This book covers the A/S level government and politics syllabuses offered by the main examination boards in the UK. Written in clear, accessible, easy to understanding language, with checklists, bullet points, chapter summaries, boxes and charts, revision notes and sample examination questions, as well as further sources of information, in both written form and on the web, it covers everything from the electoral system and parties to the EU and constitutional reform.

In this thought-provoking new book, Anthony Smith analyses key debates between historians and social scientists on the role of nations and nationalism in history. In a wide-ranging analysis of the work of historians, sociologists, political scientists and others, he argues that there are three key issues which have shaped debates in this field: first, the nature and origin of nations and nationalism; second, the antiquity or modernity of nations and nationalism; and third, the role of nations and nationalism in historical, and especially recent, social change. Anthony Smith provides an incisive critique of the debate between modernists, perennialists and primordialists over the origins, development and contemporary significance of nations and nationalism. Drawing on a wide range of examples from antiquity and the medieval epoch, as well as the modern world, he develops a distinctive ethnosymbolic account of nations and nationalism. This important book by one of the world’s leading authorities on nationalism and ethnicity will be of particular interest to students and scholars in history, sociology and politics.

Providing a complete up-to-date overview of the changing nature of contemporary party politics in Britain, this book draws on models of comparative politics and the latest empirical analysis to explain the capacity of British parties to adapt to a changing political environment. A number of broad themes include: the nature and extent of party competition; the internal life and organizational development of parties; the variety of evolving party systems in the United Kingdom; and the links between parties and the wider political system. The current weaknesses of party performance are addressed, and the scope of reform explained and examined. Contrary to claims of 'decline', however, the book demonstrates that party politic

Coverage is extensive, and includes terms from the related fields of psychology, economics, anthropology, philosophy and political science. -- Provided by publisher.

In 'Democracies in Flux' Putnam and nine world renowned scholars investigate the condition of social capital in eight advanced democratic nations.

Compares the processes leading to market reform experiments and its political effects in Latin America and Europe

The Conservative Party's periods in opposition have been of crucial importance. They have seen major changes in direction, and often been the springboard for recovering power. There have also been leadership crises and bitter divisions, and recovery was never inevitable. In the first study to examine the topic as a whole, leading authorities present new evidence and interpretations. The book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the Conservative Party and of opposition in modern British politics.

Containing all the information and analysis needed to understand the British system of Government and politics, Mastering British Politics is an essential text. This fifth edition has been fully revised and updated to reflect the results of and developments since the 2005 General Election.

First Published in 2004. The most striking change in British politics, during the seventies and early eighties, was the undermining and then the end of the post-war British consensus. That consensus had been long in decline before the final seals were set by Mrs Thatcher’s victories in 1979 and 1983. The consensus, and the end itself, had profound effects on the British polity: they unsettled the distribution of power within the political parties (and hence the working of the institutions of the government); the direction of economic policy, the character of local government, and relations between government and interest groups were transformed. What accounts for the ending, in the mid-1970s of the ‘policy consensus’ which characterised British politics for most of the post-war period? The essays in this collection seek to explore the causes, and some of the consequences, of this breakdown.