This is the first book in either English or German to analyse the development of Germany's newest political party, the Left Party. It compares and contrasts the party's development with that of Germany's most well-known outsider party - the Greens. It also analyses the party's performance in office in two eastern German Lander.

Analyzes why Left Parties enter national government, what they do when they get there and what effect this has on them. Alongside two comparative chapters, this book features detailed case-studies of European Left Parties in government.

Covering the history, governing institutions, and policies of the European Union, Jonathan Olsen and John McCormick present the EU as one of the world's economic and political superpowers, which has brought far-reaching changes to the lives of Europeans and has helped its member states to take a newly assertive role on the global stage. Unlike most other books on the EU, this text pays particular attention to the implications of the EU for the United States.

Thoroughly revised, with new photographs and updated tables and figures, the sixth edition of The European Union explains...