Daniele Caramani is Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

With an unparalleled amount of empirical material, this is the most comprehensive introduction to comparative politics written by the leading experts in the field.

Section I: Theories and methods; 1 Bo Rothstein: The relevance of comparative politics; 2 B. Guy Peters: Approaches in comparative politics; 3 Hans Keman and Paul Pennings: Comparative research methods; Section II: The historical context; 4 Gianfranco Poggi: The nation-state; 5 Anibal Perez-Linan: Democracies; 6 Paul Brooker: Authoritarian regimes; Section III: Structures and institutions; 7 Amie Kreppel: Legislatures; 8 Wolfgang C. Muller: Governments and bureaucracies; 9 Alec Stone Sweet: Constitutions and courts; 10 Michael Gallagher: Elections and referendums; 11 John Loughlin: Unitary, federal, and local government institutions; Section IV: Actors and processes; 12 Richard S. Katz: Political parties; 13 Daniele Caramani: Party systems; 14 Roland Erne: Interest groups; 15 James Bickerton and Alain-G. Gagnon: Regions; 16 Hanspeter Kriesi: Social movements; 17 Christian Welzel and Ronald Inglehart: Political culture; 18 Herbert Kitschelt and Philipp Rehm: Political participation; 19 Frank Esser and Barbara Pfetsch: Political communication; Section V: Public policies; 20 Christoph Knill and Jale Tosun: Policy making; 21 Kees van Kersbergen and Philip Manow: The welfare state; 22 Jorgen Goul Andersen: The impact of public policies; Section VI: Beyond the Nation-State; 23 Simon Hix: The EU as a new political system; 24 Georg Sorensen: Globalization and the nation-state; 25 Peter Burnell: Promoting democracy

An outstanding group of internationally-renowned comparative political scientists provide a substantive introduction to comparative politics.

Thematic in organisation, readers are guided through a comprehensive analysis of the core methods, theories, and concepts in comparative politics. An unrivalled amount of empirical material in the text and on the supporting website illustrates key similarities and differences of political systems in practice. The wealth of empirical data also encourages students to go beyond the 'what' of comparison to the 'how'.

Combining cutting edge treatment of theories and truly global geographical coverage, this exciting textbook is essential reading for all comparative politics students.