An Introduction to Political Thought: A Conceptual Toolkit

This textbook is designed to equip students with a basic 'conceptual toolkit' for the study of political thought: (i) a basic political vocabulary, (ii) a conceptual vocabulary and (iii) an historical vocabulary. By mastering these vocabularies, students will be able to engage more deeply and confidently with political thought and the moral and political worlds in which they live.Organised chronologically to trace the history of political thought, the book follows a unique dual structure which introduces both key thinkers and core concepts. Each chapter is written bearing in mind this two-tier organisation and explicitly draws out important elements of both the historical and conceptual vocabularies. On completion, the student will be equipped with an historical and conceptual map to orient them in further study, as well as a clear grasp of the basic vocabulary in which such study is undertaken.Key Features: * Designed as a course text: structured to fit the demands of modularised teaching* Equips the student with basic political, historical and conceptual vocabularies from which they can build a critical glossary of terms* Adopts an engaging and innovative approach to the study of Political Theory* Key thinkers are taken as the starting point for the exploration of important conceptual questions* Political thinkers covered include: Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Bentham, Burke, Rawls, Parekh and Rorty* Topics covered include: human nature, political legitimacy, utilitarianism and rights, distributive justice, relativism, multiculturalism, international relations, conservatism, feminism and postmodernism