The Politics of Modern Europe [antikvár]

PrefaceEuropean politics is a large subject and one whose contours aie rapidly changing. The distinction between western and eastern Europe which informed a generation of political science courses, may soon be iirelevant. The map of Europe itself is being altered by secessions and the growth of European institutions. So rapid and unexpected have been the changes in the late 1980s and early 1990s that books have been rendered out of date before they have appeared in print.A textbook beatment of such a large subject must necessarily be selective. This imposes some difficult choices, of themes to cover, of material to include and analytical approaches. As always in the study of comparative politics, there is the dilemina of whether to approach the subject thematically or country by country. In favour of the thematic approach is that it is more scientific, it allows systematic comparisons and encourages students to think in terms of general theories and explanations. On the other hand, without the historical, cultural and institutional contextprovided by studying individual countiies, the thematic approach can become very abstract, a mental exercise without appUcation. In this study, I have tried to secure the advantages of both approaches. The first chapter is thematic, looking at European politics in general and raising a series of issues and problems. The following five chapters follow these issues through in individual national contexts. The broad theme of the book is to do with the state in Europe, its structures and policy capacity and its relation to civil society. This is indeed a broad theme, encompassing much of government and politics but does help the book to focus on some issues rather than others. There is not a great deal of political sociology here and politics is defined in relation to the activities of the state. There are some thirty countries in Europe, large and small, and selecting which ones to examine is a serious problem. In the event, I have opted for the four large democracies and have added Spain as an example of a historic state which has chosen Europe as the theme and guide for its efforts at political, econoinic and social modernisation. There is also a chapter on European integration, focusing on the European Community since this is a vital factor in the political life of each member state. There are no chapters on tiie smaller countries, on Scandinavia, on Greece or Portugal, Switzedand or Austria, not because these are unimportant, but because neither the length of the book nor that of a one-year course permit it.It is important that students be introduced to data on politics and policy so as