Contents:
List of figures and tables;
List of biographies;
Notes on the authors;
Preface;
Acknowledgements;
INTRODUCTION-
Barrie Axford and Gary K. Browning;

Part 1-People and politics
1. INDIVIDUALS: IS POLITICS REALLY
ABOUT PEOPLE? Barrie Axford;
Introduction;
Three questions for analysis;
Parts or wholes: should we study
individuals or structures?;
Forms of individualist analysis;
Forms of functional and structural analysis;
The modern individual;
Individuals as utility maximisers: the
myth of 'economic' man;
Individualism in action;
Individuals and rights;
Individualism and collectivism;
Beyond individualism and collectivism:
the postmodern condition;
Individuals and the capacity for
meaningful political action;
Conclusion.

2. POLITICAL SOCIALISATION-Ben Rosamond;
Introduction;
Political socialization;
What is political socialisation for?;
The processes of political socialization;
When?;
How? ;
The importance of political socialization;
What does political socialisation tell us about political science?;
What does political socialisation tell us about politics?;
What does political socialisation tell us about the political system?;
Conclusion;

3 POLITICAL CULTURE-Ben Rosamond;
Introduction;
The uses of political culture;
The civic culture;
Criticisms of The Civic Culture;
An alternative approach: political culture and ideology;
Subcultures;
Culture and political identity;
Three case studies of political culture;
The rise and fall of the Asian Tigers': a cultural phenomenon?;
The European Union: creating a new political culture;
After 11 September 2001: a clash of civilisations?;
Conclusion;

4 POLITICAL PARTICIPATION-Barrie Axford;
Introduction: what is political participation?;
Who participates? Some individual and social correlates of political participation;
Selected variables and political participation: a brief inventory;
Social capital and political Participation;
Why do some people participate in politics and others abstain?;
Agency: political efficacy and trust;
Structural explanations: the law, society and ideas;
Immediate stimuli;
Case study: electoral turnout and political participation;
Conclusion: a crisis of political participation?;

5 DEMOCRACY AND DEMOCRATISATION-Richard Huggins;
Introduction;
Democracy in the contemporary context;
Conceptualising democracy: the search for a definition;
Origins of democracy;
Representative democracy;
Deliberative democracy;
Direct democracy;
Towards a minimal definition of democracy;
Conceptualising democratisation:
process and practice;
Explaining democratization;
The criticisms and limits of democracy and democratization;
Feminist critiques of liberal democracy;
Republican critiques of liberal democracy;
Radical critiques of liberal democracy;
Environmental critiques of liberal democracy;
Futures of democracy and democratization;
Globalisation and democracy;
Digital democracy;
Conclusion;

Part 2-Politics and ideas;
6 CONCEPTS AND ISSUES-Gary K. Browning;
Introduction;
Conceptual analysis;
Freedom;
The Rushdie case;
Rights;
Animal rights;
Equality;
Justice;
Conclusion;

7 POLITICAL THOUGHT-Gary K. Browning
Introduction;
Political thought;
The history of political thought;
The methodology of the history of political thought;
The value of the history of political thought;
Key political philosophers;
Plato;
Thomas Hobbes;
John Locke;
Jean-Jacques Rousseau;
John Stuart Mill;
Karl Marx;
The limits of Western political thought;
Women and political thought;
Islam;
Conclusion;

8. POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES-Gary K. Browning;
Introduction;
The nature of political ideologies;
Political ideology and history;
Left and Right;
Liberalism;
The origins of liberalism;
Liberalism in the twentieth century;
Conservatism;
The nature of conservatism;
Styles of conservatism;
The success of conservatism;
Socialism;
Forms of socialism;
Socialism and its development;
Fascism;
The nature of fascism;
The development of fascism;
Fascism in Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy;
Nationalism;
The development of nationalism;
Explanations of nationalism;
Feminism;
Liberal feminism;
Socialist feminism;
Radical feminism;
Postmodern feminism
Ecologism;
Varieties of ecological standpoints on society, economy and politics;
Conclusion;

Part 3 The structures and processes of governance
9 LOCAL GOVERNANCE: POLITICS BELOW THE NATION-STATE-Alan Grant;
Introduction;
The territorial distribution of power;
Federalism;
The requirements of federalism;
Developments in federal governments;
Conclusions on federalism;
Local government and politics
Constitutional and legal status;
Structure and responsibilities;
Internal organization;
Central-local relations;
Conclusion;

10 THE MACHINERY OF GOVERNMENT-Richard Huggins;
Introduction;
Preliminary observations;
Nations, nation-states and the state;
Government and governance;
Constitutions and constitutionalism;
Executives, legislatures and judiciaries
Executives 336 Legislatures;
Unicameral or bicameral?;
The judiciary;
Parliamentary systems of government;
Presidential executives;
Other forms of government;
Transnational governance and the European Union - a new model?
The virtual machinery of government?;
Conclusion;

11. PARTIES, INTEREST GROUPS AND PUBLIC OPINION-Barrie Axford;
Introduction;
Political parties and party systems;
Party systems;
Party systems in established democracies;
The organisation of parties;
The functions of political parties;
Are political parties in decline?;
Interest groups;
Parties and interest groups;
What are interest groups?: Types of groups;
Theories and models of interest group politics;
The resources and tactics used by interest groups;
The power of interest groups;
Public opinion;
What is public opinion?;
Whose opinion is public opinion?;
How is public opinion institutionalised and expressed?;
The construction of public opinion;
Elections and public opinion;
Is public opinion fickle?;
Conclusion;

12 POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND THE MEDIA-Richard Huggins;
Introduction;
What is political communication?;
Contexts of political communication;
The development of political communication;
Newspapers;
Radio;
Television;
Managing political communication: how do politicians communicate?;
Politics in media cultures: a crisis for democracy?;
The global media 435 New media and political activism;
Conclusion;

13 THE POLICY PROCESS-John Turner Introduction;
The study of policy;
Policy in action: the foot-and-mouth crisis 2001 to 2002;
Policy definition;
Policy formulation;
Policy implementation;
Problem superseded and redefined;
Policy outcomes;
A model of policy-making: Easton's input—output model;
The policy process and the state;
Pluralist explanations;
Neo-pluralist explanations;
Corporatist explanations;
Marxist explanations;
Neo-liberal explanations;
Theories of decision-making;
Rationality and decision-making;
Cost-benefit analysis;
Modified rationality;
Disjointed incrementalism;
Innovation and mixed scanning;
Organisational and bureaucratic models of decision-making;
Ideology and decision-making;
Implementation models of policy-making;
Advocacy coalitions and negotiated orders;
Policy communities and networks;
Case study in the policy process: policy learning and the Brent Spar decision;
Introduction;
The initial policy decision;
Widening the policy environment: a global dimension;
The German connection
The organisational context: the corporate culture at Shell
The organisational context: Greenpeace and the politics of protest
Crisis politics: policy in reverse
Conclusions;
Conclusion;

Part 4 Politics beyond the territorial state
14 POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE ABOVE THE TERRITORIAL STATE
Ben Rosamond Introduction;
International politics 483 Thinking about International Relations;
The end of international politics?;
Breaking the mould of international politics?: The European Union;
European integration;
The origins of the European Union;
Patterns of politics;
European integration and the end of the nation-state?;
Law and authority in world politics: the Pinochet case;
War without states? After 11 September 2001
Conclusion;

15 THE PROCESSES OF GLOBALISATION Barrie Axford
Introduction;
From beyond the nation-state to global politics? The concept of globalisation Globalisation as growing interconnectedness
Global consciousness, or thinking globally 534 Global compression;
Globalisation as relativisation and indigenization;
The idea of a global system;
The forces and features of globalization;
The world economy and the new international division of labour;
The world political order: global governance?;
Global cultures;
Vectors of globalization;
The end of a world of territorial nation-states;
A post-capitalist world economic order?;
A global civil society?;
The prospect of civilisational conflict;
Global chaos?;
Conclusion;
Glossary;
General bibliography;
Index.