This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of this core and dynamic area of study and research. Language is indispensable to initiating, justifying, legitimatising and coordinating action as well as negotiating conflict and, as such, is intrinsically linked to the area of politics. With 45 chapters written by leading scholars from around the world, this Handbook covers the following key areas: * Overviews of the most influential theoretical approaches, including Bourdieu, Marx, Habermas and Foucault; * Methodological approaches to language and politics, covering discourse analysis, cognitive linguistics, and multimodal analysis; * Genres of political action from speech-making and policy to national anthems and billboards; * Cutting-edge case studies about hot-topic socio-political phenomena, such as aging, social class, gendered politics, populism, and the politics of religion. This is a vibrant survey of this key field and is essential reading for advanced students and researchers studying language and politics.