Faculty Guide to Open Educational Resources (OER)

David Hubert, Salt Lake Community College. "What is the perspective of this text? ... Democracy in America has been thin from the beginning and continues to be so despite some notable progress in voting rights ... Since this is likely to be your only college-level course on the American political system, it is important to point out the structural weaknesses of our system and the thin nature of our democracy." Organized into 10 parts. Online format. CC BY NC SA (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) license.

OpenStax textbook, revised Feb. 2019, "designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the single-semester American Government course." Online and PDF formats available. CC BY (Creative Commons - Attribution) license.

Univ. of Minnesota Libraries, 2016. “In covering American government and politics, our text introduces the intricacies of the Constitution, the complexities of federalism, the meanings of civil liberties, and the conflicts over civil rights ;explains how people are socialized to politics, acquire and express opinions, and participate in political life; describes interest groups, political parties, and elections—the intermediaries that link people to government and politics; details the branches of government and how they operate; and shows how policies are made and affect people’s lives.” Organized into 17 chapters. Online, digital PDF, print PDF, and editable OpenDocument formats. Peer reviews of the text available on this site. CC BY NC SA (Attribution - NonCommerical - Share Alike) license.

Developed by Lumen Learning in collaboration with Washington SBCTC. Organized into 11 modules, incorporating videos and readings. Online format. Course overall has CC BY (Creative Commons - Attribution) license, but some pages may have additional or different licenses.

Saylor "Introductory course on American politics, with an emphasis on its constitutional foundations, the electoral process and political participation, the decision-making process in Congress, the executive branch, and federal courts." Organized into 6 units. Online format. TIP: The Resources link in the course menu is a shortcut to the sources and files used in the course. Overall, course has CC BY (Creative Commons - Attribution) license, but sources used may have different or additional licenses.

Saylor. "In this course,we examine major texts in Western political thought, where authors pose difficult questions about the political community, social order, and human nature. How do our views about human nature and history inform government design?" Organized into 3 units. Online format. TIP: The Resources link in the course menu is a shortcut to the sources and files used in the course. Overall, course has CC BY (Creative Commons - Attribution) license, but sources used may have different or additional licenses.

OER course developed by Boundless, published on Lumen Learning platform. Focuses primarily on American government structures. Includes quiz and lecture files. Online and EPUB formats. CC BY-SA: (Creative Commons - Attribution - ShareAlike) license.

State and Local Government and Politics: Prospects for Sustainability
Brent S. Steel, Christopher A. Simon, Nicholas P. Lovrich. An introductory text on US State and Local Government suitable for undergraduate studies (upper/lower division).

Three online textbooks, including U.S. History, American Government, and Ancient Civilizations. Each page includes vocabulary words and links for more info on the side. Each textbook has a CC BY (Creative Commons - Attribution) license.

Course materials created by by Tracy Pitzer, 2016. “Civics is the study of our national government, constitution, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Topics include democracy and other forms of government; legislative, executive, and judicial functions; the political process; and foreign and domestic policies. It also includes a summary of Washington State History and local native sovereignty.” Designed for HS level of civics, but it could be adapted for college-level work. Organized into 5 main sections, each with readings: Foundation, U.S. Government, Civil Rights, Voting, and WA and Local. Includes a link to a OneNote portfolio of course materials. CC BY NC SA (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike) license

8th edition, developed by the League of Women Voters of Washington. "[A] friendly, easy-to-read primer that covers the basics of what government is, how it works, and why we should care about it. It is generously illustrated with graphs, photos and drawings. …[T]he only book that includes historic and current Tribal government as an integral part of civics education. It’s telling of Washington state’s history is fully inclusive of all the peoples of our state." CC BY NC (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial) license.

Oregon State University, 2018. "Our book represents a unique opportunity for three generations of scholars to reflect upon and collectively consider their decades’ long research, and the meaning of that research to both the broader society and to students of contemporary politics." Organized into 12 chapters. Online, PDF, and EPUB formats. CC BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike) license.

Don Herzog, Univ. of Michigan professor, "attempts to answer these questions by investigating the ways in which major theorists in the Anglo-American political tradition have justified their views. Making use of a wide range of primary texts, Herzog examines the work of such important theorists as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, the utilitarians (Jeremy Bentham, J. S. Mill. Henry Sidgwick, J. C. Harsanyi, R. M. Hare, and R. B. Brandt), David Hume, and Adam Smith." PDF and EPUB formats. CC BY NC ND (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives) license.

Saylor course that "focuses on the formal, public sphere of politics and power relations through a systematic study and comparison of types of government and political systems." Organized into 7 units + student study guides. Online format. TIP: The Resources link in the course menu is a shortcut to the sources and files used in the course. Overall, course has CC BY (Creative Commons - Attribution) license, but sources used may have different or additional licenses.

OER textbook created by Ibn Haldun University professor, 2020. "This textbook pioneers a new approach to the study of international relations by historicizing the material traditionally taught in international relations courses and by explicitly focusing on non-European cases, debates, and issues." Organized into 3 main sections. Online, PDF, and editable XML formats. CC BY (Creative Commons - Attribution) license.

Published in 2017, "[t]his book is designed as a foundational entry point to International Relations theory – structured to condense the most important information into the smallest space and present that information in an accessible manner. The first half of the book covers the theories that are most commonly taught in undergraduate programmes. The book then expands to present emerging approaches and offer wider perspectives." PDF format. Peer review of the text available on this site. CC BY NC (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial) license.

Open textbook, 2016, "designed to be a ‘Day 0' introduction to International Relations. As a beginner's guide, it has been structured to condense the most important information into the smallest space and present that information in the most accessible way." Organized into 2 parts (The Basics and Global Issues) and 18 chapters. PDF format. Peer reviews of the text available on this site. CC BY NC (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial) license.

A variety of open access and openly licensed textbooks on both general and specific international relations and foreign policy issues. Each book is free to download, PDF format.