Bücher der Reihe Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought

This new collection of Aristotle's political writings provides the student with the necessary materials for a full understanding of his work as a political theorist. In addition to an extended introduction to The Politics, this revised Cambridge Texts Edition provides detailed biographical notes and an extensive guide to further reading.

Thucydides' classic work is a foundational text in the history of Western political thought. His narrative of the great war between Athens and Sparta in the fifth century BC is now seen as a highly sophisticated study of the nature of political power itself: its exercise and effects, its agents and victims, and the arguments through which it is defended and deployed. It is therefore increasingly read as a text in politics, international relations and political theory, whose students will find in Thucydides many striking contemporary resonances. This edition seeks to present the author and the text in their proper historical context. The new translation is particularly sensitive to the risks of anachronism, and the notes and extensive reference material provide students with all the necessary historical, cultural and linguistic background they need to engage with the text on its own terms.

This is the first translation into English of Guicciardini's Dialogue on the Government of Florence. Written in the early 1520s by the author of the famous History of Italy, as well as a History of Florence and Political Maxims and Reflections, this dialogue presents what is arguably the most searching and comprehensive analysis of the politics of his times. Like Machiavelli, his contemporary and friend, Guicciardini rejects classical republican arguments in the name of the new political realism and acknowledges the important role of patronage and graft in contemporary politics and the illegitimacy of nearly all forms of political power. In this Dialogue he provides one of the clearest expositions of the term 'reason of state', which he was one of the first to employ and which he uses to justify the priority of state interest over private morality and religion.

David Hume is commonly known as one of the greatest philosophers to write in English. He was also one of the foremost political and economic theorists and one of the finest historians of the eighteenth century. His political essays reflect the entire range of his intellectual engagement with politics - as political philosophy, political observation and political history - and function as an extension of and supplement to works such as his Treatise of Human Nature and his History of England. The twenty-seven most important essays are presented in this fully annotated edition, together with excerpts from the History of England which illuminate their context. This major addition to the Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought will be of interest to students and scholars of politics, philosophy and the history of ideas.

Joseph de Maistre's Considerations on France is the best known French equivalent of Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. This new edition of Richard Lebrun's 1974 translation is introduced by Isaiah Berlin, with a bibliography and chronology by the translator. Published in 1797, the work of the self-exiled Maistre presents a providential interpretation of the French Revolution and argues for a new alliance of throne and altar under a restored Bourbon monarchy. Although the Directory and then Napoleon delayed Maistre's influence within France until the Restoration, he is now acknowledged as the most eloquent spokesperson for continental conservatism. Considerations on France was a shrewd piece of propaganda, but, as Isaiah Berlin contends, by arguing his case in broad historical, philosophical and religious terms, Maistre raises issues of enduring importance.

This edition of Voltaire's political writings presents a varied selection of his most interesting and controversial texts, many of which have not previously been translated into English. They range over the nature and legitimacy of political power, law and the social order, crime and punishment, liberty and humanity, war and peace, and the growing disorder in the French economy. They also touch on specific issues and events in pre-Revolutionary France to which Voltaire responded and in which he was closely involved, including the Seven Years' War and relations with Frederick II, the Genevan quarrels of the 1760s, and the sensational trials of Jean Calas, Sirven and the Chevalier de La Barre. A comprehensive introduction explores the background to these texts, which together reflect the full range of Voltaire's responses to the most significant issues of his time.

This is the first collection of the writings of Edmund Burke which precede Reflections on the Revolution in France, and the first to do justice to the connections and breadth of Burke's thought. A thinker whose range transcends formal boundaries, Burke has been highly prized by both conservatives and liberals, and this new edition charts the development of Burke's thought and its importance as a response to the events of his day. Burke's mind spanned theology, aesthetics, moral philosophy and history, as well as the political affairs of Ireland, England, America, India and France, and he united these concerns in his view of inequality. In the writings in this edition Burke indicated how societies embodying revealed religion and social hierarchy could sustain civilisation and political liberty. These thoughts reached their apogee in Reflections on the Revolution in France. This edition provides the student with all the necessary information for an understanding of the complexities of Burke's thought. Each text is prefaced by a summary and notes to the texts elucidate the literary and historical references. An introduction and biographical and bibliographical essays help place these works in the context of Burke's thought as a whole.

John Milton was not only the greatest English Renaissance poet but also devoted twenty years to prose writing in the advancement of religious, civil and political liberties. The height of his public career was as chief propagandist to the Commonwealth regime which came into being following the execution of King Charles I in 1649. The first of the two complete texts in this volume, The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, was easily the most radical justification of the regicide at the time. In the second, A Defence of the People of England, Milton undertook to vindicate the Commonwealth's cause to Europe as a whole.This book, first published in 1991, was the first time that fully annotated versions were published together in one volume, and incorporated a new translation of the Defence. The introduction outlines the complexity of the ideological landscape which Milton had to negotiate, and in particular the points at which he departed radically from his sixteenth-century predecessors.

This volume makes available for the first time in English the writings about the Holy Roman Empire by Marsiglio of Padua (c.1275-1342), one of the most influential and original political thinkers of the Latin Middle Ages. Included are two major texts. The Defensor minor is a restatement and defence of the doctrines of Marsiglio's best known work, the Defensor pacis. As such it adds to our understanding of his previous thought while giving new dimensions to his theory. De translatione imperii (On the Transfer of the Empire) is a form of appendix to the Defensor pacis, in which Marsiglio's general intellectual framework is applied to an historical assessment of the legitimacy of the exercise of imperial power by the German king outside the authorisation of the pope.

We know more about the development of John Locke's ideas than we do about almost any other philosopher's before modern times. This book brings together a comprehensive collection of the writings on politics and society that stand outside the canonical works which Locke published during his lifetime. In the aftermath of the Revolution of 1688 the three works by which he is chiefly known appeared: the Two Treatises of Government, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and A Letter Concerning Toleration, and the themes raised in these works had been reflected upon over many years. Mark Goldie's edition makes possible the fullest exploration of the evolution of Locke's ideas concerning the philosophical foundations of morality and sociability, the boundary of church and state, the shaping of constitutions, and the conduct of government and public policy.

The Education of a Christian Prince is a new student edition of Erasmus's crucial treatise on political theory. It contains a new, excerpted translation from his Panegyric, making it possible for the first time to compare two works which Erasmus himself regarded as closely related. The Education of a Christian Prince was published in 1516 and dedicated to Prince Charles, the future Emperor Charles V, and is one of the most influential books of the 'advice-to-princes' published in the Renaissance era. It is a strongly pacifist work in which Erasmus sought to ensure that the prince governed justly and benevolently. The importance of Erasmus's work lies in his emphasis on virtuous conduct as the backbone of the polity, an argument which has influenced political writing up to the present time. This edition also includes an original introduction, a chronology of the life and work of Erasmus, and a comprehensive guide to further reading.

Showcasing texts by Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian authors, this volume demonstrates the wealth of the political thought of early modern Portugal and its empire. It offers an overview of the main debates on politics and government and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the multifaceted history of European political ideas.

Showcasing texts by Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian authors, this volume demonstrates the wealth of the political thought of early modern Portugal and its empire. It offers an overview of the main debates on politics and government and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the multifaceted history of European political ideas.

The Conquest of Bread is Peter Kropotkin's most detailed description of the ideal society, embodying anarchist communism, and of the social revolution that was to achieve it. Marshall Shatz's introduction traces the evolution of Kropotkin's thought, and the volume also includes a number of his shorter writings.

Max Weber (1864-1920) is generally known as a founder of modern social science. The texts in this edition span his career and illustrate the development of his political thinking on the fate of Germany and the nature of politics in the modern western state and an age of cultural 'disenchantment'.

Leibniz's political and ethical writing long has been neglected, and with this new edition Professor Riley makes available the most representative pieces from Leibniz's political theory. This new edition, specially prepared for this series, is the first to make a considerable number of Leibniz's writings available in English, and includes three previously unpublished manuscripts, a selection of political letters, an introduction, notes, and a critical biography.

Richard Bartlett Gregg's The Power of Nonviolence (1959) is an influential defence of nonviolence as a viable alternative to armed struggle. This definitive new edition includes an introduction by leading political theorist, James Tully that situates the work in its historical contexts and shows how it is still relevant today.

This new edition of the acclaimed translation of Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince - revised for the first time after thirty years - includes an extended and rewritten introduction by Quentin Skinner, an improved timeline of key events in Machiavelli's life, and a fully updated bibliography.

A comprehensive and authoritative anthology of Rousseau's important early political writings in faithful English translations. Featuring an expanded introduction, a new foreword and an extensive editorial apparatus, this new edition is designed to assist students at every level access these seminal texts.

A comprehensive and authoritative anthology of Rousseau's major later political writings in up-to-date English translations. Featuring an expanded introduction, a new foreword and an extensive editorial apparatus, the new edition is designed to assist students at every level access these seminal texts.

Giovanni Botero is a significant but often overlooked figure in early modern political thought. This translation of his 1589 volume, Della ragion di Stato, which first popularised the term 'reason of state', introduces Botero to a wider Anglophone audience and demonstrates his opposition to Machiavelli's seminal work, The Prince.

Incorporating extensive updates to the editorial apparatus, including the introduction, suggestions for further reading, and footnotes, this third edition of More's Utopia has been comprehensively re-worked to take into account scholarship published since the second edition in 2002.

Plato's Laws is one of the most important surviving works of ancient Greek political thought. This new translation into accessible English also includes an authoritative introduction and notes on the text. It will be a key resource for scholars and graduate and undergraduate students of the history of political thought.

This is the first modern edition of A Holy Commonwealth, which was written in 1659 by the Puritan minister Richard Baxter (1615-91). It is a candid confession as to why a conservative Puritan fought for Parliament in the Civil War and gave his support to the Cromwells.

Fichte's account of the distinctiveness of the German people and his belief in the native superiority of its culture helped to shape German national identity throughout the nineteenth century and beyond. With an extensive contextualising introduction, this edition brings an important and seminal work to a modern readership.

The Short Discourse is a passionate but compelling statement of Ockham's position on the most fundamental political problem of the medieval period.

Sally Jenkinson's masterful selection from Bayle's Dictionnaire Historique et Critique presents the reader with a coherent path through Bayle's vast work. Her authoritative translation, careful text selection, and lucid introduction will be welcomed by scholars and students of the history of ideas, political theory, cultural history and French studies.

In his Treatise of Orders and Plain Dignities, Charles Loyseau set out to harmonise with law his fellow citizens' values and behaviour in the crucial sphere of possession and exercise of public power. This edition sets Loyseau's text in the context of his own political thesis and the intellectual milieu of those who administered early-modern France.