Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents: The Idea of politics: Politics: setting the stage -- Modern ideologies and political philosophy -- The State and public policy: The Modern state -- Policies of the state -- Economic policy and the political economy of the state -- Political choices: the problems of justice and efficiency -- The Citizen and the regime: Authority and legitimacy: the state and the citizen -- Democracy and autocracy -- The Apparatus of governance: Constitutions and the design of government -- Elections -- Parties: a linking and leading mechanism in politics -- Structured conflict: interest groups and politics -- Social movements and contentious politics -- National decision-making institutions: parliamentary government -- National decision-making institutions: presidential government -- Bureaucracy and the public sector -- Law and the courts -- International politics: Global politics: politics among states and others -- Appendix.