POLITICAL SCIENCE / Comparative Politics

This innovative account challenges traditional views in International Relations by theorising the influence of individual leaders on foreign policy change. It examines how and why leaders shape policy, showcasing Obama's Cuba pivot as a prime example.

In this book, street-level bureaucracy scholars from South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America analyse the conditions that shape frontline work and citizens´ everyday experience of the state.

Inequality is an ever-present danger in our society. This book addresses the nexus between the lived experience of inequality and how it shapes political responses. It offers a powerful examination of how the politics of the UK and the lived experiences of its residents have been reframed in the first decades of the 21st century.

This analysis of the central state’s weakening authority over cities bridges political geography and politics, giving a new perspective to students and researchers in urban studies, geography and political science.

Covering three Lebanese municipalities with striking sectarian diversity, Saida, Bourj Hammoud and Tyre, this book investigates the ways in which local service delivery, local interactions and vertical relationships matter in building peace.

This book explores relationships between war, displacement and city-making. Focusing on people seeking refuge in Somali cities after being forced to migrate by violence, environmental shocks or economic pressures, it highlights how these populations are actively transforming urban space.

This short book explores Sweden’s response to the global pandemic and the wave of controversies it triggered. It helps to make sense of the response by defining ‘a Swedish model’ that incorporates the country’s value system and offers a case study for understanding the ways in which different national approaches to the pandemic have been compared.

The response to neoliberal globalisation in Central Europe has led to populism arising from its brutal transition to capitalism. Kalmar uses examples from popular culture to sport to reject as racist the idea that Central Europe’s cultures are incompatible with liberal democracy.

Experts from around the world review the complex and rapidly changing politics and policies of austerity in this comprehensive collection of essays. The book details the many different means and expressions of austerity since the financial crisis of 2008, as well as backlashes and emerging political alternatives.

Matt Ryan draws on ten years of research to deliver this landmark comparative review of participatory budgeting, or collective decisions on spending and taxation around the world. With examples of both positive change and notable failure, the book shows when and why citizens achieve this, and how policy makers can foster democratic engagement.

This important book investigates how the European Union (EU) can use its regional funding programmes in ways that increase citizen well-being. It argues the case for enhancing the inclusivity of EU growth, which yields the promise of a more legitimate and stronger union.

Drawing on real-world developments, and including international case studies, this book introduces students to the concept and causes of democratic decay in the modern world.