List of Tables, Figures, and Photos
List of Examples
Preface
PART I THE IDEA OF POLITICS
1 Politics: Setting the Stage
Politics
Politics as the Making of Common Decisions
Politics as the Exercise of Power
Power and Choice
Politics of the State
Political Science
The Pleasures of Politics
Key Terms | Review Questions
2 Modern Ideologies and Political Philosophy
American Ideologies
Liberalism
The Conservative Reaction
Liberalism and Conservatism in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
The Socialist Alternative
Communism and Socialism
Fascism
Ideologies in the Twenty-First Century
Religion, Politics, and Political Philosophy
Political Philosophy in Other Historical Eras
Key Terms | Review Questions
PART II THE STATE AND PUBLIC POLICY
3 The Modern State
The Development of the Modern State
The Origin of States: Power or Choice?
The State as a Device to Provide Public Goods and Address Externalities
“State,” “Nation,” and the “Nation-State”
State-Building
Government and the State
Challenges to the State
Example 3.1 ■ State-Building in Nigeria
Example 3.2 ■ State-Building in the European Union
Key Terms | Review Questions
4 Policies of the State
The Role of Government in the Third World
Why Are the World’s States Expanding?
Constraints and Conditions for Policy
Defense Policy
Education
Research and Development
Health and Social Welfare
Human Rights
Progress Across the Last Century and a Half
The Place of Power in Policy Analysis
Example 4.1 ■ The Demographic Challenge
Example 4.2 ■ Economic Development Compared with “Human Development”
Example 4.3 ■ Rwanda’s War on Plastic Bags
Example 4.4 ■ Female Economic Development
Key Terms | Review Questions
5 Economic Policy of the State
Economic Performance I: Growth
Economic Performance II: Controlling Inflation and Unemployment
Distribution and Economic Inequality
Independent Central Banks
Corruption
Other Measures Available to Government
Globalization: Are States Losing Their Ability to Make Economic Policy?
Political Economy
Example 5.1 ■ Economic Policy in Germany
Example 5.2 ■ Economic Policy in Indonesia
Key Terms | Review Questions
6 What Lies Behind Policy: Questions of Justice and Effectiveness
The Problem of Justice
Other Aspects of Justice: Procedural Justice
Effectiveness
A Basic Question of Effectiveness: Authority versus the Market
Power and Choice
The Need to Act, Even under Uncertainty
Example 6.1 ■ Political Choice
Key Terms | Review Questions
PART III THE CITIZEN AND THE REGIME
7 Democracies and Authoritarian Systems
The History and Evolution of Democracy
Democracy Today
The Coming and Going of Democracy
Possible Explanations
What Did We Learn from the Third Wave?
Why Are Prosperous Countries Likely to Be Democracies?
Democracy and Freedom
Democracy and Capitalism
Authoritarian Systems
Military Government
Why Aren’t There More Military Governments?
One-Party States
Monarchies and Theocracies
Democracy versus Authoritarianism: Material Considerations
“Power and Choice” Again
Example 7.1 ■ Authoritarian Drift in Venezuela?
Example 7.2 ■ Theocracy in Iran
Example 7.3 ■ The “Arab Spring”: A Failed Wave of Democratization
Example 7.4 ■ The European Colors Revolutions
Key Terms | Review Questions
8 Political Culture and Political Socialization
Analyzing Political Cultures
Religion and Political Culture
Political Socialization
Media as Agents of Political Socialization
Political Culture and the “Democratic Citizen”
How Well Do Citizens Meet These Requirements?
Social Capital
Example 8.1 ■ Building Authority and Legitimacy in West Germany after World War II
Example 8.2 ■ Declining Democratic Legitimacy in the United States
Key Terms | Review Questions
PART IV THE APPARATUS OF GOVERNANCE
9 Constitutions and the Design of Government
Variations in Formality
The Virtue of Vagueness
Other Principles of Constitutional Design
Constitution-Writing
The Geographic Concentration of Power
“Federal” and “Unitary” States
The Distinction between “Unitary” and “Centralized” States
How Much Centralization Is Good?
Constitutions and Guarantees of Rights
Written Constitutions Can Do Only So Much: The Importance of Norms
Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law
Example 9.1 ■ Constitutional Government in Great Britain
Example 9.2 ■ Constitution-Writing in South Africa
Key Terms | Review Questions
10 Elections
Elections as a Means of Building Support
Elections as a Means of Selecting Leaders and Policies
Electoral Systems
Ranked Choice Voting
Referendums
Electoral Participation
Effects of Choice and Information on Turnout
The Paradox of Voting
The Bases of Individuals’ Electoral Choices
Example 10.1 ■ Proportional Representation Elections in Israel
Example 10.2 ■ Elections in Nigeria
Example 10.3 ■ Gender Quotas
Key Terms | Review Questions
11 Parties: A Linking and Leading Mechanism in Politics
The Political Party
Origins of the Modern Party
Political Parties and the Mobilization of the Masses
Political Parties and the Recruitment and Socialization of Leaders
Political Parties as a Source of Political Identity
Political Parties as a Channel of Control
Striking a Balance in Partisanship
Party Organization
Michels’s “Iron Law of Oligarchy
Party Finance
The Digital Challenge to Parties
Political Party Systems
Party Change and Dynamics
Power and Choice
Example 11.1 ■ The Communist Party of China
Example 11.2 ■ Canada’s Political Parties
Key Terms | Review Questions
12 Structured Conflict: Interest Groups and Politics
Interest Groups and Representation
Interest Groups and the Problem of Public Goods
Types of Interest Groups
Tactics of Interest Groups
The Choice of Tactics
Patterns of Organized Interest-Group Activity
Pluralism
Neocorporatism
Pluralism and Neocorporatism: Power and Choice
Example 12.1 ■ Interest Groups in France
Example 12.2 ■ Attenuated Interest Groups in Bangladesh
Key Terms | Review Questions
13 Social Movements and Contentious Politics
Why Now?
Advantages (and Disadvantages) of Informal Organization
Example 13.1 ■ Two Uprisings in Iran
Example 13.2 ■ The “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine
Example 13.3 ■ George Floyd, Police Reform, and Black Lives Matter
Key Terms | Review Questions
14 National Decision-Making Institutions: Parliamentary Government
Head of State
Head of Government
Cabinet Control
What Does a Parliament Do?
Parliamentary Committees
Upper Houses
Advantages and Disadvantages of Parliamentary Government
Let’s Make Sure I Haven’t Made This Sound Too Simple
“Consensus” Parliamentarism
Parliaments in Authoritarian Systems
Example 14.1 ■ Parliamentary Government in India
Example 14.2 ■ Parliamentary Government in Germany
Example 14.3 ■ Should the US Change to a Parliamentary System?
Key Terms | Review Questions
15 National Decision-Making Institutions: Presidential Government
Political Parties and Presidential Government
Presidential Leadership
Presidential and Parliamentary Systems Compared
Responsibility for Policy
Presidential Systems and Comprehensive Policy
Recruitment of Executive Leaders
Review and Control of the Executive
“Court” Politics
Flexibility of the Political Process
The Split Executive of Parliamentary Systems
Why Aren’t All Democracies Parliamentary Systems?
Democracy and the Question of Accountability
A Note on Institutions and Power
Example 15.1 ■ Presidential Hybrid in France
Example 15.2 ■ Presidential Government in Mexico
Example 15.3 ■ US Presidential Selection
Key Terms | Review Questions
16 Bureaucracy and the Public Sector
Public Administration as a Political Problem
Characteristics of Good Public Administration
“Bureaucracy”: A Reform of the Nineteenth Century
Bureaucracy versus Flexibility
The Problem of Protected Incompetence
Adjustments to Bureaucracy
Social Representativeness of Public Administration
The Universal Problem of Bureaucracy
Example 16.1 ■ The French Bureaucracy
Example 16.2 ■ Bureaucratic Cultures in Europe and Africa
Key Terms | Review Questions
17 Law and the Courts
Anglo-Saxon Case Law
Continental European Code Law
The Blending of Case Law and Code Law
Religious Law: The Sharia
Courts
Judicial Review
Independent Judiciary and the State
Example 17.1 ■ The Law in China
Example 17.2 ■ The European Court of Justice
Key Terms | Review Questions
PART V INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
18 Global Politics: Politics among States (and Others)
The Absence of Central Authority
Fiduciary Political Roles and International Morality
Theories of State in International Politics
Impediments to International Communication
Power and International Politics
International Political Economy
The Process of International Politics
The Evolution of the International System since World War II
The World since the Cold War
Power and Choice in International Politics
Example 18.1 ■ Climate Change: A Problem of Public Goods among States
Example 18.2 ■ The United Nations
A Personal Note
Key Terms | Review Questions
Appendix: Principles of Political Analysis
Is Political Science a Science?
Falsifiability
What Makes a Statement Interesting?
Causation and Explanation
Historical Explanation
A Few Common Pitfalls in Analysis
Key Terms
Glossary
Notes
Index