A simple model is developed that isolates the essential features of a magnetically confined plasma undergoing anomalous transport and whose properties are manipulated by externally injected radial currents. The model exhibits the following intrinsic properties (not built‐inapriori): Ohmic confinement improves with density; L‐mode scaling depends on heating power asP−0.6; a transition to H‐mode behavior is induced by radial currents on the order of 10 A. The model is benchmarked against the experiments performed in the Continuous Current Tokamak (CCT) [R. J. Tayloretal., Phys. Rev. Lett.63, 2365 (1989)]; excellent quantitative and qualitative agreement is obtained with most of the observations. Some discrepancies are identified and their significance is elucidated. The new effects explored with the model are H‐modes induced by multiple electrodes, auxiliary heating in the presence of radial currents, and the concept of H mode as a ‘‘phase transition.’’