Why do political philosophers shy away from politics? Glen Newey offers a challenging and original critique of liberalism, the dominant political philosophy of our time, tackling such key issues as state legitimacy, value-pluralism, neutrality, the nature of politics, public reason, and morality in politics. Analyzing major liberal theorists, Newey argues that liberalism bypasses politics because it ignores or misunderstands human motivation, and elevates academic systembuilding over political realities of conflict and power.

Hobbes is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ideas and political thought, and his seminal text Leviathan is widely recognised as one of the greatest works of political philosophy ever written.

The Routledge Guidebook to Hobbes' Leviathan introduces the major themes in Hobbes' great book and acts as a companion for reading this key work, examining:

• The context of Hobbes' work and the background to his writing
• Each separate part of the text in relation to its goals, meanings and impact
• The reception the book received when first seen by the world
• The relevance of Hobbes' work to modern philosophy, it's legacy and influence

With further reading included throughout, this text follows Hobbes' original work closely, making it essential reading for all students of philosophy and politics, and all those wishing to get to grips with this classic work.

John Gray is one of today's most brilliant, bestselling and controversial political thinkers. This new collection examines him from a variety of stimulating angles. This new volume, comprising original contributions from a number of distinguished political theorists, in addition to a reply by Gray himself, is the first book to systematically review the general significance of his work. He is much cited and discussed within political and social theory, but he also has a much wider audience, being one of those quite rare creatures in British academic life, a public intellectual, writing regularly for the quality press and appearing on both radio and TV. His books sell in large numbers, Straw Dogs reached the top five in The Sunday Times bestseller list and was very widely reviewed in broadsheets and weeklies. It was extravagantly praised by Will Self and chosen by novelist, Monica Ali as her book of the year. This book was previously published as a special issue of the leading Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.

John Gray is one of todays most brilliant, bestselling and controversial political thinkers. This new collection examines him from a variety of stimulating angles.
His work is much cited and discussed within political and social theory, but he also has a much wider audience, being one of those quite rare creatures in British academic life, a public intellectual, writing regularly for the quality press and appearing on both radio and TV. His books sell in large numbers. As evidence of this broader appeal outside academe, his recent book "Straw Dogs" (which reached the top five in "The Sunday Times" best seller list) was very widely reviewed in broadsheets and weeklies. It was extravagantly praised by Will Self and chosen by novelist, Monica Ali as her book of the year.
This volume, comprising original contributions from a number of distinguished political theorists, in addition to a reply by Gray himself, will be the first book to review systematically the general significance of his work.
It will be of immense interest to all those interested in current political theorizing, and willing to think afresh about the political challenges facing the modern world.

Hobbes is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ideas and political thought, and his seminal text Leviathan is widely recognised as one of the greatest works of political philosophy ever written.

The Routledge Guidebook to Hobbes Leviathan introduces the major themes in Hobbes great book and acts as a companion for reading this key work, examining:

• The context of Hobbes work and the background to his writing
• Each separate part of the text in relation to its goals, meanings and impact
• The reception the book received when first seen by the world
• The relevance of Hobbes work to modern philosophy, it s legacy and influence

With further reading included throughout, this text follows Hobbes original work closely, making it essential reading for all students of philosophy and politics, and all those wishing to get to grips with this classic work."

Why do political philosophers why away from politics? After Politics: The Rejection of Politics in Contemporary Liberal Philosophy offers a challenging and original critique of liberalism, the dominant political philosophy of our time, tackling key issues like state legitimacy, value-pluralism, neutrality, the nature of politics, public reasons, and morality in politics. Analyzing major liberal theorists like Rawls, Habermas, Rorty, Barry, Gray, Raz, Larmore, Ackerman and others, Glen Newey argues that liberalism by-passes politics because it ignores or misunderstands human motivation, and elevates academic system-building over political realities of conflict and power.

Is political theory political enough? Or does a tendency toward abstraction, idealization, moralism, and utopianism leave contemporary political theory out of touch with real politics as it actually takes place, and hence unable to speak meaningfully to or about our world? Realist political thought, which has enjoyed a significant revival of interest in recent years, seeks to avoid such pitfalls by remaining attentive to the distinctiveness of politics and the ways its realities ought to shape how we think and act in the political realm. Politics Recovered brings together prominent scholars to develop what it might mean to theorize politics "realistically." Intervening in philosophical debates such as the relationship between politics and morality and the role that facts and emotions should play in the theorization of political values, the volume addresses how a realist approach aids our understanding of pressing issues such as global justice, inequality, poverty, political corruption, the value of democracy, governmental secrecy, and demands for transparency. Contributors open up fruitful dialogues with a variety of other realist approaches, such as feminist theory, democratic theory, and international relations. By exploring the nature and prospects of realist thought, Politics Recovered shows how political theory can affirm reality in order to provide meaningful and compelling answers to the fundamental questions of political life.

Political disputes over toleration are endemic, while toleration as a political value seems opposed to those of civic equality, neutrality and sometimes democracy. Toleration in Political Conflict sets out to understand toleration as both politically awkward and indispensable. The book exposes the incoherence of Rawlsian reasonable pluralist justifications of toleration, and shows that toleration cannot be fully reconciled with liberal political values. While raison d'etat concerns very often overshadow debates over toleration, these debates - for example about terrorism - need not be framed as a conflict between toleration and security. Framing them in this way tends to obscure objectionable behaviour by tolerators themselves, and their reliance on asymmetric power. Glen Newey concludes by sketching a picture of politics as dependent on free speech which, he argues, is entailed by the demands of free association. That in turn suggests that questions of toleration are inescapable within the conditions of politics itself.