The great merit of Andrew Heywood's book is that he takes ideology seriously, and explores patiently and with admirable clarity the different characteristics of the classic western ideologies, as well as the new themes and directions of recent ideological thought. He has produced one of the best available introductions to the subject anywhere in print. This substantially revised third edition of this text on political ideologies takes full account of the impact of the post-Cold War world order, the challenge of postmodernism, the advance of globalization and the advent of global terrorism, and includes additional coverage of the prospects for ideologies in the 21st century.