Politics for Beginners

Highly illustrated fun and easy-to-read guide to politics in the modern world.
A highly illustrated, fun and easy-to-read guide to politics in the modern world.

An informative guide to political systems, elections, voting and government, and issues including feminism, human rights, freedom of speech and fake news, all explained with clear text and bright, infographic style illustrations.

Includes tips on how to argue and debate, a glossary, and links to specially selected websites with more information.

"Clearly explains the basic principles of decision-making and political representation."
The Guardian

"A brilliant resource for all ages, this book explores the big issues in both the political world today & political systems throughout history."
Just Imagine

"An exciting and informative book helping children understand everyday politics."
Hive, selected as Children's Book of the Month

- A Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week
- Winner of the Junior Design Awards

Chapters in this book include:
- What is politics?
- Who's in charge?
- What is a government?

All kinds of governments
How societies have run themselves from Ancient Athens and Rome, to China, Europe and the Birth of the United States of America

Political systems
How does democracy actually work? How do countries get things done? And what about the alternatives - dictatorship, communism and even total anarchy?

Elections and voting
Who can vote? Who can't? And is there a way to count all the votes up that's fair to everyone?

Political change
How can people influence their governments in between elections - or in countries where elections don't happen at all?

Political ideologies
What are the big ideas that politicians use to decide how to run a country? What's the difference between 'left' and 'right' in politics, and why does it matter? How can work out where YO are on the political spectrum?

Big questions
Sometimes what matters most isn't who is in charge, or what they stand for, but what they're actually going to do to fix the world's problems...

- Is there such a thing as 'human rights'?
- Can war ever be justified?
- Why are some countries poor?
- What is terrorism?
- What is prison for?
- What is freedom of speech?
- How does the media affect politics?
- What is immigration?
- Am I a feminist?
- Who's responsible for the planet?
- Is corruption inevitable?
- How to argue
- Learn to debate
- What next?