Free Contemporary Issues Courses

Analysis and critical evaluation of recent major issues, conflicts and problems in American government and institutions.

Are there enough energy, water, mineral, and land resources for the world's population?

Videos about how government works in the United States.

A study of contemporary political institutions, with emphasis on the philosophy, structure, and behavior of the American political system, including the State of California. Meets State requirement in U.S. Constitution and California State and Local government.

Theories of personality and their applications to current individual and societal psychological problems.

This course offers an exploration of general theories of the origins of warfare; the impact of the state on war in the modern world; and the micro-foundations of combat and compliance in the context of the costs of war and military mobilization.

Introduction to the logic of inference in social science and to quantitative analysis in political science and public policy including research design, data collection, data description, and computer graphics, and the logic of statistical inference (including linear regression).

Analysis and explanation of political processes, governments, political issues and foreign relations of the Middle East. Discussion of influence of religion, oil, revolutions and conflicts on Middle East politics.

This course explores the imposition of the death penalty in the United States with particular attention to the influence of race and poverty, and the disadvantages of mental illness or intellectual disability of those facing death.

This course will provide an overview of the organization of health care within the context of the community with emphasis on the political, social, and cultural influences.