Politics: The basics

Abstract

The book begins with a discussion of the nature of politics and the variety of academic approaches to its understanding. Chapter 2illustrates the variety of contexts in which political activity takes place. Chapters 3 and 4 then survey competing ideas about the aimsof that political activity.The final four chapters of the book consider in more detail whatand how political decisions are reached. Chapter 5 covers what kindsof decisions are made and how political systems change. Chapter 6reviews the variety of different states. Chapter 7 focuses on howmodern democracies make their decisions. Finally, considering morespecifically some particular areas of public policy making, thexivPREFACE limitations of public policy-making processes and the role of indivi-duals in politics are discussed in Chapter 8.