Politics

Citation

Heywood, A., & Laing, M. (2025). Politics (6th ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.

Chapter Summary

The sixth edition is a large introductory textbook of roughly 550 to 580 pages (catalogues differ). A library contents record shows twenty chapters in five parts, which are followed here. Only what the chapter titles and the publisher's description show is stated, so the notes on each part are deliberately brief. The publisher says that new co-author Matthew Laing made significant revisions to the chapters on populism, elections, global policing, security and governance, race and gender in politics, and law and the media; it does not say which chapters these are, and the contents record does not either.

Part 1, Theories of Politics: What is Politics?; Governments, Systems and Regimes; Political Ideologies; Democracy; The State

The first part sets out the discipline's basic vocabulary and frameworks: what politics is, how governments, systems and regimes are classified, the main political ideologies, democracy and the state. The publisher notes a re-worked chapter on global political regimes with new emphasis on flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and democratic backsliding.

Part 2, Nations and Globalization: Nations and Nationalism; Global Politics; Subnational Politics

Three chapters move from the nation to the global and the local level.

Part 3, Political Interaction: The Economy and Society; Political Culture, Identity and Legitimacy; Mass Media and Political Communication; Representation, Elections and Voting; Parties and Party Systems; Groups, Interests and Movements

The largest part, with six chapters on how citizens, society and organizations interact with politics.

Part 4, Machinery of Government: Constitutions, the Law and Judiciaries; Assemblies; Political Executives; Bureaucracies; Militaries and Police Forces

Five chapters on the institutions of government.

Part 5, Policy and Performance: Policy Process and System Performance

A single closing chapter on the policy process and how political systems perform.

Key Concepts

Part 1: Theories of Politics

• Regimes and systems: the classification of governments, with the sixth edition's emphasis on flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and democratic backsliding.
• Political ideologies: a chapter of their own.
• Democracy and the state: the last two chapters of the part.

Parts 2–3: Nations, globalization and political interaction

• Nations and nationalism; global politics; subnational politics.
• Political culture, identity and legitimacy.
• Representation, elections and voting; parties and party systems; groups, interests and movements.

Parts 4–5: Institutions and policy

• Constitutions, the law and judiciaries; assemblies; political executives; bureaucracies; militaries and police forces.
• Policy process and system performance.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Wide coverage in one volume. The publisher says the book covers the key concepts, theories and debates, actors and institutions that drive politics, and applies them to contemporary developments; the five-part contents cover ideas, nations and the global level, political interaction, institutions and policy.
• Pedagogical features. Key Thinker profiles, Politics in Action features and debating boxes are retained, and the Politics in Action cases are updated to include the COVID-19 pandemic, populism, the climate emergency, China's rise and the invasion of Ukraine.
• Broader examples. The publisher states that the new edition draws many more case studies and analyses from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
• Online resources. Flashcards, a glossary, additional cases, interactive simulations and web links for students, with PowerPoint slides and a test bank for lecturers, are free to use at the publisher's resource site.

Limitations

• Length and breadth. Twenty chapters in about 555 to 584 pages is a lot for a single term; most courses will assign a selection. Each chapter is therefore an overview rather than a full treatment.
• Organized by theme, not by country. The contents list has no country chapters; a course that wants systematic country coverage needs a dedicated comparative politics text, though the publisher does say the book can serve comparative politics courses.
• No published review was located, so these points rest on the publisher's description and the contents list.

Where It Fits in the Course

Heywood and Laing is a broad first textbook. Garner, Ferdinand and Lawson's Introduction to Politics is a similar broad textbook that joins concepts and ideologies, domestic institutions and global politics. Rom, Hidaka and Walker's Introduction to Political Science is a free, openly licensed survey with a behavioural emphasis and worldwide examples, a reasonable low-cost alternative. Lowndes, Marsh and Stoker's Theory and Methods in Political Science is an edited text on approaches and methods to read once the content is familiar, and Goodin's The Oxford Handbook of Political Science is a reference summarising the state of research in each subfield rather than a first textbook.

How to Use This Book

The book assumes no prior study of politics and suits first-year students and independent readers wanting a map of the discipline.

Readers choosing between this book and a shorter introduction should weigh the extra length against the five-part structure, which makes it easy to read only the parts a course needs. The edition history also matters: this is the sixth edition and the first with a second author, so older copies of earlier editions will differ in structure and examples.

A practical plan: read Part 1 first, since the chapters on politics, regimes, ideologies, democracy and the state supply the vocabulary used later. Then choose according to the course: Part 3 for political behaviour and participation, Part 4 for institutions, Part 2 for nations and global politics. Part 5 works as a concluding chapter. Use the Key Thinker profiles and debating boxes for essay material, and the online flashcards and glossary for revision.