international governance and international government.  Governance refers to the processes of decision-making, while government is the formal institutions associated with those processes. These two dynamics are interdependent; it is necessary to study both to fully understand this subfield of international relations. Thus, this course will serve as the basis for further studies in the International Relations field within the Political Science major; it also serves as a companion course or “alter-ego” for the International Law course. You will begin studying the fundamental issues of international organization by exploring some conceptual frameworks pertaining to governance dynamics.  This will be followed by investigating the three primary ways in which the participants in global affairs, both state and non-state actors, organize themselves: intergovernmental,…