How to Think about Politics : A Guide in Five Parts

It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by politics. Rather than getting caught up in the swirl of day-to-day politics, Peter Allen suggests that we return to the fundamentals and cultivate a set of tools and perspectives to help us interpret events. This book is his concise and accessible guide on how to do so. Mixing contemporary political science research with real-life examples, the book focuses on five ideas that can help readers to understand political events in a new way. A surprising discussion of key political ideas, this book offers new tools for thinking about politics and asking political questions to help readers interrogate their own political choices.

It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by politics. At a time when many of us want to grasp what is going on, it is getting harder to do so. Rather than becoming caught up in the swirl of day-to-day events, Peter Allen suggests that we instead return to the fundamentals and cultivate a set of tools and perspectives to help us interpret the political world. How to Think About Politics is his concise and accessible guide to doing so. Mixing contemporary political science research with real-life examples, the book focuses on five ideas that will help readers to consider political events in a new way. Exploring power, representation, knowledge, interests, and possibility, this book offers tools for thinking about politics that will help readers interrogate their own political choices. Underlining the importance of these five fundamental political ideas, Allen makes the case that the scope of what politics is and what it can achieve is often greater than we are told.