Amazon.com description: Product Description: For International Politics, International Relations, World Politics, and Global Issues courses at the undergraduate level.An indispensable "toolkit" for organizing and processing information, this practical text provides students with a mental framework for understanding the historic, contemporary, and future developments of world politics. Using general perspectives and enduring worldviews as a foundation for discussions on more specific theories and concepts, it builds on the premise that a meaningful understanding of world politics consists of four principal elements --1) knowledge of the current world 2) familiarity with its history 3) analysis and interpretation 4) insight into dynamics. It provides a unique and balanced treatment of the competing perspectives on historical and contemporary global issues; consistently and systematically addresses the change--and continuity--that so strongly characterize the field today; and includes a substantial amount of information on global trends, economics, environmental issues, and possible directions of global development.