In his controversial new book, Andrew Vincent offers a comprehensive, synoptic, and comparative analysis of the major conceptions of political theory throughout the twentieth century. The book challenges established views of contemporary political theory and provides critical perspectives on the future of the subject. It will be an indispensable resource for all scholars and students of the discipline.

I ARGUE IN THIS PAPER that there are profound and legitimate worries concerning the application of organic and personal criteria to groups. I try to specify the reasons why we object to such ideas, while contending that some of these objections are misguided. Primarily, to refer to a group as a person is not necessarily the same as referring to it as either organic or as an individual. Further, each term--organic, individual, and person--must be carefully unpacked and analyzed. One conclusion (...) of this analysis is that there are important senses in which these concepts both overlap and also diverge. One should not therefore automatically conflate them. Another conclusion is that there are senses of these terms which are perfectly innocuous. Finally, there are clearly ways in which we can sensibly use the notion of personality to apply to groups. The groups in question are usually diverse, and do not have to include the state. In fact, despite the absence of such "group person" usage from mainstream political theory, such language is more of a commonplace in international politics and legal discourse and practice. I attempt, in the final part of the paper, to schematize the various uses of personality. I conclude by suggesting the fruitfulness of one particular sense of juristic personality. (shrink)

This paper centres on the question as to whether human rights can be reconciled with patriotism. It lays out the more conventional arguments which perceive them as incommensurable concepts. A central aspect of this incommensurability relates to the close historical tie between patriotism and the state. One further dimension of this argument is then articulated, namely, the contention that patriotism is an explicitly political concept. The implicit antagonism between, on the one hand, the state, politics and patriotism, and, on the (...) other hand, human rights, is illustrated via the work of Carl Schmitt. However, in the last few decades there has been a resurgence of interest in patriotism and an attempt to formulate a more moderate form, which tries to reconcile itself with universal ethical themes. Some of these arguments are briefly summarised; the discussion then focuses on Jürgen Habermas’s understanding of constitutional patriotism. This is seen to provide an effective response to Schmitt’s arguments. There are weaknesses in the constitutional patriotic argument which relate to its limited understanding of both the state and politics. This leads me to formulate my own argument for “unpatriotic patriotism.” The discussion then examines and responds to certain potential criticisms of this argument. (shrink)

The article scrutinises the complex relation between late twentieth century liberal and environmental thought. It concludes that if the key values of contemporary liberal and environmental thought are compared then the prognosis looks gloomy. There are implicit and deep tensions over most value questions. In order to provide a coherent focus for this analysis, the paper addresses the issue of liberal justice, namely, can liberal theories of justice be sensitively applied to environmental questions? The answer to this question is that (...) for much environmental thought, it is the very values and practices implicit within liberal justice theory which now constitute the key environmental danger. (shrink)

This edited book introduces students and scholars to Comparative Political Thought.

Nationalism has had a complex relation with the discipline of political theory during the 20th century. Political theory has often been deeply uneasy with nationalism in relation to its role in the events leading up to and during the Second World War. Many theorists saw nationalism as an overly narrow and potentially irrationalist doctrine. In essence it embodied a closed vision of the world. This article focuses on one key contributor to the immediate post-war debate—Karl Popper—who retained deep misgivings about (...) nationalism until the end of his life, and indeed saw the events of the early 1990s (shortly before his death) as a confirmation of this distrust. Popper was one of a number of immediate post war writers, such as Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises, who shared this unease with nationalism. They all had a powerful effect on social and political thought in the English-speaking world. Popper particularly articulated a deeply influential perspective that fortuitously encapsulated a cold war mentality in the 1950s. In 2005 Popper's critical views are doubly interesting, since the last decade has seen a renaissance of nationalist interests. The collapse of the Berlin wall in 1989, and the changing political landscape of international and domestic politics, has seen once again a massive growth of interest in nationalism, particularly from liberal political theorists and a growing, and, at times, immensely enthusiastic academic literature, trying to provide a distinctively benign benediction to nationalism. (shrink)

The Politics of Human Rights provides an engaging and systematic introductory overview of the nature and development of human rights.

Examining nationalism in two ways, this study first draws out the ideological connections and associations of nationalism by analyzing its relationship to a series of key political concepts, theories and practices: sovereignty, the nation state, citizenship, liberal theory, patriotism, communitarianism, multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism. Secondly, it looks at the drift to particularity in political debates by assessing nationalism as a key example of particularity.

This paper is concerned with the conception of the individual in Hegelian thought. The discussion will focus on some of the textual uses that Hegel and some Hegelians make of the term individual. The ultimate aim of the paper, however, is to focus on the concrete individual and to argue that there are two fundamentally important yet distinct uses to which Hegel and some Hegelians put the term. These two uses are not compatible, dialectically or otherwise. The plan of this (...) paper is to state the nature of the problem of the individual and then to examine it in more detail through the writings of representative British Hegelians. (shrink)

Explores the generic foundations of political theory in the twentieth century. It sorts and analyses the overarching perceptions of the political theory, at a broad level of generality, during the bulk of the century. The five positions outlined are normative political theory, institutional theory, historical political theory, empirical political theory, and ideological theory.

In the last four decades there has been a great deal of work done on German idealism in all fields of humanistic study, including theology and the philosophy of religion, devoted particularly to the philosophies of Kant and Hegel. A great deal less has been done of the British idealist school, often because they are regarded as slavish imitators of Kant or Hegel. Such a judgment is though misplaced. There is a rich and independent vein of idealist philosophical and theological (...) speculation in Britain, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, which is not often studied in any great depth or mentioned except in passing. (shrink)

The paper centres on a particular pattern of argument in Bernard Bosanquet aesthetic writings. This pattern is one which has roots in a more general Idealist response to Kant's formulation of the problem of aesthetic judgment. In other words, it has roots in thinkers such as Schiller, Schelling and Hegel. The core of the pattern of argument concentrates on the relation, in both artistic production and contemplation, between reason and sensuousness and form and content. The paper tries to show how (...) Bosanquet, in formulating his aesthetic theory, fashions his argument into what I call a 'social aesthetic'. He is helped in this process of formulating a 'social aesthetic' by subtly linking his Hegelian-based arguments with the ideas of both William Morris and John Ruskin. Throughout the paper the various arguments revolve therefore around the central relation of reason and sensuousness and form and content. (shrink)

Focuses on the development of justice‐based theory, predominantly after the publication of John Rawls Theory of Justice in 1971. After an overview of the concept of justice, it provides a critical discussion of desert and non‐desert theories, mutual advantage, impartiality, utilitarian, rational choice, and feminist and pluralist accounts of justice.

Deals with the hermeneutic work of Hans‐Georg Gadamer. It analyses the development of hermeneutic thinking, the focus on language, the critique of the Enlightenment and positivism, the role of dialogue in ethics and politics, and finally reviews the critical debates between Gadamer and Habermas. It maintains that Gadamer's approach offers profound insights into how we might reconceive of political theory in the future.

Examines the intellectual context of the works of Jürgen Habermas and Hans‐Georg Gadamer. Both thinkers successfully utilize language and dialogue to develop a viable perspective on political theory, which does not succumb to postmodern or conventionalist critique. The linking element underpinning all these discussions is the focus on language and dialogue as the central facets of political theory. This chapter examines the inception of critical theory and then provides a detailed review of the contribution of Habermas to contemporary political theory.

Examines the advent of logical positivism, the development of conceptual analysis, ordinary language philosophy, the so‐called death of political theory, the impact of linguistic philosophy and the influence of Wittgenstein's thought on political theory, and particularly the idea of ‘essential contestability’.

The paper is premised on the well-recorded fact that R.B. Haldane, throughout his working life, remained fascinated with German idealist philosophy. The paper unravels Haldane’s own perception of the relation between his philosophical interests and his diverse policy-orientated work at the beginning of the twentieth century. Many commentators have noted this relation but often pass over it as a curious detail of his biography. The most basic tool his philosophy gave him was a way of analysing problems. This philosophical stance (...) was not an ex post facto rationalisation but conversely was always his first thought on encountering a problem. To solve a policy problem one has to identify the leading ideas of that particular mode of human experience. Haldane believed that finding such rational principles underlying all forms of experience was the first duty of a politician, lawyer or civil servant. He contended that this painstaking ideational analysis would ultimately lead to the most effective policy solutions. The paper focuses first on Haldane’s initial encounter with German philosophical culture in both Edinburgh and Göttingen, second, it unpacks the key philosophical themes which characterize his approach, derived largely from his reading of Hegel’s Science of Logic. Thirdly, it turns - in the light of his philosophical beliefs - to his overt commitments to policy developments in the Edwardian new liberalism, military reform, administrative and civil service policy reorganisation, and finally his extensive work in education policy, particularly in the university sector. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe argument focuses on a Victorian perception of spiritual crisis and its unanticipated relation to nationalism. This issue is analyzed in the context of the British Idealist movement for whom the roots of the crisis derived largely from a misleading transcendental understanding of religion. The Idealists re-conceptualized religion as immanent within a humanized incarnational understanding of Christ, which was in turn seen to be implicit in the everyday moral conduct of all humans. This latter idea had immediate social implications. Morality (...) is seen to be rooted within institutions aspiring to achieve the common good. In this context, a specific ‘sense’ of nationalism is seen to embody this aspiration to the common good. There is an explicit distinction between forms of nationalism which facilitate, as against those which hinder, the common good. Thus, the Idealist immanent understanding of religion - configured through the common good - forms the intrinsic value substance to a unique understanding of nationalism. (shrink)

What did God mean to F.H. Bradley? Bradley’s style and subtle philosophical approach makes it difficult to ascertain precisely what his settled thoughts were on this issue. He does say, for example, quite a lot as to what God is not. This essay will initially follow out this negative reading. This latter enterprise entails comparisons, first, with philosophy, or more appropriately the ‘metaphysical impulse’, second, with morality, and third, with history. Having followed out the more negative arguments, the essay turns (...) to what religion is for Bradley. This is intrinsically more difficult. The discussion elicits here some help from the other idealist thinkers who were close readers of Bradley. Almost surprisingly, Bradley does comment substantively, if briefly, on issues of faith, miracle, atonement, prayer, church going, and clerics. The most significant theological point to arise in both Bradley is the significance of St. Paul’s writings. The Pauline ‘justification by faith’ becomes a repeated motif. However, there still remains an ambiguous relation of God and religion to ‘social life’ or ‘sociality’, which is explored more carefully at the conclusion of the essay. The essay finally argues that Bradley’s highly nuanced response to religion and God embodies paradoxical and unresolved elements which encapsulate, unwittingly, a dilemma at the heart of the Idealist conception of religion. (shrink)

The chapter focuses on nationalism as an ideology. It reviews the largely unresolved debates over the background, genealogy, and development of nationalism, many of which oscillate between primordial, pre-modern, and modernist accounts. It scrutinizes debates over ethnicity, culture, race, self-determination, and democracy, in relation to nationalism; critically appraises the theoretical paradoxes implicit within nationalist argument; and finally turns to an overview of some of the main themes pervading nationalist discourse. These themes are viewed, in themselves, as largely vacuous. What makes (...) them significant is the entry of other thicker ideologies, which carry the nationalist argument forward. (shrink)

Continues the theme of the previous chapter by examining more recent forms of conventionalist argument, particularly those that try to reconstitute and revivify an older political vocabulary. It therefore analyses the conventionalist writings of nationalism, neo‐Aristotelianism, and republicanism.

Examines the processes of internal fragmentation implicit within the logic of the conventionalist arguments, using the generic conceptual theme of ‘pluralism’ to analyse liberal pluralism, multicultural pluralism, and difference‐based pluralism. The basic argument made in this chapter is that conventionalism does not cease to work at the level of the nation or community. Every traditional community or nation is constituted by multiple sub‐communities and sub‐cultures.

The core argument in this chapter is that conventionalist argument, if pursued, is profoundly reductionist. Radical conventionalism can mutate into the thesis of perspectivism. In this scenario, conventionalism links up with the intellectual movements of postmodernism and poststructuralism. The committed postmodern or poststructural critic aims to search out foundationalism in all the remote and hidden corners of political theory. The chapter examines the diverse contributions of Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, William Connolly, Richard Rorty, and Jean‐François Lyotard (...) to political theory. (shrink)

Examines the initial critique of justice‐based political theory. This critical movement was not so much a resistance to the idea of justice as to its Universalist pretensions. An attempt was thus made to root political theory in a form of conventionalism. This chapter examines the sophisticated origins of the conventionalist form of argument in the writings of Michael Oakeshott, the better‐known writings of communitarianism and the reaction of the later Rawls to communitarianism in terms of his ideas on political liberalism.

A number of increasingly sophisticated technologies are now being used to support complex decision-making in a range of contexts. This paper reports on work undertaken to provide decision support in the discretionary domain of sentencing by referring to a recently created Toulmin argument based model that involves the interplay and weighting of relevant rule-based and discretionary factors used in a decisional process. Judicial discretion, particularly in the sentencing phase, is one of the mainstays of justice systems that favour individualised justice. (...) The study discusses the modelling process in Victorian courts in Australia, where the handing down of an appropriate custodial or non-custodial sentence requires the consideration of many factors. Tools and techniques used to capture relevant expert knowledge and display it both as a paper model and as an online prototype application are discussed. (shrink)