Imagining Politics critically examines two interpretations of government. The ?rst comes from pop culture ?ctions about politics, the second from academic political science. Stephen Benedict Dyson argues that televised political ?ctions and political science theories are attempts at meaning-making, reflecting and shaping how a society thinks about its politics.

By taking ?ction seriously, and by arguing that political science theory is homologous to ?ction, the book offers a fresh perspective on both, using ?ctions such as The West Wing, House of Cards, Borgen, Black Mirror, and Scandal to challenge the assumptions that construct the discipline of political science itself.

Imagining Politics is also about a political moment in the West. Two great political shocks--Brexit and the election of Donald Trump--are set in a new context here. Dyson traces how Brexit and Trump campaigned against our image of politics as usual, and won.