Section I: Theories and methods
1: The relevance of comparative politics, Bo Rothstein
2: Approaches in comparative politics, B. Guy Peters
3: Comparative research methods, Hans Keman and Paul Pennings

Section II: The historical context
4: The nation-state, Gianfranco Poggi
5: Democracies, Aníbal Pérez-Liñán
6: Authoritarian regimes, Paul Brooker

Section III: Structures and institutions
7: Legislatures, Amie Kreppel
8: Governments and bureaucracies, Wolfgang C. Müller
9: Constitutions and courts, Alec Stone Sweet
10: Elections and referendums, Michael Gallagher
11: Unitary, federal, and local government institutions, John Loughlin

Section IV: Actors and processes
12: Political parties, Richard S. Katz
13: Party systems, Daniele Caramani
14: Interest groups, Roland Erne
15: Regions, James Bickerton and Alain-G. Gagnon
16: Social movements, Hanspeter Kriesi
17: Political culture, Christian Welzel and Ronald Inglehart
18: Political participation, Herbert Kitschelt and Philipp Rehm
19: Political communication, Frank Esser and Barbara Pfetsch

Section V: Public policies
20: Policy making, Christoph Knill and Jale Tosun
21: The welfare state, Kees van Kersbergen and Philip Manow
22: The impact of public policies, Jørgen Goul Andersen

Section VI: Beyond the Nation-State
23: The EU as a new political system, Simon Hix
24: Globalization and the nation-state, Georg Sørensen
25: Promoting democracy, Peter Burnell