Understanding underdevelopment -- The surge and partial retreat of democracy -- Religion and politics -- The politics of cultural pluralism and ethnic conflict -- Women and development -- The politics of the rural and urban poor -- Revolutionary change -- Soldiers and politics -- The political...

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was the beginning of one of the most interesting natural experiments in recent history. The East German transition from a Communist state to part of the Federal Republic of Germany abruptly created a new social order as old institutions were abolished and new...