3. Key Concepts – 1: Power, Authority and Legitimacy.
4. Key Concepts – 2: Ideology, Interest and Choice.
5. Models in the Study of Politics.
6. Models of Democracy – 1: Alternatives.
7. Models of Democracy – 2: The Debate.
8. The Scope and Responsibility of the State.
Part II: The Context of Politics:.
9. Political Stability.
10. History, Tradition and Myth.
11. The Economic and Social Context of Politics.
Part III: National Politics in Operation:.
12. Party Politics.
13. Group Politics.
14. Executives.
15. Assemblies.
16. Executive–Assembly Relations.
17. Bureaucracies.
18. Laws, Courts and Judges.
19. The Police and the Military.
Part IV: Supranational and Subnational Politics:.
20. Global Politics: Approaches to Analysis: Charlotte Bretherton.
21. Global Politics: Processes of Change: Charlotte Bretherton.
22. Nationalism, Federalism and Devolution.
23. Local Politics.
Part V: Links Between Government and People:.
24. Legitimacy.
25. Political Socialization.
26. Representation and Elections.
27. Other Forms of Participation.
References
Geoffrey Ponton and
Peter Gill teach at Liverpool John Moores University. Peter Gill is the author of
Policing Politics (1993) and Geoffrey Ponton of
The Soviet Era (1993).
In this new edition of Ponton and Gill′s well–known text, new material on recent events and political changes, especially in Western, Central and Eastern Europe is incorporated into the explanatory frameworks offered by political science. Students are given a superlative guide to the concepts and models political scientists bring to bear on real world happenings. Two entirely new chapters consider the dimensions of globalization, focusing on the interplay between political concerns at the level of nation states and their international contexts which shape national agendas.
Introduction to Politics balances the need for clarity and ease of understanding with the need for depth of reflection on matters of political substance. It is an indispensable volume clearing a pathway for all students seeking to develop knowledge and a capacity for judgment about politics.