Comparative Politics

Continuity and Breakdown in the Contemporary World

Paul W. Zagorski

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781135969790
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Comparative Politics: Continuity and Breakdown in the Contemporary World is an exciting new core text for introduction to comparative politics courses, focusing on the dynamics of politics: modernization, revolution, coups and democratization.

Unlike other texts, Comparative Politics integrates thematic and extensive country-specific material in each chapter, striking a unique balance between discussing a wide range of countries and civilizations in detail, whilst using shorter focused textboxes to clearly illustrate key thematic points.

Key features and benefits include:

• explanations of core concepts such as state, nation, regime, legitimacy, modernization, globalization, revolution, and mass movements
• an introduction of key theoretical approaches such as institutionalism, structural functionalism, political culture, political economy, and game theory
• detailed coverage of democratization, advanced democracies, developing countries and communist and post-communist states
• a range of perspectives to present a nuanced view of the discipline and contemporary political developments
• case studies of individual countries including Germany, the United States, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Nigeria, Zaire/Congo, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Pakistan, India, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China
• country-focused textboxes giving a chronology of key developments, including the United Kingdom, France, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.

Extensively illustrated throughout with maps, photographs, tables and explanatory boxes, Comparative Politics is an innovative core text, and essential reading for all students of Comparative Politics.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. Continuity and breakdown
• 2. Nation, state, “democracy”: How the breakdown of the traditional order led to the modern world
• 3. The requisites of democratic continuity
• 4. Democratic institutions
• 5. Revolution: Breakdown in the face of mass movements
• 6. Revolutionary movements in the contemporary world
• 7. The coup d’etat and its consequences: Breakdown engineered by elite actors
• 8. Military regimes
• 9. Democratization in the noncommunist world
• 10. Democratization and economic reform in the communist world
• 11. The politics of contemporary patrimonial rule
• 12. Hybrid regimes
• 13. New political actors and new ideologies in the postmodern era
• 14. The future of democracy
• Glossary
• References
• Index