Culture, Raymond Williams once wrote, is one of the most difficult words in language. Since then the concept has become part of our everyday vocabulary; it is used in a variety of different contexts: to describe the behaviour of corporations or criminals; to provide personal and national identity; it even gives its name to a Department of State.

In this engaging new textbook, Fred Inglis charts the history of the concept from its origins in the German Enlightenment to contemporary attempts to come to terms with the cultural impact of globalization. Drawing on the work of leading...

The question of minority rights is one of the great dilemmas of contemporary politics. Increases in the flow of immigrants, migrants and refugees have raised public concerns that greater cultural and ethnic diversity creates instability within nation-states. But does stability really require homogeneity? Or can it be maintained in the presence of different minority groups?





In this path-breaking book, Jackson Preece analyses whether traditional minority rights theory is sufficiently dynamic to inform effective responses to modern challenges. The...

In this wide-ranging book, Russell Hardin sets out to dispel the myths surrounding the concept of trust in contemporary society and politics. He examines the growing literature on trust to analyze public concerns about declining levels of trust, both in our fellow citizens and in our governments and their officials.

Justice is a concise and accessible introduction to the central theories of justice in contemporary political theory. The book aims to provide readers with a clear understanding of the theories and the main objections to them, as well as showing how these theories engage with one another.

It offers detailed accounts of John Rawls's theory of justice as fairness; the alternative 'capabilities approach' developed by Nobel-prize winning economist Amartya Sen; the libertarian theories of Milton Friedman and Robert Nozick; the 'group-rights' based theory of Will Kymlicka; and...

The demand for equality is central to modern politics. But what exactly do we mean by equality? Does it threaten other important values? Is it a demand we should support or question?

This highly accessible book provides an engaging introduction to the concept of equality and to the debates, historical and contemporary, that surround it. It explains and critically considers how the demand for equality arises in different spheres.

In the political sphere, it explores the relationship between equality and democracy. In the economic and social spheres, it explores the ideal of...

This groundbreaking study sets out to clarify one of the most influential but least studied of all political concepts. Despite continual talk of popular sovereignty, the idea of the people has been neglected by political theorists who have been deterred by its vagueness. Margaret Canovan argues that it deserves serious analysis, and that it's many ambiguities point to unresolved political issues.





The book begins by charting the conflicting meanings of the people, especially in Anglo-American usage, and traces the concept's development from the ancient...

Governance is an easy-to read introduction to an increasingly important concept in political science. It provides a clear overview of how the concept has been used in the sub-fields of public administration and public policy, international relations, European studies and comparative politics.





There is no universally accepted and agreed definition of 'governance'. It remains an elusive theory, defined and conceptualized in various ways. In this book, Anne Mette Kjaer guides the reader through the key theoretical debates which have given rise to...

Global justice has become one of the most pressing issues of our time. Whilst half of the worlds population continue to live on less than $2 per day, there are growing demands for a world where democracy, development and security are permanent features in all our lives.

In this new book, Jon Mandle explores the meaning of global justice and provides students with an accessible introduction to the core concepts and debates in the field. Global justice, he explains, requires universal respect for basic human rights. These rights belong to each and every one of us, and they can be used to...

The Market addresses one of the most controversial answers to the question, 'how is social order possible?' Ever since Adam Smith conceived the idea of an 'invisible hand', advocates of the market have argued that social cohesion, material prosperity and political vitality are best achieved not by central control and planning but by laissez-faire - the policy of non-intervention.





In this book, Alan Aldridge guides readers through the complex interplay between analysis, description and ideology that characterizes social theorizing on the market. A...

Colas draws on interdisciplinary debates surrounding the notion of empire, and offers a survey of different imperial experiences across time and place. Successive chapters consider the imperial organisation of political space, the role of markets in sustaining imperial rule and the contradictory expressions of imperial culture.