Politics for Beginners

Politics for Beginners by Louie Stowell, Rosie Hore, and Alex Frith is a highly illustrated, fun, and easy-to-read guide to politics in the modern world. This informative book covers political systems, elections, voting, government, and current issues, including feminism, human rights, freedom of speech, and fake news. The explanations are presented with clear text and bright, infographic-style illustrations.

The book includes tips on how to argue and debate, alongside a glossary and links to specially selected websites for more in-depth information. It has been praised for its ability to clearly explain the basic principles of decision-making and political representation: "Clearly explains the basic principles of decision-making and political representation." — The Guardian.

A brilliant resource for all ages, Politics for Beginners explores the big issues in the political world today and political systems throughout history. As described by Just Imagine, it's "An exciting and informative book helping children understand everyday politics." Hive selected it as Children's Book of the Month, and it was featured as a Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week and won the Junior Design Awards.

Chapters in this book include:

What is politics?
Who's in charge?
What is a government? Explore 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 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 you work out where you 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?

The book also includes sections on how to argue, learn to debate, and contemplate what comes next for budding politicians.