Balancing theory with application and featuring an engaging, student-friendly writing style, the TENTH EDITION of COMPARATIVE POLITICS uses a unique theme--Domestic Responses to Global Challenges--to introduce key concepts and examine the growing interdependence of strong and weak states. COMPARATIVE POLITICS takes an in-depth look at fourteen countries, framed within broader discussions in the part-opening chapters on Industrialized Democracies, Current and Former Communist Regimes, and The Global South. The introduction establishes a comparative structure based on five themes: conflict, democratization, economic liberalization, globalization, and challenges, which are then explored for each country. The countries discussed are categorized by economic development, helping students hone their skills of comparison, synthesis, and interpretation by studying countries of similar economic status.

Part I: INTRODUCTION.
1. Global Challenges.
2. Domestic Challenges.
Part II: INDUSTRIALIZED DEMOCRACIES.
3. The Industrialized Democracies.
4. The United States.
5. The United Kingdom.
6. Germany.
Part III: CURRENT AND FORMER COMMUNIST REGIMES.
7. The Rise and Fall of Communism.
8. Russia.
9. China.
Part IV: THE GLOBAL SOUTH.
10. The Global South.
11. India.
12. Iran.
13. Nigeria.
14. Mexico.
Part V: A FUTURE OF WICKED PROBLEMS.
15. The World is Messed up. Discuss.
16. Beyond the Nation State? The European Union.
17. Toward a Paradigm Shift.
ONLINE CHAPTERS.
France.
Canada.
Japan.
South Africa.
Brazil.

Balancing theory with application and featuring an engaging, student-friendly writing style, the TENTH EDITION of COMPARATIVE POLITICS uses a unique theme--Domestic Responses to Global Challenges--to introduce key concepts and examine the growing interdependence of strong and weak states. COMPARATIVE POLITICS takes an in-depth look at fourteen countries, framed within broader discussions in the part-opening chapters on Industrialized Democracies, Current and Former Communist Regimes, and The Global South. The introduction establishes a comparative structure based on five themes: conflict, democratization, economic liberalization, globalization, and challenges, which are then explored for each country. The countries discussed are categorized by economic development, helping students hone their skills of comparison, synthesis, and interpretation by studying countries of similar economic status. More attention is paid to how systems work, especially vicious cycles and virtuous circles, including an introductory level overview of complex adaptive system theory. Focus on new themes in comparative politics and other related disciplines such as hybrid regimes, the emergence of the BRICS, approaches to development and social capital/civil society. Additional coverage of "progress" in such areas as multilevel governance, the status of women and overcoming the divisive nature of identity-driven politics. Updates on recent changes including: the most recent elections in the U.S., France, Russia, Iran, and Mexico; breaking issues including the EU's sovereign debt crisis, the leadership and change in China; new social movements including the Tea Party and Occupy movements in the U.S., anti-European organizations, new kinds of NGOs in much of the world, "colored revolutions" and other new protest movements, and organizations that focus on identity issues. Critical thinking questions appear in the opening chapter that students can use as a toolkit to examine each country they encounter. These universal questions will help students compare, synthesize and interpret material from the text, supporting a more thorough understanding of key concepts. The text covers ten countries and the European Union in extensive detail. The chapters are organized based on economic development: industrialized democracies, current and former communist regimes, and less-developed countries in the Global South. Boxed features in each chapter make insightful comparative analysis easy by highlighting the nature of conflict, democratization, challenges, economic liberalization, and globalization