Suchergebnisse

Written by a powerful international team of theorists, this book offers a sophisticated analysis of the central political concepts in the light of recent debates in political theory. All political argument employs political concepts. They provide the building blocks needed to construct a case for or against a given political position. To address such issues as whether or not development aid is too low, income tax too high, or how to cope with poverty and the distribution of wealth, citizens must develop views on what individuals are entitled to, what they owe to others, and the role of individual choice and responsibility in these areas. These matters turn on an understanding of concepts such as rights, equality and liberty and the ways they relate to each other. People of different political persuasions interpret such key political concepts in different ways. This book introduces students to some of the main interpretations, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses. It covers a broad range of the main concepts employed in contemporary political and theoretical debates. Separate chapters look at liberty, rights, social justice, political obligation, nationalism, punishment, social exclusion, legitimacy, the rule of law, multiculturalism, gender, public and private, democracy, environmentalism, international justice and just war. This book is perfect for students of political theory and political ideology, and indeed anyone approaching political theory for the first time.

Intro -- Cover Page -- Half Title page -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Contributors -- Preface: We Shall Dance Better -- References -- At the Crossroads of Coloniality, Power, and Knowledge: It Is Time to Decolonise Political Concepts -- Decolonial Theory, Political Concepts, and the Ideological West -- Searching for a More Habitable Place: Decolonising Political Concepts -- Concepts beyond Borders -- Moving Sideways, Looking Forward -- Notes -- References -- Part I Decolonial Horizons: Revealing the Coloniality of Knowledge and Power -- 1 Historicising History: A Critique Enabling View of History -- Models of Historiography -- The Empirical Model -- The Constructivist Model -- The Postmodern Historiographic Model and the Charge of Relativism -- Social Conditions and Contingency -- Social Conditions as Conditions of Possibility of Historical Knowledge -- Objectivity in Historical Explanation and General Prescription -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 2 The Recalcitrance of White Ignorance -- Introduction -- White Ignorance and the Causal Role of Race -- Conception and Perception -- Memory and Testimony -- A Recalcitrant Ignorance -- Motivational Group Interest -- Affective Aspects of White Ignorance -- Affective Numbness -- White Ignorance as an Embodied Unconscious Habit -- Beyond Beliefs -- Recalcitrant Habits and White Narcissism -- The Emotions of Oppressors as Seen by the Oppressed -- Projective Mechanisms -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 3 The Idealised Subject of Freedom and the Refugee -- Introduction -- Freedom and National Citizenship -- The Anomaly of the Paradigm -- Humanitarian Approach -- The Arendtian Critique -- Freedom and (Non)-subjectivity -- Refugees' (Non)-subjectivity -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Part II Feeling Coloniality: Bodies, Sexuality, and Agency.

Front Cover -- Mind and Political Concepts -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Dediaction -- Preface -- Introduction -- CHAPTER I. Plato: The Beginning of the Conceptual Method -- THE POLITICAL ORDER -- THE STRUCTURE OF HUMAN BEHAVIOUR -- SCIENCE VERSUS DIALECTIC -- REFERENCES -- CHAPTER II. Hobbes: The Beginning of the Scientific Conceptual Method -- THE METHOD -- THE MENTAL ORDER -- THE POLITICAL ORDER -- MORALITY AND ITS COORDINATES -- REFERENCES -- CHAPTER III. Rousseau or the Un-Philosophical Analysis of Human Nature and the State -- THE METHOD -- HUMAN NATURE