Politics affects everything we do. Every citizen needs to understand how the system works and to learn the skills required to influence decisions. The world's most urgent problems are political; for democracy to work, everyone needs the ability to do politics as a basic skill, like reading and writing.

This comprehensive handbook, with its wide-ranging and intriguing case studies, provides the basic text for a new subject of practical politics that should be offered in every education institution. It affords insight into power and democracy at every level: family, office and state, and shows how education in practical politics can enable people to recognize and deal with political problems.