Book excerpt: This highly successful introduction to the world of politics has been fully revised and updated to explore the key issues of the 21st century. The new edition builds on the reputation for clarity and comprehensive coverage that has made previous editions essential reading for students of politics. The third edition of Politics: The Basics introduces all the key areas of politics, explaining all the basic ideas and terms, making it an ideal text for propsective undergraduate students and the general reader is clearly and accessibly written, making use of boxes, figures and tables to illustrate key issues has a wider international focus and includes a variety of case studies and examples contains brand new material on postmodernism, terrorism, information technology, globalization and the media features an appendix which gives guidance to a variety of useful political sources, including books, newspapers and the Internet as well as information on politics courses and associations.