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Political Theory and the Displacement of Politics (Contestations)
by Bonnie HonigPolitical Theory and the Displacement of Politics, originally published in 1993, has been called a founding text of agonism, which treats political contestation not as a regrettably necessary way to correct political imperfections but as a necessary, sometimes joyful feature of democratic life. As Bonnie Honig writes in the preface to this thirtieth anniversary edition, "the agonism that informs this book is democratic: it is committed to shared spaces and relational practices in which diverse groups and individuals set and reset the terms of living together as equals."By rethinking the established relation between politics and political theory, Honig argues that political theorists of opposing positions often treat political theory less as an exploration of politics than as a series of devices for its displacement. She characterizes Kant, Rawls, and Sandel as virtue theorists of politics, arguing that they rely on principles of right, rationality, community, and law to protect their political theories from the conflict and uncertainty of political reality. Drawing on Nietzsche and Arendt as well as Machiavelli and Derrida, Honig instead explores an alternative politics of virtú, which treats the disruptions of political order as valued sites of democratic freedom and individuality.
Political Theory and the Enlarged Mentality (Routledge Advances in Democratic Theory)
by Stephen AcremanIn this book, Stephen Acreman follows the development and reception of a hitherto under-analyzed concept central to modern and postmodern political theory: the Kantian ein erweiterte Denkungsart, or enlarged mentality. While the enlarged mentality plays a major role in a number of key texts underpinning contemporary democratic theory, including works by Arendt, Gadamer, Habermas, and Lyotard, this is the first in-depth study of the concept encompassing and bringing together its full range of expressions. A number of attempts to place the enlarged mentality at the service of particular ideals–the politics of empathy, of consensus, of agonistic contest, or of moral righteousness–are challenged and redirected. In its exploration of the enlarged mentality, the book asks what it means to assume a properly political stance, and, in giving as the answer ‘facing reality together’, it uncovers a political theory attentive to the facts and events that concern us, and uniquely well suited to the ecological politics of our time.
Political Theory and the Environment: A Reassessment
by Mathew HumphreyThis collection offers a sympathetic but critical perspective on contemporary ecological political theory, and gives proposals for a reorientation of some of its key aspects.
Political Theory and the European Constitution (Routledge/ECPR Studies in European Political Science #Vol. 35)
by Andreas Follesdal Edited by Lynn DobsonIn June 2003, the Convention on the Future of Europe released what may become the Constitution of the European Union. This timely volume provides one of the first critical assessments of the draft Constitution from the vantage point of political theory.The work combines detailed institutional analysis with normative political theory, bringing theoretical analysis to bear on the pressing issues of institutional design answered - or bypassed - by the draft Constitution. It addresses several themes that play out differently in federal arrangements than in unitary political orders:* European values, especially the legitimate role of alleged common values* liberty and powers - how does the draft Constitution address competing normative preferences?* the European interest: the noble words regarding common European objectives and values are often muddled or conflated, different actors intending quite different things. Several chapters contribute to clarifying the different senses of these terms.
Political Theory between Philosophy and Rhetoric
by Giuseppe BallacciThis book explores the significance of rhetoric from the perspective of its complex relationship with philosophy. It demonstrates how this relationship gives expression to a basic tension at the core of politics: that between the contingency of its happening and the transcendence toward which it strives. The first part of the study proposes a reassessment of the ancient quarrel between philosophy and rhetoric, as it was discussed by Plato, Aristotle, and above all Cicero and Quintilian, who ambitiously attempted to bring them together creating an ideal that is at the roots of the humanist tradition. It then moves to twentieth-century political theory and shows how the questions that emerge from that quarrel still strongly resonate in the works of key thinkers such as H. Arendt, L. Strauss, and R. Rorty. The volume thus offers an original contribution that locates itself at the intersection of politics, rhetoric, and philosophy.
Political Theory of Armed Groups: Social Order and Armed Groups (SpringerBriefs in Political Science)
by Andrei MiroiuThis Brief provides a comprehensive introduction to current research on armed groups and proposes a unitary political theory for their future analysis. Traditionally, theoretical and historical approaches to armed groups have focused on different categories of armed groups—insurgents, radical groups, militias, governmental forces—instead of treating them as unitary actors in international politics. This Brief departs from this traditional theoretical treatment, arguing that armed groups are fundamental units of politics, outside of class, gender, and the state, and should be analyzed as such.The book begins with a discussion of current classifications and definitions of armed groups as well as methodological approaches towards studying them. Chapter Two discusses armed groups from a historical and anthropological perspective. Chapter Three presents a critical analysis and interpretation of existing political perspectives on armed groups. The book concludes by introducing the new theory. Challenging traditional methods of political theory and analysis while providing a solid introduction to the field, this Brief will be of use to researchers and scholars in political theory, international relations, political science, and anthropology, as well as to professionals in fields such as policing, counter-terrorism, and internal affairs.
Political Theory of Global Justice: A Cosmopolitan Case for the World State (Routledge Innovations in Political Theory #Vol. 13)
by Luis CabreraCould global government be the answer to global poverty and starvation?Cosmopolitan thinkers challenge the widely held belief that we owe more to our co-citizens than to those in other countries. This book offers a moral argument for world government, claiming that not only do we have strong obligations to people elsewhere, but that accountable integration among nation-states will help ensure that all persons can lead a decent life.Cabrera considers both the views of those political philosophers who say we have much stronger obligations to help our co-citizens than foreigners and those cosmopolitans who say our duties are equally strong to each but resist restructuring.
Political Theory of the Digital Age: Where Artificial Intelligence Might Take Us
by Mathias RisseWith the rise of far-reaching technological innovation, from artificial intelligence to Big Data, human life is increasingly unfolding in digital lifeworlds. While such developments have made unprecedented changes to the ways we live, our political practices have failed to evolve at pace with these profound changes. In this path-breaking work, Mathias Risse establishes a foundation for the philosophy of technology, allowing us to investigate how the digital century might alter our most basic political practices and ideas. Risse engages major concepts in political philosophy and extends them to account for problems that arise in digital lifeworlds including AI and democracy, synthetic media and surveillance capitalism and how AI might alter our thinking about the meaning of life. Proactive and profound, Political Theory of the Digital Age offers a systemic way of evaluating the effect of AI, allowing us to anticipate and understand how technological developments impact our political lives – before it's too late.
Political Theory on Death and Dying
by Erin A. DolgoyPolitical Theory on Death and Dying provides a comprehensive, encyclopedic review that compiles and curates the latest scholarship, research, and debates on the political and social implications of death and dying. Adopting an easy-to-follow chronological and multi-disciplinary approach on 45 canonical figures and thinkers, leading scholars from a diverse range of fields, including political science, philosophy, and English, discuss each thinker’s ethical and philosophical accounts on mortality and death. Each chapter focuses on a single established figure in political philosophy, as well as religious and literary thinkers, covering classical to contemporary thought on death. Through this approach, the chapters are designed to stand alone, allowing the reader to study every entry in isolation and with greater depth, as well as trace how thinkers are influenced by their predecessors. A key contribution to the field, Political Theory on Death and Dying provides an excellent overview for students and researchers who study philosophy of death, the history of political thought, and political philosophy.
Political Theory: A Beginner's Guide
by Pete WoodcockIs democracy the best form of government? What does it mean to be ‘free’? Why should we obey the government? In this highly accessible and engaging new introductory textbook, Pete Woodcock examines all these questions and more in a compact outline of the basics of political theory. He takes students step-by-step through the most important answers given by history’s most famous thinkers to the most fundamental questions in politics, covering topics ranging from liberty and justice to gender and revolution. This new 101 guide to the basics of political theory contains all the essentials for students starting out in political theory, while never being dull. It contains a range of features, including textboxes, study questions and activities, to help students learn effectively. It will be core reading for anyone doing an introductory course in political theory.
Political Theory: A Global and Comparative Introduction
by Leigh Jenco Paulina Ochoa Espejo Murad IdrisThis groundbreaking work presents a transformative perspective on political theory. This text is not just an introduction to political theory, it′s a call to broaden the discipline′s horizons, making it more globally aware and methodologically diverse. The authors introduce a novel approach to political theory that expands the scope of the discipline beyond traditional philosophical texts and Eurocentric perspectives. The text integrates canonical Western texts with diverse sources of political thought from a wide range of times and places – spanning the Vedas to the Quran, the Upanishads to the Popol Vuh. This is the first introductory text to incorporate such a variety of texts and authors with each thinker (whether Plato or Laozi, Du Bois or Confucius) introduced in a way that’s both accessible and relevant today. The text also demonstrates the possibilities for comparison and connections in teaching political theory. Cross-cutting themes of gender, race and colonialism connect disparate ideas across time periods and geographies, forging a comprehensive network of political thought. This pioneering textbook reshapes the way political theory is taught and understood and is an essential companion for all undergraduate and postgraduate students of political theory as much as it will be for anyone interested in global political thought. This text is a must-read for anyone looking to understand the full spectrum of political thought and its application in today′s interconnected world.
Political Theory: A Global and Comparative Introduction
by Leigh Jenco Paulina Ochoa Espejo Murad IdrisThis groundbreaking work presents a transformative perspective on political theory. This text is not just an introduction to political theory, it′s a call to broaden the discipline′s horizons, making it more globally aware and methodologically diverse. The authors introduce a novel approach to political theory that expands the scope of the discipline beyond traditional philosophical texts and Eurocentric perspectives. The text integrates canonical Western texts with diverse sources of political thought from a wide range of times and places – spanning the Vedas to the Quran, the Upanishads to the Popol Vuh. This is the first introductory text to incorporate such a variety of texts and authors with each thinker (whether Plato or Laozi, Du Bois or Confucius) introduced in a way that’s both accessible and relevant today. The text also demonstrates the possibilities for comparison and connections in teaching political theory. Cross-cutting themes of gender, race and colonialism connect disparate ideas across time periods and geographies, forging a comprehensive network of political thought. This pioneering textbook reshapes the way political theory is taught and understood and is an essential companion for all undergraduate and postgraduate students of political theory as much as it will be for anyone interested in global political thought. This text is a must-read for anyone looking to understand the full spectrum of political thought and its application in today′s interconnected world.
Political Theory: Why Big Ideas Matter
by Simon StevensBig ideas matter in politics, and they spark fierce debates about the future of our society. This pathbreaking new textbook examines the key political ideas that shape our lives today. Political Theory: Why Big Ideas Matter takes a unique disruptive approach by creating conversations between two or three important thinkers, within multiple cultural contexts and perspectives to show innovative connections between thinkers across time and space. Rather than drawing solely from the established ‘canon’ of traditional political thought, which has been criticised for being too white, too male, and too Western, this book is part of a worldwide effort to contest and diversify. Have big ideas on sovereignty been fundamental to establishing political order, or a tool to justify colonisation? Is John Locke’s theory of property fit to answer questions about who owns our data or the matter of reparations? Can the tradition of human rights incorporate non-human species? Is gender performative, and how does this represent the struggles of LGBTQ+ communities? Political theory can get us thinking more deeply about empirical events, but empirical events can also get us critiquing theories for falling short. This textbook is essential for undergraduate and postgraduate students of political theory and shows how we can be better political theorists. Simon Stevens is Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy at De Montfort University Leicester, UK and is a winner of the Political Studies Association Bernard Crick Prize for Outstanding Teaching.
Political Theory: Why Big Ideas Matter
by Simon StevensBig ideas matter in politics, and they spark fierce debates about the future of our society. This pathbreaking new textbook examines the key political ideas that shape our lives today. Political Theory: Why Big Ideas Matter takes a unique disruptive approach by creating conversations between two or three important thinkers, within multiple cultural contexts and perspectives to show innovative connections between thinkers across time and space. Rather than drawing solely from the established ‘canon’ of traditional political thought, which has been criticised for being too white, too male, and too Western, this book is part of a worldwide effort to contest and diversify. Have big ideas on sovereignty been fundamental to establishing political order, or a tool to justify colonisation? Is John Locke’s theory of property fit to answer questions about who owns our data or the matter of reparations? Can the tradition of human rights incorporate non-human species? Is gender performative, and how does this represent the struggles of LGBTQ+ communities? Political theory can get us thinking more deeply about empirical events, but empirical events can also get us critiquing theories for falling short. This textbook is essential for undergraduate and postgraduate students of political theory and shows how we can be better political theorists. Simon Stevens is Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy at De Montfort University Leicester, UK and is a winner of the Political Studies Association Bernard Crick Prize for Outstanding Teaching.
Political Thinkers: Edmund Burke
by Frank O'GormanFirst published in 1973, this title offers a concise and readable account of Burke's political philosophy. As well as examining the foundation for Burke's thought, the book also provides much needed connections between the fields of history and political theory. Critical comment and analysis of Burke's attitudes to the problems of the second half of the eighteenth century are also included.
Political Thinking, Political Theory, and Civil Society
by Timothy M. Dale Steven M. DeLueThis new edition of Political Thinking, Political Theory, and Civil Society presents a comprehensive overview of the Western tradition of political thought that approaches concepts with the aim of helping readers develop their own political thinking and critical thinking skills. This text is uniquely organized around the theme of civil society - What is the nature of a civil society? Why is it important? - that will engage students and help make the material relevant. Major thinkers discussed in the text are explored not only with the goal of understanding their views but also with an interest in understanding the relationship of their ideas to the notion of a civil society. New to this edition: • Visual aids and pedagogy • New chapter on black political theory and civil society, including a discussion of protest and #BlackLivesMatter in political theory. • Expanded discussions of feminism and the LGBTQ movement, as well as an additional discussion of the #MeToo movement from the perspective of its theoretical foundation and its implications for feminist theory. • Revised chapter on multiculturalism, including an expanded discussion of religion, neoliberalism, globalization, and global environmental issues. This authoritative text, written by two leading theorists and experienced lecturers, is essential reading for all students of political theory and philosophy.
Political Thought and Political History: Studies in Memory of Elie Kedourie
by Moshe Shemesh Mosha Gammer Joseph KostinerThis volume is limited to contributions by Professor Kedourie's previous students. It reveals the far-reaching range of his interests and the immense expanse of his horizons. The first part deals with philosophy, political thought and ideology and the second with history and politics.
Political Thought and Political Thinkers
by Judith N. Shklar Stanley HoffmannPolitical Thought and Political Thinkers makes startlingly clear Judith Shklar's role in the reinvigoration of liberal theory that has been taking place over the last two decades. This second volume of Shklar's work--which follows the 1997 publication of Redeeming American Political Thought--brings together heretofore uncollected (and several unpublished) essays on a number of themes, including the place of the intellect in the modern political world and the dangers of identity politics. While many of these essays have been previously published, they remain far from accessible. In collecting the work scattered over the past forty years in journals and other publications, noted political theorist Stanley Hoffmann provides an essential guide to Shklar's thought, complemented by George Kateb's comprehensive introduction to her work. Hoffmann's selection, which includes Shklar's classic essay "The Liberalism of Fear," showcases her distinctive defense of liberalism and follows her explorations in this history of moral and political thought as she engages with Bergson, Arendt, and Rousseau. Political Thought and Political Thinkers displays one of the century's most compelling and flexible intellects in action and is the definitive collection of her work on European history and thinkers.
Political Thought and the Origins of the American Presidency (The Alan B. and Charna Larkin Series on the American Presidency)
by Ben LoweHow the American executive office was constructed in the Constitution and implemented by the first presidentsThis volume examines the political ideas behind the construction of the presidency in the U.S. Constitution, as well as how these ideas were implemented by the nation’s early presidents. The framers of the Constitution disagreed about the scope of the new executive role they were creating, and this volume reveals the ways the duties and power of the office developed contrary to many expectations. Here, leading scholars of the early republic examine principles from European thought and culture that were key to establishing the conceptual language and institutional parameters for the American executive office. Unpacking the debates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, these essays describe how the Constitution left room for the first presidents to set patterns of behavior and establish a range of duties to make the office functional within a governmental system of checks and balances. Contributors explore how these presidents understood their positions and fleshed out their full responsibilities according to the everyday operations required to succeed. As disputes continue to surround the limits of executive power today, this volume helps identify and explain the circumstances in which limits can be imposed on presidents who seem to dangerously exceed the constitutional parameters of their office. Political Thought and the Origins of the American Presidency demonstrates that this distinctive, time-tested role developed from a fraught, historically contingent, and contested process. Contributors: Claire Rydell Arcenas | Lindsay M. Chervinsky | François Furstenberg | Jonathan Gienapp | Daniel J. Hulsebosch | Ben Lowe | Max Skjönsberg | Eric Slauter | Caroline Winterer | Blair Worden | Rosemarie Zagarri A volume in the Alan B. and Charna Larkin Series on the American Presidency
Political Thought in Canada: An Intellectual History
by Katherine FierlbeckWhat, if anything, makes Canada's political identity unique? Pollsters can measure values, but they cannot explain how these values arose over time, why they changed, or how people have attempted to make sense of them within a changing social and political environment. By examining the history of political ideas in Canada, we can better understand why Canada takes the shape that it does. In this book, Katherine Fierlbeck looks at the legacy of ideas taken from (or shaped in reaction to) the nations that have been most influential to Canada's development: the United Kingdom and the United States. The first section looks specifically at the nature of toryism, constitutional liberalism, and market liberalism. Then she examines the evolution of social justice in Canada. Does the country have, as J.S. Woodsworth hoped, a definitive "third way"? The final section focuses upon debates over cultural identity and minority rights. Contemporary political discussions in Canada are very much based upon the expressions of French-Canadian nationalism that have existed as long as, and perhaps even longer than, the country itself. How have these ideas influenced current thinking about culture and accommodation? The experiences;characterized by Canadian political thought also provide insight and ideas for nations around the world as their citizens struggle with similar questions. The political dynamics of the present are a product of how Canadians have viewed their country, or a vision of their country, in the past. These ideas of Canada, in history and in myth, provide a way of thinking about politics that may provoke and inspire Canadians—and others—to reflect upon their future.
Political Thought in Contemporary Shi‘a Islam: Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din (Middle East Today)
by Farah W. KawtharaniThis book offers an intellectual history of one of the leading Shi’i thinkers and religious leaders of the 20th-century in Lebanon, Shaykh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din. The author examines his role as the foremost figure of Shi’i intellectual life, a key associate of Musa al-Sadr, and president of the Islamic Shi‘i Supreme Council of Lebanon, having maintained the independence of this institution until his death from the domination of Shi‘i political parties. The core of the book consists of three interrelated main themes that constitute the major threads of Shams al-Din’s intellectual legacy: a discussion of Islamic government involving a critique of Khomeini’s theory of wilāyat al-faqīh, the role of Islam within civil government, and the necessity for political integration of the Shi‘a in their Arab nation-states to protect them from policies that raise doubts over their political allegiance to their respective countries. The project will appeal to scholars, students, academics, and researchers in Middle Eastern politics and history.
Political Thought in Early Fourteenth-Century England: Treatises by Walter of Milemete, William of Pagula, and William of Ockham
by Cary J. NedermanPolitical Thought in Early Fourteenth-Century England: Treatises by Walter of Wilemete, William of Pagula, and William of Ockham (Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance) by Cary J. Nederman (Editor, Translator)
Political Thought in Islam: A Study in Intellectual Boundaries (Routledge Advances in Middle East and Islamic Studies)
by Nelly LahoudThis book is a study of political thought in Islam from the viewpoint of the history of ideas and the relevance of these ideas to contemporary Arabic political discourse. The author examines the use of the classical Islamic tradition (turath) and its religious and philosophical components by the three dominant Arabic political discourses: the Islamists, apologists and intellectuals. The book analyzes the different assumptions advanced by these discourses and the way they propose to apply or restore the turath in the present. Exploring connections between the medieval Islamic tradition and current debates, this book is essential reading for advanced students and researchers of Islam and political thought.
Political Thought in the French Wars of Religion (Ideas in Context)
by Sophie NichollsThrough its close, critical reading of the political treatises and polemical literature produced in France in the sixteenth century, this book offers a valuable new contribution to the intellectual history of the Early Modern era. Sophie Nicholls analyses the political thought of the theologians and jurists in the Holy League as they pursued their crusade against heresy in the French kingdom, during the wars of religion (1562-1629). Contemporaries portrayed the Leaguers as rebellious anarchists, who harboured dangerously democratic ideas. In contrast, Nicholls demonstrates that the intellectuals in the movement were devoted royalists, who had more in common with their moderate counterparts, the 'politiques'. In paying close attention to the conceptual language of politics in this era, this book shows how jurists and theologians in the League presented visions of sovereignty that subtly replenished medieval ideas of kingship and priesthood, and endeavoured to replace them with a new synthesis of intellectual tradition and political power. In a period when 'the state' was still emerging as an idea, analysing League thought in the context of Jesuit and Second Scholastic sources positions the Leaguers in relation to innovative attempts in European Catholic circles to re-think the nature of belonging to a political community.
Political Thought of Hume and his Contemporaries: Enlightenment Projects Vol. 1 (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought)
by Frederick G. WhelanIntended for scholars in the fields of political theory, and the history of political thought, this two-volume examines David Hume's Political Thought (1711-1776) and that of his contemporaries, including Smith, Blackstone, Burke and Robertson. This book is unified by its temporal focus on the middle and later decades of the eighteenth century and hence on what is usually taken to be the core period of the Enlightenment, a somewhat problematic term. Covering topics such as property, contract and resistance theory, religious establishments, the law of nations, the balance of power, demography, and the role of unintended consequences in social life, Frederick G. Whelan convincingly conveys the diversity--and creativity--of the intellectual engagements of even a limited set of Enlightenment thinkers in contrast to dismissive attitudes, in some quarters, toward the Enlightenment and its supposed unitary project. Political Thought of Hume and his Contemporaries: Enlightenment Projects Vol. 1 contains six in-depth studies of issues in eighteenth-century political thought, with an emphasis on topics in normative theory such as property rights, the social contract, resistance to oppressive government, and religious liberty. The central figure is David Hume, with substantial attention to Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, and others in the period. The introduction situates the studies in the Enlightenment and considers interpretations of that movement.