Politics
My World
Eduard Altarriba’s Politics, part of the My World series, introduces general concepts of politics and its component parts without focusing on specific forms of government. Though its discussions are high-level, it gives its audience language and ideas to explore further.
The book begins by discussing the concept of power, defining it as “the ability some people have to influence others.” Then it explains some of the ways people might acquire or use power. Brief explanations of social hierarchy and class structures, violence as a tool of power, and the idea of laws and regulations complement these themes.
Because of its nation-neutral approach, Politics covers some concepts, as with the idea of a head of state versus a head of government, of proportional representation, or of elections called rather than prescheduled, in a way that’s most applicable to countries with parliamentary systems. But it also details differences between planned economies and economic liberalism and between dictatorship, monarchy, and democracy well. It defines ideas like infrastructure, foreign policy, the armed forces, populism, and corruption with clarity, in the space of a quick blurb or two.
Throughout, the book is heavy with illustrations—sometimes used to clarify ideas from the text. For example, a section about majorities and coalitions uses a color-coded chart of a seated parliament and math equations about its makeup to explain these ideas. And the broad range of topics covered and the brevity of the text make the book an effective tool for drawing comparisons between political systems.
Politics is an approachable primer that introduces basic political science concepts to inspire further inquiry into how governments function.
Reviewed by
Jeff Fleischer
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
