What is Politics?

Colin Hay is Professor of Political Science at Sciences Po, Paris, and founding Director of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) at the University of Sheffield.

• PrefaceAbout the contributors1. What is politics?Colin Hay2. Politics as the exercise of power Liam Stanley3. Politics as moral choiceJonathan Parry and Johanna Thoma4. Politics as collective actionAlbert Weale5. Politics as behaviourWill Jennings and Stuart J. Turnbull-Dugarte6. Politics as identificationVivienne Jabri 7. Politics as gendered Johanna Kantola 8. Politics as institutionalised performanceShirin M. Rai9. Politics as cognitionAlyt Damstra and Paul ‘t Hart10. Politics as ritualFlorence Faucher11. Politics as rhetoricAlan Finlayson12. Politics as the history of the presentAndrew Hindmoor13. Politics as crisis managementMatthew PatersonNotesReferencesIndex

"If you would like the chance to think about politics differently, this is the book for you. It offers a sparkling collection of essays that illuminate the practice of politics through multiple and often unconventional perspectives that should expand your thirst to understand and research politics in new ways."Gerry Stoker, University of Southampton "Political scientists often struggle to explain what politics is, above and beyond what politicians do. Colin Hay's edited book, which gathers contributions from highly distinguished scholars of considerable intellectual diversity, makes it much easier for them to answer this genuinely difficult question."Cecile Fabre, University of Oxford