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Kavanagh et al: British Politics 5e

Chapter 02

Understanding politics

Gametheory.net
www.gametheory.net/students.html
As chapter 2 explains, rational choice theory has been significantly influenced by the findings of game theory. At this site you can explore game theories like those outlined in Politics In Focus 2.1 in greater depth. The site provides lecture notes on game theory, a dictionary of terms, a catalogue of references to game theory in popular culture and, of more immediate value, interactive exercises which allow you test out various kinds of game scenarios.

The Globalization Website
www.sociology.emory.edu/globalization/
Hosted at the Emory University in Atlanta, this website provides a comprehensive place from which to begin studying the ideas about globalization discussed in this chapter. The site provides a glossary of terms used in debates about globalisation, information on contending theories of globalisation and references to further reading.

Anthony Giddens: The Reith Lectures 1999
news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/events/reith_99/default.htm
Anthony Giddens receives mention in chapter 2 for his work in the structure-agency debate. However, Giddens is a prolific contributor to other debates about politics and society and in 1999 he was invited to deliver the BBC’s Reith Lectures. This site archives his lecture series entitled ‘The Runaway World’ in text, audio and video. Lecture 1 is particularly pertinent to the material discussed in this chapter.

John Gray: After Social Democracy
www.demos.co.uk//publications//aftersocialdemocracy
Initially a keen supporter of New Right ideas, John Gray of the London School of Economics switched his allegiances to New Labour amidst a broader concern to understand the impact of globalisation. Although written in 1996, this pamphlet, published by the think-tank Demos, advances a clear argument on the limits of ideological manoeuvre presented by the globalisation of the economy.

The Macpherson Report
www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm42/4262/4262.htm
The full text of the 1999 report of the inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence which famously found that the Metropolitan Police exhibited institutional racism in its conduct of the investigation into Lawrence’s death. As this chapter points out, the analysis offered is a good example of a structural explanation.