- Table View
- List View
Political Narrations: Antigone, The Melian Dialogue, Michael Kohlhaas, The Grand Inquisitor And Ragtime
by Ingo JuchlerThis book analyzes narrations embedded in political disputes, allowing readers to gain a deeper understanding of modern political reality. The author explores this theme in readings of the Sophocles tragedy Antigone, the Melian Dialogue of Thucydides, Heinrich von Kleist’s novella Michael Kohlhaas, Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Grand Inquisitor and E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime novel, taking into account the relevant interdisciplinary aspects of the narratives. His study of these four narrations focuses on key political concepts, such as might and right, self-interest, legality and justice, the nation-state and democracy, and relates them compellingly to current actuality. Since narrations can exert comprehensive and lasting influence on individuals’ political discernment, this systematic analysis allows for a better comprehension of politics in education and civics.
Political Narratosophy: From Theory of Narration to Politics of Imagination (Routledge Innovations in Political Theory)
by Senka AnastasovaPolitical Narratosophy offers a critically subversive rethinking of the political and philosophical significance of narrative, and why feminist epistemology and feminist social theory matters for the meaning of the ‘self’ and narrativity. Through a re-examination of the notions of democracy and emancipation, Senka Anastasova coins the term ‘political narratosophy’, a unique interpretation of the philosophy of narrative, identification, and disidentification, developed in conversation with philosophers Jacques Rancière, Nancy Fraser, and Paul Ricoeur. Utilizing the author’s own identity as a feminist philosopher has lived in socialist Yugoslavia, post-Yugoslavia, and Macedonia (now North Macedonia), Anastasova explores the fluctuating and disappearing borders around which identity is situated in a country that no longer exists. She expertly reveals how the subject finds, makes and unmakes itself through narrativity, politics, and imagination. Political Narratosophy is an important intervention in political philosophy and a welcome contribution to the historiography on female authors who lived through twentieth century communism and its aftermath. It will be of great interest to scholars and researchers in the fields of political theory, philosophy, women’s studies, international relations, identity studies, (comparative) literary studies, and aesthetics studies.
Political Obligation: A Critical Introduction (Routledge Contemporary Political Philosophy)
by Dudley KnowlesPolitical obligation is concerned with the clash between the individual’s claim to self-governance and the right of the state to claim obedience. It is a central and ancient problem in political philosophy. In this authoritative introduction, Dudley Knowles frames the problem of obligation in terms of the duties citizens have to the state and each other. Drawing on a wide range of key works in political philosophy, from Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume and G. W. F. Hegel to John Rawls, A. John Simmons, Joseph Raz and Ronald Dworkin, Political Obligation: A Critical Introduction is an ideal starting point for those coming to the topic for the first time, as well as being an original and distinctive contribution to the literature. Knowles distinguishes the philosophical problem of obligation - which types of argument may successfully ground the legitimacy of the state and the duties of citizens - from the political problem of obligation - whether successful arguments apply to the actual citizens of particular states. Against the anarchist and modern skeptics, Knowles claims that a plurality of arguments promise success when carefully formulated and defended, and discusses in turn ancient and modern theories of social contract and consent, fairness and gratitude, utilitarianism, justice and a Samaritan duty of care for others. Against modern communitarians, he defends a distinctive liberalism: ‘the state proposes, the citizen disposes’.
Political Ontology, Community, and Institutions: Roberto Esposito in Dialogue with Contemporary Thinkers (SUNY series in Contemporary Italian Philosophy)
by Laura Cremonesi Rita Fulco Valentina SuraceFocuses on key aspects of Robert Esposito's thought and explores the ways in which some major contemporary thinkers have been crucial interlocutors in their elaboration.Political Ontology, Community, and Institutions offers a broad view of the current philosophical dialogue in Italy, both in relation to Robert Esposito's own thought and with respect to major issues and authors of crucial philosophical relevance. From his earliest works, Esposito questions the crisis of politics and why thought is unable to convincingly respond to it. He does so by distancing himself not only from political theology but also from those paradigms-destituent and constituent-that have lost nowadays much of their analytical and propositional capacity. However, his proposal is not only critical. Esposito's thought relates to our present through the creation of new categories-among the most recent, those of "instituting thought" and "common immunity"-capable of opening a breach in an apparently increasingly closed horizon. Therefore, dealing with his thought means, first of all, dealing with our present. This is the main goal of this volume, which focuses on Esposito's dialogue with major contemporary thinkers. Also included is an unpublished interview with Esposito conducted by the editors.
Political Opposition in Authoritarianism: Exit, Voice and Loyalty in Kazakhstan (The Theories, Concepts and Practices of Democracy)
by Rico IsaacsHow might political opposition shape regime outcomes over time in an authoritarian system? Most studies on political opposition in authoritarian contexts tend to focus on the agency of the regime over and above that of the political opposition. Using Albert Hirschman’s framework of exit, voice and loyalty, this book examines the case of Kazakhstani opposition agency over 30 years to explore the extent to which political opposition in Kazakhstan has shaped the dynamics of authoritarian regime development in the country. What the analysis reveals is that in Kazakhstan the regime has tended to treat formal institutional political opposition as neither a credible nor non-credible threat. Consequently, the Kazakhstani regime has always responded to opposition exit and voice with sanctions and institutional adaption which strengthened the regime in the short to medium term, but left them exposed to spontaneous, grassroots non-institutional opposition in the longer term. This spontaneous grassroots opposition emerged in Kazakhstan as a series of ‘shocks’ crystalised in the 2011 events in Zhanaozen, the 2016 land protests, the 2019 election protests and the events of ‘qandy qantar’ (bloody January) in 2022. What this book illustrates is how authoritarian regimes which treat opposition threats ambiguously are likely to end up in a continuous state of instability because the feedback provided by opposition agency disappears leaving the regime susceptible to spontaneous opposition.
Political Order and Inequality
by Carles BoixThe fundamental question of political theory, one that precedes all other questions about the nature of political life, is why there is a state at all. Is human cooperation feasible without a political authority enforcing it? Or do we need a state to live together? This problem then opens up two further questions. If a state is necessary to establish order, how does it come into place? And, when it does, what are the consequences for the political status and economic welfare of its citizens? Combining ethnographical material, historical cases, and statistical analysis, this book describes the foundations of stateless societies, why and how states emerge, and the basis of political obligation. As a result of this inquiry, it explains the economic and political roots of inequality, describes the causes of the stagnation of the preindustrial world, and explores what led to the West's prosperity of the past two centuries.
Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy
by Francis FukuyamaThe second volume of the bestselling landmark work on the history of the modern stateWriting in The Wall Street Journal, David Gress called Francis Fukuyama's Origins of Political Order "magisterial in its learning and admirably immodest in its ambition." In The New York Times Book Review, Michael Lind described the book as "a major achievement by one of the leading public intellectuals of our time." And in The Washington Post, Gerard DeGrott exclaimed "this is a book that will be remembered. Bring on volume two." Volume two is finally here, completing the most important work of political thought in at least a generation. Taking up the essential question of how societies develop strong, impersonal, and accountable political institutions, Fukuyama follows the story from the French Revolution to the so-called Arab Spring and the deep dysfunctions of contemporary American politics. He examines the effects of corruption on governance, and why some societies have been successful at rooting it out. He explores the different legacies of colonialism in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and offers a clear-eyed account of why some regions have thrived and developed more quickly than others. And he boldly reckons with the future of democracy in the face of a rising global middle class and entrenched political paralysis in the West. A sweeping, masterful account of the struggle to create a well-functioning modern state, Political Order and Political Decay is destined to be a classic.
Political Participation in Iran from Khatami to the Green Movement (Middle East Today)
by Paola RivettiThis book examines the unintended consequences of top-down reforms in Iran, analysing how the Iranian reformist governments (1997–2005) sought to utilise gradual reforms to control independent activism, and how citizens responded to such a disciplinary action. While the governments successfully ‘set the field’ of permitted political participation, part of the civil society that took shape was unexpectedly independent. Despite being a minority, independent activists were not marginal: without them, in fact, the Green Movement of 2009 would not have taken shape. Building on in-depth empirical analysis, the author explains how autonomous activism forms and survives in a semi-authoritarian country. The book contributes to the debate about the implications of elite-led reforms for social reproduction, offering an innovative interpretation and an original analysis of social movements from a political science perspective.
Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy
by Robert MichelsThe principle of self-government through political parties, the cornerstone of democracy, has come to be regarded as a solution to the problem of nationality. This is because the principle of nationality entails the acceptance of the idea of popular government. The importance of the principle of nationality is undeniable, and most of the national questions of Western Europe might be solved in accordance with this principle. Matters are complicated by geographical and strategical considerations, such as the difficulty of determining natural frontiers and the frequent need to establish strategic frontiers. Moreover, the principle of nationality cannot help us where nationalities barely exist or where they are entangled in inextricable confusion.The present work is a critical discussion of the problem of democracy. Michels believes that democracy, as an intellectual theory and as a practical movement, has entered upon a critical phase from which exit will be extremely difficult. In this book he analyzes the tendencies that oppose the realization of democracy, and claims that these tendencies can be classified in three ways: dependence upon the nature of the individual; dependence upon the nature of the political structure; and dependence upon the nature of organization.This edition, described by Morris Janowitz as a "classic of modern social science" and by Melvin Tumin as "the beginning of a tradition," offers a landmark study in political science. Following its original publication in 1910, the study and analysis of political parties was established as a new branch of science. Political Parties continues to be a foundation work in the literature and is a necessary addition to the libraries of contemporary political scientists, sociologists, and historians.
Political Party Research: An Overview
by Elmar WiesendahlThe book by the well-known German party researcher Elmar Wiesendahl presents the development, theoretical perspectives, research approaches, and fields of investigation in party research in light of the state of the art.
Political Phenomenology
by Lester Embree Hwa Yol JungThis volume presents political phenomenology as a new specialty in western philosophical and political thought that is post-classical, post-Machiavellian, and post-behavioral. It draws on history and sets the agenda for future explorations of political issues. It discloses crossroads between ethics and politics and explores border-crossing issues. All the essays in this volume challenge existing ideas of politics significantly. As such they open new ways for further explorations BY future generations of phenomenologists and non-phenomenologists alike. Moreover, the comprehensive chronological bibliography is unprecedented and provides not only an excellent picture of what phenomenologists have already done but also a guide for the future.
Political Phenomenology: Experience, Ontology, Episteme (Routledge Research in Phenomenology)
by Thomas Bedorf Steffen HerrmannIn recent years phenomenology has become a resource for reflecting on political questions. While much of this discussion has primarily focused on the ways in which phenomenology can help reformulate central concepts in political theory, the chapters in this volume ask in a methodological and systematic way how phenomenology can connect first-person experience with normative principles in political philosophy. The chapters are divided into three thematic sections. Part I covers the phenomenology of political experience. The chapters in this section focus on a variety of experiences that we come across in political practice. The chapters in Part II address the phenomenology of political ontology by examining the constitution of the realm of the political. Finally, Part III analyzes the phenomenology of political episteme in which our political world is grounded. Political Phenomenology will be of interest to researchers working on phenomenology, Continental philosophy, and political theory.
Political Philosophy
by Dudley KnowlesThis comprehensive introduction to the major thinkers and topics in political philosophy explores the philosophical traditions which continue to inform our political judgements.Dudley Knowles introduces the ideas of key political thinkers including Hobbes, Locke, Marx and Mill and influential contemporary thinkers such as Berlin, Rawls and Nozick. He outlines central problems in political philosophy and encourages the reader to critically engage with all the issues discussed.The individual chapters discuss and analyse:* utilitarianism* liberty* rights* justice* obligation* democracyPolitical Philosophy is ideally suited to students taking introductory courses in political theory and philosophy.
Political Philosophy
by Richard G. StevensThis book by Richard G. Stevens is a comprehensive introduction to the nature of political philosophy. It offers definitions of philosophy and politics, showing the tension between the two and the origin of political philosophy as a means of resolution of that tension. Plato and Aristotle are examined in order to see the search for the best political order. Inquiry is then made into political philosophy's new tension brought about by the growth of revealed religion in the Middle Ages. It then examines the changes introduced by modernity and gives an overview of postmodern political thought. The book covers the most influential philosophers and directs readers to the classics of political philosophy, guiding them in studying them. It is an approachable introduction to a complex subject, not just a history of it. It is a point of entry into the subject for students and for others as well.
Political Philosophy
by Ronald BeinerHannah Arendt's last philosophical work was an intended three-part project entitled The Life of the Mind. Unfortunately, Arendt lived to complete only the first two parts, Thinking and Willing. Of the third, Judging, only the title page, with epigraphs from Cato and Goethe, was found after her death. As the titles suggest, Arendt conceived of her work as roughly parallel to the three Critiques of Immanuel Kant. In fact, while she began work on The Life of the Mind, Arendt lectured on "Kant's Political Philosophy," using the Critique of Judgment as her main text. The present volume brings Arendt's notes for these lectures together with other of her texts on the topic of judging and provides important clues to the likely direction of Arendt's thinking in this area.
Political Philosophy (3rd Edition): The Essential Texts
by Steven M. CahnPolitical Philosophy: The Essential Texts is ideal for survey courses in political philosophy. Offering wide coverage from antiquity to the present, this historically organized collection presents the most significant works from nearly 2,500 years of political philosophy.
Political Philosophy After 1945
by Alan HaworthBy the mid-twentieth century interest in political philosophy had dwindled, with one writer even pronouncing the subject ‘dead’. Things were to change in 1971, when the subject experienced a renaissance with the publication of John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice. The story didn’t end with Rawls however, as other avenues through which to approach the subject became available. In Political Philosophy After 1945 Alan Haworth tells the story of political philosophy from the mid-twentieth century to the early twenty-first. First, he considers why the subject should have become marginalised by mainstream philosophical movements such as logical positivism and the ‘ordinary language philosophy’ inspired by Wittgenstein. Subsequent chapters explain the fundamentals of Rawls’s theory, and then compare and contrast his contribution with that of other philosophers from across the political spectrum. These are followed by chapters in which alternative approaches are examined. There are in-depth accounts of works by Hannah Arendt and Alasdair MacIntyre, as well as an evaluation of the claim that political philosophy exemplifies the pursuit of a moribund ‘Enlightenment project’. Throughout the book, Haworth strikes a balance between historical perspective and close analysis of major texts, and he is careful to emphasise the relevance of theoretical issues to questions which arise beyond theory. As such, Political Philosophy After 1945 is essential reading for students and scholars of political philosophy, but also serves as an introduction for students from across the Humanities and Social Sciences approaching the topic for the first time.
Political Philosophy Cross-examined
by Thomas L. Pangle J. Harvey LomaxPolitical societies frequently regard philosophers as potential threats to morality and religion, and those who speak for politics often demand a defense of philosophy. This book will address philosophy as a mode of existence put into question.
Political Philosophy In the Moment: Narratives of Freedom from Plato to Arendt
by Jim JosefsonPolitical Philosophy In the Moment uncovers the political power of narrative by both telling and explaining the stories that frame our ability to be "in the moment." In a series of eleven short stories, Jim Josefson presents the history of political philosophy and Hannah Arendt’s alternative, an aesthetic form of politics. In the early stories, Josefson recounts how the four main traditions of political philosophy (Platonism, Aristotelianism, liberalism and historicism) promise truth but deny us the freedom available in reality. Then, he reviews the alternative narratives offered by thinkers like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Heidegger, which influenced Arendt’s view. The final chapters chart Arendt’s route back to the Moment, the freedom to read and tell a fuller story about the beauty and horrors that appear in the world. A page-turning book of short stories and a tour through the greatest works of political philosophy, Political Philosophy In the Moment is as approachable, comprehensible and welcoming as a fairy-tale, ideally suited for students of contemporary political theory and anyone interested in political thought.
Political Philosophy and Cultural Renewal: Collected Essays of Francis Graham Wilson (Library Of Conservative Thought Ser.)
by Francis WilsonFrancis Graham Wilson was a central figure in the revival of interest in political philosophy and American political thought in the mid-twentieth century. While he is best known as a Catholic writer and conservative theorist, his most significant contribution is his original interpretation of the development of American politics. Central to his thought was a process of self-interpretation by the citizenry, a quest for ultimate meaning turning to a divine, transcendent, basis of history and shared experience. Although Wilson's writings were extensive and influential, they have not been readily available for decades.
Political Philosophy and Taxation: A History from the Enlightenment to the Present
by Robert F. van BrederodeThis book explores how taxation is related to the role of the state and its relationship with its constituents, the concept of private property rights, the concepts of societal fairness and justice, and the battle between the individual and the collective. This book appeals to students and scholars who want to know how philosophers in the past and present think about taxation, and how their thinking has developed through cross-influencing. There exists no comprehensive study providing such an overview. This book is a foundational study on the philosophical justification of taxation (qualitative aspect) and the normative qualifications required of tax law to constitute tax that is just and fair (distributive or quantitative aspect). The latter includes evaluation of what type of tax is morally correct or acceptable to realize distributive justice. This book covers periods from the Enlightenment era until the present. The philosophers are grouped together in schools of thought and each chapter except for chapter 1 and chapter 13, are is dedicated to a specific philosophical school. Moreover, this book aims to provide an overview of each school of thinking and the individual philosophers, including placing them in the context of their times. The book has particular importance as the study of taxation is an underdeveloped area of political and legal philosophy.
Political Philosophy and the Challenge of Revealed Religion
by Heinrich Meier Robert BermanHeinrich Meier’s guiding insight in Political Philosophy and the Challenge of Revealed Religion is that philosophy must prove its right and its necessity in the face of the claim to truth and demand obedience of its most powerful opponent, revealed religion. Philosophy must rationally justify and politically defend its free and unreserved questioning, and, in doing so, turns decisively to political philosophy. In the first of three chapters, Meier determines four intertwined moments constituting the concept of political philosophy as an articulated and internally dynamic whole. The following two chapters develop the concept through the interpretation of two masterpieces of political philosophy that have occupied Meier’s attention for more than thirty years: Leo Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Social Contract. Meier provides a detailed investigation of Thoughts on Machiavelli, with an appendix containing Strauss’s original manuscript headings for each of his paragraphs. Linking the problem of Socrates (the origin of political philosophy) with the problem of Machiavelli (the beginning of modern political philosophy), while placing between them the political and theological claims opposed to philosophy, Strauss’s most complex and controversial book proves to be, as Meier shows, the most astonishing treatise on the challenge of revealed religion. The final chapter, which offers a new interpretation of the Social Contract, demonstrates that Rousseau’s most famous work can be adequately understood only as a coherent political-philosophic response to theocracy in all its forms.
Political Philosophy and the God of Abraham
by Thomas L. PangleIn this book noted scholar Thomas L. Pangle brings back a lost and crucial dimension of political theory: the mutually illuminating encounter between skeptically rationalist political philosophy and faith-based political theology guided ultimately by the authority of the Bible. Focusing on the chapters of Genesis in which the foundation of the Bible is laid, Pangle provides an interpretive reading illuminated by the questions and concerns of the Socratic tradition and its medieval heirs in the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic worlds. He brings into contrast the rival interpretive framework set by the biblical criticism of the modern rationalists Hobbes and Spinoza, along with their heirs from Locke to Hegel. The full meaning of these diverse philosophic responses to the Bible is clarified through a dialogue with hermeneutic discussions by leading political theologians in the Judaic, Muslim, and Christian traditions, from Josephus and Augustine to our day. Profound and subtle in its argument, this book will be of interest not only to students and scholars of politics, philosophy, and religion but also to thoughtful readers in every walk of life who seek to deepen their understanding of the perplexing relationship between religious faith and philosophic reason.
Political Philosophy from an Intercultural Perspective: Power Relations in a Global World (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)
by Sarhan Dhouib James Garrison Bianca Boteva-RichterThe objective of the following collected volume is to encourage a critical reflection on the relationship between "power" and "non-power" in our contemporary "world" and, proceeding from various philosophical traditions, to investigate the multifaceted aspects of this relationship. The authors’ respective investigations proceed from an intercultural perspective and fall predominantly in the domain of political theory and philosophy. This volume takes an intercultural political perspective, which means, on the one hand, involving non-European philosophies in a global debate about power relations and their effects in the world and, on the other hand, confronting local traditions of thought with a global inquiry in order to enter into a philosophical-political dialogue with these traditions. An intercultural approach of this type to political philosophy seeks not only to join others in reflecting upon global problems, but also to decenter of our understanding of the world, drawing attention to new ways of thinking. Insofar as the authors of the planned volume deal with "concrete" philosophical-political problems unfolding in various regions of the world, they seek to shed light on burning issues like migration, human rights violations, dictatorship and language, global poverty, power asymmetries, experiences of injustice with the further goal of offering a particularly intercultural analysis of these problems along with approaches to resolving them. To date, there is no book that collects various essays from different countries and perspectives and poses political-philosophical problems from an intercultural point of view.
Political Philosophy in Gulliver’s Travels: Shocked by The Just Society (Recovering Political Philosophy)
by Lloyd W. RobertsonThis book analyzes Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels from a political philosophy perspective. When authors have focused on politics in Swift’s writings, this has usually meant a study of how Swift located himself on issues of his day such as church and state, and Ireland. Robertson claims by contrast that Gulliver’s Travels is fundamentally a book about the “ancients” (e.g. Plato, Aristotle), and the “moderns” (science and technology), and their contrasting views about the human condition. The claim that the Travels is “a kind of prolegomena” to political philosophy leaves open the possibility that it does not achieve, or seek to achieve, a fusion of various teachings but rather uses the device of alien societies to point us to uncomfortable aspects of political philosophy’s “larger questions” we are prone to ignore. Swift, Robertson argues, draws our attention to some version of the classical republic, as idealized in Aristotle’s political writings and in Plato’s Republic, as opposed to a modern regime which, at its best or most intellectual, emphasizes modern science and technology in combination as a way to improve the human condition.