First published in 1962, Bernard Crick's classic account of the meaning and benefits of politics is now updated for a new century. Crick asserts that politics, with its compromises and power struggles, remains the only tested alternative to government by coercion, making both freedom and order possible in heterogeneous societies. For Crick, politics is messy and complex, and his book defends it against those who would identify it with (and reduce it to) ideology, democracy, nationalism or technology.
The fifth edition includes a substantial new preface and an afterword 'on how politicians can threaten citizenship and common humanity', which darkens and subtly subverts the original finale of the book, 'in praise of politics'. In it, Crick discusses the popular distrust for politicians both in the USA and the UK, arguing that they have lowered the level of public debate for short-term gain; he looks at the tension between party government and citizenship; and he discusses how such short-termism is preventing timely attempts to tackle despoilation of the global environment.