This introduction to the study of politics highlights the ideas of key thinkers to illustrate how our whole lives are politically conditioned and subject to governance. Looking across every major component of the disciplinea "at law and institutions, markets and power, and culture and identitya "this book encourages students to engage in critical thinking by evaluating arguments for their internal coherence and explanatory power. In addition, it helps them learn to think holistically as it demonstrates that none of these domains can be adequately understood without analyzing the other two. Indeed, the better we understand the connections between these three major areas of politics and governance, the better we understand politics as a whole.