Comparative Politics Today : A World View

by Almond, Gabriel A.; Powell, G. Bingham; Strøm, Kaare; Dalton, Russell J.

• ISBN13: 9780321158963
• ISBN10: 0321158962
• Edition: 8th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Longman

Summary

"Comparative Politics Today" is the text that defined the discipline of comparative politics and continues to set the standard for the course with and the most current country study chapters available. The chapters on England, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, India, and the United States have all been thoroughly updated. As in the previous edition, theoretical chapters (Chapters 1-7) at the beginning of the book explore the "purpose of government" and provide students with a framework for understanding comparative politics. The theoretical section is followed by 12 individual country studies. All country studies are written by pre-eminent specialists on that particular country, ensuring that students have the most reliable information and insights into the political systems of those nations.

Table of Contents

Each chapter concludes with "Key Terms" and "Suggested Readings."

Preface

Acknowledgements

Contributors

Introduction

Issues in Comparative Politics

What is Politics?

Governments and the State of Nature

Why Governments?

When Does Government Become the Problem?

Political Systems

States

Building Community

Fostering Development

Securing Democracy, Human Rights, and Civil Liberties

Comparing Political Systems

Why We Compare

How We Compare

Systems: Environment and Interdependence

Structures and Functions

An Illustrative Comparison: Russia in 1985 and 2002

The Policy Level: Performance, Outcome and Evaluation

System, Process and Policy

Political Culture and Political Socialization

Political Culture

Mapping the Three Levels of Political Culture

Political Socialization

Agents of Political Socialization

Trends in Contemporary Political Cultures

Interest Articulation

Citizen Action

Interest Groups

Access to the Influential

Policy Perspectives on Interest Articulation

Interest Group Development

Interest Aggregation and Political Parties

Personal Interest Aggregation

Institutional Interest Aggregation

Competitive Party Systems and Interest Aggregation

Authoritarian Party Systems

The Military and Interest Aggregation

Trends in Interest Aggregation

Significance of Interest Aggregation

Government and Policymaking

Constitution and Decision Rules

Democracy and Authoritarianism

Separation of Government Powers

Geographic Distribution of Government Power

Limitations on Government Power

Checking the Top Policymakers

Assemblies

Political Executives

The Bureaucracy

Public Policy

Government and What It Does

Extraction

Distribution

Regulation

Community-Building and Symbolic Policies

Outcomes: Domestic Welfare

Domestic Security Outcomes

International Outputs and Outcomes

Political Goods and Values

Strategies for Producing Political Goods

Trade-offs and Opportunity Costs

Country Studies

Politics in England

Current Policy Challenges

The Constraints of History

The Environment of Politics

The Structure of Government

Political Culture and Legitimacy

Political Socialization

Political Participation and Recruitment

Organizing Group Interests

Party System and Electoral Choice

Making and Delivering Government Policies

Policy Outcomes and Changes in Society

Politics in France

Current Policy Challenges

A Historical Perspective

Economy and Society

Constitution and Governmental Structure

Political Culture

Political Socialization

Mass Participation and Voting

Recruitment and Style of Elites

Interest Groups

Political Parties

Policy Processes

The State and Territorial Relations

Performance and Prospects

Politics in Germany

Current Policy Challenges

The Historical Legacy

Following Two Paths

Social Forces

The Institutions and Structure of Government

Remaking Political Cultures

Political Learning and Political Communication

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