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Democracy is the most widely used way of organizing politics in the contemporary world. Comparative Democratic Politics brings together a team of renowned international scholars to provide a comprehensive review of theory and research in this essential area of comparative study. A key aim to the book is to introduce and understand representative democracy as a political process and contemporary system of governance in need of constant attention and scrutiny. Four important themes include: ? the contribution of comparative politics as a distinct field within political science to our understanding of democracy, democratic politics and democratic theory ? what we can learn from a comparative analysis of the role, functioning and behaviour of the principal actors (electorate, parties and institutions) across nations ? the relationship between politics and public policy formation and processes of democratic decision-making and corresponding policy-making capacity ? how we measure contemporary democracy or democratic performance in both a procedural and material sense. Comparative Democratic Politics will afford new and important insights to the contemporary study of representative democracy. It will be essential reading for all students and academics of political science and public policy seeking a deeper understanding of both the world's so called established and emerging democracies.