Product Description: Social structure may historically have been of primary importance in accounting for the attitudes and behaviour of many citizens, but now changes in social structure have diminished the role played by class and religious affiliation, whilst the significance of personality in political leadership has increased...read more

Product Description: Who are the cabinet ministers in Western Europe? Are they prepared for their tasks by the jobs which they did before - do specialists, for instance, come to take on the task of running specialist ministries? Are these ministers, on the other hand, politically prepared for being in government? Do they all go through an apprenticeship in Parliament? As a matter of fact, they do not and, in several Continental countries, not just France, but also the Netherlands, Austria, or Norway, many ministers come to office without a parliamentary background...read more