Description
Book SynopsisThis is a major textbook in European politics. Comparative in approach, it examines the problems of West European democracies in the era of the Single European Act and the Treaty of Maastricht. Allum discusses the politics of the four major Western European countries -- Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
Trade Review"It is highly readable and a book I shall recommend to students."
Jack Hayward, Centre for European Politics, University of Oxford "This book has much to commend it, not least its highly convincing attempt to fuse a 'conventional' political science approach with a public policy framework to offer a deeper understanding of western Europe's political systems ... the rather unorthodox comparative framework is one [students of German politics] may find stimulating." German Politics
"Very impressive." West European Politics
"This enormously ambitious work adopts a conventional thematic approach based on case studies of Britain, France, (West) Germany and Italy, but sets different priorities to those of other available textbooks. Explicitly analytical, it examines the relationship between the democratic constitutional state and capitalist society in Western Europe ... Its depth and comprehensiveness would recommend it as a 'review' text." Political Studies
"State and Society in Western Europe will prove to be a major textbook on European institutions and developments. It is a highly readable contemporary and comparative presentation of four European democracies and their institutions." Times Higher Education Supplement
Table of ContentsList of Figures.
List of Tables.
Introduction.
Part I: The Economic System: .
1. Mixed Economies.
Part II: Civil Society: .
2. Class, Gender and Race.
3. The Forming of Civil Society.
4. The Changing of Civil Society.
5. Parties and Party Systems.
6. Groups and Interest Intermediation.
Part III: The State:.
7. Government and Executive Power.
8. Public Administration and the Policy Process.
9. Subcentral Government and Centre-Local Relations.
10. The State and Invisible Power.
11. Actual Democracy in Western Europe since the War.
Notes.
References.
Index.
