The History of Political Thought: A Very Short Introduction

Thinking about politics has tended to be historical in nature because of the comparisons and contrasts that can be drawn between past and present. Different periods in politics have used the past differently. At times political thought can be said to have been drawn directly from the study of
history; at others, perhaps including our own time, the relationship is more indirect.

This Very Short Introduction explores the core concerns and questions in the field of the history of political thought. Richard Whatmore considers the history of political thought as a branch of political philosophy/political science, and examines the approaches of core theorists such as Reinhart
Koselleck, Strauss, Michel Foucault, and the so-called Cambridge School of Quentin Skinner and John Pocock. Assessing the current relationship between political history, theory and action, Whatmore concludes with an analysis of its relevance for current politics.

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Author: Richard Whatmore
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 02/01/2022
Pages: 160
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.30lbs
Size: 6.50h x 4.10w x 0.40d
ISBN13: 9780198853725
ISBN10: 0198853726
BISAC Categories:
- Political Science | Political Ideologies | General
- Political Science | History & Theory | General

About the Author

Richard Whatmore, Professor of Modern History and Co-Director of the Institute of Intellectual History, University of St Andrews

Richard Whatmore is a Professor of Modern History and Co-Director of the Institute of Intellectual History at the University of St. Andrews. He is the author of Republicanism and the French Revolution (OUP, 2000); Against War and Empire (Yale, 2012); What is Intellectual History? (Polity, 2015); and
Terrorists, Anarchists and Republicans (Princeton, 2019).