Shocks, Windows of Opportunity, and Outcomes

This chapter is a brief introductory overview of the contents of the book. Eleven chapters define, review, and apply the concept of political shock to a variety of phenomena in national/international politics. The argument is that we are all well aware of shocks and their impacts but we have not yet developed their full analytical utility. We need to be more explicit about shocks and their magnitudes and impacts to improve our explanations of political change.