Book excerpt: The third edition of this popular textbook offers a comprehensive and authoritative introduction to the key questions that will confront anyone interested in world politics for decades to come. This text is a collation of topical chapters, each authored by experts in their own field and written in a clear and balanced manner. The issues which endure, as well as new and unexpected issues, are all covered within this text, with cross-referencing between chapters and to external work. New chapters cover the major developments of this era, including the impact of the financial crisis, climate change, the refugee crisis, the rise of China and Russia. Beeson and Bisely hone this text with their careful editorship. They place this text within the context of the key questions that arise from these issues: to what extent can policy makers cope with fundamental changes to politics, what will the impact of non-state actors be, what can we predict about future world politics, to name a few. This makes the text indispensable to students wishing to understanding contemporary world politics. Being wide-ranging and completely up-to-date, this is the ideal companion for both undergraduates and postgraduate students of internationals relations and politics. The text has been written in a clear and approachable manner to make it accessible to students unfamiliar with the topic.