A rusty PICKUP TRUCK sputters into the driveway, stopping inDo political parties merely represent divisions in society? Until now, scholars and other observers have generally agreed that they do. Ten feet tall by five feet wide. A SIGN over the archway reads: BUILDING BLOCKS ORPHANAGE Below the sign, a LARGE CROSS. BUILDING BLOCKS ORPHANAGE - MORNING A large VICTORIAN HOUSE somewhere in New England with sprawling, wooded grounds behind it.

With this tightly-integrated volume, de Leon, Desai and TuДџal establish a compelling agenda for political sociology.'вЂ”Elisabeth S. Ranging across continents and centuries, addressing cases of both successful and failed articulation, the chapters underscore the importance of parties in structuring the relationships between states and civil society. Parties, in this analysis, actively articulate identities, cleavages, and interests that sustain and are sustained by the governments they make. The combination of an agenda-setting statement with empirical case studies allows the book to make an effective and forceful case for the political articulation approach.'вЂ”Isaac William Martin, Professor of Sociology, University of California - San Diego' Building Blocs is a powerful counter to sociological arguments that present politics as a reflection of social ties and identities.