What are some excellent work of political philosophy. All philosophy can be applied to politics but I want some specific works dealing with government.
like:
Candid
The Social Contract
Works like 'The Republic' are too general to be considered politcal writings.
I just read a great essay by John Paul Wolff called 'In Defense of Anarchism' that might be worth your while to track down. There's always the obvious greats: Marx's Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, Hobbes' Leviathan, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, Henry David Thoreau's Walden and Civil Disobedience, Machiavelli's The Prince, St. Augustine's City of God, Leo Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You &c. (Not that I've read most of these, mind you. Some day...) In a more contemporary vein, you might want to look at Francais Fukayama's The End of History and the Last Man and Michael Ignatieff's The Lesser Evil. The first is one of George Bush's adivsors and the second has a good shot at becoming the next Prime Minister of Canada. And, not to harp on the anarchists, but Emma Goldman's Anarchism: What it Really Stands For is one of my favorite pieces of literature of any kind.
What is the use of a violent kind of delightfulness if there is no pleasure in not getting tired of it.
- Gertrude Stein
A washerwoman with her basket; a rook; a red-hot poker; th purples and grey-greens of flowers: some common feeling which held the whole together.
- Virginia Woolf
I would also recommand:
John Locke - Two Treatises of Government
Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The social contract
Alexis de Tocqueville - Democracy in America
And several writings of Kant; Max Weber; John Rawls, David Hume, Jürgen Habermas, Winfried Steffani u.a.
And concerning statebuilding and forms of government there is nothing like platon and aristotele.
Perhaps you can specify what you are looking for so that our recommandations can be more to the point.
more replies please. How about contemporary pieces anyone is fond of?
AS I said before it would be very good if you could specify what you are looking for because there are a lot of works dealing with political theory and philosophy.
Here are some contemporary works concearning government:
Stegarescu, Dan - Decentralised government in an integrating world
Eifert, Martin - Electronic government
Ball, Alan R. - Modern politics and government
Here some concearning political philosophy:
Macedo, Stephen - Child, family, and state(anthology)
Sosa, Ernest - Social, political, and legal philosophy(anth.)
Simpson, Peter - Vices, virtues, and consequences
William Morris wrote very nicely and intelligently, he talks to purposes even. I recommend him warmly.
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