Providing an accessible introduction to some of the key areas of modern political thought, this book uniquely combining historical and philosophical approaches to the subject. It also describes the writings and ideas of the most influential thinkers of the modern era.

Dr. Tudor Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at Coventry University.

List of Boxed Biographies

xiii

Acknowledgements

xv

Introduction

xvii

Sovereignty

1

(34)

Section A

2

(1)

Historical development of the concept

2

(2)

Essential aspects of sovereignty: meanings and usages

4

(5)

Legal sovereignty

4

(1)

Political sovereignty

5

(1)

Internal sovereignty

6

(1)

External sovereignty

7

(2)

Conclusion

9

(2)

Section B

11

(1)

Machiavelli on the Prince's power

11

(4)

Hobbes: the sovereignty of the Leviathan state

15

(5)

Historical context: political and intellectual

15

(1)

The case for absolute government

16

(2)

The power and authority of the sovereign

18

(2)

Locke on sovereignty as trusteeship

20

(5)

Historical context: political and intellectual

20

(1)

Underlying theoretical assumptions

20

(3)

Distinctive features of Locke's theory

23

(2)

Rousseau and popular sovereignty

25

(6)

Historical context: political and intellectual

25

(2)

The sovereign community

27

(2)

The preconditions of popular sovereignty

29

(2)

Section C

31

(1)

Contemporay debates

31

(2)

Further reading

33

(2)

Political obligation

35

(24)

Section A

37

(1)

Historical development of the concept

37

(2)

Voluntanistic theories

37

(1)

Teleological theories

38

(1)

Other `duty' theories

39

(1)

Limits to political obligation

39

(1)

General justification for political obligation

40

(1)

Section B

41

(1)

Hobbes's theory of political obligation: social contract and security

41

(5)

Historical context: political and intellectual

41

(1)

Hobbes's views of human nature and the state of nature

42

(1)

Hobbes's `covenant'

43

(2)

Conclusion

45

(1)

Locke's theory of political obligation: social contract, consent and natural rights

46

(5)

Historical context: political and intellectual

46

(1)

Locke's view of the state of nature

47

(1)

Locke's two-stage social contract

48

(1)

Locke's notion of consent

49

(1)

Conclusion

50

(1)

Rousseau's theory of political obligation: the general will and an ideal social contract

51

(5)

Historical context: political and intellectual

51

(1)

Rousseau's ideal social contract

52

(1)

Rousseau's concept of the general will

53

(2)

Conclusion

55

(1)

Section C

56

(1)

Contemporary debates

56

(1)

Further reading

57

(2)

Liberty

59

(52)

Section A

61

(1)

Historical development of the concept: different traditions of interpreting liberty

61

(2)

Accounts of `negative' liberty in the history of modern political thought

63

(1)

Accounts of `positive' liberty in the history of modern political thought

64

(1)

Conclusion

65

(2)

Section B

67

(1)

Locke on liberty as a natural right

67

(7)

Historical context: political and intellectual

67

(2)

Natural and civil liberty: the distinction and connection between them

69

(3)

Locke's defence of religious freedom

72

(1)

Conclusion

73

(1)

Rousseau on moral and political freedom

74

(9)

Historical context: political and intellectual

74

(2)

The erosion of natural liberty

76

(1)

The two aspects of `true' freedom: moral and civil

77

(2)

`Forcing' someone to be free

79

(1)

The critique of Rousseau's view of liberty

80

(1)

Conclusion

81

(2)

John Stuart Mill's defence of personal liberty

83

(14)

Historical context: political and intellectual

83

(3)

Mill's main concerns in On Liberty

86

(1)

Mill's view of liberty

87

(4)

Mill on the importance of individuality

91

(1)

Limits to freedom of expression and action

92

(2)

Conclusion

94

(3)

T.H. Green's positive view of liberty

97

(9)

Historical context: political and intellectual

97

(3)

Green's view of the social individual

100

(1)

Green's positive conception of liberty

101

(2)

Green's positive view of the state

103

(1)

Conclusion

104

(2)

Section C

106

(1)

Contemporary debates

106

(3)

Further reading

109

(2)

Rights

111

(40)

Section A

112

(1)

Historical development of the concept of rights

112

(3)

Critiques of theories of the natural rights of man

115

(3)

Development of the concept of human rights in the twentieth century

118

(1)

Problems associated with the concept of human rights

119

(5)

Section B

124

(1)

Locke's theory of natural rights

124

(9)

Historical context: political and intellectual

124

(2)

Locke's conception of natural rights

126

(3)

Locke's account of the right to property

129

(3)

Conclusion

132

(1)

Burke's case against the `rights of man' and for `prescriptive' rights

133

(6)

Historical context: political and intellectual

133

(2)

Burke's critique of the doctrine of the `rights of man'

135

(2)

Burke's defence of inherited, `prescriptive' rights

137

(2)

Paine's defence of the rights of man

139

(7)

Historical context: political and intellectual

139

(3)

Paine's distinction between natural and civil rights

142

(2)

Paine's status as a radical popularizer of natural-rights theory

144

(1)

Paine's long-term influence

145

(1)

Section C

146

(1)

Contemporary debates

146

(3)

Further reading

149

(2)

Equality

151

(48)

Section A

152

(1)

Formal or foundational equality

152

(2)

Equality of opportunity

154

(3)

Equality of outcome

157

(4)

Section B

161

(1)

Rousseau's vision of democratic equality

161

(7)

Historical context: political and intellectual

161

(1)

The inequality of civil society

161

(2)

`Natural' and `artificial' inequalities

163

(1)

The harmful effects of inequality

164

(1)

Rousseau's egalitarian remedy

165

(1)

Conclusion

166

(2)

Wollstonecraft on equal rights for women

168

(5)

Historical context: political and intellectual

168

(2)

The case for equal civil and political rights for women

170

(2)

Conclusion

172

(1)

John Stuart Mill on equality of opportunity and on equal status for women

173

(10)

Historical context: political and intellectual

173

(1)

Reward according to desert in industrial society

174

(4)

Equality of status for women

178

(3)

Conclusion

181

(2)

Marx on equality in a communist society

183

(9)

Historical context: political and intellectual

183

(4)

Marx's critique of liberal ideas of equality

187

(2)

Towards communist equality

189

(2)

Conclusion

191

(1)

Section C

192

(1)

Contemporary debates

192

(4)

Further reading

196

(3)

Select Bibliography

199

(11)

Index

210

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