An indispensable and exemplary reference work, this Encyclopedia adeptly navigates the multidisciplinary field of critical political science, providing a comprehensive overview of the methods, approaches, concepts, scholars and journals that have come to influence the disciplineÕs development over the last six decades.

Beginning with a review of the numerous studies that tend to emphasize the national, societal dimension of the Italian and French communist parties, Cyrille Guiat's book is a comparative study of the two parties from the early 1960s to the early 1980s.

The Government and Politics of France 4th Edition continues to provide students with a comprehensive and incisive introduction to the intricacies of French politics and government. Written by two leading authorities on the subject, this widely used textbook has been fully revised and up-dated to take into account the many changes that have occurred since the last edition was published. Coverage includes: * French political traditions * constitution and the Fifth Republic * the executive * the Parliament * parties and the party system * the Administration * interest groups * local politics * the impact of the EU.

The study of urban political economy needs no justification, for cities are the heart (and arguably the soul) of our civilization, and their political and economic conditions are the linchpins of its existence. But how should we study urban political economy? Urban Political Economy deals with different nations – Belgium, Denmark, France, Norway, the UK. and the USA – and with different problems – expenditure patterns, service provision, economic development, fiscal strain, budgetary cuts, and borrowing systems – but they all agree on two fundamental points about the study of their subject matter: first, that the urban economy cannot be understood outside its political context, just as urban politics cannot be understood without its economic background; and second, that the local and the national are knitted together so closely and so tightly that it is necessary to think of them as forming a single system. Urban Political Economy explores the idea of the fusion of factors by demonstrating the extent to which local and national conditions react upon one another to analyze the urban political economy.

An increasing number of citizens now live in sprawling yet interconnected urban environments, as diversified metropolitan geographies eclipse the centuries-old divide between urban and rural areas. This changing landscape has also transformed local sources of electoral politics, and the resulting patterns of electoral support and participation have shifted partisan competition to the right. This volume undertakes the first international comparative analysis of metropolitan political behavior, termed the "metropolitanization of politics," providing a powerful new thesis for explaining a number of recent shifts in political preferences and voting habits.