The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory (Oxford Handbooks) - Softcover

Review from previous edition 'This is a unique and impressive set of analyses about scholarship in political theory. It is comprehensive, as we would expect. Beyond that, it is remarkably creative in the way that Dryzek, Honig and Phillips have organized categories, and it includes much overdue reference to scholarship on non-Western and postcolonial thought.' (Iris Marion Young, Late Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago.)

'This extraordinary series offers 'state of the art' assessments that instruct, engage, and provoke. Both synoptic and directive, the fine essays across these superbly edited volumes reflect the ambitions and diversity of political science. No one who is immersed in the discipline's controversies and possibilities should miss the intellectual stimulation and critical appraisal these works so powerfully provide.' (Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University)

'Under the general editorship of Robert E. Goodin, a large group of intellectually attractive authors has charted the entire field of political science in an unbiased multi-paradigmatic way. Minerva's owl would make a nice logo for this monumental collective work of the Oxford Handbooks: what moves us forward is looking back at what we know.' (Claus Offe, Professor of Political Science, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin and Institute for Social Science, Humboldt University, Berlin.)

Long recognized as one of the main branches of political science, political theory has in recent years burgeoned in many different directions. Close textual analysis of historical texts sits alongside more analytical work on the nature and normative grounds of political values. Continental and post-modern influences jostle with ones from economics, history, sociology, and the law. Feminist concerns with embodiment make us look at old problems in new ways, and challenges of new technologies open whole new vistas for political theory.

This Handbook provides comprehensive and critical coverage of the lively and contested field of political theory, and will help set the agenda for the field for years to come. Forty-five chapters by distinguished political theorists look at the state of the field, where it has been in the recent past, and where it is likely to go in future. They examine political theory's edges as well as its core, the globalizing context of the field, and the challenges presented by social, economic, and technological changes.