Awards

• Winner of Named one of the Outstanding Academic Books of 1998 by CHOICE.

Overview

This is the first full-length presentation of a republican alternative to the liberal and communitarian theories that have dominated political philosophy in recent years. The author's eloquent, compelling account opens with an examination of the traditional republican conception of freedom as non-domination, contrasting this with established negative and positive views of liberalism. The book examines what the implementation of the ideal would imply for substantive policy-making, constitutional and democratic design, regulatory control and the relation between state and civil society. Professor Pettit's powerful and insightful new work offers not only a unified, theoretical overview of the many strands of republican ideas, it also provides a new and sophisticated perspective on studies in related fields including the history of ideas, jurisprudence, and criminology. The author had included a new postscript to this paperback edition, which offers a sketch of the crucial republican ideas, and to reinforce the argument that the republican tradition deserves more attention than it has generally received among contemporary political theorists.

Full Product Details

9780198296423

Table of Contents

Reviews

Pettit follows Skinner in aligning himself with a version of republicanism that is every bit as realist and anti-perfectionist as contemporary liberalism, yet capable of offering a genuinely radical critique of its deficiencies in promoting a community of equal citizens. Res Publica Petit's work is a major advance on previous studies of republican political philosophy. In terms of analytical rigour and imaginative insight, it is easily the best book on the subject. Mind

Author Information

Philip Pettit is Professor of Social and Political Theory, Australian National University and Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, New York.

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