Provides new focus on the international issues that have arisen in the post-9/11 world. The authors have further improved readability with better integration of visuals (maps, figures, tables) and by streamlining text. New in Chapter 1: Additional discussion of "North and South" relationship in the classification of nations. (Previously classified as "First, Second, and Third Worlds"); coverage of religious beliefs and their political consequences is expanded in the wake of 9/11; new box: "Osama bin Laden, Al Quaeda, and the Taliban" explains who these people/groups are the relationships/connections and also the differences among them. New in Chapter 2: Inclusion of social factors in the discussion of "structural functionalism" additional coverage in both text and figures; updated Russian comparison, which compares the structure and function of Russia's political system in 1985 and in 2002. New in Chapter 4: New box providing coverage of "attacks on globalization" the issues behind a 2001 protest at the G8 Summit Meeting in Genoa and the effects (or lack thereof) on elections and goals of the summit. New in Chapter 5: Expansion of the range of classifications of Competitive Party Systems to include majority-coalition systems and accommodative systems. New in Chapter 7: Thoroughly updated examples of global and national income distribution, political rights and liberties ratings, and domestic welfare outcomes.