Introduction to Political Thought

Peri Roberts is Senior Lecturer in the School of European Studies at Cardiff University. Peter David Edward Sutch is Reader in Political and International Theory at Cardiff University, where he teaches classes in political theory, global ethics and the politics of international law.

• [NB: there is a dual table of contents - one allowing the student to follow a chronological path (History of Political Thought), the other allowing a route to be traced through Political Concepts and Ideas]; History of Political Thought/ Political Concepts & Ideas; Introduction; 1: What is Political Theory?/ 1: What is Political Theory?; I: Classical Origins of Political Thought; 2: Plato/ 2: Is There a Universal Moral Order?; 3: Aristotle/ 3: Is Politics Natural?; II: Modern Developments in Political Thought; 4: Hobbes, Locke & Rousseau/ 4: Liberty & Human Nature: What is political freedom?; 5: Social Contractarians: Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau/ 5: Political Legitimacy & the Artificiality of Politics: Why obey the state?; 6: Marx & Socialism/ 6: The Artificiality of Man; III: Contemporary Understandings of Political Thought; 7: Bentham, Utilitarianism and Rights/ 7. How do we take people seriously?; 8: Rawls, Nozick & Walzer/ 8: Distributive Justice; IV: Challenges to Universalism and Foundationalism; 9. The Internationalisation of Political Thought/ 9. Universal Principles in a Society of States; 10. Burke and Oakeshott/ 10. Conservatism: Reason vs Tradition; 11: Feminism and Antifoundationalism/ 11: What's Wrong with Universal Justice?/; Afterword/ Current Engagements in Political Thought; Index.