With more in-depth coverage of current political controversies than any other reference guide, 'Political Handbook of the World 2012' is the most authoritative source for finding complete facts and analysis on each country's governmental and political makeup.

Political Handbook of the World annually provides up-to-date political information on all the world's countries in a balanced, accurate and comprehensive manner. A singular and authoritative reference work for nearly 70 years, each new volume builds on the research and scholarship of previous editions, offering rare insight into stories making headlines, judiciously outlining contemporary conflicts and analysing current foreign policy within the informed context of past events and decisions. It is considered to be the single-volume reference work of choice for libraries, diplomats, academic faculties, international corporations, and others needing accurate, timely information.

The purpose of the book is to ascertain whether there is a generic impact that ‘religion’ brings to bear on recent political changes in the modern world. Over the last two decades or so, there have been increasing numbers of political issues with which various manifestations of religion engage. This impact is not restricted exclusively to countries in the ‘developed’ or ‘developing’ world. Instead, we seem to be seeing a widespread impact of religion on politics which defies earlier assumptions about secularisation. This presumed that the more ‘modern’ a country is then the less likely it is that religion will play a significant political role. Recent evidence is, however, firmly to the contrary: the degree of ‘modernity’ in a country does not correspond well with the amount of ‘religiosity’ in a country, nor with the role that religion can play in politics. The book focuses on the recent return of religion to politics. It assesses how religion is involved in recent examples of political change in various countries, including the impact of religion on democratization. The book features both theoretical chapters and case studies. The case studies examine different countries (Israel, Egypt, Morocco, and Iran) and regions (Sub-Saharan Africa), with a focus on Islam, Judaism and Protestantism and Catholicism. The overall aim is to get a sense of what is happening when religion and politics interact. The chapters in this book were originally published in Democratization.

Published since 1928, the Political Handbook of the World provides timely, thorough, and accurate political information with more in-depth coverage of current political controversies and political parties than any other reference guide. The updated 2016–2017 Edition continues this legacy as the most authoritative source for finding complete facts and analysis on each country’s governmental and political makeup. Political science and international relations scholars have revised this edition, and made understanding complex foreign affairs andpolitical situations easy and accessible. With more than 200 entries on countries and territories throughout the world, housed in one place, these volumes are renowned for their extensive coverage of all major and minor political parties and groups in each political system. They also provide names of key ambassadors and international memberships of each country, plus detailed profiles of more than 30 intergovernmental organizations and United Nations agencies. This comprehensive update will include coverage of current events, issues, crises, and controversies from the course of the last two years, including: The closely-watched U.S. presidential election The effect of the Brexit referendum and installment of a new British prime minister The extensive investigation and subsequent impeachment of Brazil’s president The far-reaching impact of the “Panama Papers” scandal Changes in U.S.–Cuba diplomatic relations and the reopening of their embassies The unconstitutional declaration of Gambia as an Islamic State Sentiments about the migrant and refugee crisis across Europe and the influence on policy Also, the new “For Further Reference” feature included for every country entry directs readers to additional resources to continue their research.

How well is the field of political studies doing and where is it headed? These questions are answered by this broad world overview of political science, its advances and shortcomings, along with prescriptions for the future in the first decades of the 21th century. The volume includes three world regional assessments of the discipline by senior scholars along with an in-depth survey of various sub-disciplinary fields and a concluding critical essay on the future of political studies. Great as a text book, i.e., an introductory global overview.

The Political Handbook of the World provides timely, thorough, and accurate political information, with more in-depth coverage of current political controversies than any other reference guide. The updated 2018-2019 edition will continue to be the most authoritative source for finding complete facts and analysis on each country’s governmental and political makeup. Compiling in one place more than 200 entries on countries and territories throughout the world, this volume is renowned for its extensive coverage of all major and minor political parties and groups in each political system. It also provides names of key ambassadors and international memberships of each country, plus detailed profiles of more than 30 intergovernmental organizations and UN agencies. This comprehensive update will include coverage of current events, issues, crises, and controversies from the course of the last two years, including: Elections across Europe Referendum in Ireland Rohingya genocide in Myanmar The Venezuelan dictatorship The renaming of Swaziland to eSwatini Qatar diplomacy changes Historic meeting between the United States and North Korea Establishment of a new governing coalition in Liberia

The recent global financial crisis illustrates how fragile economic globalization is and how vulnerable all global citizens are to economic events outside their own country. Indeed, global economics is more important for national economic growth than domestic policies. Globalization and change interact and shape the economic environment for citizens and enterprises. These essays represent observations made over a ten-year period which attempt to analyze what is happening, why it happened and the impact on global and national economic growth. Readers may not find solutions or answers to all the perplexing events in the world, but they will gain a better understanding of how global politics and economics work, and in some cases, how they should but actually do not work.

The new and updated edition of Political Islam, World Politics and Europe focusses on the shift within political Islam, in light of 9/11 and the events of the Arab Spring, from a jihadist struggle, to institutional Islamism. Refuting what has often been referred to by commentators as the ‘moderation,’ of Islamism, the second edition of this book introduces the concept of ‘institutional,’ Islamism, a process which Tibi argues was accelerated in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Both jihadist and institutional Islamism pursue the same goal of an Islamist state, but disagree fundamentally on the strategy for achieving it. Whilst jihadism is committed to the idea of a (violent) Islamic world revolution, institutional Islamism embraces political institutions as a means to an end. Turning to the events of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt this book attempts to determine whether an abandonment of violence is enough to underpin a shift to genuine democracy. Analysing the fall of Morsi in particular, Tibi questions what lessons can be learnt from his presidency, and argues that this event will not change the overall trend of development from jihadism to institutional Islamism A timely addition to existing literature, this book will be of interest to students and scholars studying Middle Eastern and European Politics, Political Islam and International Relations.

The arrival of the participatory web 2.0 has been hailed by many as a media revolution, bringing with it new tools and possibilities for direct political action. Through specialised online platforms, mainstream social media or blogs, citizens in many countries are increasingly seeking to have their voices heard online, whether it is to lobby, to support or to complain about their elected representatives. Politicians, too, are adopting "new media" in specific ways, though they are often criticised for failing to seize the full potential of online tools to enter into dialogue with their electorates. Bringing together perspectives from around the world, this volume examines emerging forms of citizen participation in the face of the evolving logics of political communication, and provides a unique and original focus on the gap which exists between political uses of digital media by the politicians and by the people they represent.