The textbook contains a systematic presentation of the problematic complexes of political science in terms of basic concepts and political theories based on an empirical interpretation of political practice. Politics is seen as a special type of human communication, the content of which is revealed through the analysis of the objective and subjective components of the political space, and the theoretical interpretation of politics is complemented by an empirical comparison of political and legal institutions, ideas, value systems and standards of political activity of elites, leaders of different countries, which makes it possible to better understand the nature of the world of politics, the specifics of the functioning of political institutions in various cultural environments.