The second edition of this comprehensive introduction to politics remains an essential framework for assessing the health and workings of present-day democracy. The book explores how democratic processes bring public policy into line with popular, basically centrist, preferences. In helping explain its workings, it equips us to better defend democracy.

Applying newly integrated theories of democratic processes to contemporary developments such as the use of right-wing populism across the world, it is the first textbook to help readers develop and apply predictive explanations for themselves. In doing so, it provides straightforward practical tools for evaluating how current events impact on democratic procedures and processes.

Key features:

• provides answers to key questions such as how much contemporary democracies have lost direction under the impact of populist parties, big business and international threats.
• validated against statistical evidence and examples from across the world, it details more exactly when and how democracy goes wrong and how to put it right.
• shows how to develop predictive explanations as a basis for action, thus strengthening democracy by understanding it better.
• outlines – in easy-to-understand terms – the basic statistical approaches that drive empirically informed analysis.
• in-text features include chapter summaries, reviews, key points, illustrative briefings, key concepts and project and essay suggestions, further reading.

Politics is an essential resource for students of political science hoping a rules-based global order, and of key interest to economics, public policy analysis and more broadly the social sciences.