This concise text provides students and instructors with a comprehensive overview of world politics inviting them in a straightforward and accessible way to explore international relations and its new challenges. A hallmark of the text is the authors' position that politics affect the lives of all of us and that the individual can have an impact whether small or large by being politically aware and by taking action. The eighth edition includes an enhanced art program with 7 more charts and analyses and updates of currents including economic trends possibilities of a new direction in U.S. foreign policy under the Obama administration global environment issues and much more.