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Critical Concepts in Political Science

Critical Concepts in Political Science is a well-established series in Routledge’s Major Works publishing programme.

Designed to meet research, reference, and teaching needs across the humanities and social sciences, Routledge Major Works gather together the best and most influential work on particular concepts, subjects, and individuals. Each Routledge Major Work is edited by a leading scholar in the field to create a ‘mini library’—generally a set of four or five volumes. The sets consist of a careful selection of previously published articles from a variety of journals, excerpts or chapters from previously published books, and materials from other sources which together provide users with historical purchase on the concept, subject, or individual in question, as well as a thorough overview of current issues.

New and Published Books

1-10 of 18 results in Critical Concepts in Political Science

  1. International Political Economy

    Edited by Benjamin J. Cohen

    Series: Critical Concepts in Political Science

    International Political Economy is a thriving interdisciplinary area of study and research based on the combined insights of international economics and international relations theory. It has become one of the fastest growing fields of study in the social sciences, and this new title in the...

    Published April 5th 2011 by Routledge

  2. The European Union

    Edited by Simon Usherwood

    Series: Critical Concepts in Political Science

    In the fifty or so years since the Treaty of Rome, the European Union has evolved far beyond the scope of any other comparable entity. The EU is now a unique model of international cooperation and integration, and its reach extends into almost every sphere of the lives of its half a billion...

    Published March 3rd 2011 by Routledge

  3. Islamic Political Thought and Governance

    Edited by Abdullah Saeed

    Series: Critical Concepts in Political Science

    Islam has had a significant impact on world history, not only as a major religion that has directed the personal beliefs and actions of individuals, but also as the basis of a distinct system of government that has developed its own institutions, practices and philosophies. This new Routledge Major...

    Published November 15th 2010 by Routledge

  4. The West and the Middle East

    Edited by Barry Rubin

    Series: Critical Concepts in Political Science

    Why is the Middle East the only part of the world which has drawn the West into wars in the last thirty years? With a sequence of events since 1945, including the Six-Day War, the Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, and the two Gulf wars, the Middle East has been the most important region of...

    Published October 17th 2010 by Routledge

  5. Civilization

    Edited by Brett Bowden

    Series: Critical Concepts in Political Science

    Especially since the end of the Cold War, the concept of ‘civilization’ has been frequently deployed by those who seek to describe and explain the world in which we live. The events of 11 September 2001, and the subsequent ‘war on terror’, have further elevated the concept's use in the...

    Published June 24th 2009 by Routledge

  6. War

    Edited by Alex Bellamy

    Series: Critical Concepts in Political Science

    Contrary to the optimistic predictions at the turn of the last century about ‘the demise of major war’, the War on Terror, major civil wars in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, and the continuing conflict in the Middle East suggest that the study of warfare has never been so urgent. War stubbornly...

    Published September 29th 2008 by Routledge

  7. Human Rights

    Series: Critical Concepts in Political Science

    One of the most notable advances of the last half century was the development of international human rights norms and procedures, with some degree of institutionalization within the United Nations. Human rights, perhaps as much as any topic of global significance, has reflected the influence...

    Published July 30th 2007 by Routledge

  8. Democracy

    Edited by Michael Saward

    Series: Critical Concepts in Political Science

    Democracy refers both to a political system and a political idea. As a name for a political system, it refers to the fact that the people themselves rule in some sense - indirectly through elected representatives in the modern period. As an idea, it stands for the desire to deepen and extend the...

    Published December 6th 2006 by Routledge

  9. Terrorism

    Critical Concepts in Political Science

    Edited by David Rapoport

    Series: Critical Concepts in Political Science

    Providing a history of modern rebel or non-state terror, this impressive collection takes a chronological approach to the area, highlighting the fact that terrorism as a concept has developed in the form of four consecutive waves. Each wave is characterized by distinctive features - most...

    Published December 7th 2005 by Routledge

  10. Peace Studies

    Edited by Matthew Evangelista

    Series: Critical Concepts in Political Science

    The academic field of peace studies emerged during the Cold War to address the nature and sources of interstate and internal conflict, as well as the methods to prevent this conflict and deal with its consequences.Peace studies, much like political science itself, is an interdisciplinary field,...

    Published April 13th 2005 by Routledge

Forthcoming Books

  1. Al Qaeda
    Edited by Paul Cruickshank
    To Be Published October 16th 2012
  2. Political Knowledge
    Edited by Jeffrey Friedman, Shterna Friedman
    To Be Published November 6th 2012
  3. Law and Politics
    Edited by Keith Whittington
    To Be Published November 14th 2012
  4. United Nations
    Edited by David Travers
    To Be Published January 14th 2013
  5. Politics and the Internet
    Edited by William H. Dutton
    To Be Published January 14th 2013
  6. Citizenship
    Edited by Richard Bellamy, Madeleine Kennedy-Macfoy
    To Be Published January 14th 2013
  7. Information Science
    Edited by David Nicholas, Eti Herman
    To Be Published January 14th 2013

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