Includes bibliographical references and index.

Why European politics? -- Why this book? -- Keeping it real -- and up to date -- Where is it going? -- Getting started -- 1. Europe -- A Continent in the Making -- People into empires -- Empires into nations -- Nations into states -- States into blocs -- new Europe -- Europe's economy -- rich in variation -- Regions -- Transition -- Globalization and/or Europeanization? -- National and patterned variation -- Whatever happened to ̀the classless society'? -- Women -- working but not yet winning? -- In theory if not in practice -- religion in Europe -- Composition and identity -- multiethnic, multinational -- and European? -- Learning resources -- Discussion questions -- 2. End of the Nation State? -- Stateless nations -- Belgium -- federal solution or slippery slope? -- Àsymmetrical' federalism -- Spain -- UK -- another hybrid -- France -- no longer quite so indivisible -- EU and the end of sovereignty? -- Origins, enlargement and institutions -- Integration via economics and law -- Tidying-up exercise or step towards a super-state? The Lisbon Treaty -- end of the nation state? -- Learning resources -- Discussion questions -- 3. From Government to Governance -- Running the State, Making Policy and Policing the Constitution -- Passing power downwards -- decentralization -- Policy making -- sectors and styles -- booming third branch of government -- the judicialization of politics -- Learning resources -- Discussion questions -- 4. Governments and Parliaments -- A Long Way from Equality -- head of state -- Prime minister, cabinet and parliamentary government -- Permutations of parliamentary government in multiparty systems -- Minimal (connected) winning coalitions -- Minority governments -- Oversized or surplus majority coalitions -- Government duration and stability -- Dividing the spoils -- ̀portfolio allocation' -- Governing -- Parliaments -- one house or two? -- Parliaments -- hiring and firing -- Parliaments -- the production of law -- Parliaments -- scrutiny and oversight -- Parliament and government -- the European level -- Parliament, power and parties -- Europe's unrepresentative representatives -- Learning resources -- Discussion questions -- 5. Parties -- How the Past Affects the Present, and an Uncertain Future -- What are parties, and what are they for? -- Organization -- Party systems and party families -- bases of party systems -- social and institutional, luck and skill -- Party system change? -- Are parties in decline? -- Europeanization of parties and party systems? -- Learning resources -- Discussion questions -- 6. Elections, Voting and Referendums -- Systems, Turnout, Preferences and Unpredictability -- Europe's myriad electoral systems -- Electoral systems and party systems -- Turnout -- decline and variation -- Volatile voting -- Preferences -- what makes people vote the way they do? -- EP elections -- Direct democracy -- useful tool or dangerous panacea? -- Learning resources -- Discussion questions -- 7. Media -- Player and Recorder -- Variations in usage and style -- Structure and regulation -- State and public service broadcasting -- connection between media systems and political systems -- changing coverage of politics -- Bias and its effects -- Pressure groups and populists -- brave new digital world? -- Òverseas' news -- media and Èurope' -- Women and the media in Europe -- Learning resources -- Discussion questions -- 8. Participation and Pressure Politics -- Civil Society, Organized Interests and Social Movements -- Participation -- the expanding but not necessarily alternative repertoire -- Pressure groups -- different types, different opportunities -- Pluralism, corporatism and policy networks -- Farming -- a real world example of power under pressure -- There is (still) power in a union -- Taking care of business -- Rebels with a cause? NGOs and (new) social movements -- Learning resources -- On the web -- Discussion questions -- 9. Politics over Markets: Does Politics -- and Left and Right -- Still Matter? -- Has politics ever really mattered? -- Drifting to the right? The centre-left in Europe -- Party positions on the welfare state -- words and deeds -- Privatization -- Flexible labour markets? -- EU to the rescue? -- end of the welfare and regulatory state? Separating the facts from the hype -- Beyond welfare -- and left and right -- Why it still makes sense to be different -- Learning resources -- Discussion questions -- 10. Not Wanted but Needed -- Migrants and Minorities -- Migration into Europe -- then and now -- Europe's immigrants -- grim realities and perceptions -- Illegal Immigration -- Asylum-seeking -- Intra-EU migration since enlargement -- new stereotype -- migrants and minorities as terrorists -- Political responses -- populism, priming and ̀Catch-22s' -- Integrating and protecting migrants and minorities -- Policy responses -- towards ̀Fortress Europe'? -- Roma -- Europe's oldest ethnic minority -- No use wishing it away -- Learning resources -- Discussion questions -- 11. Protecting and Promoting -- Europe's International Politics -- Security and defence -- the background -- Òld' and Ǹew' Europe -- Still ̀the German Question' -- Russia -- Eurasia's (ex-?) superpower -- Europe's Mediterranean ǹeighbours' -- Towards a European army? -- Foreign policy -- Europe in the developing countries -- Europe and the global environment -- Europe as a global trader -- Lest we forget -- the enlargement and domestication of international politics -- Learning resources -- Discussion questions.

A thematically-organised introduction to the governance and politics of Europe, this text provides an accessible guide to both the institutions and the issues that matter in a continent where the boundaries between East and West, and between domestic and EU affairs are breaking down.