Introduction to the American Political Process
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this survey of United States politics and the discipline of political science. The course covers the institutional foundations of American government, including Congress, the presidency, and the courts, alongside the behavior of political elites, interest groups, parties, and ordinary voters. Lectures apply general political science concepts and analytic frameworks to specific episodes in U.S. political history, from elections to policy fights, testing theory against real events. Materials include the full syllabus, lecture notes, readings, and assignments used in the MIT classroom version of the course. There is no instructor interaction or certificate, but all course materials are freely downloadable under a Creative Commons license, making it a self-paced introduction to how American political institutions and actors actually operate.