We now live in a new era of globalization, where instant communications, the emergence of a world economy, a global culture, and new non-state social movements have transformed world politics, making redundant many of the approaches developed for understanding and explaining the cold war world. This comprehensive introductory text focuses on explaining to students without previous knowledge of the subject how contemporary world politics work. An introductory chapter discusses the concept of globalization and summarises the main arguments for and against it. There then follow four sections, covering: * the historical background to contemporary world politics * the main theories that offer explanations of world politics * the structures and processes of world politics * the main issues of contemporary world politics. Each chapter is written by a leading specialist in the field, and uses diagrams, boxes, and discussion points extensively, making this an extremely reader-friendly student text. Each chapter has a guide to further reading and ends with a series of questions.