Twentieth-Century German Political Thought
Peter M. R. Stirk
Abstract
Germany, as Europe's most powerful state, has a political significance that underlines the importance of twentieth-century German political thought. Yet this tradition has been poorly represented in academic literature. This book offers an account of German political thought, emphasising its diversity and contested nature, and gives an overview of the subject that allows access to relatively unknown figures as well as the ‘names’ of the tradition (Weber, Schmitt, Arendt, Habermas). The book also demonstrates the political significance of figures better known in other disciplines including law ... More
Germany, as Europe's most powerful state, has a political significance that underlines the importance of twentieth-century German political thought. Yet this tradition has been poorly represented in academic literature. This book offers an account of German political thought, emphasising its diversity and contested nature, and gives an overview of the subject that allows access to relatively unknown figures as well as the ‘names’ of the tradition (Weber, Schmitt, Arendt, Habermas). The book also demonstrates the political significance of figures better known in other disciplines including law and sociology. The book is organised chronologically, with a series of recurrent themes providing analytic unity: the nature of politics (including political vocation and leadership, and definitions of politics), collective identity, the rule of law, the role of the state, the role of political parties and the nature of parliamentary democracy, state intervention in society and the economy and, finally, the international order. Pedagogical features include a glossary of German terms and a substantial set of biographical notes identifying the major theorists referred to in the text.
Keywords:
Weber,
Schmitt,
Arendt,
Habermas,
political vocation,
political leadership,
collective identity,
rule of law,
parliamentary democracy,
state intervention
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2006 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780748622900 |
Published to Edinburgh Scholarship Online: March 2012 |
DOI:10.3366/edinburgh/9780748622900.001.0001 |