Dr Jacqueline Briggs is Principal Lecturer in Politics at the University of Lincoln. She has served as the Political Studies Association UK’s Chair of their Sub-Committee on Teaching and Learning Politics (from 2005 until 2009). In 2008, Jacqui co-edited the Political Studies Association’s Study Politics guide. This was sent out to every sixth form and college in the United Kingdom. She is currently the Associate Editor of the ECPR’s journal European Political Science and has specific responsibility for articles on the Teaching and Learning of Politics.

• Introduction 1. ‘I don’t do politics’ - what do you do? 2. What is politics? Studying politics today 3. Why does politics get a bad press? 4. Policy Making and Power 5. Institutions and Actors Involved 6. People, power and politics; New Social Movements, Global Civil Society 7. Comparative Politics 8. Connections between Politics and International Relations 9. Conclusion: the importance of politics