A timely study of Lipset and Rokkan's classic work, this book examines the significance of the original volume for the history of political sociology and assesses its theoretical and empirical relevance to the present day.

This volume examines how social modernization has changed the framework of political competition for citizens and political parties in affluent democracies, and discusses the electoral and political implications of these trends.

This collection of Lipset's major essays in political sociology is in a real sense a follow-up or sequel to Political Mind and The First New Nation. It provides a broad panorama of continuing interest, developing a sociological perspective in comparative and historical analysis, with particular reference to politics, modernization, and social stratification. Robert E. Scott in The Midwest Journal of Political Science, said ""this book has an essential unity. The subjects discussed are interesting and important to the political scientists and the observations offered stimulating and significant. Both the student and the mature scholar can benefit."" Professor Lipset describes this collection of his major essays in political sociology, as ""in a real sense a follow-up or sequel to Political Man and The First New Nation. This volume provides a broad panorama of continuing interest, developing a sociological perspective in comparative and historical analysis, with particular reference to politics, modernization, and social stratification. The opening section of the book contains, in addition to a valuable new introductory chapter, essays that interpret varying levels of socioeconomic development in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Other essays deal with such matters as the contrasting modes of modernization in Europe and Asia, the role of values and religious beliefs in the emergence of political systems, the effect of religion on American politics from the founding of the Republic to the present. A concluding section analyzes major works of political sociology in the light of contemporary ideas. Many chapters have been revised to include recent data.Seymour Martin Lipset is Munro Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology at Stanford University, and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace. Prior to his current appointment, he was Markham Professor of

This textbook is designed for first-time students of politics. It provides an ideal introduction and survey to the key themes and issues central to the study of democratic politics today. The text is structured around three major parts: concepts, institutions and political behaviour; and ideologies and movements. Within each section a series of short and accessible chapters serve to both introduce the key ideas, institutional forms and ideological conflicts central to the study of democratic politics and provide a platform for further, in-depth studies. Each chapter contains a 'bullet-point' summary, a guide to further reading, and a set of questions for tutorial discussion. Designed and written for an undergraduate readership, Understanding Democratic Politics: An Introduction will become an essential guide and companion to all students of politics throughout their university degree.

The Oxford Handbooks of Political Science is a ten-volume set of reference books offering authoritative and engaging critical overviews of the state of political science. Each volume focuses on a particular part of the discipline, with volumes on Public Policy, Political Theory, Political Economy, Contextual Political Analysis, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Law and Politics, Political Behavior, Political Institutions, and Political Methodology. The project as a whole is under the General Editorship of Robert E. Goodin, with each volume being edited by a distinguished international group of specialists in their respective fields. The books set out not just to report on the discipline, but to shape it. The series will be an indispensable point of reference for anyone working in political science and adjacent disciplines. The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics offers a critical survey of the field of empirical political science through the collection of a set of chapters written by forty-seven top scholars in the discipline of comparative politics. Part I includes chapters surveying the key research methodologies employed in comparative politics (the comparative method; the use of history; the practice and status of case-study research; the contributions of field research) and assessing the possibility of constructing a science of comparative politics. Parts II to IV examine the foundations of political order: the origins of states and the extent to which they relate to war and to economic development; the sources of compliance or political obligation among citizens; democratic transitions, the role of civic culture; authoritarianism; revolutions; civil wars and contentious politics. Parts V and VI explore the mobilization, representation and coordination of political demands. Part V considers why parties emerge, the forms they take and the ways in which voters choose parties. It then includes chapters on collective action, social movements and political participation. Part VI opens up with essays on the mechanisms through which political demands are aggregated and coordinated. This sets the agenda to the systematic exploration of the workings and effects of particular institutions: electoral systems, federalism, legislative-executive relationships, the judiciary and bureaucracy. Finally, Part VII is organized around the burgeoning literature on macropolitical economy of the last two decades.