This comprehensive textbook is the first to go beyond a West European perspective and provide a clear overview of the whole of European politics. Jan-Erik Lane and Svante Ersson address the similarities of key political features among states in Western, Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern Europe and look forward to political developments at the turn of the century. Traditionally, books have polarized Europe by focusing on points of divergence. European Politics provides a thoroughgoing analysis of several converging themes, including political culture, the nature of the state, party systems, and the formation of government and public policies. With this approach to economic, social and political aspects of politics in Europe this major text presents a Europe that, within the context of reform, transition and integration, has more in common in the early 1990s than ever before. With a clear thematic structure and helpful discussions of data drawn from some 30 countries European Politics offers both an accessible and genuinely comparative text which will be essential reading for student and researcher alike.