Political Thinkers of the Twentieth Century

Political Thinkers of the Twentieth Century provides analysis of those writers universally regarded as central to modern political thought gathered together into one volume.

The twentieth century has seen the emergence of political and social problems of unprecedented proportions - social fragmentation, alienation, exploitation, war and the rise of totalitarianism.

Each of the thinkers considered is examined with a view to highlighting and assessing the seminal contribution they have made to our sense of the predicaments we face and possible responses we can make.

Political Thinkers of the Twentieth Century aims to draw out, through detailed analysis, the unique contributions of thinkers as diverse as Michael Oakeshott and Jurgen Habermas, Hannah Arendt and John Rawls.

Whilst acknowledging, through a series of focused essays, the individual standing of each theorist, the authors at the same time recognize that political theory in the Twentieth Century constitutes the most recent stage in the history of Western political thought.The essays are accordingly arranged in broad sections reflecting the principal intellectual traditions to which the theorists concerned are indebted and the general preoccupations animating their work.

Each section is accompanied by a brief introduction describing the intellectual context within which the individual theorists may best be placed.

This book provides a concise and incisive work of interest to those concerned with the contemporary field of political theory.