Politics for Beginners

The For Beginners series is the place to start for curious minds who want to tackle life’s big ideas. It tackles the sorts of subjects that people can study in secondary school and university, that some educators think are too grown up or difficult to talk about with younger kids. We think they’re wrong! 

Politics For Beginners is an informative guide to political systems, elections, voting and government, and issues including feminism, human rights, freedom of speech and fake news, all explained with clear text and bright, infographic style illustrations. Includes tips on how to argue and debate, a glossary, and links to specially selected websites with more information.

This title is also a multiple awards winner! 

Contents:

What is politics?
Who's in charge?
What is a government?

Chapter 1: All kinds of governments
How societies have run themselves from Ancient Athens and Rome, to China, Europe and the Birth of the United States pf America

Chapter 2: Political systems
How does democracy actually work? How do countries get things done? And what about the alternatives - dictatorship, communism and even total anarchy?

Chapter 3: Elections and voting
Who can vote? Who can't? And is there a way to count all the votes up that's fair to everyone?

Chapter 4: Political change
How can people influence their governments in between elections - or in countries where elections don't happen at all?

Chapter 5: Political ideologies
What are the big ideas that politicians use to decide how to run a country? What's the difference between 'left' and 'right' in politics, and why does it matter? How can work out where YO are on the political spectrum?

Chapter 6: Big questions
Sometimes what matters most isn't who is in charge, or what they stand for, but what they're actually going to do to fix the world's problems...

Is there such a thing as 'human rights'?
Can war ever be justified?
Why are some countries poor?
What is terrorism?
What is prison for?
What is freedom of speech?
How does the media affect politics?
What is immigration?
Am I a feminist?
Who's responsible for the planet?
Is corruption inevitable?
How to argue
Learn to debate
What next?

Glossary
Index
Acknowledgements