Politik in 30 Sekunden

30 Saniyede Serisi

by Steven L. Taylor

You may be OK with standard stuff like Republicanism and Democracy, but do you really know what Neocon is? And what about Oligarchy? Anarcho-syndicalism? Politics is, we are willing to bet, the most passionately argued-over subject matter, and yet how many of us flounder around in confrontational debates because we have no grip on political theory, just a vague notion that they are all out to get us? 30-Second Politics will help dispel this fog of mistrust and paranoia. It challenges political theorists of all colors to come up with no-frill, no-spin, tell-it-like-it-is explanations of the 50 most important political -isms, -archies, and -ocracies that have pertained since the time of Periclean Athens. At no public expense, the book explains each political theory in nothing more than two pages, 300 words, and some propaganda-style imagery, for we all know that a picture opportunity is worth a thousand words of dull interview.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Reference, Economics, Education

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

I am Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Political Science at Troy University (in Alabama).

Reviews

[Khadija Saksioui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Franchement, il n'y a pas de plus simple que ça pour s'initier à la politique. Steven L. Taylor nous explique, à travers ce livre, les differents concepts politiques d'une maniere facile et accessible à tout le monde. à lire absolument .

[Quang Hưng · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think there is another way that's simpler and more entertaining than reading this book to begin your interest in politics.

To be coherent, I prefer to follow each theory by its related theories rather than reading page-by-page manner.

[Isabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das Buch bietet einen guten, prägnanten Überblick über alle wichtigen Politiksysteme und ist dabei nicht überladen. Allerdings ist es auch wirklich nur ein kurzer Abriss für Menschen, die sich kaum mit der Thematik auskennen. Alle anderen werden gelangweilt sein. Es hat mich dennoch dazu inspiriert mich in Zukunft tiefergehend mit Politik zu beschäftigen. Von den Abbildungen im Buch hätte ich mir mehr erhofft... sie wirken als hätten einfach mehr Seiten gefüllt werden sollen.

[Catho · Rating 3 out of 5]

C’est un bon outil de référence, mais qui ne permet pas une lecture fluide d’un trait.

[Husain Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first English book I've read on Politics. It is really helpful, it gives you good explanations on key terms and ideologies. I highly recommend it for non-English speakers. For those who are familiar with political books, the lack of depth would disappoint them. Some reviews seem like they didn't get the idea of the book. From the title, it's obvious to tell that it only gives you a general background.

[Riley Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice quick intro! The formatting was hard on my eyes and there were typos, which is bleagh for such a low density of content.

It was also Western and American centered, though they did try to point out flaws in all theories.

I did learn a few new terms, and realized a few terms I thought I knew were slightly different than I thought! So that was cool.

For instance, I didn’t know that Marx stressed a communist utopia had to come from a fully developed capitalist society. That was interesting!

It also gave me lots of books and authors for future reading.

[Mohammad Mahmoud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple, short and a must read for everyone, especially in an age of freedom of speech but with little experience about politics...Rather than ranting in debates with whom you disagree, calling him "Fascist", this book lays the distinction between the notion of Fascism and the stances of others who you disagree with, Conservatives, Liberals, Socialists, even Nazis...But most importantly, the book is a kickstarter that lays a fundamental description of each ideology, but it requires more reading to understand it.

[Márcio Ricardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Livro básico sobre os principais movimentos da política mundial. Com boas ilustrações, a obra traz as principais ideias e disputas dos diferentes ideais bem como alguns dos maiores nomes. Pra quem quer se aprofundar em política é bom como uma porta de entrada, como primeiro livro, nada mais que isso.

[Sibel Tekdal · Rating 5 out of 5]

C’est un livre qui explique très bien les différentes théories politiques et on arrive à toutes les comprendre sans difficulté. J’ai remarqué qu’il n’était pas totalement impartial mais puisque j’étais d’accord avec le point de vue du professeur ça ne m’a pas du tout dérangé.

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. As someone who has not a big knowledge about politics, this book very much gave me a better understanding of politics and relationships between political ideas. Would recommend it ;).

[Philippe Aubrée · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explicationd rapided et claires de nombreux concepts, que l'on associent d'habitude parfois un peu rapidement..

[Iago · Rating 3 out of 5]

Si te interesa el mundo político, este libro es buena manera para empezar.

[Aditya · Rating 4 out of 5]

the final third needs to be trimmed

[Ivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 - I liked it

This is a nice introduction into the major concepts of politics, government and political economy, all divided into easily digestible chunks.

[Alexandre le Petit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent livre complte plusieurs contributeurs dont principalement Steven L. Taylor, professeur de sciences politiques à la Troy University en Alabama. Il résume en 3s, 30s et 3mn, 50 concepts politiques clés allant du despotisme, à la théocratie en passant par le néconservatisme. Ce livre peut se lire de bout en bout, puis il peut etre utilisé comme un dictionnaire politique d'appoint pour se rafraichir la mémoire. Il est découpé en plusieurs parties thématiques (gouvernement d'une minorité, économie politique, etc.) et entrecoupé du profil de personalités importantes telles qu'Aristote ou Mussolini. A la fin il y a un index ainsi qu'une bibliographie.

Je le recommande vivement pour réussir à comprendre et expliquer des concepts politiques de manière brève.

Voici un extrait sur le communisme pour le plaisir :

"L'élimination des classes sociales n'a pas fait disparaitre l'oppression, elle a créé une nouvelle forme de domination, où la société est soumise au controle extreme de l'État. La tentative communiste d'abolir l'aliénation a conduit à une répression sans précédent".

[S'hi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A curious cross between a magazine and a reference book, this book alternates one page of words with one of collaged images meant to represent the ideas and situations referred to in the text. With a core concept presented in a few brief paragraphs, columns to either side reference related theories, single phrase biographies, a quote, a 3-second soundbite and a 3-minute manifesto.
Of course, the 30-second grab in politics then works its way through you with all sorts of reactions, questions or unsettling disturbances that are difficult to locate and decipher. While this book suggests that it might stimulate further reading and research, it does not provide enough in itself to aid the tendency to argument or debate that a flat statement housed in its own certainty is likely to arouse.
Do not be deceived that this is a neutral representation of ideas. This also means that where you are likely to find follow through on the particular position put in these brief paragraphs is left unspecified. And this of course means that it is not as introductory in nature as it would appear. To be able to make much sense requires some prior knowledge to uncover these questions in a way that can be followed through with in a mature way. There are no suggestions about how that might happen for those yet to develop that maturity of approach.
As I say a curious publication, and one that covers an enormous amount of ground.

[Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read in order to get a refresher in my knowledge on European politics. I went in expecting it not to be the heavy text book explanations studied in any politics class, yet was still disappointed by the lack of depth in the information given.

The structure was clear and useful in dissecting topics, but I did not like that the quote provided as an example was not usually connected to any of the cited activist/ important political figures of the sub topic. This was not always the case, but was the average situation. This was amended by the detailed pages on key figures, such as the writer of the Fountain head for objectivism.

Overall, too dry for the little amount of detail provided - needed a brighter use of language to keep things interesting in the place of the irrelevant pictures often provided which were too bright and distracting considering they were the extra information and not the main focus: notes were too crowded and squashed into the small page space when it could have been a double page spread - the publishing of this was a large part of my dissatisfaction with this reading experience, though in the past I have found this layout more successful with the performing arts based editions of the 30 second series.

I came out of the experience with refreshed knowledge, which I am happy with.

[Ellen-Arwen Tristram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book as part of my resolution to read a little more non-fiction this year, and become a little more knowledgeable about the world.

Well, I'm not sure I learnt anything COMPLETELY new - but it was a great way of jogging the memory about all the different political ideals. I found myself wanting to know more about them - particularly when it went into the biographical details of some individuals - and this left me a bit disappointed. However, the book did exactly what it said: 30 second politics. It suggested further reading if you wanted to know anything more about any of the ideas, so that will have to be my next port of call - I can't mark it down for being a different book than it set out to be!

A good quick read. I think it would have been better as a reference book if I was studying politics, or researching it for some reason or other, rather than just simply ploughing through it like a novel. I might have to learn to read non-fiction books slightly differently than I am used to reading... We'll see.

[Aniytlia · Rating 4 out of 5]

As policy captain on my highschool debate team, I found this novel extremely useful to expanding the knowledge of my sophomores on multiple different governmental function. While this peice of litterature could not stand as a single, focul point from which to reference (but what could yet still retain the short attention span of fourteen year olds?) but acts as a great introduction to many forms of thought. Coupled with its partner "30 Second Philosophies", the book is absolutely essential to any student attempting any debate event, whether it be Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum, Congress, or even the elusive policy debate.
Outside reading is definately suggested, but for those interested in debating and unsure of the vast array of political of governmental differences there are in the world, this is definately a great cornerstone to lying the foundation.

[vin]

got this book from library, exactly what i had expected. a good and short introduction to politics for someone like me who knows virtually nothing about political philosophy. it explains different political philosophy in a brief way, and requires you to do more research by yourself if you want to understand the differences of similar thoughts. the order of the chapters is kind of weird and disconnected (i’m not sure why conservatism is grouped under the “rule by the many” section). but overall it is a good read and gives you a general framework to work on and delve into the specifics of the realm of politics on your own.

[Ann Addley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is exactly what it says it is, it briefly introduces a series of political theories and gives examples of parties or societies that practice them. If like me you have little political knowledge this book give a good general overview of our political systems from which to do further research.

[Sean Goh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good intro to political theory.

Though only one line stands out for me: The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessing, the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. -Winston Churchill

[Nada Hemida · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm finally finished! Phew!
This book was packed with information and interesting things to learn, but my problem with it was that it just felt like they're blurting out facts about branches of politics. I expected a more fun way of explaining political methods and relating them together.

[Xavier Ménard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Les concepts sont bien expliqués, c'est très de base mais cela permet à des néophytes de la politiques d'en apprendre un peu et de commencer le périple souvent très long de la science politique

[run · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful and contains many ideas and simple explanations :)

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent, concise overview of key political modes and concepts. Includes biographies of movers and shakers. Illustrations help reinforce the concepts outlined. Great introductory text.

[Bernard O'Leary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does what it says on the cover: a whistlestop tour of all the major political philosophies. A good primer and well-written, though don't expect any major revelations.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, short and concise explanations of political ideas, concepts and theories. The appendix is huge and people can find a lot of works for further reading.

[Mohamed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Precise & concise.