Polity imprint: 1443 books

Should governments be involved in economic affairs? Challenging prevailing wisdom about the benefits of self-regulating markets, Nina Bandelj and Elizabeth Sowers offer a uniquely sociological perspective to emphasize that states can never be divorced from economy. From defining property rights and...

Political parties are central to democratic life, yet there is no standard definition to describe them or the role they occupy. "Voter-centered" theoretical approaches suggest that parties are the mere recipients of voter interests and loyalties. "Party-centered" approaches, by...

We have long been told that corporations rule the world, their interests seemingly taking precedence over states and their citizens. Yet, while states, civil society, and international organizations are well drawn in terms of their institutions, ideologies, and functions, the world's global corporations...

This introductory textbook examines the role of the Third World and the processes of development from the study of international politics and argues that in an increasingly globalized world development can no longer be seen as an isolated practice.

The IMF stands at a crossroad. Derided as increasingly irrelevant in the first decade of the new millennium, the Fund has had its power and prestige restored by the fallout from the 2008 global financial crisis. But will the resurgent IMF assert a more just and sustainable macroeconomic model and...

Politics was once a term with an array of broadly positive connotations, associated with public scrutiny, deliberation and accountability. Yet today it is an increasingly dirty word, typically synonymous with duplicity, corruption, inefficiency and undue interference in matters both public and private....

Understanding Development offers a comprehensive introduction to the multidimensional and evolving nature of international development in the contemporary world. This new edition has been fully revised and expanded to incorporate the key events, trends and debates that are shaping development today,...

The first two editions of Models of Democracy have proven immensely popular among students and specialists worldwide. In a succinct and far-reaching analysis, David Held provides an introduction to central accounts of democracy from classical Greece to the present and a critical discussion of what...

Philosophers have never shied away from interrogating the nature of our obligations beyond borders. From Hobbes to the international lawyers Grotius, Pufendorf, Vattel, and of course Kant, modern philosophy has always attempted to define the nature and shape of a just international order, and the...

In this thought-provoking new book, Anthony Smith analyses key debates between historians and social scientists on the role of nations and nationalism in history. In a wide-ranging analysis of the work of historians, sociologists, political scientists and others, he argues that there are three...

In what ways are cities central to the evolution of contemporary global capitalism? And in what ways is global capitalism forged by the urban experience? This book provides a response to these questions, exploring the multifaceted dimensions of the city-capitalism nexus. Drawing on a wide range...

East Asia has re-emerged after a long eclipse as a centre of world wealth creation and growth. Over the past four decades the region’s share of world GDP has risen from less than 10 to 30 percent, a ratio that is set to rise to 40 percent by 2030. What has made East Asia’s remarkable ascent...

Few trends have had as much impact on television as formats have in recent years. Long confined to the fringes of the TV industry, they have risen to prominence since the late 1990s. Today, they are a global business with hundreds of programmes adapted across the world at any one time, from mundane...

This is a lively introduction to management, covering an array of management orthodoxies and demonstrating, through contemporary sociological theory, that many of the old approaches are in need of reconstruction.