A clear, accessible introduction to the institutional regimes of 15 countries in western Europe, by an outstanding team of leading European political scientists. Each chapter is devoted either to a single country or to a small group of countries, allowing students to draw sophisticated comparisons of their political parties, electoral systems, and institutions of goverment at national, regional, and local level.

Starting from the observation that the European Union now possesses many of the attributes of modern political systems, Hix and Høyland take an innovative approach to analysing, researching and teaching the EU. Using the general theories of political science to understand how the EU works, this text covers each of the main processes in the EU political system - executive, legislative and judicial politics, public opinion, interest groups and democracy, and regulatory, monetary and foreign policies - introducing the key political science tools, reviewing the relevant theories, and applying the knowledge in detailed descriptive analysis. As well as incorporating new data and the latest research, this new edition examines the consequences of the dramatic political and policy developments in the EU over the past decade. The methodology used in the text makes the political system of the EU accessible to political science students as a whole, as well as those specifically studying and researching the EU.

This is a clear, comprehensive and authoritative introduction to the institutional regimes of countries in Western Europe written by an outstanding group of political scientists. Completely revised and updated throughout, Comparative European Politics 3rd edition: provides a complete coverage of individual countries or group of countries, as well as to the European Union allowing readers to draw sophisticated comparisons between countries is written to a common template so that each chapter explores political parties, elections and electoral rules, parliaments, local, regional and state governments, and the relations between domestic institutions and the European Union.

A substantially revised and updated new edition of this highly-successful and ground-breaking text which analyzes the EU as a political system using the methods of comparative political science.

A clear, accessible introduction to the institutional regimes of 15 countries in western Europe, by an outstanding team of European political scientists.