Politics

Citation

Heywood, A., & Laing, M. (2025). Politics (6th ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.

What this edition covers

The publisher’s sixth-edition record identifies Andrew Heywood and Matthew Laing, paperback ISBN 9781350356801, and twenty chapters. Use the selected edition’s chapter map below when locating readings.

• Chapters 1–5 establish politics, ideologies, the state, democratic legitimacy and regime types.
• Chapters 6–9 connect nationhood, political economy, social identity, culture and media.
• Chapters 10–12 examine representation, elections, parties, organized interests and movements.
• Chapters 13–16 move through law and judicial institutions, executive leadership, legislatures, policy and administration.
• Chapters 17–20 address levels of government, security, global order and a concluding assessment of political problems.

These are reading clusters created by this site from the publisher’s contents, not claimed part titles from the book.

How to choose and use it

Choose this as a broad first textbook when its thematic approach fits your course or the sixth edition is prescribed. Read chapters 1–5 first, then choose a route: 10–12 for representation and groups, 13–16 for institutions and policy, or 17–19 for politics across territorial levels. Use chapter 20 to revisit the relationship between concepts and judgments.

For each topic, write one empirical question and one normative question. For a legislature, an empirical question might concern how a stated procedure changes which proposals reach a final vote. A normative question might ask what fair access to proposing an alternative requires. A numerical result does not settle the second question without an explicit criterion.

The free OpenStax survey is a reasonable alternative if cost is the main constraint; reading two surveys in parallel can duplicate the same orientation. Lowndes, Marsh and Stoker’s methods collection serves a different role once you need to design evidence for a specific question. A broad survey supplies vocabulary and a map, rather than advanced statistics or definitive current information about any country’s legal rules.

Strengths and limits of this selection

Thematic organization allows concepts, collective actors and institutions to be studied together. The publisher also lists study features and a companion resource site. These support selective revision, but a glossary or flashcard cannot demonstrate that a reader can compare explanations or defend a conclusion.

The breadth of twenty chapters calls for selection. If your course requires sustained country-by-country comparison or specialist constitutional analysis, add the relevant assigned sources. This assessment is based on the publisher’s description and contents, not a claim of classroom testing or a cover-to-cover review.

Edition and access check

The US publisher record dates this paperback to January 2025; the UK record dates the same ISBN to November 2024. The catalogue retains the valid US release year, 2025. This regional difference is not a reason to invent another edition.

Publisher-provided learning aids are separate from the textbook. Free access to selected companion materials does not establish a free full-book entitlement. Current institutional and electoral rules require current primary sources; the book’s examples are starting points for academic inquiry.