Political Theory

Political theory is the normative and conceptual study of politics — justice, liberty, authority, rights, and the good political order.

Scope

It covers the history of political thought and contemporary normative theory, analysing concepts such as justice, freedom, equality, legitimacy, and democracy.

Core questions

• What makes political authority legitimate?
• What is justice, and how should goods be distributed?
• What is freedom, and how should it be protected?
• What are the foundations of rights and democracy?

Key concepts

• Justice
• Negative and positive liberty
• Legitimacy
• Rights
• Equality
• The social contract
• Democracy

Key theories

Justice as fairness

Rawls revived normative political philosophy with a contractarian theory of justice and the 'original position'.

Concepts of liberty

Berlin distinguished negative from positive liberty, framing modern debates on freedom.

The vita activa

Arendt analysed action, labour, and the public realm, influencing thought on politics and freedom.

History

From classical and early-modern political philosophy, political theory was revitalized as normative inquiry by Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1971), spawning debates among liberals, libertarians, communitarians, and theorists of difference.

Debates

Liberty versus equality

How to reconcile individual freedom with distributive equality is a central normative tension.

Key figures

• Hannah Arendt
• Isaiah Berlin
• John Rawls

Seminal works

• arendt-1958
• berlin-1958
• rawls-1971

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between positive and negative liberty?

Negative liberty is freedom from interference; positive liberty is the capacity to act and be one's own master (Berlin).