Alan Cassels is Emeritus Professor of History at McMaster University, Canada. He is also the author of Fascist Italy (1985) and Italian Foreign Policy, 1918–45 (1991).

• Introduction; Chapter 1 Raison d’état meets the Enlightenment; Chapter 2 The birth of ideology; Chapter 3 Conservatives, liberals and nationalist ideology; Chapter 4 Ideology and Realpolitik; Chapter 5 Ideology and mass democracy; Chapter 6 Ideology and the Great War; Chapter 7 Enter total ideologies; Chapter 8 A second global conflict; Chapter 9 Ideology and global politics; Chapter 10 Conclusion;