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List of Illustrative Material | |
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List of Abbreviations and Acronyms | |
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Introduction | |
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Why European politics? | |
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Why this book? | |
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Keeping it real - and up to date | |
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Where is it going? | |
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Getting started | |
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Europe-A Continent in the Making | |
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People into empires | |
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Empires into nations | |
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Nations into states | |
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States into blocs | |
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The new Europe | |
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Europe's economy - rich in variation | |
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Regions | |
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'Postindustrialism'? | |
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Transition | |
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Globalization and/or Europeanization? | |
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National and patterned variation | |
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Whatever happened to 'the classless society'? | |
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Women - working but not yet winning? | |
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In theory if not in practice � religion in Europe | |
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Composition and identity - multiethnic, multinational - and European? | |
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Learning resources | |
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Discussion questions | |
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The End of the Nation State? | |
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Stateless nations | |
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Belgium - federal solution or slippery slope? | |
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'Asymmetrical' federalism - Spain | |
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The UK - another hybrid | |
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France - no longer quite so indivisible | |
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The EU and the end of sovereignty? | |
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Origins, enlargement and institutions | |
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Integration via economics and law | |
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Tidying-up exercise or step towards a super-state? The Lisbon Treaty | |
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The end of the nation state? | |
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Learning resources | |
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Discussion questions | |
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From Government to Governance - Running the State, Making Policy and Policing the Constitution | |
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Passing power downwards - decentralization | |
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'More control over less' � central government reform | |
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Policy making - sectors and styles | |
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The booming third branch of government - the judicialization of politics | |
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Learning resources | |
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Discussion questions | |
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Governments and Parliaments - A Long Way from Equality | |
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The head of state | |
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Prime minister, cabinet and parliamentary government | |
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Permutations of parliamentary government in multiparty systems | |
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Minimal (connected) winning coalitions | |
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Minority governments | |
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Oversized or surplus majority coalitions | |
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Government duration and stability | |
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Dividing the spoils - 'portfolio allocation' | |
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Governing | |
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Parliaments - one house or two? | |
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Parliaments - hiring and firing | |
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Parliaments - the production of law | |
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Parliaments - scrutiny and oversight | |
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Parliament and government � the European level | |
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Parliament, power and parties | |
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Europe's unrepresentative representatives | |
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Learning resources | |
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Discussion questions | |
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Parties-How the Past Affects the Present, and an Uncertain Future | |
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What are parties, and what are they for? | |
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Organization | |
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Party systems and party families | |
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The bases of party systems � social and institutional, luck and skill | |
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Party system change? | |
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Are parties in decline? | |
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The Europeanization of parties and party systems? | |
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Learning resources | |
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Discussion questions | |
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Elections, Voting and Referendums-Systems, Turnout, Preferences and Unpredictability | |
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Europe's myriad electoral systems | |
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Electoral systems and party systems | |
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Turnout - decline and variation | |
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Volatile voting | |
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Preferences - what makes people vote the way they do? | |
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EP elections | |
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Direct democracy - useful tool or dangerous panacea? | |
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Learning resources | |
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Discussion questions | |
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The Media-Player and Recorder | |
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Variations in usage and style | |
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Structure and regulation | |
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State and public service broadcasting | |
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The connection between media systems and political systems | |
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The changing coverage of politics | |
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Bias and its effects | |
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Pressure groups and populists | |
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A brave new digital world? | |
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'Overseas' news | |
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The media and 'Europe' | |
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Women and the media in Europe | |
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Learning resources | |
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Discussion questions | |
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Participation and Pressure Politics - Civil Society, Organized Interests and Social Movements | |
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Participation - the expanding but not necessarily alternative repertoire | |
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Pressure groups - different types, different opportunities | |
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Pluralism, corporatism and policy networks | |
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Farming - a real world example of power under pressure | |
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There is (still) power in a union | |
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Taking care of business | |
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Rebels with a cause? NGOs and (new) social movements | |
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'Venue shopping' and the Europeanization of pressure politics | |
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Learning resources | |
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On the web | |
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Discussion questions | |
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Politics over Markets: Does Politics - and Left and Right-Still Matter? | |
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Has politics ever really mattered? | |
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Drifting to the right? The centre-left in Europe | |
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Party positions on the welfare state - words and deeds | |
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Privatization | |
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Flexible labour markets? | |
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The EU to the rescue? | |
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The end of the welfare and regulatory state? Separating the facts from the hype | |
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Beyond welfare - and left and right | |
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Why it still makes sense to be different | |
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Learning resources | |
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Discussion questions | |
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Not Wanted but Needed-Migrants and Minorities | |
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Migration into Europe - then and now | |
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Europe's immigrants - grim realities and perceptions | |
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Illegal Immigration | |
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Asylum-seeking | |
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Intra-EU migration since enlargement | |
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The new stereotype - migrants and minorities as terrorists | |
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Political responses - populism, priming and 'Catch-22s' | |
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Integrating and protecting migrants and minorities | |
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Policy responses - towards 'Fortress Europe'? | |
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The Roma - Europe's oldest ethnic minority | |
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No use wishing it away | |
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Learning resources | |
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Discussion questions | |
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Protecting and Promoting-Europe's International Politics | |
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Security and defence � the background | |
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'Old' and 'New' Europe | |
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Still 'the German Question' | |
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Russia - Eurasia's (ex-?) superpower | |
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Europe's Mediterranean 'neighbours' | |
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Towards a European army? | |
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Foreign policy | |
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Europe in the developing countries | |
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Europe and the global environment | |
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Europe as a global trader | |
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Lest we forget - the enlargement and domestication of international politics | |
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Learning resources | |
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Discussion questions | |
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References | |
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Index | |