Content:Politics: setting the stage I -- Modern ideologies and political philosophy --The modern state -- Policies of the state -- Economic policy of the state -- What lies behind policy : questions of justice and effectiveness -- Democracies and authoritarian systems -- Political culture and political socialization -- Constitutions and the design of government -- Elections -- Parties: a linking and leading mechanism in politics --Structured conflict: interest groups and politics -- Social movement and contentious politics -- National decision making institutions :parliamentary government -- National decision making institutions: presidential government -- Bureaucracy and the public sector -- Law and the courts -- Global politics: politics among states (and others).

Includes index and glossary.