James Farr - Böcker

James Farr and Raymond Seidelman bring new historical reflection to the "state of the discipline" debate in political science. This anthology offers a panorama of views about the state of the discipline that have been sketched by leading political scientists and disciplinary historians from the late nineteenth century to the past.The essays in this volume explore four distinct periods in the development of the discipline, with special emphasis on the subfields of American politics and political theory, revealing that the identity of the discipline is constituted not so much by agreements over fundamental principles as by the history of debates about the meaning of politics, the methods of science, the theories of behavioralism and the state, and the responsibilities of public professionals and civic educators.Contributors are Terence Ball, Charles A. Beard, John W. Burgess, Robert A. Dahl, David Easton, John G. Gunnell, Norman Jacobson, Harold D. Lasswell, Francis Lieber, Charles E. Merriam, David M. Ricci, William H. Riker, Dorothy Ross, Helene Silverberg, Leonard D. White, Woodrow Wilson, and W.W. Willoughby.Its unprecedented treatment of the history of political science makes Discipline and History essential reading for political scientists and their students. Historians of the social sciences will also find much to consider.

These twelve original essays are 'after' Marx in several senses. The first and most obvious is the purely chronological sense: They are written one hundred years after Marx's death. The authors are therefore able to see more clearly what Marx did not or could not see and to see more clearly that which he foresaw only dimly. The second sense in which they are after Marx is political: In this century virtually all revolutionaries call themselves Marxists and purport to apply Marx's precepts to political practice. Armed with their different interpretations of a nineteenth-century theory, they have altered - and continue to reshape - the political contours of the twentieth century. Marx raised more questions than he, or anyone else, could ever reasonably hope to answer. To raise anew some of these questions and to approach them in the critical spirit of Marx's own thinking, are the common themes running through and uniting these essays.

This book defends the claim that politics is a linguistically constituted activity and shows that the concepts which inform political beliefs and behaviour undergo changes related to real political events. Having set out and discussed this theme, the editors and contributors go on to analyse the evolution of thirteen particular concepts, all central to political discourse in the western world. They include revolution, rights, democracy, property, corruption, public interest, public opinion, and ideology. The volume will be illuminating to political theorists, intellectual historians, and philosophers.

The guiding theme of this volume is that contemporary political science owes much of its present character to its past. In twelve essays, the contributors - all practising political scientists - explore the emergence and transformation of political traditions and research programmes that have helped make political science what it is today. Included are histories of political themes and ideals (democracy, race, political education), conceptual and philosophical frameworks (the state and pluralism, behaviouralism, policy analysis, public opinion, biology and politics), and theoretical projects and programmes (realism in international relations, spatial theory of elections, rational choice and historical approaches to institutional analysis). Each essay provides special insight and a distinct approach to particular episodes, moments, trends, and aspects of the history of academic political science; the volume as a whole provides a general overview of the history of the discipline and the variety of ways disciplinary history can illuminate the present.

The guiding theme of this volume is that contemporary political science owes much of its present character to its past. In twelve essays, the contributors - all practising political scientists - explore the emergence and transformation of political traditions and research programmes that have helped make political science what it is today. Included are histories of political themes and ideals (democracy, race, political education), conceptual and philosophical frameworks (the state and pluralism, behaviouralism, policy analysis, public opinion, biology and politics), and theoretical projects and programmes (realism in international relations, spatial theory of elections, rational choice and historical approaches to institutional analysis). Each essay provides special insight and a distinct approach to particular episodes, moments, trends, and aspects of the history of academic political science; the volume as a whole provides a general overview of the history of the discipline and the variety of ways disciplinary history can illuminate the present.

The Cambridge Companion to The Communist Manifesto covers the historical and biographical contexts and major contemporary interpretations of this classic text for understanding Marx and Engels, and for grasping Marxist political theory. The editors and contributors offer innovative accounts of the history of the text in relation to German revolutionaries, European socialism, and socialist political projects; rhetorical, dramaturgical, feminist and postcolonial readings of the text; and theoretical analyses in relation to political economy, political theory and major concepts of Marxism. The volume includes a fresh translation into English, by Terrell Carver, of the first edition (1848), and an exacting transcription of the rare earliest English translation (1850) by Helen Macfarlane.

Although it originated in theological debates, the general will ultimately became one of the most celebrated and denigrated concepts emerging from early modern political thought. Jean-Jacques Rousseau made it the central element of his political theory, and it took on a life of its own during the French Revolution, before being subjected to generations of embrace or opprobrium. James Farr and David Lay Williams have collected for the first time a set of essays that track the evolving history of the general will from its origins to recent times. The General Will: The Evolution of a Concept discusses the general will's theological, political, formal, and substantive dimensions with a careful eye toward the concept's virtues and limitations as understood by its expositors and critics, among them Arnauld, Pascal, Malebranche, Leibniz, Locke, Spinoza, Montesquieu, Kant, Constant, Tocqueville, Adam Smith and John Rawls.

The Cambridge Companion to The Communist Manifesto covers the historical and biographical contexts and major contemporary interpretations of this classic text for understanding Marx and Engels, and for grasping Marxist political theory. The editors and contributors offer innovative accounts of the history of the text in relation to German revolutionaries, European socialism, and socialist political projects; rhetorical, dramaturgical, feminist and postcolonial readings of the text; and theoretical analyses in relation to political economy, political theory and major concepts of Marxism. The volume includes a fresh translation into English, by Terrell Carver, of the first edition (1848), and an exacting transcription of the rare earliest English translation (1850) by Helen Macfarlane.

This two-volume collection of primary documents covers societies across different geographical regions during the last 5,000 years. While chronologically and geographically comprehensive in scope, this reader will focus on a central theme: the unequal allocation of wealth and power both within individual societies and between different polities ranging from small city-states to large territorial empires. The selected documents reveal that people living at different times and in different places have used similar methods to achieve similar political and economic objectives. By reflecting uniformities as well as diversities in ideas and actions, these documents undermine assertions of Western intellectual, cultural, or moral superiority.

Volume 1 of this two-volume collection of primary documents covers societies across different geographical regions during the last 5,000 years. While chronologically and geographically comprehensive in scope, this reader will focus on a central theme: the unequal allocation of wealth and power both within individual societies and between different polities ranging from small city-states to large territorial empires. The selected documents reveal that people living at different times and in different places have used similar methods to achieve similar political and economic objectives. By reflecting uniformities as well as diversities in ideas and actions, these documents undermine assertions of Western intellectual, cultural, or moral superiority.

This two-volume collection of primary documents covers societies that developed writing systems in different geographical regions during that last 5,000 years. While comprehensive in scope, this reader focuses on a central theme: the unequal allocation of wealth and power both within individual societies and between different polities ranging from small city-states to large territorial empires. The documents reveal that people living at different times and in different places have used similar methods to achieve similar political and economic objectives. By reflecting uniformities as well as diversities in ideas and actions, these documents undermine assertions of Western intellectual, cultural, or moral superiority. These readings also show that the expanding supply of goods and services resulting from technological innovations has led to increasing social, economic, and political, racial, and gender inequality. Selected to give students a deeper understanding of how and why inequalities have emerged in societies around the globe, each document will be introduced by a brief explanation of its historical context. And each document, presented in chronological order, will be followed by 3 or 4 review questions giving students an opportunity to test their understanding of its main points.

This two-volume collection of primary documents covers societies across different geographical regions during the last 5,000 years. While chronologically and geographically comprehensive in scope, this reader will focus on a central theme: the unequal allocation of wealth and power both within individual societies and between different polities ranging from small city-states to large territorial empires. The selected documents reveal that people living at different times and in different places have used similar methods to achieve similar political and economic objectives. By reflecting uniformities as well as diversities in ideas and actions, these documents undermine assertions of Western intellectual, cultural, or moral superiority.