Abstract

This illuminating book examines today's most controversial and philosophically interesting issues in the major schools of contemporary political theory. In the past two decades, the study of political theory has undergone an unexpected renaissance and has once again taken center stage in philosophical debates in the West. Paradigms in Political Theory sets out some of the major controversies circulating in four schools of contemporary political theory: liberalism, Marxism, feminism, and postmodernism. Rather than attempting to cover the major elements of each school of thought in a comprehensive manner, this volume reveals some of the more contentious issues facing each brand of political theory so that its cutting edge can be exposed. Chapters on liberalism criticize the foundations of the school from its assumptions and analytical methods to the problems of legitimacy and paternalism. Other chapters provide a basis for political obligation, analyze collective action, or critique the main proponents of liberalism in our time. The works on Marxism range from traditional critical interpretation of the work of classical authors to contemporary applications of analytical Marxism or undertake a synthesis between Marx and Nietzsche. The feminist essays present vigorous analyses of the self, the self in political action, and the self seeking personal and social truth in new ways. The section on post-modernism addresses the major issues in the political theories of Foucault, Habermas, Derrida, Lyotard, and Baudrillard.