Republican Theory in Political Thought: Virtuous or Virtual? / Edition 1

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Overview

The book provides a thematic examination of republican theory from the Italian Renaissance, through seventeenth- and early-eighteenth-century England, the late- eighteenth-century Enlightenment and the experiences of the early American republic to contemporary debates. It maps out a republican ideal type according to four themes - popular sovereignty, a view of history which is sensitive to systemic corruption, an insistence on civic virtue and, following Philip Pettit, a conception of liberty as non-domination. It evaluates the attractiveness of those themes to liberals, communitarians, socialists, environmentalists and feminists and examines their relevance to inhabitants of the non-Western world. The book contributes to several topical debates dealing with the distinctiveness of a specifically republican tradition, the eclipse of virtue-centred thinking in the eighteenth century, the reassessment of the United States revolutionary tradition, the merits of liberalism versus communitarianism and the waves of democracy which are currently celebrated and criticized worldwide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312220532
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	07/17/1999
Edition description:	1999
Pages:	211
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Bill Brugger is Professor of Politics at Flinders University, Australia.

Table of Contents

Introduction
• Early Modern Republicanism
• Enlightenment Republicanism
• Mechanical Republicanism: The American Case
• Contemporary Republicanism in What Used to Be Called the "First World"
• Prospects for Republicanism Elsewhere
• Conclusion
• Index

Editorial Reviews

Brugger (politics, Flinders U.) provides a thematic examination of republican theory from the Italian Renaissance, through 17th and early 18th century Enlightenment and the experiences of the early American republic to contemporary debates. He maps out and evaluates a republican ideal type, and he contributes to topical debates dealing with the distinctiveness of a specifically republican tradition, the eclipse of virtue-centered thinking in the 18th century, the reassessment of the U.S. revolutionary tradition, the merits of liberalism versus communitarianism, and the waves of democracy which are currently celebrated and criticized worldwide. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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