Dictionary of Political Thought

The Dictionary of Political Thought presents, in one hundred and twenty-eight entries, in a simple and accessible form, the main currents of ideas, major philosophical debates and major authors of Western political thought. It covers all periods of history from antiquity to the present, and deals with a very wide range of topics: the philosophy of the ancients, the doctrines of the Middle Ages, the humanism of the Renaissance, the great projects of the Enlightenment, as well as reflections on power, justice, the state, the nation, democracy, socialism, liberalism, totalitarianism or communism. Guided by a concern for accuracy, legibility and clarity, it presents political ideas in relation to social, political and cultural developments in Europe and the world. Some abstracts are devoted to authors and their works, others deal with a central philosophical concept or idea that has fed thinking about power and society. Finally, others, preferring a historical angle, deal with the development of ideological or intellectual sensibility. The dictionary is useful to students of philosophy, law, history and political science in particular, and to the non-specialist reader in general. It will be particularly useful to students of political science; As it provides all the means to deepen their knowledge of the major debates that influenced the course of history.