Social and political philosophy Books

Seeks to introduce an "affective turn" to the study of China's political modernization process.Affective Betrayal uses "affect" as an analytical category to explicate the fragility and fragmentation of Chinese political modernity. In so doing, the book...

Interpretations of critically important texts in political philosophy from Greek antiquity to modern times on the tension between human excellence and equality and its possible resolution.Is it possible to reconcile human excellence with a dedication to...

A critical interrogation of elements of Hobbes's political and natural philosophy and its capacity to enrich our understanding of the nature of democratic life.At a time when nearly all political actors and observers-despite the nature of their normative...

Meditation on the character of the Eleatic Stranger in Plato's late dialogues, arguing that the prominent place afforded to this foreigner-the other-represents an important philosophical and political legacy regarding the way thought, and life in the...

Argues that Giambattista Vico's early modern account of Roman mythology was a sophisticated attempt to present an epistemological and political critique of the aristocratic way of conceiving the world.Living in a province dominated by powerful oligarchs,...

Offers a striking new reading of Agamben's political thought and its implications for political action in the present.Challenging the prevalent account of Agamben as a pessimistic thinker, Catastrophe and Redemption proposes a reading of his political...

On Divorce is an anti-divorce treatise by Louis de Bonald, originally published in 1801 in response to the institution of divorce in France in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Examining the social structures of Christians, Jews, Asians, Greeks,...

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore,...

The book explores the characteristic features and political consequences of social interaction when the parties' intentions are transparent, and when they are opaque. The author develops a theory of association and uses it to elucidate, assess and extend...

This book provides the first critical assessment of important recent developments in Anglo-American liberal theorizing about limited government. Following a comparative study of canonical liberal philosophers Hayek and Rawls, the book reveals a new...

This book examines liberal theory's attempts to accommodate pluralism, asking two fundamental questions: 1. How and why have theorists based their defences and proposed revisions of liberal pluralism upon particular and contestable definitions of what is...

Martin Wight (1913-1972) was one of the most original and enigmatic international thinkers of the twentieth century. This new study, drawing upon Wright's published writings and unpublished papers, examines his work on international relations in the...

Challenging the received notions of International Relations theory about a central tradition - Realism - Molloy demonstrates how a belief in a mode of theorization has distorted Realism, forcing the theory of power politics in IR into a paradigmatic...

Bringing together research on the situational determinants of risk propensity and on individual personality predispositions, Boettcher draws on findings from political science, psychology, economics, business, and sociology to develop a Risk Explanation...

This book recovers and recommends the core conviction of Victorian liberal theory that human beings, with the help of the state, can achieve an objective moral perfection. The first half of the book considers the diverse modern biases that have blinded...

This book provides a critical analysis of the liberal ideas of the decline of the state through a historical comparison. It takes special note of the implications of state failure to control economic growth and market exigencies for international...

While sovereignty is increasingly contested within academic circles, most recent military conflicts have been over issues of sovereignty in some form. Focusing on Yugoslavia in the 1990s, this book explores the issues surrounding 'sovereignty' and calls...

In the spirit of communitarianism and dialogue between civilizations, this ambitious book seeks a political philosophy where a diversity of world-views can meet. The main objective of the book is to propose a theoretical basis for convergence and to...

The strategic use of referendums by leaders often confers legitimacy but it may also reflect the power struggle between leaders, groups, and institutions and in doing so not provide a democratic result for the citizenry of a country.

Fictive Theories is a significant and innovative intervention in key debates in political theory concerning the ways theory should be philosophically grounded, and the task that political theory should set itself. Susan McManus argues that political...

Current discussions of liberalism in world affairs tend to take a shortsighted view of the historical antecedents of the school of thought. Most jump directly from Kant to Wilson with little pause in between. In this book, Clinton has selected three...

The authors examine the relationship between social science and philosophy and ask what sort of work social science and an accompanying philosophy should do. They reintroduce the question of ontology, through the work of Roy Bhaskar. The book argues...

Arguing for an evolutionary perspective, this book directly challenges the Standard Social Science Model (SSSM) on which public policy has often been based. The SSSM maintains that human behavior is solely the product of culture and learning. In sharp...

This book outlines an idea of world politics as an activity of thinking and speaking about the conditions of world order. World order is understood not as an arrangement of entities but a complex of variously situated activities conducted by individuals...

Between Cosmopolitan Ideals and State Sovereignty explores how philosophers and political theorists have recast principles of justice and human rights in the light of challenges posed by globalization. It discusses ethical issues that arise at a global...

In this book, Richard Amesbury brings recent developments in Anglo-American philosophy into engagement with dominant currents in contemporary European social theory in order to articulate a pragmatic account of moral criticism. Presented in a lively and...

Farrelly argues against the principled paradigm of ideal theory and champions instead a virtue-oriented theory of justice entitled 'civic liberalism'. He critically assesses the main contemporary theories of justice and tackles a number of applied...

Iyer argues for the transformative potential for philosophy and political practice of the thought of Maurice Blanchot. The book traces Blanchot's complex negotiations of the thought of Hegel, Heidegger, Bataille and Levinas, which allowed him to develop...

Under the conditions of economic globalization, the prevailing liberal philosophy of governance is becoming increasingly problematic. Liberty Beyond Neo-Liberalism critiques three varieties of liberal engagement with the processes of globalization and...

This book examines the issue of philosophical skepticism in the light of its relevance for the critique of modernity associated with the Frankfurt School. It situates the problem of skepticism in the context of the history of philosophy and explores its...

Raia Prokhovnik develops a strong argument for sovereignty as a robust concept with many conceptualizations, and capable of further fruitful reconceptualization. The book explores contemporary theoretical developments and current political issues around...

The Aesthetics of Free Speech: Rethinking the Public Sphere is one of the first books to theoretically explore the relationship between free speech and the public sphere. By drawing upon Marxist theory the author, John Michael Roberts, demonstrates how...

In this book, leading scholars from East Asia and beyond debate Michael Oakeshott's views on liberal democracy and totalitarianism and their implications for East Asia today. His ideas on rationality in politics, the nature of liberal democracy, and how...

This book discusses how civilized oppression (the oppression that involves neither violence nor the law) can be overcome by re-examining our participation in it. Moral community, solidarity and education are offered as vibrant strategies to overcome the...

Based on an analysis of the changing practice of sovereignty in Brazil, India and South Africa, this book argues that soft sovereignty provides an adequate, yet unrecognized, basis for a moderate, embedded and plural cosmopolitanism situated between...

Does theism dominant the language and practices of public life in the United States? This volume explores this question from a humanist perspective, and in so doing it provides insight into the relationship of religion to public policy, and offers ways...

Conservatism and Pragmatism illustrates the intersections between classical British Conservative thought and classical American Pragmatist philosophy with regard to methodology in politics, ethics, and law.

As widely applied as Marxist theory is today, there remain a host of key western thinkers whose texts are rarely scrutinized through a Marxist lens. In this philosophical analysis of Marx's never-before translated German notes on Machiavelli,...

This book is the first full-length study of Lenin's party building project and writings on elections, looking in detail at his leadership of the Bolshevik wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in the four state Dumas from 1906 to the...

According to Michel Foucault, the 'history of the present' should constitute the starting point for any enquiry into the past. This collection considers the continued relevance of Foucault's work for thinking the history of our present and includes...

History doesn't have to mean only an effort to know the past. It can be instead, according to Kierkegaard, a willful and personal choice regarding the creation of the future. Kierkegaard offers us an amazing new approach to the problem of what is history...

Public space, both literally and figuratively, is foundationally important to political life. From Socratic lectures in the public forum, to Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring, public spaces have long played host to political discussion and protest...

This edited volume addresses the challenges and opportunities facing NATO post-2014, applying an original approach to strategy that will produce fresh insights into this hot topic within the international security community.

Through the use of a poststructuralist perspective, Antony O'Loughlin challenges the most basic tenets of International Relations Theory and deploys Rawlsian ideas of public reason in conjunction with Kratochwil's conceptions of practical reason in order...

Through an analysis of the different dimensions of equality, this book provides a critical introduction to recent philosophical work on egalitarianism, discussing the central questions associated with each of the major debates about egalitarian justice.

The Moral Responsibilities of Companies is a philosophical analysis of the question of whether companies can be held morally responsible for the harms they create, and what implications such a view has on the moral position of employees and shareholders...

This book offers a unique and accessible way of conceptualizing the vocations of art, science, and politics in the capitalist world through an examination of some neglected features of the work of the scholar who first traced their origins and...

The book presents cinematic case studies in political realism versus political idealism, demonstrating methods of viewing popular cinema as political theory. The book appreciates political myth-making in popular genres as especially practical and...