In this book Russell Leng examines the behavior of nations in forty militarized crises occurring between 1816 and 1980. He employs a mass of empirical data to consider the conditions under which crises escalate to war or are resolved peacefully, and suggests that the most effective bargaining strategy is one that takes into account both the dictates of power politics, and other, less rational, political and psychological factors. The epilogue presents a provocative critical account of the bargaining strategies pursued by the United States and Iraq during the Gulf Crisis of 1990-1991.

Bolingbroke: Political Writings provides the first accessible, modernized and annotated texts of three of the most important works in eighteenth-century British political thought. These works, the Dissertation upon Parties, the letter "On the Spirit of Patriotism" and The Idea of the Patriot King together formed the first coherent platform of a political opposition movement in Anglo-American politics and influenced not only radicals in Britain, but the American Founding Fathers and the French Revolutionaries.

William of Ockham (c. 1285-c. 1387) was the most eminent theologian and philosopher of his day, a Franciscan friar who came to believe that the Avignonese papacy of John XXII had set out to destroy the religious ideal on which his order was based: the complete poverty of Christ and the Apostles. A Short Discourse on Tyrannical Government is an attack on the claims of the medieval Church, specifically the papacy, to universal spiritual and secular power. Written at the time of the emergence of the European nation-states, Ockham's work issued a direct hard-hitting challenge to the claims of...

Francisco Vitoria was the earliest and arguably the most important of the Thomist philosophers of the counter-Reformation. His works are of great importance for an understanding of both the rise of modern absolutism, and the debate about the emergent imperialism of the European powers, and are unusually accessible since they survive in the form of summaries of his lecture courses on law and theology. Translated here into English for the first time, these texts comprise the core of Vitoria's thought, and are accompanied by a comprehensive introduction, chronology, and bibliography.

The French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798-1857) is generally acknowledged as one of the founding fathers of sociology, and one of the most influential "grand theorists" of the nineteenth century. This edition of his early essays from the 1820s is based on a new translation, and aims to make his ideas and the development of his thought accessible to modern readers. A comprehensive introduction establishes the historical significance of Comte's work and shows how his ideas emerged from the rich intellectual turmoil of post-revolutionary France.

The British Idealists made significant and lasting contributions to the social and political thought of the nineteenth century. They contributed to all the major debates of their day, including evolution, democracy, the role of the state, education and international relations, and are commonly acknowledged as the forerunners of modern communitarian theory. The introduction develops the themes illustrated in the writings of the British Idealists. This volume also contains a biography of the British Idealists that incorporates a guide to their principal works.

This is a major new student edition of the text described as "the first modern classic of English history." Francis Bacon's insight into human motives, his life-long experience of politics and government, and his remarkable literary skills, render this History of the Reign of King Henry VII a major work of English literature and an important document in the history of political thought. The edition also includes other relevant writings by Bacon, generous editorial footnotes explaining the historical and political issues of the period, and a substantial glossary.

This collection brings together thirty-five letters and sermons of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo from 396-430 AD, that deal with political matters. The letters and sermons are both practical and principled and treat many essential themes in Augustine's thought, including the responsibilities of citizenship, the relationship between the church and secular authority, religious coercion, and war and peace. These texts complement Augustine's classic The City of God, and give students direct insight into the political and social world of late antiquity with which Augustine was immediately involved.

This new collection of Aristotle's political writings provides the student with all the necessary materials for a full understanding of his work as a political scientist. In addition to a revised and extended introduction, this expanded Cambridge Texts edition contains an extensive guide to further reading and an index of names with biographical notes. Presentation of The Politics and The Constitution of Athens in a single volume will make this the most attractive and convenient student edition of these seminal works currently available.

This collection of Gramsci's pre-prison writings, newly translated and including a number of pieces not previously available in English, covers the whole gamut of his journalistic activity, from general cultural criticism to commentaries on local, national and international events. It will be of interest to a broad range of scholars and students concerned with the history of political, social and cultural thought in the twentieth century.