Karl Marx called religion "the opium of the masses" because of the illusory relief it offered from the cold realities of capitalism. Today, the hard reality that we must face is that we have fundamentally and irrevocably damaged life on Earth, and while distracting opiates are everywhere, it is clear that the root cause is none other than capitalism itself.

Building upon a completely unexplored facet of Marx's thought that has been lying dormant for more than a century, Japanese sta...

Since their classic volume The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes was published in 1978, Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan have increasingly focused on the questions of how, in the modern world, nondemocratic regimes can be eroded and democratic regimes crafted. In Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation, they break new ground in numerous areas.

They reconceptualize the major types of modern nondemocratic regimes and point out for each type the available paths to democratic transition a...

Designed specifically for introductory globalization courses, Introducing Globalization helps students to develop informed opinions about globalization, inviting them to become participants rather than just passive learners. Identifies and explores the major economic, political and social ties that comprise contemporary global interdependencyExamines a broad sweep of topics, from the rise of transnational corporations and global commodity chains, to global health challenges and policies, to i...

European Union Politics is the most complete and issues-led introductory textbook on the European Union. Written by an expert team of contributors, it fully equips students to understand the European Union and the topical debates that surround it. Alongside rigorous coverage of the theory, institutions, and policies of the EU, the book engages with contemporary debates, and current crises.

The seventh edition has been substantially updated, with significantly revised chapters on Brexit and th...

Renowned philosopher Leszek Kolakowski was one of the first scholars to reveal both the shortcomings and the dangers posed by communist regimes. He now presents, for the first time in one paperback volume, his definitive Main Currents of Marxism: "A prophetic work," according to the Library of Congress, that provides "the most lucid and comprehensive history of the origins, structure, and posthumous development of the system of thought that had the greatest impact on the 20th century."

The fifth edition of this seminal textbook by best-selling author Andrew Heywood continues to lead the way in providing a comprehensive and authoritative introduction to politics. Renowned for its engaging and accessible style, this book helps students to understand the discipline's foundational concepts and theories and use these to make sense of its key subfields, from elections and voting to security and global governance. Systematically revised and updated throughout, it also uses a range...

James Scott taught us what's wrong with seeing like a state. Now, in his most accessible and personal book to date, the acclaimed social scientist makes the case for seeing like an anarchist. Inspired by the core anarchist faith in the possibilities of voluntary cooperation without hierarchy, Two Cheers for Anarchism is an engaging, high-spirited, and often very funny defense of an anarchist way of seeing--one that provides a unique and powerful perspective on everything from everyday social ...

Written by celebrated scholar Joseph Nye and new co-author David Welch, Understanding Global Conflict and Cooperation is a concise and penetrating introduction to world politics in an era of complex interdependence. This text employs lessons from theory and history to examine conflict and cooperating among global actors and thus to provide readers with a durable analytical framework. From twentieth and twenty-first century wars to global finance and global governance, Understanding Global Con...

Since the end of the Cold War, conflict prevention and resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding have risen to the top of the international agenda. The fourth edition of this hugely popular text explains the key concepts, charts the development of the field, evaluates successes and failures, and assesses the main current challenges and debates in the second decade of the twenty-first century. In response to ongoing changes in the dynamics of global conflict, including the events and conseque...

Fully updated to reflect changes in policy, practice, economics and culture, the third edition of this well-respected guide offers an invaluable, authoritative and concise introduction to community development.