limitations of public policy-making processes and the role of indivi-
duals in politics are discussed in Chapter 8.
The book is not divided up in the same way that many politics
courses are into sub-disciplinary areas. But, in these terms, Chapter 1
is about methodology, chapters 3 and 4 are mainly political theory, 2
and 5 mainly political sociology, chapters 6 and 7 are mainly political
institutions/comparative government and Chapter 8 public policy
and administration.
To assist users of the previous editions of the book, it may be
helpful to point out the major innovations in the fourth edition.
These are:
- explicit treatment of the need for political theories and comparison
of quantitative and qualitative methods in Chapter 1; - decline in the partisan interpretation of politics is stressed in
Chapter 1; - some more specific definitions of globalisation in Chapter 2;
- continued emphasis on the implicit message that Western demo-
cratic politics should not be assumed to be the norm in Chapter 2; - a discussion of genocide in Chapter 3;
- revision of the discussions of ideology and the Third Way in
Chapter 4; - more discussion of the ‘war on terrorism’, in Chapter 5;
- linking of the discussion of representative democracy to the ideas
of Burke; - updated discussion of the role of the Internet to refer to blogs and
e-democracy; - analysis of the permanent campaign with more on spin and inter-
national politics; - two new sections in Chapter 8 on changes in the political policy
process and the crisis of modern democracy. This has been put in
the context of the US/UK axis on the market economy as opposed
to the French/German more statist approach; - Each chapter now ends with a list of useful websites, as well as
recommended reading.
This new edition, in addition to obvious changes following such
developments as the departure as prime minister of Tony Blair in
Britain and developments in the ‘war on terror’, has also been further
PREFACE xv