Political theorists focus on the nature of justice, liberty, and equality while ignoring the institutions through which these ideals are achieved. Political scientists keep institutions in view but deploy a meager set of value-conceptions in analyzing them. A more political political theory is needed to address this gap, Jeremy Waldron argues.
The problem with revolutionary politics, in short, is that it tends to be naïve about political institutions. I can recommend no better corrective than liberal political philosopher Jeremy Waldron, and no better introduction to his thinking than his recently published collection of essays, Political Political Theory... To read Waldron is to reawaken ideas that so shape our world that they typically only live in the background of political theory and debate. It is to survey the pantheon of constitutional liberalism-Locke, Montesquieu, Condorcet, Madison, Kant, Mill, et al.-to step into their shoes and think hard about bicameralism, bills of rights, and judicial review, and appreciate the enormity of their intellectual and real-world achievements.
-- David V. Johnson Dissent
This is a brilliant book. It will excite readers and spark a revival of constitutional concerns that people might once have believed had been consigned to the history of ideas.
-- Marc Stears, University of Oxford
-- David V. Johnson Dissent
This is a brilliant book. It will excite readers and spark a revival of constitutional concerns that people might once have believed had been consigned to the history of ideas.
-- Marc Stears, University of Oxford