An Introduction to Politics, State and Society [Paperback]

This major new textbook will equip students with a complete understanding of contemporary politics, state and society in the United Kingdom today.

Key underlying themes include:

• The differences between traditional and alternative 'sites of power' and what we mean by 'political'
• the relationships between politics, society and how individuals become and remain engaged with politics
• the rapid transformations in contemporary social structures and their impact on social and political life
• the role of human agency and its significance to social and political action and movements
• contemporary cultural and social dislocations and their impact on some of the major contested areas of political life today.

Key features include:

• Key concepts and issues
• Key theorists and writers
• Discussion questions

Comprehensive and accessible, An Introduction to Politics, State & Society is an essential text for all undergraduate students of politics, the contemporary state, power and political sociology.

Introduction
Politics, State and Society
PART ONE: POLITICS, POWER, POLITICAL LEGITIMACY AND THE STATE
Founding Arguments
Theorizing Politics, Power and the State
Legitimacy and Power in the United Kingdom
PART TWO: SOCIETY AND THE STATE
(Re)defining Politics
Neoliberalism and the State
The Politics of the Welfare and the Welfare State
Northern Ireland, Political Violence and the Politics of Terrorism
PART THREE:l