Introduction to Politics

Citation

Garner, R., Ferdinand, P., & Lawson, S. (2026). Introduction to Politics (6th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Chapter Summary

The book runs to 744 pages: one introductory chapter, then three parts that follow the main branches of the discipline (concepts and ideologies, comparative politics, global politics), followed by a glossary, references and index. The parts are of unequal length. Part 1 covers pages 27–176, Part 2 pages 178–408 and Part 3 pages 411–642, so the comparative and global parts are each about half again as long as the part on concepts.

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Nature of Politics and Political Analysis

A 24-page opening chapter on what politics is and how it is analysed, placed before the three parts begin.

Part 1, Chapters 2–3: Politics and the State; Political Power, Authority, and the State

The concepts part opens with the state and with power and authority, about 50 pages in all. The publisher's description lists political power, authority and justice among the topics covered.

Part 1, Chapters 4–5: Democracy and Political Obligation; Freedom and Justice

Two chapters of political theory: democracy together with the question of political obligation, and then freedom and justice.

Part 1, Chapters 6–7: Traditional Ideologies; Challenges to the Dominant Ideologies

Chapter 6 treats the established ideologies. Chapter 7, the longest in the part at about 30 pages, turns to challenges to them.

Part 2, Chapters 8–10: Institutions and States; Political Culture and Non-Western Political Ideas; Law, Constitutions, and Federalism

The comparative part begins with institutions and states. Chapter 9, at about 40 pages the longest in the book, combines political culture with non-Western political ideas. Chapter 10 deals with law, constitutions and federalism.

Part 2, Chapters 11–14: Votes, Elections, Legislatures, and Legislators; Political Parties; Executives, Bureaucracies, Policy Studies, and Governance; Civil Society, Interest Groups, and the Media

Four topical chapters on the standard components of a political system: elections and legislatures, parties, the executive side of government with policy studies and governance, and the organisations and media outside government. The part is arranged by institution and theme, not by country.

Part 2, Chapter 15: Democracies, Democratization, and Authoritarian Regimes

The comparative part closes with regime types and the movement between them, about 30 pages.

Part 3, Chapters 16–18: Introducing Global Politics; Traditional Theories in Global Politics; Critical Approaches to Global Politics

The global part introduces its subject, then sets traditional theories beside critical approaches in two separate chapters of roughly 24–28 pages each.

Part 3, Chapters 19–22: Security and Insecurity; Diplomacy and Foreign Policy; International Organizations in Global Politics; Global Political Economy

Four issue-and-institution chapters: security, diplomacy and foreign policy, international organizations, and the global economy.

Chapter 23: Politics in the Anthropocene

New in this edition. According to the publisher, it covers the climate emergency, the emergence of green theories and climate justice.

Chapter 24: Conclusion: Towards a Deglobalizing and Post-Western World?

A closing chapter of about 20 pages, framed by the title as a question about deglobalization and a world less centred on the West.

Key Concepts

Part 1: Concepts and Ideologies (Chapters 2–7)

• The state and political power: the contents open with the state, power and authority, the basic vocabulary of political analysis.
• Political obligation: the question, treated together with democracy in Chapter 4, of why citizens should obey political authority.
• Freedom and justice: the subject of Chapter 5, paired with the democracy chapter as the book's normative core.
• Ideologies: Chapter 6 covers traditional ideologies and Chapter 7 challenges to the dominant ones.

Part 2: Comparative Politics (Chapters 8–15)

• Institutions and states: the starting point of the comparative part, followed by law, constitutions and federalism.
• Political culture: paired in Chapter 9 with non-Western political ideas.
• Elections, legislatures and parties: the representative machinery covered in Chapters 11–12.
• Civil society and interest groups: treated with the media in Chapter 14.
• Democratization and authoritarian regimes: the regime-type chapter that closes Part 2.

Part 3: Global Politics (Chapters 16–24)

• Traditional and critical approaches: the two theory chapters, 17 and 18.
• Security, diplomacy and foreign policy: Chapters 19–20.
• International organizations and global political economy: Chapters 21–22.
• The Anthropocene: the sixth edition's added chapter on climate and politics.
• Deglobalization: named in the title of the concluding chapter.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• One volume for the whole first year. The publisher presents it as an introduction that combines political theory, comparative politics and international relations, which suits a first course that wants all three in one place. Because each part stands as a block of pages, one part can also be assigned alone.
• An analytical rather than purely descriptive aim. The publisher says the book moves beyond a descriptive narrative to challenge students to form their own views, and that it introduces many approaches and perspectives at national and global levels in a balanced way.
• Visible space for non-Western and critical material. The contents list gives non-Western political ideas a place in the comparative part, a separate chapter to critical approaches to global politics, and a closing chapter that asks about a post-Western world.
• Current material and study support. The new edition adds the Anthropocene chapter and updates covering recent political developments. The e-book and Politics Trove are said to add self-test questions, scenarios, videos and flashcard glossaries.

Limitations

• Breadth costs depth. With about 150, 230 and 230 pages for the three parts, each branch gets roughly a third of a long book. A course that concentrates on comparative politics or on international relations will probably want a dedicated text for that part.
• No stand-alone methods chapter. Political analysis is addressed in the opening chapter, but the contents list shows no chapter on research design, evidence or quantitative comparison; texts built around method fill that gap.
• Topic-based comparison. The comparative part is organised by institution and theme, so country-by-country background has to come from other sources.
• Timeliness. The sixth edition's updates are tied to recent events (the publisher cites a second Trump term, China's trajectory, the war in Gaza and the UN Security Council's role in the war in Ukraine), the kind of material that dates quickly.

Where It Fits in the Course

Within the introductory-politics list, this is the broad, three-in-one option. Heywood and Laing's Politics is described on the site as a wide-ranging introduction that maps concepts, ideologies, institutions and global politics for students meeting the discipline for the first time, so the two overlap heavily and a student needs only one of them. Rom, Hidaka and Walker's Introduction to Political Science is a free, openly licensed text that emphasises political behaviour and worldwide examples, a reasonable low-cost companion or alternative.

For depth, the list offers other kinds of book. Theory and Methods in Political Science (Lowndes, Marsh and Stoker) is an edited text on the main approaches and methods of the discipline and can supply what this book's contents omit. The Oxford Handbook of Political Science edited by Goodin is a one-volume reference to the state of research in each subfield, better consulted after a first course than read as one.

How to Use This Book

The book suits a student beginning university-level politics who wants a single reference covering ideas, domestic systems and world politics. The sources describe it as an introduction for undergraduates and list no prerequisites; general knowledge of current affairs will help with the contemporary case material.

A practical plan:

• Start with Chapter 1, the short introduction, then read the three parts in the order the course follows. Part 1 can be taken first as the vocabulary of state, power, democracy, freedom and ideology that the later parts use, though Parts 2 and 3 can be read independently.
• Core for most courses: Chapters 2–5 on the state and political theory, Chapters 8, 11–12 and 15 on institutions, elections, parties and regimes, and Chapters 16–20 on global politics and security.
• Choose by interest: Chapter 9 (political culture and non-Western ideas), Chapter 14 (civil society and the media), Chapter 22 (global political economy) and the new Chapter 23 (the Anthropocene) are largely self-contained and suit seminar topics.
• Use the glossary and study material after each part: the 16-page glossary and the digital self-tests suit revision better than a first reading.
• Move on to a method-oriented or subfield-specific text once a part has settled the basics, using the 34-page reference list at the back as the route into the literature.