This is undoubtedly one of the most unusual books written by a leading political theorist in the last few years ... The core ambitions of this highly innovative work are to establish the significance of the innumerable thought-practices that figure within the complex patterns of everyday political thinking, and to ask why it is that these are routinely ignored or overlooked by political theorists. It is to the authors considerable credit that he makes his heterodox case in a carefully reasoned and intellectually sophisticated fashion.

Michael Kenny, Queen Mary University of London, Political Studies Review

In a highly erudite and comprehensive manner, the prominent British political theorist Freeden (Univ. of Nottingham) raises fundamental questions about how students of politics and others engage in political thinking.

H. L. Cheek Jr., East Georgia State College, CHOICE

Freeden's tour of the terrain of political decision-making creates a rich context for common notions, such as Max Webers monopoly of legitimate force. Similarly Freeden provides a stimulating analysis of rights claims as conversation stoppers, in a subsection of chapter 4: Rights: The Ranking Device Par Excellence ... in shedding new light on how different conceptualizations of political concepts fit together in diverse overall approaches to thinking politically, Freeden makes a valuable contribution.

George Klosko, University of Virginia, The Review of Politics

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This volume is an important and welcome intervention in the conversations of political theory. Michael Freeden advances a dense, complex, and provocative theoretical argument as well as a research agenda, which deserve wide attention and critical discussion among both political theorists and political scientists ... It is unfortunate that most contemporary political theorists are not, by either inclination or training, prepared to undertake the kind of study that Freeden has both advocated and personified and to confront the issues that his work raises ... Freedens work makes a strong case for the claim that an important first step is to theoretically engage and study the kind of thinking that actually takes place in politics.

John G. Gunnell, European Journal of Political Theory

What does it mean to say that human beings think politically, and what is distinctive about that kind of thinking? That question is all-too infrequently asked by political theorists, or is dealt with through generalizations, abstractions, and dichotomies. This study examines the actual, real-world patterns people display when thinking politically, identifying six features of political thinking. They include the role of making ultimate decisions and regulating all social affairs, ranking collective priorities, mobilizing support for groups or withholding it, conceptualizing social order and stability as well as disorder and instability, projecting future visions and constructing plans for a society, and engaging the power aspects embedded in language, by means of reason, rhetoric, emotion or menace. Concurrently the untidiness and occasional failures of thinking politically are acknowledged alongside its quest for neatness. A large number of case studies is employed, drawn both from professional political theorists and philosophers and from various instances of vernacular usage: politicians, political commentators, or protest groups. Both contemporary and historical evidence from different cultures is utilized in illustrating the theoretical framework of the book. This is the first systematic study of political thinking as a cluster of thought-practices, combining insights from political theory--traditional and recent--the study of language and discourse, and political science. This investigation of 'the political' as a mode of thinking challenges many conventional understandings of political thought in the current literature, teases out what is political--not philosophical or ethical--in political theory, and locates it as a complex and ubiquitous social practice present at all points of human interaction and at diverse levels of articulation.
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This book is the first to explore systematically what it means to think 'politically'. Using contemporary and historical material, and investigating both professional and 'amateur' forms of political thinking, this study challenges much accepted wisdom on the topic, arguing that it is to be approached as a cluster of interacting features.
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1: Theorizing about Political Thinking 2: Language, Emotion and Political Thought 3: The Arrogance of Politics 4: Ranking and the Distribution of Significance 5: The Scramble for Acceptance: Mobilizing and Withholding Support 6: Stability, Order and Disruption: Discourses of Balance and Contention 7: Visions and Prescriptions: Temptations and Failures of Political Thinking 8: Power Patterns and Power Surges: Organizing and Intensifying Speech Acts
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`Review from previous edition Freeden's tour of the terrain of political decision-making creates a rich context for common notions, such as Max Weber's monopoly of legitimate force. Similarly Freeden provides a stimulating analysis of rights claims as conversation stoppers, in a subsection of chapter 4: "Rights: The Ranking Device Par Excellence . . . in shedding new light on how different conceptualizations of political concepts fit together in diverse overall approaches to thinking politically, Freeden makes a valuable contribution.' George Klosko, University of Virginia, The Review of Politics `This volume is an important and welcome intervention in the conversations of political theory. Michael Freeden advances a dense, complex, and provocative theoretical argument as well as a research agenda, which deserve wide attention and critical discussion among both political theorists and political scientists . . . It is unfortunate that most contemporary political theorists are not, by either inclination or training, prepared to undertake the kind of study that Freeden has both advocated and personified and to confront the issues that his work raises . . . Freeden's work makes a strong case for the claim that an important first step is to theoretically engage and study the kind of thinking that actually takes place in politics.' John G. Gunnell, European Journal of Political Theory
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Major new work by a leading political theorist First extensive study of the practice of political thinking Focus on identifying the political, rather than philosophical or ethical, nature of political theory Investigates both professional and amateur forms of thinking politically Theory based on ascertaining the empirical features of thinking politically
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Michael Freeden is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Nottingham and Emeritus Professor of Politics, University of Oxford. His books include The New Liberalism: An Ideology of Social Reform (Oxford, 1978); Liberalism Divided: A Study in British Political Thought 1914-1939 (Oxford, 1986); Rights (Milton Keynes, 1991); Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach (Oxford, 1996); Ideology: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2003); Liberal Languages: Ideological Imaginations and 20th Century Progressive Thought (Princeton, 2005); The Meaning of Ideology: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives (ed.) (London, 2007). He is the founder-editor of the Journal of Political Ideologies. In 2012 he was awarded the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for Lifetime Contribution to Political Studies by the UK Political Studies Association.
Les mer
Major new work by a leading political theorist First extensive study of the practice of political thinking Focus on identifying the political, rather than philosophical or ethical, nature of political theory Investigates both professional and amateur forms of thinking politically Theory based on ascertaining the empirical features of thinking politically
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780198746737
Publisert
2015
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Vekt
548 gr
Høyde
236 mm
Bredde
158 mm
Dybde
20 mm
Aldersnivå
U, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
358

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

Michael Freeden is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Nottingham and Emeritus Professor of Politics, University of Oxford. His books include The New Liberalism: An Ideology of Social Reform (Oxford, 1978); Liberalism Divided: A Study in British Political Thought 1914-1939 (Oxford, 1986); Rights (Milton Keynes, 1991); Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach (Oxford, 1996); Ideology: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2003); Liberal Languages: Ideological Imaginations and 20th Century Progressive Thought (Princeton, 2005); The Meaning of Ideology: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives (ed.) (London, 2007). He is the founder-editor of the Journal of Political Ideologies. In 2012 he was awarded the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for Lifetime Contribution to Political Studies by the UK Political Studies Association.