A History of Political Thought: 1789 to the Present

by Bruce Haddock

Bruce Haddock's lucid and original textbook combines historical and theoretical analysis, setting political thought in the context of the emerging institutional, cultural and economic framework of the modern world. From the colossal impact of the French and American revolutions, through reaction and constitutional consolidation, the book traces the contrasting criteria invoked to justify particular forms of political order from 1789 to the present day. Its chapters are organized around key themes such as liberty, welfare, the nation-state and totalitarianism, focusing on the response of theorists to fundamental ideological and political controversies. Major thinkers covered include Kant, Burke, Hegel, Tocqueville, Marx, Mill, Mazzini, Lenin, Schmitt, Hayek, Oakeshott and Rawls.

The book also confronts challenging questions about the status of moral and political principles. Cultural and moral controversy is characteristic of our everyday experience. In recent decades, however, the foundations of political and ethical theory have been widely questioned. Haddock highlights the emergence of a dilemma that faces all how we make judgements of value from embedded positions in social and cultural communities.

A History of Political 1789 to the Present will be of interest to students and scholars of politics, history and philosophy.

Genres: Politics

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Aakash]

A helpful introduction to political thought. The writing style puts bullets points of history in an interesting narrative that is extremely helpful to a beginner student of political theory.