Do political parties merely represent divisions in society? Until now, scholars and other observers have generally agreed that they do. But Building Blocs argues the reverse: that some political parties in fact shape divisions as they struggle to remake the social order. Drawing on the contributors' expertise in Indonesia, India, the United States, Canada, Egypt, and Turkey, this volume demonstrates further that the success and failure of parties to politicize social differences has dramatic consequences for democratic change, economic development, and other large-scale transformations.
This politicization of divisions, or "political articulation," is neither the product of a single charismatic leader nor the machinations of state power, but is instead a constant call and response between parties and would-be constituents. When articulation becomes inconsistent, as it has in Indonesia, partisan calls grow faint and the resulting vacuum creates the possibility for other forms of political expression. However, when political parties exercise their power of interpellation efficiently, they are able to silence certain interests such as those of secular constituents in Turkey. Building Blocs exposes political parties as the most influential agencies that structure social cleavages and invites further critical investigation of the related consequences.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the political unification of East and West Germany, the joy over unity quickly gave way to a profound sense of alienation between easterners and westerners. It was said that the Berlin Wall was simply replaced by the walls in the minds of people. The Berlin police force is one of the few organizations in united Germany in which easterners and westerners have been forced to work together, and Andreas Glaeser takes advantage of this unique opportunity to examine how the police officers relate to each other and to understand their expectations and hopes, their attitudes toward work and their understanding of democracy and morality. Accompanying East and West German police officers on their daily patrols through Berlin, Glaeser gathers firsthand accounts that help to illustrate why East and West Germans remain deeply divided. The result of his study is a theory of identity that moves beyond the dominant concerns with race, class and gender to describe how experiences of otherness and sameness are constructed in social interaction.