Synopses & Reviews
Written by a distinguished group of comparativists, this innovative and accessible introductory text surveys 12 key countries organized according to their level of political development: established democracies, transitional democracies, and non-democracies. The country studies illuminate four comparative themes in a global context: the world of states, examining the interaction of states within the international order; governing the economy, covering the role of the state in economic management; the democratic idea, discussing the pressure for more democracy and the challenges of democratization; and the politics of collective identities, studying the political impact of diverse attachments and sources of group identity. The theoretical framework developed in an expanded introduction provides a rich context for each country study, and clear prose makes the book accessible to students with little or no background in political science. Students will also benefit from the data sheet at the beginning of each chapter that includes basic demographic, socioeconomic, and political information, to aid in country comparisons. In addition, they can use the Geographic Setting sections in each chapter, as well as maps, tables, charts, photographs, and political cartoons to further their understanding of each country studied.
Synopsis
Written by a distinguished group of comparativists, this innovative and accessible introductory text surveys 12 key countries organized according to their level of political development: established democracies, transitional democracies, and non-democracies. The country studies illuminate four comparative themes in a global context: the world of states, examining the interaction of states within the international order; governing the economy, covering the role of the state in economic management; the democratic idea, discussing the pressure for more democracy and the challenges of democratization; and the politics of collective identities, studying the political impact of diverse attachments and sources of group identity.
About the Author
Mark Kesselman is Editor of the INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW and professor emeritus of political science at Columbia University. His research and teaching focuses on the political economy of advanced capitalism, with particular attention to French politics, the Left, and organized labor in Western Europe. He has published articles in the AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW, COMPARATIVE POLITICS, WORLD POLITICS, POLITICS and SOCIETY, and elsewhere. He is author, co-author, or editor of THE FRENCH WORKERS' MOVEMENT: ECONOMIC CRISIS AND POLITICAL CHANGE (1984), EUROPEAN POLITICS IN TRANSITION (2009), and READINGS IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS (2006). Joel Krieger is Norma Wilentz Hess Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College and chair of the Department of Political Science. His publications include BRITISH POLITICS IN THE GLOBAL AGE: CAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY SURVIVE? (Polity, 1999), and REAGAN, THATCHER, AND THE POLITICS OF DECLINE (Oxford University Press, 1986). He is editor-in-chief of THE OXFORD COMPANION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS (Oxford University Press, 2012). Bill Joseph is professor of political science at Wellesley College and an associate in research of the John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies East Asian Research at Harvard University. His major areas of academic interest are of research is contemporary Chinese politics and ideology, the political economy of development, and the Vietnam War. He is the editor of and a contributor to Politics in China: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2010). Christopher S. Allen is an associate professor at the University of Georgia, where he teaches courses in comparative politics and political economy. He has held research fellowships at the Harvard Business School, Johns Hopkins University, and from the German Marshall Fund. He is the editor of THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE GERMAN POLITICAL PARTY SYSTEM (Berghahn, 1999), and is working on a study of democratic representation in parliamentary and presidential systems.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction 1. Introducing Comparative Politics (Mark Kesselman, Joel Krieger, and William Joseph) The Global Challenge of Comparative Politics What--and How--Comparative Politics Compares Themes for Comparative Analysis Classifying Political Systems Organization of the Text II. Consolidated Democracies 2. Britain (Joel Krieger) The Making of the Modern British State Political Economy and Development Governance and Policy-Making Representation and Participation British Politics in Transition 3. France (Mark Kesselman) The Making of the Modern French State Political Economy and Development Governance and Policy-Making Representation and Participation French Politics in Transition 4. Germany (Christopher S. Allen) The Making of the Modern German State Political Economy and Development Governance and Policy-Making Representation and Participation German Politics in Transition 5. Japan (Shigeko N. Fukai and Haruhiro Fukui) The Making of the Modern Japanese State Political Economy and Development Governance and Policy-Making Representation and Participation Japanese Politics in Transition 6. India (Atul Kohli and Amrita Basu) The Making of the Modern Indian State Political Economy and Development Governance and Policy-Making Representation and Participation Indian Politics in Transition 7. The United States (Louis DeSipio) The Making of the Modern American State Political Economy and Development Governance and Policy-Making Representation and Participation United States Politics in Transition III. Transitional Democracies 8. Russia (Joan DeBardeleben) The Making of the Modern Russian State Political Economy and Development Governance and Policy-Making Representation and Participation Russian Politics in Transition 9. Brazil (Alfred P. Montero) The Making of the Modern Brazilian State Political Economy and Development Governance and Policy-Making Representation and Participation Brazilian Politics in Transition 10. Mexico (Merilee S. Grindle) The Making of the Modern Mexican State Political Economy and Development Governance and Policy-Making Representation and Participation Mexican Politics in Transition 11. Nigeria (Darren Kew and Peter Lewis) The Making of the Modern Nigerian State Political Economy and Development Governance and Policy-Making Representation and Participation Nigerian Politics in Transition IV Authoritarian Regimes 12. Iran (Ervand Abrahamian) The Making of the Modern Iranian State Political Economy and Development Governance and Policy-Making Representation and Participation Iranian Politics in Transition 13. China (William A. Joseph) The Making of the Modern Chinese State Political Economy and Development Governance and Policy-Making Representation and Participation Chinese Politics in Transition