Alan Ryan Bücher

Encompassing the whole spectrum of the history and theory of politics from Socrates to Rawls, this is the most comprehensive and scholarly reference work available on the subject. The 350 entries, written by a team of 120 international specialists, are a balanced blend of full-length survey articles and shorter definitions. Key concepts in political thought are defined and analyzed, and ideologies are considered in relation both to historical context and to contemporary politics. All articles are cross-referenced and indexed.

Im ersten Band beschäftigt sich Tocqueville insbesondere mit der Soziologie des US-amerikanischen Staats. Er analysiert nicht nur die Struktur des Bundesstaats, sondern auch den Aufbau der Einzelstaaten, die er als Ergebnis ihrer ethnisch-geografischen und historischen Voraussetzungen beschreibt. Er setzt sich mit der Allgewalt der Mehrheit in der US-amerikanischen Demokratie auseinander, die er als die grösste Gefahr für das Staatswesen betrachtet. In diesem Zusammenhang hebt er u. a. die Bedeutung des unabhängigen Rechtswesens hervor. Mit dem 1840 publizierten zweiten Band beabsichtigt Tocqueville, allgemeine Züge demokratischer Gesellschaften zu zeichnen, von denen bis dahin noch kein vollständiges Modell existierte. Er versucht, zur universellen Problematik einer demokratischen Weltordnung vorzudringen, wobei ihm die Demokratie in den USA lediglich als Folie dient. Dabei analysiert er Probleme, die auch in der Gegenwart nicht an Aktualität verloren haben, wie z. B. das Spannungsverhältnis zwischen den Prinzipien Gleichheit und Freiheit.

A magisterial, one-volume history of political thought from Herodotus to the present, Ancient Athens to modern democracy - from author and professor Alan Ryan This is a book about the answers that historians, philosophers, theologians, practising politicians and would-be revolutionaries have given to one question:how should human beings best govern themselves? That question raises innumerable others: can we manage our own affairs at all? Should we even try? Many people in the past have thought that only some individuals were either able or entitled to practise self-government: Greeks, but not Persians; men, but not women; the better-off minority, but not the poor majority. Others have thought that few of us have any desire to govern ourselves, and that government is inevitably a matter of a competent elite managing an acquiescent mass. Then, what do we mean by 'freedom' today, and is it the same freedom that people enjoyed, or strove for, in the past? Almost every modern government claims to be democratic; but is democracy really the best way of organising our political life? For almost two thousand years, educated opinion said not. Today, educated opinion says yes. In the modern west, do we actually live in democracies? They certainly do not resemble what the Athenians fought and died to preserve. It seems that there may be less agreement than we might think about how human beings can best govern themselves. In this extraordinary book, more that thirty years in the making, Alan Ryan engages with the great thinkers of the past to explain their ideas with a lucidity which makes the book compelling reading. While acknowledging how much separates us from our intellectual forebears, he reminds us how often the ideas of long-dead or distant thinkers are more alive, and speak to us more vividly and immediately, than those of our contemporaries. At a time when we sometimes feel that the problems of the globe will simply overwhelm our ability to control them, he provides a peerless guide to the ways in which the problems of politics have been thought about by the greatest minds of our civilization.

Tocqueville's gifts as an observer and commentator on American life and democracy are brought to vivid life in this splendid volume.

Mark Twain, Jan Morris, P. J. O’Rourke, and Michael Palin are just a few of the contributors to this provocative armchair tour of South Africa, which takes us from Capetown to Soweto, from 1850 to the present. Introduction by the Editor. Map.

Recognized as the Book of the Year at the Irish CAP Awards 2023, this work stands out for its compelling narrative and rich character development. It explores profound themes that resonate with readers, offering a unique perspective on contemporary issues. The author’s masterful storytelling weaves together emotion and insight, making it a must-read for anyone seeking a thought-provoking literary experience.

The Philosophy of John Stuart Mill demonstrates that Mill both saw his views as part of a systematic defense of empiricist epistemology and utilitarian ethics, and was to a large extent successful in offering a coherent and connected defense of this system. At the time Alan Ryan's highly acclaimed study was first published, it was unusual in insisting on the systematic character of Mill's philosophy. Since 1970, however, many writers have contributed to a more systematic understanding of Mill's program for philosophy, ethics and social science, and Alan Ryan's new preface to the second edition assesses the way Mill appears in this new climate of opinion.

The Making of Modern Liberalism is a deep and wide-ranging exploration of the origins and nature of liberalism from the Enlightenment through its triumphs and setbacks in the twentieth century and beyond. The book is the fruit of the more than four decades during which Alan Ryan, one of the world's leading political thinkers, reflected on the past of the liberal tradition--and worried about its future.This is essential reading for anyone interested in political theory or the history of liberalism.-- "Choice"