Political Science

The State

A major new account of the state and its importance by a leading political philosopher

ebook (PDF via app)

30% off with code PUP30

Sale Price:
$27.97/拢24.50
Price:
$39.95/拢35.00
ISBN:
Published:
Mar 14, 2023
2023
Illus:
1 table.
  • Audio and ebooks (EPUB and PDF) purchased from this site must be accessed on the 91桃色 app. After purchasing, you will an receive email with instructions to access your purchase.
    About audio and ebooks
  • Request Exam Copy

The future of our species depends on the state. Can states resist corporate capture, religious zealotry, and nationalist mania? Can they find a way to work together so that the earth heals and its peoples prosper? Or is the state just not up to the task? In this book, the prominent political philosopher Philip Pettit examines the nature of the state and its capacity to serve goals like peace and justice within and beyond its borders. In doing so, he breaks new ground by making the state the focus of political theory鈥攚ith implications for economic, legal, and social theory鈥攁nd presents a persuasive, historically informed image of an institution that lies at the center of our lives.

Offering an account that is more realist than utopian, Pettit starts from the function the polity is meant to serve, looks at how it can best discharge that function, and explores its ability to engage beneficially in the life of its citizens. This enables him to identify an ideal of statehood that is a precondition of justice. Only if states approximate this functional ideal will they be able to deal with the perennial problems of extreme poverty and bitter discord as well as the challenges that loom over the coming centuries, including climate change, population growth, and nuclear arms.