Politics in Europe : An Introduction to the Politics of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Sweden and the European Union

By: M Donald Hancock

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0333948831
• ISBN13: 9780333948835
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Palgrave
• Length: 574 Pages
• Weight: 2.73 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent Resource for Teaching Undergraduate Courses on European Politics

An excellent resource for Professors looking to assign a core textbook for their undergraduate classes on European Politics or as a supplemental text for Comparative Politics. The book's great strength rests not ony in its broad scope of countries covered (including a refreshing look at the dynamic region of Central and Eastern Europe), but in its treatment of the most pertinent policy issues in an easily accessible manner for students. Most importantly, the book offers a solid foundation for engaging students in classroom discussion and debates, which makes the job of the lecturer that much easier and satisfying.

Fascinating but poorly organized

While this book offers a huge amount of information on each of the countries it covers, it leaves something to be desired: an organized, consistent format. While all of the information I wanted was in the book, I really had to dig around for it- I found the the sections on each country were very dissimilar, so if I found a statistic or fact on one country, I could not simply flip to the same section of another country, I had to read the whole chapter about that country. All in all, a worthwhile read, but I would suggest taking detailed notes so you remember where each fact came from- an index would have been tremendously helpful here.

A very fascinating book

This hefty book is a gold mine of information on politics in Europe. The book has a section each for the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Russia and the European Union, and each section has five chapters: The Context of (political entity) Politics, Where is the Power?, Who Has the Power? How is Power Used?, and What is the Future of (political entity) Politics? Plus, each section then finishes up with a list of resources for further reading.Now, first of all it must be said that this book is a widely used textbook. But, don't let that scare you; it is a very fascinating book. Though not covering every nation in Europe, it does give an excellent overview of the major players. I found the book to be highly informative, giving me a good understanding to how the political framework of each country works, what its limitations are and what its strengths are. And, having been rewritten in 2003, it is very up-to-date, which is a great plus.Overall, I found this to be an excellent resource. If you are interested in really understanding how politics works in Europe, then you must get this book! I highly recommend it.