Ethnography is uniquely equipped to look microscopically at the foundations of political institutions and their attendant sent of practices, just as it is ideally suited to explain why political actors behave the way they do and to identify the causes, processes and outcomes that are part and parcel of political life. This volume, based on a special issue of Qualitative Sociology offers an ethnographic study of politicians and political systems.

From Confusion to Common Sense: Using Political Ethnography to Understand Social Mobilization in the Brazilian Northeast.- Losing Face in Philippine Labor Confrontations: How Shame May Inhibit Worker Activism.- Radical Outcasts Versus Three Kinds of Police: Constructing Limits in Japanese Anti-Emperor Protests.- Honor and Morality in Contemporary Rural India.- Routing Conflict: Organized Violence and Clientelism in Rio de Janeiro.- Vicious Virtuous Circles: Barriers to Institution-Building after War.- Are National Politics Local? Social Movement Responses to the 2004 US Presidential Election.- Professional Performances on a Well-Constructed Stage: The Case of an Institutionalized Advocacy Organization.- Field Research During War: Ethical Dilemmas.- Politics as a Vocation: Notes Toward a Sensualist Understanding of Political Engagement.- Afterword: Political Ethnography as Art and Science.