This ... text supplies a framework that enables students both to navigate and organize the material they will encounter in their study of comparative politics and to make increasingly sophisticated comparisons between actual countries. [In the text, the author's] approach incorporates analysis of the transformative events of recent history - among them, the fall of communism, the accelerating spread of democracy, the economic growth of Asia, globalization, and responses to the attacks of September 11, 2001.-Back cover.