This book sets out to defend the claim that politics is a linguistically constituted activity, and to show that the concepts that inform political beliefs and behavior have historically mutable meanings that have undergone changes related to real political events. The contributors go on to analyze the evolution of no less than thirteen particular concepts, all central to political discourse in the western world. They include revolution, rights, democracy, property, corruption, and citizenship.

In the social disciplines there is a growing movement to use disciplinary history as a means of accounting for the present status and possible futures of various modes of social and political inquiry. In this collection of essays, a number of political scientists take up the challenge of disciplinary history by exploring a range of themes and movements that have shaped academic political science today. These essays should be of interest to any student of the social disciplines who is interested in understanding both the development of modern political science and its current concerns.

In the social disciplines there is a growing movement to use disciplinary history as a means of accounting for the present status and possible futures of various modes of social and political inquiry. In this collection of essays, a number of political scientists take up the challenge of disciplinary history by exploring a range of themes and movements that have shaped academic political science today. These essays should be of interest to any student of the social disciplines who is interested in understanding both the development of modern political science and its current concerns.

Marx raised more questions than he, or anyone else, could ever reasonably hope to answer.