June 2011, Paperback, £19.99, ISBN 978-0-230-30075-0

An interdisciplinary study providing first-hand evidence of the everyday lives of politicians; what politicians actually do on 'the backstage' in political organizations.

The book offers answers to the widely discussed phenomena of disenchantment with politics and depoliticization.


'...yet another thought provoking and elegant book by Ruth Wodak...a valuable contribution to the analysis of everyday political routines...' - Anna Horoletz, Qualitative Sociology Review

'Wodak's book will provide researchers, students, and political enthusiasts with a very rich study of frontstage and backstage politics.' - Ruth Harman, University of Georgia, USA, Language Policy

'The book will be of great interest to critical scholars of policy-making both for the insight it gives into the backstage world of the EU Parliament and as a demonstration of one of the major methodological approaches available to critical policy analysts - CDA. Wodak makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of 'how politics is done' and, by extension, the work of politicians in how policy is created and reproduced.' - Critical Policy Studies

'In her exemplary book, Ruth Wodak provides a compendium of fifteen years of studies of European Union (EU) politicians working behind the scenes...the conceptual framework, methodological description, and analysis of text are so well executed that this book seems certain to spur further studies of its type.' - Language in Society