Chapter 20

The British government

http://www.direct.gov.uk

The official website of the New Labour government, and an excellent way of keeping up to date with the latest policy discussions (but remember to interpret them with your sociological imagination!). There are links to sections on crime, health, citizenship, environmental issues, and many more, as well as information on your local council and the central government.

The New Statesman Online

http://www.newstatesman.com

An online version of this critical but independent magazine, which will keep you informed about the sociological implications of political disputes and current affairs. There are sections on national and international politics, economic issues and discussions of health, education and the media.

The Green Party

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/

This organization acts as both a political opposition party and a new social movement. From the website you can find out about the issues that motivate Green Party supporters to vote for them over other, more mainstream approaches to politics. How do political, ethical and environmental concerns come together in this party’s action?

Gender and Political Participation

http://www.idea.int/gender/

This site is maintained by IDEA, the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. It contains lots of information about a project aimed at increasing women’s participation in politics, at a local, national and international level. There are some very interesting discussions of why women are under-represented in parliament and have struggled to be heard in political decision-making processes; you can also find out a lot about women’s status in politics in different countries. A fascinating website, full of facts, figures and ideas to think about.

Domhoff: Who Rules America?

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/index.html

This is the personal website of William Domhoff, whose theory of power elites has been widely regarded as an insightful view of American politics. Here, Domhoff provides an online supplement to his famous book, including additional information, in-depth analyses and updates on particular topics, a useful “Q&A” summary of his argument, and links to other related websites.

Political Research Quarterly

http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsProdDesc.nav?prodId=Journal201839

This is an excellent, high quality academic journal that publishes articles about various aspects of political science and philosophy. From this homepage you can search the content of previous issues to find papers on international politics, public policy, political theory, gender, race, ethnicity and sexuality, amongst other topics. The articles are available electronically to read online, or you can just scan the abstracts of a particular issue.

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Oxford University Press, Online Resource Centre, Chapter 20.

Chapter 20